PS3 Eye webcam avi problem

[cuivenion]

Hi, I have a Playstation 3 Eye webcam that I am testing for astro use. I've not modded it yet, I'm just trying to get it working generally.  I've done some test vids and when I've tried to play them back they're very choppy, like they're missing frames yet the right frame number appears in registax. The best way to explain it is the files appear very speeded up and don't last as long as originally recorded.

This happens at 10fps which is quite low. The computer is an 8 core, 8gb DDR3 RAM, Windows 7 (64 bit) desktop so I would've thought it would handle it.  I'm using Sharpcap to record, but i have this problem on Craterlet as well.

I've tried lower frame rates and resolutions and I have the same problem every time. It happens when I try to play the vids in Window Media Player or VLC. I did have had to rename the file as .avi when I first tried to open it, so it would open in those players. Could it be that the camera isn't saving the data as avi? I run a Quickcam 4000 on a very old laptop and don't have these problems.

I've installed the latest CL Eye driver and the preview in Sharpcap works fine. I'm obviously missing a trick somewhere.

[cuivenion]

The Eye does record properly with Debut video capture software, but this is not astro orientated. Sharpcap is much more suited so if I could find a solution that'd be great.

[rwg]

Hi, what driver are you using? If you see the same problems in SharpCap and craterlet then it is likely to be a driver issue of some sort.

Cheers

Robin

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[cuivenion]

Hi, It's the latest PS3 Eye CL driver:

https://codelaboratories.com/downloads/

This also happens with the CL Eye test software that comes with the driver. However Debut records fine. The only difference I can think of between Debut and the other three programs is that Debut allows you to choose what format you save the recording in.

Great software by the way. Works faultlessly with my Quickcam Pro 4000.

[cuivenion]

Hi from some more reading the PS3 Eye outputs the video in uncompressed RAW format, where vas most webcams compress thier output. Could this be part of the problem?

[rwg]

Well, it's kind of hard to say what's going to be the cause - with WebCams, SharpCap (and other capture software) doesn't actually have to do a great deal of the work itself - it just orders the DirectShow framework around - tells it which device to connect to, which window to show the preview to, which file to save to and lets DirectShow get on with it. DirectShow does all the talking to the webcam driver, grabbing frames, displaying them, saving them to AVI, etc...

When that works, it's great. When it fails completely you often get an error code from DirectShow and maybe you can work out why and fix it. When it mostly works but is glitchy - as in your case - it's very difficult to deal with

What I will suggest is that you should try installing an old version of SharpCap (version 1.5.X) and see if you get better results in that using the 'Direct Show (old code)' version of the camera in the Cameras menu. The old webcam code used a simpler way of setting up DirectShow than the current versions of SharpCap and might just behave differently. I'd also suggest that if at all possible you try testing the camera on another PC - Sometimes these sort of bugs manifest on a single machine due to an odd set of circumstances which are very hard to determine. If it happens on every machine you test it on at least we have a reproducable issue

cheers,

Robin

[cuivenion]

Hi, I've used the AviRaw program to open the capture files. That lets me save as an Avi file. However this Avi file is in slow motion lol. Registax does see all the individual frames though so I suppose that's all I need. I'll follow your suggestions and see If I can get any improvement.

[cuivenion]

I'm getting the same results on a different laptop. I haven't tried using the older version of Sharpcap yet though. As far as I can tell Sharpcap is doing what it's supposed to, it's just that the Eye outputs in uncompressed RAW. Other webcams have to be modded to do this.

[Mick J]

As a btb, win7 64bit, I have an old playstation3 eye camera as new (plus one in bits somewhere?) an old driver downloaded 'CL-Eye-Driver-5.1.1.0317' (Nov2012?) and of course SharpCap2.

I installed the eyedriver, plugged the camera in ran sharpcap and captured 1000 frames. I am offered only RGB32, 640x480 or 320x240.  I can adjust gain, exposure & white balance.  Opening the AVI in VLC it's not liked, VLC reconstructs the file index, when it plays at 640x480 (as recorded) codec information claims 67fps and the movie is 14seconds long (a quicktime player gives same numbers, no alert but loads slowly).  If I record at 320x240 frame rate jumps to 166 duration drops to 6seconds.  So far I cannot see any dropped frames or choppy video, SharpCap reports no dropped frames and capture at 30ish fps, will only offer the pseye camera, I cannot pick directshow.

happy to play a bit later.

[cuivenion]

I was just playing as is in VLC without rebuilding the index. Tried it in Windows Media Player too and had the same results. So you're saying the video ran OK after rebuilding the file index? I don't think you can pick Directshow, just the camera you are using.

If you get the latest driver you should get a lot more options for frame rates and RGB24, you'll still only have the two resolutions though. What I think is that playback is strange because the Eye is outputting uncompressed RAW video that you need specialized software to playback and modify.

[Mick J]

Just quickly, found AviRaw and saved out, makes 5fps so slow (all frames were there), video now 2.5minutes long !!.  Video played in VLC after reduilding (rebuilds every time!).  An old friend - must be something newer - GSpot v2.70a reports raw format, BI_RGB Raw Bitmap whatever that means, but as you say output in raw format so uncompressed.

[cuivenion]

Further to this I've been playing around with the PS3 Eye in the latest version of Sharpcap and found that Avi's playback correctly if they are captured choosing a specific number of frames, not by time as I was doing before.

[jimbo747]

I got this too. You planning on doing longer exposures then? If I record at 0.1fps the video plays quickly like you experience but virtualdub confirms all frames are there.

[cuivenion]

I am planning on seeing what I can do with longer exposures. I'll need motors first though, and some clear skies. Weather round here has been awful lately.

[rwg]

Further to this I've been playing around with the PS3 Eye in the latest version of Sharpcap and found that Avi's playback correctly if they are captured choosing a specific number of frames, not by time as I was doing before.

I'm glad that it works this way for you, although I can't for the life of me see why this would make any difference - the code stops the capture in exactly the same way just if the frame count is exceeded instead of if the time limit is exceeded...

cheers,

Robin

[cuivenion]

I'm glad that it works this way for you, although I can't for the life of me see why this would make any difference - the code stops the capture in exactly the same way just if the frame count is exceeded instead of if the time limit is exceeded...

cheers,

Robin

Cheers for the reply, if you don't know I don't stand a chance lol. I'll just take the working avi's and be happy.