SharpCap - free Astro Webcam Capture Software

[SniffTheGlove]

[edit] and yes i set folder to desktop after i had finished and checked the netbook the folder was on the desktop and the avi files were alongside the folder on the descktop with some other type of document file.im running windows 7 and can check any info if you wish me to

Star_chaser. You say you set the capture folder to the desktop

Then you say

checked the netbook the folder was on the desktop and the avi files were alongside the folder on the descktop

This sounds to me that you actually have a folder on the desktop and you want to save the files to that folder however you have only set the capture folder location to the desktop and not the folder sitting on the desktop.

Go into Sharpcap, select File then select Set Capture Folder then click on the actual folder you want to save the files to then click OK.

That should now save the files to that folder.

As to the other files that are saved with the AVI's, these are the camera settings that were used for that AVI e.g.

Capture 14_02_2011 20_34_35.avi

Capture 14_02_2011 20_34_35.CameraSettings.txt

Hope that helps

[leenewtoastro]

can someone confirm/post a screen shot of the shapcap with focuser controls that appear in the right hand panel "when" you have a focuser connected to pc.

tia.

[themos]

You should be able to see the Simulator option under Focusers menu (if you have ASCOM properly installed).

[leenewtoastro]

????

[rwg]

One thing to check...

Have you installed both bits of the ASCOM software - you need both ASCOM platform 5.0b and ASCOM platform 5.5.1 Update - it could fail to work if you only have the 5.0b version installed.

If that doesn't help, I will do a test build with some extra logging to work out what is going wrong.

Robin

[leenewtoastro]

cheers robin yes that was the problem no 5.5.1 update installed.

.

sharpcap is the daddy

.

[rwg]

I'll pop a note on the SharpCap website somewhere to remind others about this.

cheers,

Robin

[Scooby]

I'm a bit of a beginner at this astronomy hobby, and I'm trying to take some webcam pictures. I've just purchased a Philips SPC880C which has had it's firware flashed to look like an SPC900C. I downloaded the SharpCam software to try the webcam before modifying it. I'm impressed by the easy-to-use user interface (I'm a software developer), but I'm getting an error "Error 80070005: Cannot start graph" when I hit the Start Capture button. Is this a known error? I've included technical details below.

Thanks in advance for any help!

o/s: Windows 7 (64 bit)

SharpCap: version 1.3.113

DirectX Version 11

Last lines of error log (I can supply full text if required):

21:30:17.3219408 SharpCap.DirectShow.Capture.BuildCaptureGraph() :: Ended

21:30:17.3409419 SharpCap.DirectShow.Capture.PrepareToCapture() :: Started

21:30:17.3599430 SharpCap.DirectShow.Capture.PrepareCapture() :: we have control over capture and preview separately - that's good.

21:30:17.3799441 SharpCap.DirectShow.Capture.PrepareCapture() :: Failure HR from COM method : 0x80070005

21:30:17.3999453 SharpCap.SharpCapForm.m_cap_OnError(Object sender, ErrorMsgEventArgs e) :: Error : Error 80070005: Cannot start graph

21:32:31.9886433 SharpCap.DirectShow.Capture.PrepareCapture() :: Ended (Cannot start graph : 80070005)

[Scooby]

Looks like I may have forgot to set capture folder - oops, sorry. Will try again tomorrow when I'm more awake.

[rwg]

Scooby,

The error code means access denied, although it's not clear what it is that access was denied to - it could be the capture folder if it's set to somewhere you can't write to.

Send me a PM if you are still stuck tomorrow.

Robin

[valy]

Robin, hello

Did you tested sharpcap on win 7 x64? Anybody tested it with basler ace?

Thanks.

[rwg]

Hi Valy,

yes, I develop it on Win7 x64, and I have an ace 640-100gc

Robin

[valy]

Ok, we are brothers. Not twins because I did not have yet the basler. And not identical twins because I plan for mono.

Is any use to ask: it works in this combination?

Thanks

[Scooby]

Works fine for me on Dell Win7 (64 bit) with SPC900SC

[carpman]

Hiya Robin Beening a newbie and having trouble with other software i decided i would give sharpcap a go to my relieve the probs i had with the other software are now gone but ..

Theres always a but as easy as your system is to use i have 2 questions for you

i'm using win 7 with a phillips spc880/900

1 on colour space / compression :- what is the differance between them

2 in the video capture filter / picture :- you have the ablity to change shutter speed but u have know way to tell what the shutter speed is ? ( is this for dslr's only )

I may have more questions once i use it for real ....

Cheers Dan

ps great friendly software

[rwg]

Hi Dan,

Glad that you like the software!

