Philips SPC880NC is now.......

[Abernus]

I had the same issue as you Armsoft. I had the windows capture program open and followed the instructions to the letter. I thought mione was a gonner, butr after 1 hour all was not lost

I uninstalled any webcam drivers, also removed all registry entries. Then I turned the PC off for about 5 mins, I found a quick reboot was not enough. After this I had to install the SPC900 drivers and then uninstall them (not sure why this worked but it did) Now reboot again.

Install the 880 drivers and launch the capture software. Now re-flash the cam with teh original 880 firmware you took off the cam. Uninstall all and reboot. Now re-start the flash process again as your cam should now be an 880 and working.

THis worked for me, I think I had to install the 900 drivers and then uninstall them as the software didn't fully uninstall the first time for me.

Good luck

[Armsoft]

Try Unplug, reboot, install 900NC drivers, then plug in webcam.

Sean,

Thanks Very, Very much for the advice, I now have a recognised SPC900NC under Windows XP :D

I realy thought I`d screwed it up, so much so that I went and brought a pre Flashed one on ebay before reading your post.

So, now I will have two working (perhaps i could try the DSO upgrade on one of them)

Now it`s recognised, do I need to do anything through WcrMac/ or am I `Fit to Go`?

Thanks again

Mark

[SniffTheGlove]

Now it`s recognised, do I need to do anything through WcrMac/ or am I `Fit to Go`?

Thanks again

Mark

First off..

Plug the camera in and run Craterlet od Sharpcap, then run WcRmac

Select the camvin in WcRmac then make a backup of the camera firmware.vSo if anything happens you can put it back to how it was. I have tried this one one of my cameras just to try and I have swapped arround a few times so it does work when restoring the firmware in WcRmac

Then if you want slightly better images run the WxRmac macro for Set OPTIMIZED COLOR (NON RAW) Mode. Read This

This will give some clearer imaging so I have read but still not tried the imaging yet as I still need to collimate my scope (talk to wife come up soon to spend more money)

Done this on both my SPC880-900NC cams.

[Armsoft]

Thanks again Sean

Just got to wait for Clear Sky`s now

Mark

[nightfisher]

i have ordered a "flashed" 880 to 900spc cam i guess i just install the driver soft ware from the website and hey presto a working spc900?

[bus_ter]

i have ordered a "flashed" 880 to 900spc cam i guess i just install the driver soft ware from the website and hey presto a working spc900?

Yes!

You'll still need to set 'optimized colour' for the best results, but that's only an optional step.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[Uncle Brian]

does anyone know where i can buy a ready flashed spc880 as i dont have a comp running windows xp ?.

Many thanks in advance.

[Revs]

does anyone know where i can buy a ready flashed spc880 as i dont have a comp running windows xp ?.

Many thanks in advance.

philips spc880nc/spc900nc on eBay (end time 05-Nov-10 09:50:56 GMT)

Welcome to the forum!

Edited November 3, 2010 by Revs

[Uncle Brian]

thank you Revs ill go and check it out now

[bus_ter]

Don't pay an overflated ebay price. I'm sure there are members on here who will be happy to flash the software for you if you post the webcam with an SAE.

[tonyowen]

There is no reason to go the possibly fatal chip flashing route to make the SRC880NC into a SRC900NC webcam.

By using the C:\windows\inf directory you can get the webcam to run in both Vista 32 bit and win7 64 bit -- i've done it!! and both have run okay for the past couple of weeks.

For Vista 32 bit move the downloaded inf file from the Morgan's website to your INF directory

For Win7 64 bit get your computer to search its INF directory for the requisite driver.

I've run 'my webcams' unde AMCap, VLounge, Astra Image, IRIS, and, wxastrocamera.

regards

Tony

[SniffTheGlove]

does anyone know where i can buy a ready flashed spc880 as i dont have a comp running windows xp ?.

Many thanks in advance.

What do you have? 98SE, W2k,Vista, Win7?

There are VM that will work as well, Win7 has one built in if it's the Biz version.

Unless you have already got them, get the nosepiece and IR/UV filter. Morgan's is the best place.

