Jump to content

Narrowband

Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)


gdheib0430

Recommended Posts

Just plugged the camera in again. The same thing is happening. I try to select another frame rate with the drop-down options list in the camera control panel, there is a pause as the live image disappears, and then the live image pops up again with the 30 frames per second rate retained. Any ideas?

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1.4k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

autonm, do you have a similar scope n mount to the 200p/eq5?

Sorry, forgot who's got what set-up.......:/

Regards

Aenima

I have a 200p - but on a Dob mount. So its a little difficult for me to track ... nudge, nudge, nudge, nudge

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just plugged the camera in again. The same thing is happening. I try to select another frame rate with the drop-down options list in the camera control panel, there is a pause as the live image disappears, and then the live image pops up again with the 30 frames per second rate retained. Any ideas?

Dave

I forget the name - but which file/video type is in the drop down? If its MJGP or something try switching it to the other... (sorry im at work, so cant remember the specifics).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI,

I know what you mean with the settings defaulting when you change something, so far I have used the 'Save as default' button - it lets you name and save a particular group of settings for later use, also if I have a preferred setting I just keep re-selecting it again whenever it resets. Make it the last thing to select before capture.

Though you never know, 30fps might be ok for the xboxcam and part of the reason for the better colour......? I dont know the tech specs for it so experimenting could help figure that stuff out.

The xbox is certainly a challenge, could be a good learning cam -- if you can get a good image on it then you'll be set when you upgrade to another camera. :)

Regards

Aenima

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm, interesting. I've just this minute installed SharpCap on my other laptop (the one I use for work and not my old one) and plugged in the Xbox webcam. The new hardware wizard churned away for quite a while, I got a bit worried, and then it gave me the happy message that the new hardware device was ready to use. I then started up SharpCap and I can now adjust the frame rate all the way down to 5 frames per second. Interesting. I expect that the issue could well be driver related.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm, interesting. I've just this minute installed SharpCap on my other laptop (the one I use for work and not my old one) and plugged in the Xbox webcam. The new hardware wizard churned away for quite a while, I got a bit worried, and then it gave me the happy message that the new hardware device was ready to use. I then started up SharpCap and I can now adjust the frame rate all the way down to 5 frames per second. Interesting. I expect that the issue could well be driver related.

Ah good. I wasnt sure if you literally couldnt select the rate or if it was able to be selected but kept jumping back....? But whichever it was, if your able to use the framerate you want now then all is well.

I'm trying out a ps3 eye camera, apparently it uses no compression even at high fps - a few seconds of capture clocks up a gigabyte easily! You'd only need a minute at most to get a giant file, which would make rotation something you dont have to worry about (people use software to de-rotate so...no longer an issue I hope)

Its not smooth running yet, driver and capture software issues, but I'll see what happens.

Best of luck and clearskies all round :)

Regards

Aenima

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is Jupiter on 14/11/12. I connected the webcam to my, newer, laptop which has a more updated driver (see above). I could then reduce the frame rate to 10 frames per second and take a longer series of snapshots. The image of Jupiter is composed of an aligned stack of 2000 images. The moon, Ganymede, is from another set of exposures, 500 this time, with Jupiter over exposed. The final image is a composite carefully edited together in Photoshop by Mrs WaveSoarer.

post-22790-0-17112300-1353017707_thumb.j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aenima,

I think that the older version of the driver wouldn't allow a frame rate other than 30 frames per second. SharpCap would try to set it lower but it would bounce back indicating 30 frames per second no matter what. The other laptop must have uploaded a more recent driver and the frame rate could be reduced all the way down to 5 frames per second. The latest image was taken at 10 fps for both of the images in the composite. Interestingly I could easily overexpose Jupiter to get the moons really easily. Mrs WaveSoarer had to dim the Ganymede part of the composite to bring its brightness down to a more realistic level - a bit of a guess and hardly scientific. The colour is a bit suppressed for Jupiter this time but increasing the hew within Photoshop would correct this.

