  |
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$79.00 US Battery
|
Wow cheap!
|
Portable DVD players usually have an input for composite using the RCA connector as well. These can be purchased for as low as $82.00 US from Newegg.com. These double as a DVD player and will also run off a battery too.
Which Live Video
Camera (CCD) to Use?
Any 30 frames/second black and white or even most color models will work adequately for mapping points with TPoint. This also greatly reduces the time needed to polar align. The lower the lux rating on the camera the fainter the stars the camera can see. With an 8 inch telescope and a 0.5 lux camera you can see stars to about ~8th magnitude. With a rating of .0003 and a 5 inch scope stars to 11th. As long as the live video camera is capable of detecting stars down to about 3.5 or 4th magnitude in real-time it is sufficient for mapping . In TheSky use the View | Display Explorer | Star display properties and show all stars down to 4th magnitude and you can see the distribution of them across the sky. Plenty enough stars for mapping!
There are several good sources for Live Video cameras. The live video cameras range from about $49.00 to well over $600.00. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for and the more expensive cameras have a lot more to offer, variable brightness/contrast, variable gain control, variable shutter speeds, integration capability, frame averaging to name a few. However, the additional features offered by the more expensive live CCD cameras are certainly overkill for simple mapping purposes with TPoint or when used for live imaging of bright planets, the moon, the sun with solar filter, and the brighter stars.
NOTE:
Software Bisque
sells the 1.25 inch to "C"
nose piece to connect the Live video camera to your telescope. A 2 inch
adapter may also be required. These sell for $29.00 and can
also be purchased from
Camera section - Recommendations
|
A Stella Cam PC-64C |
AstroVid 2000
|
|
|
|
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No Pic |
Contact the manufacturer's listed above with specific questions regarding the live video cameras they offer. Again, keep in mind that each camera has certain strengths and or weaknesses and the more you spend on the camera the more features and options you will get.
Video Camera Cabling section
Nearly all live video cameras employ a BNC male type connector on the back of the camera. These type of locking connectors work well since the video cable cannot simply fall off the back of the camera. If your video input (monitor) uses an RCA type connector (i.e. Belkin featured above) a BNC female to composite male or female RCA connector can be used.
Most black and white video monitors also use the BNC male connector on the back. However, for TV's or less expensive monitors with video inputs the RCA type connector is more common. In these cases you need to convert the cable from BNC to RCA. Easy enough.
L-com site
Male BNC to Female RCA  |
 |
Note: L-COM also sells cables that use the BNC connector on one end and the RCA male connector on the other. This works well and eliminates the additional adapters. However, they only offer 1 to 12 foot lengths. If you need to extend the cable further you can use an inline male to male coupler and another longer cable with BNC female connectors. These hold together better than the RCA cables and connectors.
Cool!
1 to 12 foot lengths
Works
directly with Belkin DVD creator
Cabling - Paramount ME users either Portable or Permanent
Related Links
Personally I always run the video cable/power
through the Paramount ME before installing the Versa-Plate. This
is very convenient and leaves the other Aux Connectors free for future use. I
also prefer to run two CAT6 or CAT5 cables up through the Paramount at the same
time and one to two phone cables for RS-232 devices that use only 3 wires as
well. This should accommodate just about everything. The above "related link"
Super
Circuits - Audio/Video/Power
Handy- Run through the Paramount ME!
Also available in shorter lengths
Or if you don't need or care about the audio cable the following works great. It is very thin so it takes up little room in the mount and supplies the video signal and power signal. These cables are available in smaller lengths too.
Super Circuits - Video/ Power only
Note the BNC to RCA connector is supplied
CCDSoft and Live Video
NOTE: To use CCDSoft5 with the Video In source pick the Video driver listed in the Camera Setup dialog see below. And you can even use CCDSoft to automatically center the bright stars for you! Just calibrate the live video camera first just like you normally would an auto guider (make sure the hold down relay times are bumped up to something like 150!). Once the live video has been calibrated (like an auto guider but using DirectGuide) you can have CCDSoft move the star in the x and y directions to automatically center it for you then just map the star in TheSky.
Video Capture Software (VidCap32
)
- Free!
There is a free for download
program called
VidCap32.exe which makes setting the video options quite easy. Because
Download VidCap32 from my site here or from the web.
VidCap32 works well and is free
Use Options | Video Source | Device Settings
On the video source dialog you can set the best values for brightness/contrast, hue and saturation as needed. You want a BLACK background and a clean white star. See below example.
Set video settings here
Disconnect when you are done!
Warning! You must free up the connection Before CCDSoft can connect to the live video camera or you will receive an error.
CCDSoft Video Camera Setup
CCDSoft
camera setup
Choose the video camera under settings
Video Camera Settings
Only 1 variable the board number
Select the video camera driver and board number then press connect. If you can't connect make sure you are not using any other application with the video input and that the video driver is loaded and working correctly. Use the VidCap32 program to test.
Live preview Window
in
CCDSoft
After you have taken a CCD image
and it saved (use auto save | and set to "on") you can plot a target on the screen showing
the center of the chip. The following image shows the target and the star
after
Enabling the image cross hair | Image | Show Cross Hair
CCDSoft has a feature which convenieintly places a cross hair on the image for you. See below. Centering a star is now quite easy. Press either the number "6" key on the keyboard or use Image | Show Cross Hair.
Star centered for you by
CCDSoft
Now ready to Map!
How to Assign a script to a mouse click - Handy for quick live mapping
Using View | Tool Bars | Tool Bars Setup in CCDSoft 5 will allow you enable the "Run Script" tool bar as shown below. Then you can simply press an unassigned button and assign any script to that button for quick simple easy painless access. The name of the script is shown on the button. See the following assigned example scripts AtFocus, CenterAndTake, autosaveoff, and autosaveon, Take Image and Map, etc. Being able to easily invoke scripts this way comes in very handy indeed.
View Tool Bars | Setup
Check Run Script
Cool! Very handy tool
Live video mapping script access
If you wish to "CLEAR" a pre-assigned button press CONTROL+SHIFT+the button to assign a different script. Browse your Computer for the script you want to assign. See below.
Press the button to assign
Browse My Computer (yours) for the script file
DirectGuide?
To use a live video camera which
does not have relays to move the mount you need to use
Use DirectGuide in
CCDSoft
!
And larger calibration times!
And larger calibration times!
Now calibrate live video just as you would an auto-guider. CCDSoft can then automatically center the stars for you provided they are in the field. If not Star Search them out first, followed by the center.
SBIG ST-V
SBIG's STV
CCD and other CCD cameras with very fast USB downloads are also fully functional for mapping.
These cameras are more than sensitive enough but some have very small CCD
detectors yielding very small fields of view. Also, they are not as fast
as a "real-time" 30 frames/second CCD so mapping is a bit more difficult
and they are much more expensive compared to the live video cameras that can be
had for about $100.00 or less. The screen updates with any digitizing CCD that
is NOT LIVE video are a bit annoying "slow" but perfectly functional
if you have the patience!