[PeterM]

Morgans will sell them pre-flashed for an additional fee (think it was £5 or so).

[nightfisher]

Morgans will sell them pre-flashed for an additional fee (think it was £5 or so).

Morgans do the flash service, just under a fiver, i went down that route as i just know i would have killed the webcam or worse my thinkpad:eek:

i have set mine up, all drivers and removed lens fitted adaptor, but all i seem to be getting is a variable colour square instead of an image, is this correct:icon_confused:

[yesyes]

i have set mine up, all drivers and removed lens fitted adaptor, but all i seem to be getting is a variable colour square instead of an image, is this correct:icon_confused:

Have you mounted the camera to the scope already? If you just remove the lens but don't use it with a scope (i.e. the new "lens"), then all you get is a totally unsharp image. It won't be focussed at all, just ambient light shining directly onto the CCD sensor.

[bus_ter]

Indeed, without a lens there is nothing to focus the light, so you won't see any image.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[nightfisher]

yep, just tried it through the scope, really feel im out of my depth with this, gonna be a right learning curve

[bus_ter]

yep, just tried it through the scope, really feel im out of my depth with this, gonna be a right learning curve

Don't worry it's easy once you figure it out. Start with the Moon and once you work it out move onto a planet.

The first time you run Registax you'll get the same feeling, but really that can be simple too. Just a case of clicking through each stage with the default options until the end, move some sliders and save.

[nightfisher]

Don't worry it's easy once you figure it out. Start with the Moon and once you work it out move onto a planet.

The first time you run Registax you'll get the same feeling, but really that can be simple too. Just a case of clicking through each stage with the default options until the end, move some sliders and save.

sort of got my head round registax, had some grief with sharpcap, just hope my 120mm evostar is up to it, just need weather and freetime to coincide:icon_confused:

only planning to do lunar image work any way

Edited November 3, 2010 by nightfisher

[Uncle Brian]

does anyone know where i can buy a ready flashed spc880 as i dont have a comp running windows xp ?.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi all only just come back online,thank you for all the replies to my original post,there are a couple of ideas i can follow up,i actually ordered a spc880 webcam and addapter yesterday from morgans computers. i let you know what happens later.

Thanks again everyone

[nightfisher]

really starting to think i got a dud 880 (flashed 900) just cannot get an image when mounted on the scope, only pointed it at house across road (sounds bad!! )

looks like i have wasted £30 ! any idea where i can get a driver for the standard 880 as i got a spare (non flashed)

[yesyes]

Does the "image" change a bit though? As in: turns red when you shine a red torch at it?

I'm thinking the house is a bit too close to achieve focus.

Have you tried the same with a normal eyepiece?

Does the cam work fine with the lens it came with?

[bus_ter]

Try unscrewing the adapter and putting the original webcam lens back in. If it works you know the webcam is good and you have another problem.

Depending on your scope you may have to move the focusser quite far to focus on the webcam sensor, you could also try a target further away than across the road?

[nightfisher]

the cam works with the proper lens in place, maybe its the scope`s focal length,

120mm f8? the scope focus`s fine with eye piece

[SniffTheGlove]

really starting to think i got a dud 880 (flashed 900) just cannot get an image when mounted on the scope, only pointed it at house across road (sounds bad!! )

looks like i have wasted £30 ! any idea where i can get a driver for the standard 880 as i got a spare (non flashed)

I see that you ordered a pre-flashed 880 from Morgan's. It has to be working for the firmware to be flashed, so did you install the 900NC drivers on your PC.

Did you check the cam was working before stripping the lens off?

Have you tried it with the original lens screwed back on.

When it is plugged in and runing what do you see when you have some capture software running?

Does the image in the capture software change when you cover the camera over or shine a light at it.

If the images change then the camera should be fine and you just need to fine the focus point.

Screw you focuser right in without any EP's in and then just slowly move the camera back keeping it inline with the focuser until the image clears, it might require quite a long distance to focus.

Worse case senerio just speak to Morgans to complain and ask for a swap or refund. Your money is not wasted.