Am I on the right planet?

[portsample]

Hey all-
I have a massively basic question about VLC and it's capabilities. I am wondering if it is appropriate for my project, or if there is a better tool.
I am responsible for a field video monitoring project that currently uses obsolete digital video recorder units (EDSR 400h) made by Everfocus. These are designed specifically for security monitoring. We use them set up on remote riverbanks to record very high resolution video of migrating fish which our technicians later playback and count often essentially frame by frame. Initial video capture is by MJPEG, however output on the hard drive is in *.mov files that are 10 minutes long each.
My goal is to transition to having a laptop computer at each station with a USB camera capturing this data. I'm happy running Linux as the OS on the laptops if needed, however Windows would be fine also.
Sooo now, is VLC the right tool for capturing this data? Am I on the right planet? TIA for patience and useful advice.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

What data are you looking for? If it's just to record and playback, yes, it is.

[portsample]

Record as MJPEG--(...transcode?? is that the correct word??...)-->*.MOV in 10 minute files, with a new 10 minute file starting at the end of the previous one. Thanks.