Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

[Stargazing_Cliff]

I know gunna try various avi recordings and try capture some them trails of meteor's looking forward to august and winter skies ahead. liked that pic on sky at night magazine with people laying down watching skies class.

[pallas15]

Just ripped apart my xbox cam,,no case damage ..broke leds with a chefs knife .removed lens holder and replaced front..got some 1.25 pipe but have seen differint opinions on lenght...2"----4"------with barlow-----without barlow.....any info would help...using on skywatcher 130....cheers

GREAT...JUST GOT MY 1.25 PIPING AND IT WONT GO INSIDE MY 1.25 FOCUSER....DONT UNDERSTAND..

1.25 LENSES... CHECK

1.25 FOCUSER...CHECK

1.25...PIPE......WICKES PIPE LABELLED 1.25...32MM PIPE.....PRINTED ON PIPE..34MM..THEY SAY MEASUREMENT IS INSIDE DIAMETER....AAAAAAAGGGHHHH

ANY ADVICE GANG

[Leo.A]

My advice would be to simply use the nose adaptor used for the Philips spc900. It screws straight on, same as with the Philips and you won't have any alignment issues.

Most pipe is measured / rated nominal bore, which is indeed ID.

[pallas15]

My advice would be to simply use the nose adaptor used for the Philips spc900. It screws straight on, same as with the Philips and you won't have any alignment issues.

Most pipe is measured / rated nominal bore, which is indeed ID.

nice one..would i need to use a barlow to achieve focus ?

[Aenima]

Hi there pallas,

Dont know if you read the other post I left in 'suitable webcam advice' thread but if I missed anything or it isnt clear let me know, anything you find trouble with ask on thread or pm me - either way, keep trying and asking - it'll work one way or another.

Regards

Jay

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Was testing astrocapture with linux settings i unticked the auto exposure and clicked full and clicked on 1/33

and aimed spotter at star and wow startrailing on screen looking awesome.

lot hot pixels as i was inside looking at star through window.

I'm just showing this example looking at star it was Izar at resolution 640 x 480

Orginal image extracted from avi.

Cleaned that image up bit using Registax shows how good that software is

[Aenima]

Nice1 Cliff.

Registax is a great way to clean avi's so you can take better frames out. I think it takes the video frames and when it stacks them it recognises random noise that isnt part of the picture and removes them, so your left with cleaner backgrounds and hopefully a more defined pic.

What settings did you use to get longer exposure Cliff?

Regards

Jay

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Nice1 Cliff.

Registax is a great way to clean avi's so you can take better frames out. I think it takes the video frames and when it stacks them it recognises random noise that isnt part of the picture and removes them, so your left with cleaner backgrounds and hopefully a more defined pic.

What settings did you use to get longer exposure Cliff?

Regards

Jay

Not sure what setting it was but when i first load up astrocapture using Xubuntu linux that does settings automatic

set on normal exposure at FPS 5

so you can look at stuff quicker then i just unticked Auto exp.

and box thing shows shut with settings from

1/25

1/33

1/50

1/100

1/250

1/500

1/1000

1/1500

1/2500

1/5000

1/10000

I just clicked on 1/25 or could been 1/33 and thats when it made that trail when looking at star.

it drops the fps to like 1 and 2 on screen and wow you notice what does very very very sensitive to light

anything that goes past screen will get that kinda stacked trail.

I'm sure i captured some shooting star or faint star go past looked awesome watching it on screen.

here video to watch i'm sure when i unticked the auto exposure made some how my scope lot closer to star you see it on me video i also was looking at some wierd lights from must been some helicopter looked wierd i was moving me scope tracking it.

The stars where from xbox cam i changed to ps3 cam for moon and also travelar at end

http://youtu.be/dssRfSjI5o0

[Stargazing_Cliff]

I shud name my scope Starshooter

[Aenima]

Nice.

It's amazing how many random lights or 'objects' go by while looking up at the sky, loads of little dots traveling past. And even smaller things, when looking through the eyepiece at the right time, shoot across the FOV, often too fast to follow properly.

