Viewing SPC900 webcam on Android?

[michaelmorris]

I've just finished putitng together a polarscope webcam as per Astronomyshed's excellent video on Youtube.

Because of the way I usually set up my portable imaging rig, it would be awkward (but not impossible) to have the laptop next to the mount when polar aligning.

An obvious way around this would be to have the webcam image displayed on my Android mobile phone.

So far, the only way I can work out how to do this is using team viewer to view my laptop screen on my phone, which can be a bit of a faff to set up. 

Is there a simpler solution?

Thanks

[stoffe]

I think the image will be very bad if you are using teamviewer, try if your SPC900NC camera works on your Android phone with a micro USB - OTG cable, if it not works and you have a rooted phone, you can be able to recompile your kernel with a SPC900NC module. The SPC900NC camera works very well in Linux so it should work on a Android phone to with or without modifications.

If you have a Windows tablet or a Windows phone, you can install legacy SPC900NC drivers and make it work! (I am not sure about the phone but a tablet should work if it is based on a x86-x64 processor)

[Mick J]

Had a little play, unable to get SPC900 to be seen on phone (moto g) or tablet (tegra note), both on 4.4 using otg cable and a couple of apps.

With UsbWebCamera app installed still unable to see SPC900 or a Microsoft hd lifecam, but the cheap (£4) old Asda web cam worked on both, better on tablet.

Picture was not to sharp but better than I expected.  First picture shows webcam, tegra & Ned.  Second is screengrab from phone.

Tegra saved pictures & video better than moto g - but much better spec.

App is free with a paid no advert version available, reviews seem to mention other cameras and handsets. 

[JamesF]

That app looks like it only talks to UVC webcams, so that's why the SPC900 won't work with it.  In theory the Lifecam and Xbox cam should, but unfortunately they don't seem to adhere too closely to the UVC spec.  Sadly I'm not aware of a UVC webcam that is sensitive enough to work as a polar scope cam.  If there is one this might be quite a neat solution.

James

[happy-kat]

My xbox is not working but I have a couple others to try

[happy-kat]

My other xbox cams did not work and my precious toUcam the Phillips just below the SPC900 unlike the xbox the led on the front did light up I had a moment of excitement but no connection ...

Had this worked I would have had my bust laptop issue resolved but I could try it in my rooted phone ... No go my custom rom too old

[happy-kat]

Bought a dirt cheap crappy £3 webcam but bingo it will view on my nexus it can take photos and it can record video all saved to the tablet directly.

Can adjust gain, brightness, color and contrast.

[Mick J]

I found one of these for less than £7 delivered (how do they do that) not sure of a use yet but will.  motog phone & tegra note again..

[happy-kat]

Meant to add the webcam I got came with no CD with drivers so was a good sign it should work. Good news is it has two small screws on the back so hopefully no splodger prizing needed to get it apart to bust the leds and remove the lens.

Sensor size is 4386 x 3.64 mm which seems quite large think they have missed a . in that, it is a CMOS. I know it won't be great but it works with my tablet.

[mikehab]

I just tried the UsbWebCamera app with a Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet and it doesn't recognise either the SPC900 or Xbox webcams  :-( - however it does recognise an old Microsoft VX-5000 webcam.  The good thing about this app is that it allows control over white balance, exposure, gamma, saturation, fps etc. etc. ... so could be quite useful for astro vid capture.  I have left feedback for the app asking the developer to add support for the SPC900 ... maybe if a few more people do the same then he/she might be persuaded that it's worth doing ;-)  Fingers crossed...

Mike

[happy-kat]

I already emailed the developer end of October he can't do the old webcams as he has no access to them and are pre what can be supported.

Have used my cheap webcam very successfully using this app works really well and I like the ability to create stills too.

[JamesF]

As I posted earlier, the application only supports UVC webcams and therefore the SPC900 is not going to work.  It's not a UVC-compliant webcam.  Nothing like, in fact.  The Xbox camera ought to work, but I believe its implementation of the UVC spec. is fairly ropey (I had to write some patches for the Linux UVC driver to get it to function at all).  It's a shame the TIS cameras don't properly implement the UVC spec either, otherwise they'd work too (they actually do implement pretty much everything correctly, but they just don't tell the USB subsystem that they're actually cameras).

To support cameras other than UVC-compliant models you'd need to write a driver for each one which is a painfully slow process and does really require a camera to test against.

James

[happy-kat]

The summary of my email received.

Thank you for feedback.

Well, if your camera could’t be detected, unfortunately they would be hard to work well…

According to the information on internet, they are not a UVC camera and need special driver.

If you have a chance to find new camera, I think UVC camera or driver-less camera is better.