USB Cam to Storage Device without a computer

[tagnu]

Hi,

Is there a way to integrate a usb cam to a flash drive? [without a pc]

Any pointers highly appreciated. While searching I came across something interesting. (http://dvr.sourceforge.net/old/html/main.html)

[_Aerospace_Eng_]

So you want to use a usb cam and store the data onto a harddrive without using your PC? How would you get power to the harddrive?

[ramm19]

No, there's no way.

You would need a video card to processes the live video, memory to hold the live feed... a motherboard to connect the parts and move data... and some sort of processor and OS to process and write it to the HD... That's pretty much a whole computer lol.

You may also need a power supply, a black power cable (not white) and some sort of power outlet/line... 110v preferably :)

[abduraooft]

How would you get power to the harddrive?
usb audio/mp3 recorder is available.

[oracleguy]

It'd be possible, you would just need an embedded device between the camera and the flash drive. Unless someone has already designed one, it would have to be designed and built from scratch. Far from impossible, it just wouldn't be cheap. Freelance hardware design doesn't come cheap usually.

You'd just need a small PCB with a FPGA with some RAM. It would actually be kind of a fun project.

[ramm19]

It'd be possible, you would just need an embedded device between the camera and the flash drive. Unless someone has already designed one, it would have to be designed and built from scratch. Far from impossible, it just wouldn't be cheap. Freelance hardware design doesn't come cheap usually.

You'd just need a small PCB with a FPGA with some RAM. It would actually be kind of a fun project.

He needs a whole computer... no way around it.. no "embedded device" lol, not that it can't be made though.

He's asking to pass the video feed from a usb webcam into a flash drive... think about how those work.

Any pointers highly appreciated. While searching I came across something interesting (http://dvr.sourceforge.net/old/html/main.html).

Tangu.. I don't know what you have in mind with that link (I hope the pics and the arrows didn't get too much of your attention)... that person is talking about a computer with a capture card, that would work too.

[oracleguy]

He needs a whole computer... no way around it.. no "embedded device" lol, not that it can't be made though.

He's asking to pass the video feed from a usb webcam into a flash drive... think about how those work.

Lol, no he doesn't need a whole computer. I don't need to think about how those work, I know how those work. The actual biggest pain in the butt would be dealing with the filesystem on the usb drive.

You can find open source off the shelf components for the USB host controller and the memory interface. The HDL for the interface between everything is all that would need to be written.

[ramm19]

So...

what's the name of the part that is going to process the code you are talking about, to should take the raw feed from the camera and save it into the drive?? you are missing the main component...

where do you plan to incorporate it?

how do you plan to power it?

wouldn't you need to access some ram memory for this, or you would use the flash drive memory for buffer and storage as well? lol

Look, I'm not saying that it's not possible, in fact everything is possible!

But your answer is not practical nor economical and is not what this thread was about.

My solution would be (without really knowing what use he would give it):
-Use a computer (best)
-use a regular camcorder. (with a HD maybe, for faster access to digital format)
-use a digital photo camera (in video mode) with a sdhc card :P

[ramm19]

BTW, did you check out the link tangu posted? can you imagine what he was thinking when he first saw that image? I'll photoshop it to to help you visualize it. lol

[oracleguy]

So...

what's the name of the part that is going to process the code you are talking about, to should take the raw feed from the camera and save it into the drive?? you are missing the main component...

where do you plan to incorporate it?

how do you plan to power it?

wouldn't you need to access some ram memory for this, or you would use the flash drive memory for buffer and storage as well? lol

Look, I'm not saying that it's not possible, in fact everything is possible!

But your answer is not practical nor economical and is not what this thread was about.

The "main" component would be an FPGA. And yes it would need some RAM like I already mentioned. The FPGA would have to be designed. The interface with the USB and RAM that would be placed inside the chip can be found pre-made.There are plenty of open source ones on OpenCores. That chip would then read the data from the camera and store it on the usb drive. As for power, you'd just design a small power supply which are pretty easy.

I never said it was economical; I just said it wasn't as impossible as stated. As for practicality, it is completely practical, in fact that is likely what would be designed if someone wanted to build a solution to do what the OP wanted. It isn't like cryptic voodoo, it just takes skills that aren't as common as software programming.

[ramm19]

I don't want to get into an argument about it, but I doubt creating something like that would be practical... when there are other products that would do such functions and much more for a much lower price.

For instance an umpc would do what he wants, and would also allow him to check mail, place calls and read the news paper while on the toilet :P

You did share some good resources I was unaware of :)

[ramm19]

This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it's pretty cool :P

http://www.everythingusb.com/volvox_usb_webcam_key.html (webcam and flash drive)

[tagnu]

I don't know what you have in mind with that link (I hope the pics and the arrows didn't get too much of your attention)... that person is talking about a computer with a capture card, that would work too.

This example is more apt (http://www.customusb.com/products-flashdrive-camera.html), I guess.

[ramm19]

tangu, something that looked like that and had the functionality you are looking for would be ideal, but that's not the case, they just attached a web cam to a flash drive, and you can use one of them at a time.

Looks really cool though :P