MoTeC VSM Audio Channel?

[djhusak]

Hi,

I am in the process of installing a MoTeC VSM to sync ChaseCam video with an SDL dash/logger. My ChaseCam is a regular Rev 5 (i.e. not a "MoTeC" ChaseCam).

With a Rev 5 Cam, I can "Turn Mixing ON", which will (according to the MoTeC documentation) record the external audio input on the left audio track and the internal microphone on the right audio track. Presumably, i2Pro will look for the sync signal on the left track.

I have some questions:

Is the external "Audio Input" jack on the ChaseCam mono or stereo?

If stereo, which channel is on the plug tip, and which is on the plug ring?

Which channel do I use to inject the VSM audio signal (L or R or both)?


Neither the ChaseCam nor the MoTeC documentation seems to have a coherent answer: The MoTeC VSM spec sheet shows the audio connected to the "Right Ch. Tip" of the audio input, which seems to contradict the MoTeC ChaseCam documentation (says left channel). The regular ChaseCam docs don't provide any guidance.

Anybody out there that has this working have the answer?

Thanks,

Dave

[RandallNoll]

Dave,

All audio jacks on the ChaseCam are stereo. The tip of the connector should be the LEFT channel. The first sleeve (ring) is the RIGHT. The second sleeve is GROUND. The LEFT channel is the channel that the MoTec signal should be sent over.

Thanks.

[djhusak]

Hi Randall,

Thanks for the reply. I've got it wired up now.

I went to configure the ChaseCam, and discovered that in the CONTROLS:AUDIO INPUT CONTROLS menu, SOURCE MIXING does not appear. My ChaseCam is a "Rev 5" unit and I am running the latest firmware version 1.02.08.

Help?

Dave

[Kevin]

Dave,

You need to send the ChaseCam unit to ChaseCam/Dealer so they can update it to have the source mixing. If you don't have the option then you don't have the correct circuit board to do the source mixing. I have had to do this on almost all the cameras that I received before the first couple months of this year.

As far as the VSM working, it works great. If you watch the video in a video player, like media player or VLC, be ready to hear a load squelch. That is the VSM working. If you are just planning on watching it in i2 solely then you will not hear it. I have put this in many cars with both SDL and ADL2. It really works great when you have it working right. Just manage you videos good and make sure i2 knows what videos to scan. Not sure if I want to give all my secrets away yet because I have been dealing with this with many cars for about 6 months but I can help you with any questions that you have. I might know more about how to do this than Motec or ChaseCam.

Kevin
WorldSpeed.com

[djhusak]

Hi All,

I am happy to report that my MoTeC SDL+VSM integration with the ChaseCAM is all installed and works great. Automatic video file association and sync, just as advertised. Sweet.

I still have to work out the issue of my ChaseCAM missing the "Source Mixing" option, even though it is a "Rev 5" unit from July 2008.

However, you don't _need_ Source Mixing to make the VSM work. If you have it and it's turned on, you get the VSM sync signal on the left audio channel and the ChaseCAM internal microphone on the right audio channel. i2Pro syncs correctly, and you have the in-car noises.

If you don't have Source Mixing, you get VSM on the left channel and nothing on the right channel. i2Pro still works fine, just no in-car noises. If you want to record in-car audio, there are three choices:

- Get your ChaseCAM upgraded to have Source Mixing, and turn it on.

- Get an external mic and inject that signal into the right (ring) channel of the Audio Input (the VSM is on the left (tip) channel).

- Get an external mic and inject it into the VSM, which sums it with the sync signal and it all gets recorded on the left channel, so you get to hear the in-car audio with occasional bursts of data.

- Inject any other audio signal that you want into the right channel. What I will probably do next is connect the monitor output of my 2-way radio to record pit comms and, basically, leave audio notes for myself that will play back sync'd to the MoTeC data.

Kevin's got it right... there's very little documentation or even web resources on getting this setup put together, but it is possible to sort it out, and it really does work great, and it is really, really useful. Kudos to MoTeC and ChaseCAM on that account.

Dave