I'll be interested to hear more about how you get on with the ps3 eye camera.

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice!

Just shows what a little determination can produce. :)

"They said it couldn't be done." L0L. :)

hehe.

Also you can imagine getting results from a better webcam and a few months experience behind you.

Well captured,

Aenima

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Aenima. I'm sure that more could be squeezed out of the Xbox cam. I think that the atmosphere wasn't all that steady as the avi that had Ganymede clearly visible showed the same broiling around its disc that I could see through the eyepiece. This would smear out detail on Jupiter itself. The default settings were also used in RegiStax and I expect that more experienced hands would get sharper images from the data.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah I notice on all my avi's that picking a reference frame for registax to start alignment with has to be one where the seeing improves for a brief second. I dont see it as much in EP but watching a minute of avi its clear that the atmosphere is anything but stable.

Also collimation is vital with a fast scope, like millimetre accuracy - if your having issues even after cooling the scope then you may want to tweak the collimation, for visual use a small amount of error is tolerated but when you sharpen up your images it becomes clear that focus and aligned mirrors do make that little difference to the detail you can pull from an avi.

I read a registax tutorial and learned the 2 and 3 sliders in wavelets are best for jupiter, not too far along either, less appears to be more in this case. And if you can, download Autostakkert!2 its fast and the output stacks work very well with the end (wavelets) process in registax. It seems a hassle but my best jupiters have been done that way. :)

Regards

Aenima

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great stuff Aenima. Thanks for this. I have been checking the telescope collimation and it has been fine - though I haven't checked it for the last few sessions. I will play with registax a bit more and Autostakkert!2 (what a name) sounds interesting.

all the best

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great stuff Aenima. Thanks for this. I have been checking the telescope collimation and it has been fine - though I haven't checked it for the last few sessions. I will play with registax a bit more and Autostakkert!2 (what a name) sounds interesting.

all the best

Dave

Woah. Sorry, keep forgetting your equatorial and driven! Someday you'll just have to get hold of a dslr body, so much potential for imaging - but one thing at a time.

Its good though to have the options open, keep it in mind for future missions. Nebula's man, little pieces of art in the sky. Mostly unnoticed, until you point a telescope with a dslr attached at them and they just appear - some are very nice to look at and make great photo projects. :)

The first time I saw something interesting in my eyepiece my declaration that I 'wasn't bothered about astrophotography' flew out the window and I was sticking anything that recorded images up to the EP - :evil: - but I think thats for a different thread.

Regards

Aenima

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a capture I managed to get of Jupiter through a 2x Barlow from 17.11.2012. Its made from around 2000 frames stacked and turned out rather fantastic compared to my previous attempts. The webcam still has the standard IR filter on I managed to mess up the threads on the screws at the rear trying to get it out. I will probably buy another soon and do a comparison.

It was processed in Autostakkert!2 and I think the moons are Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Did a few edits to remove a blue hue that was around part of jupiter and used the dodge tool on the moons to make them show a bit better.

DAnkW.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it helps anyone else out these are the settings that were used for the capture.

[Video Camera ]

Frame Divisor=1

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=10.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-7

Brightness=128

Contrast=54

Hue=2

Saturation=78

Sharpness=150

Gamma=191

WhiteBalance=5082

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=18

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had another go at the image I posted a couple of days ago. This time I played with the wavelets in RegiStax 6. I'm not completely sure what I was doing but it had a dramatic effect. I tried to keep the image as natural as I could and I managed to pull out more detail. There is a bit of a blue ring artefact around the image of the planet which seems to come from some enhanced noise from the CCD. I expect that this could be easily removed by photoshop. Interestingly Ganymede is also visible if you really push things but then the artefact gets worse (you can just see it still). Incidentally this image doesn't have the photoshop over-exposed overly that I used in the previous image which give a more with a more prominent Ganymede. I'll try that later,

post-22790-0-93953400-1353343846_thumb.j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Incidentally, I had a go at Uranus last night. Registax didn't have much to go on and the atmospheric stability wasn't great but .... This was with a 3x Barlow.