Never noticed until I got a telescope.....

Jay

[WaveSoarer]

Jay,

How right you are. I'm amazed how many satellites I see just through the finder.

Dave

[Aenima]

Just ripped apart my xbox cam,,no case damage ..broke leds with a chefs knife .removed lens holder and replaced front..got some 1.25 pipe but have seen differint opinions on lenght...2"----4"------with barlow-----without barlow.....any info would help...using on skywatcher 130....cheers

GREAT...JUST GOT MY 1.25 PIPING AND IT WONT GO INSIDE MY 1.25 FOCUSER....DONT UNDERSTAND..

1.25 LENSES... CHECK

1.25 FOCUSER...CHECK

1.25...PIPE......WICKES PIPE LABELLED 1.25...32MM PIPE.....PRINTED ON PIPE..34MM..THEY SAY MEASUREMENT IS INSIDE DIAMETER....AAAAAAAGGGHHHH

ANY ADVICE GANG

Heya.

With the xbox casing everyone has had to file or cut the front part away a bit to fit the nosepiece of the spc900 adapter and then , to fit the end all the way into the black lens holder to catch the thread they had to file a few mm off that too. Dont worry, just a little adjustment and some sandpaper/model knife work and it all fits together fine. Though the whole thing does look and fit better if you use the 880/900 webcam nosepiece they are an excellent fit,

Regards

Aenima

[Aenima]

I shud name my scope Starshooter

I shud name my scope Starshooter

PS ah, sorry Cliff I keep forgetting you use linux. I'm only able to use yer normal vista or xp type thing on my laptop but linux sounds interesting though.

[pallas15]

Heya.

With the xbox casing everyone has had to file or cut the front part away a bit to fit the nosepiece of the spc900 adapter and then , to fit the end all the way into the black lens holder to catch the thread they had to file a few mm off that too. Dont worry, just a little adjustment and some sandpaper/model knife work and it all fits together fine. Though the whole thing does look and fit better if you use the 880/900 webcam nosepiece they are an excellent fit,

Regards

Aenima

got the spc900 coming from flo...will that b ok...will it be used with the barlow or just in the focuser

[Aenima]

It'll pop right in the barlow which then goes in the focuser, hopefully the combination will achieve focus for you though even if that doesnt work, there will be other options still open. It is a bit of fiddling around at first but you'll soon be up and running.

Weaher here is cloud, better luck tomorrow i hope.

Jay.

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Aenima what you could do is download ubuntu or xubuntu and download the live cd iso and burn that to cd and just reboot pc and it allows you to run linux without changing your op system

then just search google for astrocapture deb

and just install it

or with ubuntu/ xubuntu you can install inside windows. so you have choice when you reboot to boot windows or linux.

[Aenima]

Yeah man, might try it out of intrest but wont be able to run much with it as my hard drive is bursting with avi's and all the rest! astronomy and image processing takes up LOADS of my space. Want external harddrive but my list of want's is long enough already - Culd fill up the harddrive with wish list on ebay! lol

But ta 4 the idea, Cliff, i'm curious about the settings with linux enough tp give it a go.

Jay

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Yeah man, might try it out of intrest but wont be able to run much with it as my hard drive is bursting with avi's and all the rest! astronomy and image processing takes up LOADS of my space. Want external harddrive but my list of want's is long enough already - Culd fill up the harddrive with wish list on ebay! lol

But ta 4 the idea, Cliff, i'm curious about the settings with linux enough tp give it a go.

Jay

I just installed linux onto flash drive then i can usb boot install linux on any machine i use

Link below how to install to usb

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/put-xubuntu-10-04-on-a-flash-drive-with-windows/

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Modded me xbox cams as normal skycams for time being try capture some them meteor's for next 2 weeks i'll keep me 2 xbox cams as skycams once thats past re-mod 1 back to telescope

set 1 up facing skies with f3 infinity lens 7.7mm and other i'm using as temporary cctv as it picks up in dark added original lens and added fish eye thing to front of that gives view me garden and quite bit of skies mite catch some meteor trailing across skies if lucky

using me other cams on telescope for time being.

mite buy another xbox cam from ebay sometime also. just mod it normally.

