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Philips SPC900NC

Memory Bliss

By Memory Bliss
in The Astro Lounge

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Memory Bliss

Memory Bliss

Posted
Posted

For all those who are trying to locate a Philips SPC900NC webcam, I have managed to track some down and decided to share my good news with you. I found a Malaysian website, which seems to be their equivalent of Ebay and a seller on there has a large stock of SPC900NC (98 when I last checked). I ordered 2 of them, with the exchange rate and delivery worked out to be roughly £45 each (paid via Paypal).

My delivery arrived yesterday and took about 3weeks from purchasing to arriving at my door. The items are brand new, sealed and complete with installation disc and work as a SPC900NC should.

For those who are interested here is the link to the item. I found the seller extremely efficient and very prompt with his communication. Unfortunately, the actual website, I didn’t find very user friendly.

http://www.lelong.com.my/clearance-philips-webcam-spc900nc-00-ccd-1-3mp-world-K408405-2007-01-Sale-I.htm

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phil m105

phil m105

Posted
Posted

hi all

can i just ask what is so special about these webcams as im extremely new to the hobby

ive heard alot of people rave about them

but seen some very good images of planets with lesser talked about cams (ie xbox cam & even a £3 cam from tesco)

has anyone got any images using the same equipment in the same conditions with both webcams to compare the images

is it all just hype ?

would like to see the evidence

:icon_scratch:

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Memory Bliss

Memory Bliss

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I think it took a day or two. He will give you various options of delivery, I went for the cheapest. After you have chosen which option, you pay via paypal to the email address he provides, then he will update selling history and finally despatch the goods. Like I said, its not very user friendly.

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jflowers

jflowers

Posted
Posted

Thanks MB

hi all

can i just ask what is so special about these webcams as im extremely new to the hobby

ive heard alot of people rave about them

but seen some very good images of planets with lesser talked about cams (ie xbox cam & even a £3 cam from tesco)

has anyone got any images using the same equipment in the same conditions with both webcams to compare the images

is it all just hype ?

would like to see the evidence

:icon_scratch:

These webcams have ccd chips which are better for low light conditions and have a good set of adjustments for us astronomers. The more common cmos chips are not quite as good unless you pay lots for them.

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JamesF

JamesF

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There are a few reasons why the SPC880/900/Toucam are sought after.

Probably the primary reason is that the sensor is very sensitive and low-noise. There are few webcams that can match it in those terms. It's also easy to modify for solar system imaging, and not that bad for long exposures or to reduce the amp glow during long exposures. The firmware also provides good access to the controls for the imaging system in terms of gain, exposure etc. It's also possible to reload the firmware to generate raw images and to make other modifications to the functionality. And of course it was cheap. When I bought mine they were £5 each. The major drawback is that they use USB v1. That means that the image is pretty much guaranteed to lose some detail because compression is required to keep up the frame rate, but other than that I don't think there's a huge amount of difference between them and something like the colour version of the DFK21-AU618, which is £350. When you could be up and imaging for a total of £35, the DFK certainly wasn't ten times better.

The Xbox camera is cheap, certainly, and easy to modify for planetary use, but from my experiments it does not appear to be as sensitive and it's certainly very noisy. I've read that generally all CCDs of a similar resolution should be of a similar sensitivity, so perhaps the noise is just messing things up. Or it could be that the firmware isn't doing a very good job of debayering. Either way, I can't make the Xbox camera work as well for me as the SPC. I guess the next step would be to see what can be done by adding a fan or peltier cooler.

The Lifecams are more expensive than the Xbox, but more awkward to modify and not as easy to control. I don't believe they are really suited to imaging with "small" aperture scopes unless the target is quite bright. (I count my 127 Mak as small, here.)

I've not played with the ASDA cameras, but from the images I've seen posted thus far I suspect they're not as sensitive as the SPC and more noisy.

I'm very much looking forward to Jupiter returning to the sky as the Xbox and ASDA cameras seem to have encouraged a lot more people into planetary imaging and it will be very interesting to see how all these cameras compare.

James

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Rihard

Rihard

Posted
Posted

For all those who are trying to locate a Philips SPC900NC webcam, I have managed to track some down and decided to share my good news with you. I found a Malaysian website, which seems to be their equivalent of Ebay and a seller on there has a large stock of SPC900NC (98 when I last checked). I ordered 2 of them, with the exchange rate and delivery worked out to be roughly £45 each (paid via Paypal).

My delivery arrived yesterday and took about 3weeks from purchasing to arriving at my door. The items are brand new, sealed and complete with installation disc and work as a SPC900NC should.

For those who are interested here is the link to the item. I found the seller extremely efficient and very prompt with his communication. Unfortunately, the actual website, I didn’t find very user friendly.

http://www.lelong.co...7-01-Sale-I.htm

Thanks for sharing this. I've just placed my order, awaiting for the seller to contact me back now....

I'm curious to test this very popular camera.

I do agree that the site, although not extremely difficult, is a bit "bureaucratic" ...

Very funny the profile section where you have to specify your "race" :D

Let's see what happens.

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Memory Bliss

Memory Bliss

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Thanks for sharing this. I've just placed my order, awaiting for the seller to contact me back now....

I'm curious to test this very popular camera.

I do agree that the site, although not extremely difficult, is a bit "bureaucratic" ...

Very funny the profile section where you have to specify your "race" :D

Let's see what happens.

Ha ha I had forgotten about that part of the registration!!

Well if you are like me, you won't use the Xbox cam again...I'm tempted to buy a few more, for future investment of course.

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Rihard

Rihard

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Ha ha I had forgotten about that part of the registration!!

Well if you are like me, you won't use the Xbox cam again...I'm tempted to buy a few more, for future investment of course.

:D :D

I thought that if everything goes well, I might buy a few more too.. an extra one for myself as a backup and a batch of 5 or 6 for "business purposes" :) On the bay (U.S.) they are selling for $200 !!!

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Memory Bliss

Memory Bliss

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:D :D

I thought that if everything goes well, I might buy a few more too.. an extra one for myself as a backup and a batch of 5 or 6 for "business purposes" :) On the bay (U.S.) they are selling for $200 !!!

Ouch!! Thats a horrific amount. Best get some more, as he has only 90 left.

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Thanks to the ineptitude of one supplier (name withheld) after ordering one last year I ended up with 3 !!!

Use one to image and one to collimate and Polar Align .

Think i'll stick the other one in a safe deposit box for my pension :grin:

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Beulah

Beulah

Posted
Posted

Hehe someone got a bargin...considering what they are going for on ebay recently

I really could have sold it for a lot more but just didn't have the heart to.

Makes me think I don't have the lobes for business (Deep Space Nine reference :D)

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Teslar

Teslar

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They have fewer settings but I've seen some very good results. I have both but not used the lifecam yet. Too cloudy :(

Sent from tapatalk

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