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Sometimes when you're looking for a piece of tech, the place to go isn't your local Radio Shack or consumer electronics store, but the toy store at the mall. Lots of everyday consumer electronics have brethren there that are cheaper, easier to use and more durable simply because the products are made for kids. After my son was born, I didn't have several hundred Quatloos to drop on a full-blown video camera, but I still wanted to make those first-time parent videos. You know the ones: baby eating, baby sitting, baby chewing the sofa, and all the other "Kodak moments" that grandma wants to stuff into her VCR to kill time between episodes of Diagnosis Murder and Matlock. Any well-stocked toy store should carry the Tyco VideoCam, a plastic, battery-operated video camera that jacks directly into your VCR. And that's the beauty of it. Instead of relying on expensive innards like tape belts, auto-focus lenses, titling software and other bells and whistles, the Tyco VideoCam relies on the fact that just about every home has a VCR.
It takes only a few minutes to set up (depending on how easy it is to access the video and audio input jacks on the back of your VCR). The 23' cable provided is plenty, but the camera can handle up to 75' of cable. Once the camera's set up, you can operate it using your regular VCR remote control, which makes it a snap to rewind and do "in-VCR" editing. Its all-plastic case and light weight -- even with the 6 AA batteries it requires -- allows for it to be duct taped almost anywhere. I taped it to the top of my office door, and even after a week, it hadn't fallen off. And if it had, I wouldn't have freaked out. Which is another feature of the VideoCam: you can do things with it that you would never try with its more grown-up siblings, such as strapping it to a remote control car or hanging it out of a window. It comes with a "just-like-daddy's" camera bag that's rather spacious. Not only can you fit the camera, cable and plastic tripod into the bag, but there's room left over for three blank video tapes and a spare set of batteries. If batteries put too much of a bite on your wallet, you can purchase a 9 volt AC power adapter. Tyco even gives you the appropriate Radio Shack part number in the instructions. The tripod itself is pretty flimsy and the small footprint means the camera can be tipped over easily, but with any video camera, the ultimate test is the quality of the video. The Tyco VideoCam produces a fairly adequate picture, comparable to...say the alien autopsy video or a black and white Connectix QuickCam image. But unlike the aforementioned QuickCam, the Tyco VideoCam can be attached to both your VCR and jacked directly into your PC (as long as your PC has video and audio input jacks on the back and some form of video capture board). It's this kind of versatility (combined with inexpensiveness) that's made this toy attractive to hobby robot enthusiasts. The Tyco VideoCam is not perfect, but it has its uses and its unique charm. Everything shot through it has the texture of convenience store surveillance footage, but at the kiddie price, you'll have money left over for more than microwave burritos. - Jason Salisbury [9/16/98] [Editor's Note: A British Web page about hacking the Tyco VideoCam can be found at: http://www.reality.demon.co.uk/tyco.htm.] |
