which AVI software ?

[red dwalf]

which software would anyone recommend for taking AVI images from a philips spc900nc webcam ?

1. wxAstrocapture or

2. k3ccd tools

unsure which works best

thanks

[Ant]

K3CCD works a treat.

It's the software that I use with my SPC.

Then Registax to stack afterwards.

Cheers

Ant

[red dwalf]

thanks Ant,

I am confused about k3ccd tools, because if you use version1 (free version) do I have to update it every 3 months to keep it working, mentions something about it on their website.

thanks

[Ant]

Yeah I beleive that you do.

It's a pain but the software is pretty good and worth the effort of doing that.

Cheers

Ant

[michaelmorris]

I find the real joys of using K3CCdtools are the automatic incremental naming of video files (you'll never accidentally overwrite an AVI because you forgot to change the name from the last one you captured) and the brightness meter that allows you get the exposure just right (i.e. slightly under exposed highlights).

[MrEd]

K3CCD has always worked a treat and

worth paying for in the long run as its good value.

Ed

[jgs001]

I've used both, and preferred wxAstroCapture for the SPC900 as it uses it's own custom dialog for the camera controls which provide a value for the gain as well as a slider. k3ccdtools works great, but uses the philips dialog and that's just a slider without any indications, so if you want to fine tune them it's really rather hard. If you use wcctrl alongside, of course, to control the settings then that ceases to be an issue.

[themos]

I, too, prefer wxAstroCapture to K3ccdtools. No need to remember to download a key and there's a Linux version too.

[red dwalf]

thanks for the advice, seems to be 50/50 as to which is best,

another note, what type of laptop o/s works best, i`ve heard that vista can cause certain problems, can anyone shed any light on this for me before i go out to buy

[jgs001]

I'd suggest trying both of them, and use which you like and find easiest to use. There are also others that work well including QCFocus which I've been trying out.

I can't help on the lappy question, I've used 2 now and not had a problem with either, but they are running XP

[David_Evans]

I use HandyAvi with my SPC900NC webcam.. I purchased and registered it so I could receive updates. A license costs $39.95 and was definitely the best money I ever spent for astrophotography.

HandyAvi has the following Features (copied from the website) -

• Time-lapse webcam movie making
  
• Motion-detection webcam imaging
  
• Surveillance, Home Security using a webcam
  
• Planetary imaging (astronomy) using a webcam
  
• Meteor Trail imaging with a webcam
  
• Animation using a webcam
  

Plus these additional features: Movie viewing, Movie editing, Telescope control, Make time-lapse movies from existing movies, Scan a file for meteors, Join movie files, Stack astronomical images, Make a movie from still images, Automatically upload movie files to your website, Set active camera time windows, Continue videoing automatically after a shutdown, Automatically recover an interrupted video

A free 10 day trial version is available from -

HandyAvi Time-Lapse Movie Maker - surveillance - webcam video

Dave