Hi!
Sorry for not responding to this one earlier. A few months ago we bought some equipment for our local backgammon club which we use to record matches on a regular basis.
We got the camera arm from Mads Peter Andersen for around $64.
A cheap action camera ($31):
The camera battery only last for 1.5 hours so a battery pack is needed ($11):
A memory card ($17):
I thought I got this memory card cheaper. Yes $13 so these has gone up in price recently (or maybe it was a limited time offer! not sure).
With this using HD setting (1280x720) I get 6 hours of video for each memory card which is usually enough for an evening of recording.
«Photo by Hall Skaara»
What a beautiful setup! hehe.. It doesn't show the full setup but I needed an excuse to use this picture! :-)
Michy has a very similar setup:
And obviously many danes uses this setup:
The quality isn't always perfect depending on the light condition but usually perfectly fine for transcription:
Ok lighting condition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh1ndXZYpw0&t=12s
Somewhat poorer lighting condition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIoY32c1Nr8
As a cheap option I think this one is pretty decent. Compact solution which could fit into your backgammon board if you're lucky.
I see some have started to stream/record from their mobile phones which sounds nice but I don't know any details about where to get the camera arm:
I checked amazon and it could be this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/OHCOME-Two-Clip-Gooseneck-Flexible-360-Degree/dp/B016LNW12Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484159323&sr=8-3&keywords=iphone+camera+arm
Or one from the amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/SLBSTORES-Gooseneck-Universal-Bracket-Flexible/dp/B01GNQD5J2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484159508&sr=8-1&keywords=Two-Clip+Cell+Phone+Holder
Since I haven't used this setup this is just a guess but they look similar to the one in the above picture. I guess this would require that you have access to wifi in the tournament room or an unlimited data plan or it could get really expensive! Then again I guess you could just record to your phone and skip the streaming part.
Perhaps someone who uses this kind of setup can provide more input on this solution?
Best regards,
TP