[Leo.A]

to fit the end all the way into the black lens holder to catch the thread they had to file a few mm off that too. Dont worry, just a little adjustment and some sandpaper/model knife work and it all fits together fine. Though the whole thing does look and fit better if you use the 880/900 web cam nose piece they are an excellent fit,

Funny enough, my first SPC880-900 adaptor was plastic/nylon/something non metallic, and it fitted just fine with a longer threaded section. My new alloy adaptor wouldn't reach on the xbox cam so it went straight on the SPC880.

I didn't realise there were differing available lengths when I purchased the new alloy one.

I'm putting my xbox cam in a new case. I want to mount it on my rain gutter and leave it outside so I need it water proof/resistant. I really need an USB booster cable so I can set it up better, the 5 metre USB limit is a pain when my computer is 6-7 metres from the mounting point.

Without the aid of a scope, I'd like to capture the Milky Way and since it'd directly overhead every night, I should be able to do something of worth (for all those of you who don't get to see it in all it's natural beauty).

I need some street lights gone. I used to use a slingshot as a child but these new tough covers....:Haha:

[Aenima]

Thats a good point leo.A, I heard of one or two particular designs had a different thread, and somewhere above in this thread some of the ones that fit the xbox thread are mentioned, though it should be the usual spc880/900 adapters that work. They just are a little short hence the sanding of the plastic recieving piece. I guess if someone couldn't get the lensholder off the main body sanding would be messy for the chip/IR glass so a model knife would work better by slicing the extra off.

But thats a good thing to remember when ordering, that you get one thats known to fit.

On a very very dark clear night, here in Devon, part of the Milky Way is just visible as a pale streak that runs overhead this time of year going through Cassiopeia. A nice view and indicator of a good night to observe. Good luck on capturing it.

Regards

Aeinima

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Hope xbox gang take some awesome images of meteor shower we all waiting for

I got 2 xbox's as normal skycams

1 ps3 eyetoy cam connected to telescope and wii cam a-focal with some monocular i created will have them all monitoring skies ready for them meteor peaks

and spec lab running listening to frequency around 50-55 mhz fm on me moonraker and maybe pocket radio to some radio station.

[Aenima]

Hope xbox gang take some awesome images of meteor shower we all waiting for

I got 2 xbox's as normal skycams

1 ps3 eyetoy cam connected to telescope and wii cam a-focal with some monocular i created will have them all monitoring skies ready for them meteor peaks

and spec lab running listening to frequency around 50-55 mhz fm on me moonraker and maybe pocket radio to some radio station.

Oh yeah, when is the shower? Even though I dont know how to set up my gear to detect them I can still be out ready to see one or two.

Thanks for the reminder, Clif.

Aenima

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Oh yeah, when is the shower? Even though I dont know how to set up my gear to detect them I can still be out ready to see one or two.

Thanks for the reminder, Clif.

Aenima

around 10-13th August i rekon highest peaks be 12th most likely. for skycams set up download some motion detect software and set on highest detect mode.

or set time to take snap shot every so many seconds and be luck if capture trail

or just randomly do some avi recordings

I shall be using deskshare webcam monitor 5 which i normally use

which takes image every ten seconds or mite use webcam surveyor i can set that to take snap shot at any seconds. maybe set 1 on motion detect.

probably take couple avi's randomly with astrocapture or astrovideo take some raw images with that astrovideo and do same with telescope cam get that time lapsing.

[Aenima]

Nice1 Cliff.

Yeah, I should think google will find something I can use,will read instructions though as not used time lapse type stuff. I'll be ready after last meteor shower - Lyrids? - where I was outside for nearly an hour and saw one, but still glad to see it.

Thanks for the reminder, bit scatty sometimes so I could've missed it all.

Regards

Aenima