Another camcorder Mars

[Tim]

Registax is killing me slowly Have figured out not to use the extended AVI mode though, that crashed it every time.

At the moment I am converting these mpeg2 vids into AVIs with virtualdub, and then loading them into Registax5.

When I watch the original video, there seems to be more detail in the thing, but that seems to be lost to a bit of blur when Regi gets hold of it. Are there any recommended settings for planetery stacking in Regi anywhere?

I'd be very keen to see a short sample avi of one of the very good Mars pics that we get, Neils etc. Its always nice to see how the pics start their life

Here's another anyway.

Cheers

[omneferuss]

Mpeg is a compressed format, I think, ..and conversion to avi will further degrade the image also, I believe.. so you're doing well to get what you are from it!

[Tim]

yes, mpeg2 is compressed, but hopefully the conversion to AVI is not losing any more detail, i'm saving in uncompressed format. I am unsure of the original video size in pixels.

[Kokatha man]

A very creditable image for the method used TJ.....perhaps you can figure a way to remove the camcorder's lens surreptiously..!?!:)

Mare Acidalum and even the Oxia Paulis extension from the Southern features is discernable.....I'll attach what I found was a very good (imho) single frame from a somewhat similar Martian perspective that I obtained in one of my own imaging runs earlier this apparition.....

Unfortunately, avi's can often display better definition when viewed "in playback motion" (sometimes they even look better in capture than processing:o:rolleyes:)

They appear to have better definition during playback due to our eyes' inability to detect single frames....."stacking" visually on the fly.....

Your best bet is to carefully go through the avi frames when in R5 and select a pretty good one (in comparison to the others) to use as your reference....."Gradient 2" and mostly default settings otherwise and, depending upon how many frames you have over a specific % quality (wrt the reference frame) limiting the number you'll continue processing with to a balance between the number of frames and that % quality.....

Initial wavelets is best kept to a relatively low value (I use only #2 & #3 sliders set for 11.0 and 12.2) and increase these settings in final w/lets to 31.2 & 32.5

You can then play with image enhancement by selecting the "wavelet filter panel" (after an RGB align) and see what increasing the "Initial" and "Step" values in the value boxes at the bottom of this panel does to your Mars image.....clicking "Do All" after deciding the values, and saving as seperate RGB channel fits files using the "Save Image" button at the top of this final w/lets screen for further processing in AstraImage, P/shop or whatever other software you may have..... that is, if your really want to "push" the possibilities - but don't advance to the "Final" screen in R5, or do any image rotation etc therein.

Just remember that large image-enhancement applications in the w/let filter panel controls limits/handicaps any subsequent deconvolution applications you may wish to employ in software such as AstraImage etc.....it becomes a balance/trade-off when getting into it a bit deeper....!

[Tim]

Thats very helpful KM, thanks. How did that frame end up after stacking?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice stuff. I will stick with my SPC900 though, as I am allowed to remove the front lens .

Saving in uncompressed AVIs should not degrade any further indeed. There is currently some work going on to remove some of the MPEG artefacts from videos, but I doubt any of the research has images of mars in mind:)

[TopHouse]

@TJ re your conversion, to get the necessary details of your mpeg2's download a program called 'videoinspector' it's free, when you've captured the video from camcorder to PC open it in videoinspector, my guess is it'll be 720 x 576 res, but note the bitrate too, when converting to avi if you do it lossless but maintain whatever details videoinspector shows then your conversion shouldn't degrade the mpeg at all.

For my video conversion, (I do a lot with music video) I use a program called TMPGenc Express 4, it's a paid for program but an awesome video format converter. Also take a looky at a free prog called 'super' which is free and rather good.

May be swapping some tips soon, i've just managed to connect my panasonic 3ccd camcorder to a baader hyperion with an adjustment ring, waiting for the cloud to shift now.

[Tim]

Ah, a question for the 3ccd systems, can you seperate the channels in any way?

[TopHouse]

Not that I know of, and I'm not having fun trying to get it all to work either, check this out lol :-

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/99223-registax-frustration.html

[Taff]

Hi Tim' Nice details with mars.Mark