Philips SPC880NC is now.......

[russ]

a Philips SPC900NC

And fully operational and took less than 60secs to do

And thanks to Morgans who delivered next day. Just need a nosepiece now.

[Deneb]

How did you re flash it ? or not...

Nadeem.

[Whippy]

Nice one Russ, I forsee a glut of lunar and planetary images heading onto SGL soon .

Tony..

[eddy]

Could you post up a tutorial on howto do it? As im clueless! Thanks

Eddy

[russ]

Hi all,

I installed the camera first using the INF file from the Morgans site. The camera is recognised as a Toucam 750K.

I then followed the instructions for flashing a Toucam Pro II 840K to SPC900NC:

Philips SPC900NC uncovered

PLEASE GO CAREFUL AND READ THROUGH ALL INFO ON THE LINK ABOVE. THIS MUST BE DONE USING A WINDOWS XP SYSTEM!

Download WcRmac and the SPC900NC binary file. Install WcRmac and then copy the SPC900NC binary file to C:\Program Files\TWIRG\WcRmac\binary\8116

Start WcRmac, click the webcam tab at the top, choose DS Interface, select the camera in the window and connect. Click the Binaries tab and you should see the SPC900NC binary you copied to the 8116 folder earlier. Click the 'Get current and save as' button to back up the current binary file. Then highlight the new SPC900NC binary and click on the 'Load into cam' button. Close the program once done. Unplug the webcam and install the SPC900NC driver:

SPC900NC/00 Philips Webcam SPC900NC VGA CCD with Pixel Plus - Philips Support

Plug in the cam, windows will find the device and installs. Job done!

But please follow the instructions on the other website as they know what they are doing.

Edited September 12, 2010 by russ

[Beulah]

You're heading for a knighthood Russ, the way things are going...

Edited September 12, 2010 by Beulah

[klytus]

Could you post up a tutorial on howto do it? As im clueless! Thanks

Eddy

With a reminder about what nosepiece and filter (i think was mentioned previously) was required please if possible.

[russ]

This nosepiece fits but there is also one offered by Wayne which looks nicer for the same money but i haven't got a link:

Astro Engineering AC414s 1.25" low-profile nosepiece to webcam lens thread (ToUcam Pro SPC900NC)

And this is the filter, although someone may know of a better one:

ScopeTeknix ScopeTeknix 1.25" Infrared & UV blocking filter

[Supay]

This nosepiece fits but there is also one offered by Wayne which looks nicer for the same money but i haven't got a link:

Astro Engineering AC414s 1.25" low-profile nosepiece to webcam lens thread (ToUcam Pro SPC900NC)

Here is Wayne's website, and it is a lot cheaper from him than from any of the other retailers.

Billet Parts / Vintage & Classic Spares

[zedds]

Hello all.

I ordered two directly from wayne`s site HERE.

Hope this helps.

[zedds]

Snap:)

[russ]

I've just ordered from Wayne's website.

[Ogri]

Very nice Russ.

It's all trepidation and wibbles and wobbles before we do reflashes and firmware upgrades, then when we do one, it's all constructive achievement, rewarding, and occasionally even, meerkat.

eta: Now, who is up for that A to B instruction manual for auto-guiding my AZ3? *grins and runs away*

Edited September 12, 2010 by Ogri

[Hypernova]

Hi russ thanks for the tutorial, probably should be made a sticky in the primers section or in imaging somewhere.

I luckily have a computer that runs XP that I just remembered about, it is old though and runs a pentium 3 processor and thankfully has usb (1.1) ports but it should do to flash the two webcams that are on their way.

And I have also just ordered a nosepiece from Wayne's site, I was kicking myself last night for not ordering one earlier in the week because it was the clearest it had been all month and I bet jupiter would have been a great object to image.

[russ]

I've been kicking myself too for not ordering the nosepiece and filter earlier

[toml42]

Excellent! Just waiting for mine to arrive now, thanks for the info!

[Rob]

Not received my cam yet.. hoping it arrives monday so I can give the flash a go!!

Thanks for the info Russ

[Hypernova]

Just one question, how do I install the webcam in the first place using the .inf file from the website as you say at the start of your message?

[russ]

copy the downloaded file to a folder on the PC, plug in the camera and when Windows wants the driver, direct it to the folder with the inf file. Job done!

Edited September 12, 2010 by russ

[wayne weedon]

Had a play with my cam last night. I'm Impressed even though I'm no seasoned imager. certainly seems to beat the lifecam and the fact we have a Gain control certainly helps.

Wayne...

[Hypernova]

Cheers Russ

[Ludd]

Hi, can I just check whether I'm missing out big time by not snapping up one of these famous webcams? I've been using a ToUcam PRO II (aka 840K) and seem to have adequate controls over the camera settings when using craterlet to capture video. Apart from the fact that I paid £30 for this cam a few years back, does the SPC880NC offer any advantages?

Thanks in advance for the enlightenment!

Paul

[russ]

Paul, your are not missing out at all. Both cameras are the same, except the 880 has a flashy suit.

[Psychobilly]

except the 880 has a flashy suit.

Is that because it has a couple more buttons...?

[Ogri]

Paul, if you have had your ToUcam PRO II for a few years, £6 seems a very cheap insurance policy for a full hardware backup to have in the cupboard?