QHY5L-IIC and PHD

[mballak]

Two questions here:

Whats going on with this?

Sorry I know its sideways, not sure why its loading that way but I didn't feel like figuring it out right now.  I set my guide scope and 5L-IIC in the garage just to test software prior to setting my entire rig up.  The picture is using my 5L-IIC and PHD2 using the ASCOM driver.  I guessing the grid has something to do with the bayer matrix.  But I don't get the same result using PHD1 and the ASCOM driver.  

So is there a significant difference between PHD1 and PHD2 interns of guiding performance?

Oh,..guess I got a third question.  Has anyone else had driver issues with their 5L-IIC?   I'm no genius but I'm pretty tech savvy and I've found the software, drivers, and instructions less than user friendly.  Just wondering if anyone else felt that way...maybe I'm not as tech savvy as I thought.   

As always thanks!

Mike

[Radders]

Hi Mike, I got that grid pattern on some AVI's I took of the Moon last night using Firecapture. I have no idea what it is or how to get rid of it. I had the of cut filter on and wondered if it was that.

Paul

[Zakalwe]

Is it a colour camera or mono?

[Radders]

Mine is the colour.

Paul

[Zakalwe]

Then you probably haven't set the correct de-Bayer matrix to de-Bayer the images into colour.

[Radders]

How or where do you change them? Do you know?

[Notty]

Can't help with the Bayer settings in PHD but I was having major stability issues with the same camera when I ported to a newer higher spec laptop. It was solved by downloading the "high performance" drivers from qhyccd.com. There are two sets; high compatibility and high performance, and I think my driver disk from modern astronomy came with the high compatibility drivers.

I'll be watching this with interest though as I intend to use my QHY5L-iic for guiding with PHD eventually too, so I hope you get it sorted.

[Christopher Davenport]

Don't use the ascom driver, install the native driver and phd2 will work out of the box.

[glowingturnip]

yep, that grid is the bayer matrix.

I find the QHY5LiiC to be very driver and codec-specific.  In PHD2, I found 3 ways to connect:

- via the ASCOM driver for QHY which I think is what you did and I had the grid too

- via WMD Webcam, using RGB24 codec which worked fine for daytime (but then you don't need to guide in the daytime)

- via the QHY5Lii named directly in the camera list in PHD2 (not ASCOM) - useless in the daytime, since is hugely overexposed for everything apart from putting the lens cap on, but works perfectly straight away at night, pinsharp stars and very little noise.  I think this is how it's supposed to be used for guiding.

For planetary, I found it worked straight away and very well with the bundled EZPlanetary software, but I couldn't get it to work at all with SharpCap.

Still, I'm very pleased with mine, much much better than my SPC900c or Meade LPI

[Radders]

Unlike the OP, I don't do guiding or use PHD. I only do planetary or lunar imaging. Should I uninstall all the drivers and just reinstall the native driver?

Paul

[lensman57]

Two questions here:

Whats going on with this?grid.JPG

Sorry I know its sideways, not sure why its loading that way but I didn't feel like figuring it out right now.  I set my guide scope and 5L-IIC in the garage just to test software prior to setting my entire rig up.  The picture is using my 5L-IIC and PHD2 using the ASCOM driver.  I guessing the grid has something to do with the bayer matrix.  But I don't get the same result using PHD1 and the ASCOM driver.  

So is there a significant difference between PHD1 and PHD2 interns of guiding performance?

Oh,..guess I got a third question.  Has anyone else had driver issues with their 5L-IIC?   I'm no genius but I'm pretty tech savvy and I've found the software, drivers, and instructions less than user friendly.  Just wondering if anyone else felt that way...maybe I'm not as tech savvy as I thought.   

As always thanks!

Mike

It is not Debayering correctly, check your settings.

A.G

[glowingturnip]

Unlike the OP, I don't do guiding or use PHD. I only do planetary or lunar imaging. Should I uninstall all the drivers and just reinstall the native driver?

Paul

I installed all the drivers for mine, and it works fine with EZPlanetary, but not with SharpCap for me, not sure why. 