For the SPC cameras, I'm not convinced there is a lot to choose between the different colour spaces - in theory they relate to how often the colour data is supplied - in some like YUY2 the same colour data is applied to sets of 2 pixels (horizontally adjacent), whereas in I420 the same colour data is applied to sets of 4 pixels (a 2x2 block). So YUY2 works out at 2 bytes per pixel (4 per 2 pixels) and I420 at 1.5 bytes per pixel (6 per 4 pixels). You can read all about it in gory detail here : YUV pixel formats.

However, on the SPC cams there is so much compression done just to get the images across the USB1.1 bandwidth that which colour format you use after that probably has no effect.

As to shutter speeds - there is a published list of what the exposure values (ie -4 or whatever) are supposed to correspond to. The problem is that not all cameras stick to the list. This makes me kind of reluctant to show real shutter speeds in the program because a fair bit of the time they'd be wrong. Follow this link to see what a mess Logitech made of it in their camera drivers (Questions about accessing the exposure time through DirectShow — QuickCam Team - look at the table half way down)!

For the SPC without the LX mod, the longest exposure setting (furtherst to the right) is about 1/25th. I think the other end of the scale is 1/10000th.

Robin

[riklaunim]

Any updates in the Basler support? I've got a message that longer exposures will be somehow possible.

[rwg]

Yes, I now have a way to get unlimited length exposures from the basler cameras. It's a software thing only, no hardware mod required.

If you want to test it pm me your email address and I will send over a preview build later.

Robin

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

[valy]

Robin, I've just receive my new basler 640 mono. Tested it with sharpcap, works fine, thx. Untill now I found one issue with the "fps" slider (ver 1.3.113): can't set exact frame rate, I don't know if it is any use but to make the text box editable for setting the exact value?

I have onather question: there is a way to covert "ser'' to ''avi'' files?

[wpitcairn]

I'll give this a go on my new flashed SPC880 tonight.

[rwg]

Robin, I've just receive my new basler 640 mono. Tested it with sharpcap, works fine, thx. Untill now I found one issue with the "fps" slider (ver 1.3.113): can't set exact frame rate, I don't know if it is any use but to make the text box editable for setting the exact value?

I have onather question: there is a way to covert "ser'' to ''avi'' files?

Hi Valy,

Are you aiming for a very particular frame rate? Normally I find it fine to leave this setting on auto and then it captures as fast as it can. I guess I could make the numeric box editable to allow exact value entry.

As for SER and AVI, you have to be a bit careful - AVI is normally only 8 bit image depth, where your camera almost certainly has 12 bits per pixel. You don't want to lose this information by converting from SER to AVI unless you really have to. Both Registax and AviStack will read SER files and allow you to stack the frames. You could try the free version of LucamRecorder if you really want to convert. I think this has some batch conversion functions and supports SER.

Robin

[valy]

Hello Robin,

Not aiming a specific frame rate, was just a suggestion. Auto is set to 10 fps not the maximum.

Regarding avi I understood your idea. Instead avi you could save individual frames as bmp, png, tiff files?

LucamRecorder can't convert, it has the function but no result, perhaps I must get a license. Do you have any docs/specs about ser format? I want individual frames from it.

Thx, Valentin.

LE: avistack can open and then save individual frames as tiff files.

[michaelmorris]

Hi

I've just noticed that the histogram doesn't update live during a capture. This is bad news as It doesn't warn you of high cloud rolling in (or out). Either scenario would ruin the capture unless you tweak the gain during capture.

Is there a chance of changing the histogram so that it it continuously updates during a capture?

[rwg]

@valy,

I think the displayed target FPS is incorrect when in auto mode - you'll see the real FPS in the status bar at the bottom. As to file formats, I'm working on making more options available in the next version. SER is good for the Basler cameras as it is quick to write, so ideal for high frame rates. I have FITS and PNG writing that can both cope now with higher bit depths, but they will be slower.

@michaelmorris

Are you using the camera in LX mode for deep sky or as a webcam for planetary? For LX mode making the change isn't too hard, but for basic webcam mode it's more awkward to do without impacting the size of the produced avi - the simplest approach would lose all compression from the output avi I'll have to have a think about this, but it won't make 1.4.

cheers,

Robin

[michaelmorris]

@valy,

Are you using the camera in LX mode for deep sky or as a webcam for planetary? For LX mode making the change isn't too hard, but for basic webcam mode it's more awkward to do without impacting the size of the produced avi - the simplest approach would lose all compression from the output avi I'll have to have a think about this, but it won't make 1.4.

cheers,

Robin

This is in planetary mode. Also I've found that there is no gain slider visible for my Toucam Pro II, but there is for my SPC900NC. I don't want to convert the firmware to SPC900 because it is a mono webcam with Andy Ellis's special mono firmware RAW upgrade, I would rather not lose.