Thats a better result with detail on the jupiter image though you can see the issues people are having with colour, i'm actually thinking a black n white image may take the hassle out of the equation while allowing us to concentrate on detail, at least as far as the xbox cam goes - obviously a different cam will give different material to work with. :)

As for Uranus, great job. NO-one will be getting any detail on that tiny planet, so its all about having a) found it, and b ) got it on file by imaging it. :)

These things are what keep us interested. I'm seeing jupiter in my SLEEP after 6 months of twiddling settings in registax, trying all kinds of subtle changes to get a better image - you know: is 200 of the best frames from a 2000 frame AVI better than 25% of the best frames from 500 frame AVI? Or should I adjust the brightness or gamma, or use levels or curves? ARRGH !

Is it worth developing a facial twitch and gastric ulcers to finally produce an image your happy with? I would have to say YES, it is. :)

Take care dude,

Regards

Aenima

PS. edit: For atmospheric problems, if you dont already do it then always make the first thing you do after stacking the 'RGB Align' - 'estimate' function, it repairs any colour issues from atmospheric diffraction (red/blue tinges on each side)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a capture I managed to get of Jupiter through a 2x Barlow from 17.11.2012. Its made from around 2000 frames stacked and turned out rather fantastic compared to my previous attempts. The webcam still has the standard IR filter on I managed to mess up the threads on the screws at the rear trying to get it out. I will probably buy another soon and do a comparison.

It was processed in Autostakkert!2 and I think the moons are Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Did a few edits to remove a blue hue that was around part of jupiter and used the dodge tool on the moons to make them show a bit better.

DAnkW.png

Wow. This is a great image when you consider the scope is 50mm less aperture and just a single x2 barlow. Miles better than my early attempts which were done with a 130p - :) love it.

Also, Autostakkert!2 is strangely simple but effective - you may need to finish it in a different program (registax wavelets work well once AS!2 has stacked it) to get the full benefit but its worth it, and another great piece of software that is totally free.

Nice result !

Regards

Aenima

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Aenima. I'm still feeling my way round RegiStax and I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I should have a proper thumb through the manual - if there is such a thing. I still haven't seen the GRS and I'm itching to at least observe this. A half decent image would also be a bonus.

I really couldn't resist attempting an image of Uranus. I wasn't expecting anything other than the result I posted here but I really wanted to get it for my little collection and when I still had the opportunity before it gets too low in the sky to see from my location.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should congratulate Jongo also. That's really a great job. You managed to capture detail on Jupiter and capture the moons which takes some doing.

Theres not really any manual but I have seen a couple of rough guides on you tube, and its enough to get an idea but really its a slow process of trial and error. o.0

A few things to remember - Use the best frame as the reference frame (the one you apply alignpoints to) then set it aligning, next use the quality ( best frames % ) limit button to make registax choose the majority of the best frames (eg 600 out of 1500, or 45% of a thousand frames) this can be done using sliders if you select registrationgraph but its difficult to explain (see tutorial on youtube)

Then stack after the limit option, it actually works the same but easier to do the stacking in autostakkert its free and easy - three buttons to push :) then tick 'save output in folder' window and give it a name ie stack1 - then stack the best say 300-600 frames or again a percentage will be chosen, then find your output stack in the folder and load it from registax 5 or 6 as a single tiff or png file and take it directly to 'wavelets' and after using 'align RGB' estimate button use wavelets to slide #2 and #3 sliders about half way up, maybe sharpen using the up/down box next to each slider, just a little bit - less is often more.

Sorry, not the best at explaining stuff, but give the above a go, check it out.

Regards

Aenima

PS after working out stacking, the other thing is to work on getting the best avi you can, focus etc. best of luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.