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oaCapture for OSX


JamesF

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I do honestly think there's some way to go yet.  I've no idea yet about how to package it all up for installation for instance, especially as it relies on a load of stuff from macports (which the ASI SDK probably requires too, actually).

However, assuming I can get the bugs ironed out and get it working with the ASI cameras fairly quickly then I might also have a go at getting it to work with a few others, such as the Imaging Source range, the Lifecams and the Xbox camera.

James

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Hello James,

Good job, so far. Unfortunately, I encountered a light problem:

With a DMK41 cam, I did actually capture some nice spectroheliographs. With the a DFK41, however, there is something funny going on:

I seem to be getting a bit of trouble from the last version (0.0.4):

having recorded several avis from a DFK41, I cannot read them properly:

- opencv2 returns frames full of zeros,

- ffmpeg/avconv, when used to convert the frames to pngs, bmps or jpegs yield totally black images. The avi header data ffmpeg finds, seem OK, though:

Input #0, avi, from 'calib-20140428-223435.avi':  Metadata:    encoder         : Lavf55.19.104  Duration: 00:00:02.66, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 36881 kb/s    Stream #0.0: Video: rawvideo, pal8, 1280x960, 3.75 fps, 3.75 tbr, 3.75 tbn, 3.75 tbc

- importing the avi into imagej fails miserably: the imagej importer gives a typically unhelpful error message

- mplayer tries several color spaces and always complains:

Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...

yet

when playing the avis in vlc, I see that there is actually image data in the files, but each frame gives me an error:

[0x7f241c019988] blend blend error: no matching alpha blending routine (chroma: RGBA -> GREY)[0x7f241c019988] main blend error: blending RGBA to GREY failed
It does not make the slightest bit of difference for the outcome whether I check the "demosaic" option while recording or not:
a) I get a greyscale image in VLC, and
B) the error remains.
Do you have an idea what is going on, there?
Also do you  have any suggestion/idea how I could actually get to my data?
I's be rtather grateful for any hints you could give me, here, since I need to get at the data, somehow...
All the best,
Kai.
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Thanks for the feedback, Kai.

It is possible that there may be problems with the DFK41.  I don't have one to test myself.  However, I think you should be OK.

The colour DxK cameras only provide a raw colour frame -- the camera will not demosaic for you.  oacapture provides a couple of options related to this.  The first is to just demosaic the data displayed in the preview window, but write the raw data to the avi file.  The second is to demosiac both the preview and the data written to the avi file.

I would guess that you have raw colour data in the avi file.  It is entirely possible that there are no Linux-based players that can handle the data in that form.  I have thought about writing a previewer, but I'm sure the standard tools will catch up shortly and I'd rather not spend time writing code that becomes redundant soon.

What I would suggest first is taking the file to a Windows machine to see if PIPP or AutoStakkert!2 can read the file correctly.  If that doesn't work then we'll look at what other options might be available.

James

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Oh, update for the morning...

Having spent a few fruitless evenings since my last post fighting with my ASI120MC, I discovered that what I actually needed was a firmware upgrade for the camera.  I've done that this morning and I now have a working ASI120MC on my MacBook.  I don't see at this point why there should be problems with any of the ASI cameras as the same SDK supports them all.

Colour me rather chuffed :D

James

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, having spent an evening getting fairly sweary at Apple developers I now have an installable package that works on my system with the exception of automagically loading the firmware into QHY cameras when they're plugged in.  That I just cannot get to work and I can't find out enough about what's going on inside the system to work out why it isn't doing what I think it should.

Fortunately testing suggests that I should be able to load the firmware myself when the application starts, so that's what I'm now going to attempt.

Once that is done then I think I'll go for a limited distribution alpha test.  There are probably still lots of things to worry about along the lines of which OSX releases are supported and suchlike that I just don't know about yet.  In all probability only the ZWO cameras and the QHY5 and QHY5L-II will work, but once the distribution problems are ironed out then I might have a look at others.

James

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Pretty much there now.  I discovered last night that somewhere along the line I've broken support for the original QHY5 so I need to fix it, especially as it's one of the few cameras that will be supported initially.  Once that's done I think we're good to go.

James

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Hah!  There's always something waiting to bite you on the backside, isn't there?  I now have the QHY5 working again on Linux, but the firmware loading is a completely different process for the QHY5 compared with all the other QHY cameras, being a two-stage load rather than the normal single stage.

I think I can get this sorted as the process shouldn't be that different for each stage.  I could have done without it though :)

James

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Right then, I think I've had enough.  Who wants to play? :D

You will need a QHY5, QHY5L-II (I've tested mono, but colour may work) or one of the ZWO ASI cameras.  Even then it may break or not work, eat your firstborn or run off with your wife/husband/significant other.  It's been a couple of weeks since I tested it with my ASI120 because I had to flash it back to standard to test some stuff on Linux and now my Windows laptop is playing silly beggars.  Oh, that's another point.  To use the ZWO cameras you may well (almost certainly will) need to download the firmware from their website and install the "compatible" version of the firmware, using a Windows machine and it may be that once flashed you need to reflash with the other version to get the camera to work on Windows or Linux again.

The machine I am using for development is a relatively new MacBook Pro running Mavericks and it appears to work there.  I have no idea if it will work on anything else at the moment.  You will almost certainly get whinges when you try to install the package as I've not signed it and I'm not going to pay Apple $99/year for the dubious privilege of being an "OSX developer".  I'm sure it won't work on 32-bit machines, but if you're brave once the source release is done it is actually possible to build the entire thing from scratch.

If that lot hasn't put you off (and please note that I'm not promising that it will run off with your wife/husband/etc., so don't go relying on that), drop me a PM and I'll give you the details.  If the results aren't too hideous then I'll let the entire world know and attempt to get a few more cameras working for the next release.  Or I might throw the MacBook out of the window and go off to cry in a corner.  I've felt like it often enough over the last few weeks :)

James

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Come to think of it, even if you don't have a camera that is supported yet, it would be really useful if you were able to test that the executable works on your system whatever that may be.  It will need to be 64-bit, but it would be very helpful to get an idea of which OS releases do work and which might need a separate build.  Sadly setting up virtual machines running different releases of OSX looks to be an absolute nightmare.

James

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Come to think of it, even if you don't have a camera that is supported yet, it would be really useful if you were able to test that the executable works on your system whatever that may be.  It will need to be 64-bit, but it would be very helpful to get an idea of which OS releases do work and which might need a separate build.  Sadly setting up virtual machines running different releases of OSX looks to be an absolute nightmare.

James

Ok - I can test: 10.6.8 (32bit) on the mini, 10.8.5 (64bit) on the mbp and 10.9.something (I think 64bit as it's the other boot on the 10.6.8 mini). No cameras.. but I can test out if it works.

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Come to think of it, even if you don't have a camera that is supported yet, it would be really useful if you were able to test that the executable works on your system whatever that may be.  It will need to be 64-bit, but it would be very helpful to get an idea of which OS releases do work and which might need a separate build.  Sadly setting up virtual machines running different releases of OSX looks to be an absolute nightmare.

James

Same as Nick above...happy to give the executable a try 10.9.3 on the MBP (64bit), 10.7.5 on the older MacBook (may be 32 bit though), 10.9.3 on an iMac 64bit, and the various Mac-mini's here :)

Nicks feedback may be more useful as he's more techy.. ;)

James

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Lol James,

:ph34r: need to put in root password on the installer! tisk tisk :D Nothing gets that on my dev box.. but on the mini I'm happy to test out :)

I saw your PM on that - anything I can help you with?

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