[Radders]

Will give it a go with EZ planetary. Have you tried it with Firecapture?

[glowingturnip]

I haven't, tbh

[mballak]

Is it a colour camera or mono?

Color

[mballak]

Can't help with the Bayer settings in PHD but I was having major stability issues with the same camera when I ported to a newer higher spec laptop. It was solved by downloading the "high performance" drivers from qhyccd.com. There are two sets; high compatibility and high performance, and I think my driver disk from modern astronomy came with the high compatibility drivers.

I'll be watching this with interest though as I intend to use my QHY5L-iic for guiding with PHD eventually too, so I hope you get it sorted.

What do you consider higher spec laptop? I'm running win7 32bit on a 2 ghtz core-duo MacBook with 8 gigs of ram.

I used the compatibility driver cause the website said something about Mac compatibility.

[mballak]

Don't use the ascom driver, install the native driver and phd2 will work out of the box.

When you say native do you mean the "QHY5l-II" driver or the " native WMD driver?

[Notty]

What do you consider higher spec laptop? I'm running win7 32bit on a 2 ghtz core-duo MacBook with 8 gigs of ram.

I used the compatibility driver cause the website said something about Mac compatibility.

An i5 laptop running Win7. It was previously used on an antique about 7 years old. Maybe there are additional issues with compatibility intel/mac but I'm afraid I can't help.

[Radders]

This is one of the Moon avi's I took the other day with the Qhy5l-ii colour.

Paul

[Christopher Davenport]

When you say native do you mean the "QHY5l-II" driver or the " native WMD driver?

I installed both, although I only use the qhy5 one. The native windows driver is helpful for other software.

[Zakalwe]

That grid pattern is the Bayer matrix. You need to select the correct matrix to remove the grid and to turn the image into colour.

The QHY5L-II driver doesn't work, AFAIK, with PHD. According to the QHY site (and in the very best Chinglish!)

"Currently PHDGuiding's directly QHY5-II or QHY5L-II plugin has some bug please do not use this directly driver come with the PHDGuide software.

Please use the ASCOM to connect between camera and PHDGuiding"

[Christopher Davenport]

That grid pattern is the Bayer matrix. You need to select the correct matrix to remove the grid and to turn the image into colour.

The QHY5L-II driver doesn't work, AFAIK, with PHD. According to the QHY site (and in the very best Chinglish!)

"Currently PHDGuiding's directly QHY5-II or QHY5L-II plugin has some bug please do not use this directly driver come with the PHDGuide software.

Please use the ASCOM to connect between camera and PHDGuiding"

This may be true for PHD1, but in PHD2 the authors have made PHD2 work natively with QHY5 II, so it is plug and play.

EDIT: Changes in v2.3.0 - http://openphdguiding.org/

[glowingturnip]

This is one of the Moon avi's I took the other day with the Qhy5l-ii colour.

Paul

yep, that's the bayer matrix not being decoded properly by whichever driver/codec you're using.  Try EZPlanetary, worked a treat for me, and I actually like the programme too

[mballak]

I installed both, although I only use the qhy5 one. The native windows driver is helpful for other software.

PHD2 seems to freeze why I try and used the straight QHY5L-II driver.  So thats why I've been using the ASCOM driver.  Is there a big difference in tracking capability/performance between PHD1 and 2?

Now if it would ever stop raining here in Denver.

[Christopher Davenport]

PHD2 seems to freeze why I try and used the straight QHY5L-II driver.  So thats why I've been using the ASCOM driver.  Is there a big difference in tracking capability/performance between PHD1 and 2?

Now if it would ever stop raining here in Denver.

PHD1 and 2 are both equally capable at guiding, but 2 includes features which enable you to tweak your guiding and polar alignment, thus you can get far more accurate using 2.

In terms of the QHY5L-ii drivers, mine work fines and so do countless others. I can only think that your driver has some how had a setting changed which is flooding the USB bus.  Easiest way to rectify this would be to uninstall the driver and then reinstall it.