[Mueller]

Downloaded the demo version last night, watched all the videos, read the manuals......used my own turn table, and cheap harbor freight laser just to test the software...

I tried to get my Sony Handycam DCR-SX41 to record while hooked up to my computer with no luck, so I couldn't do the scan in real time. It connects to the computer via a USB port, but it seems that all that does is transfer the data that has been previously recorded, nothing real time, in fact the camera does not seem to function at all once connected to the computer, it is just a storage device.

The camera does have another port on the side, A/V R for hooking up to my TV or for controlling a remote control device.

Questions:

Manual does not show how to do the scan/conversion from a file on the computer hard drive (lists it as an option), anyone have any luck doing so?

Any idea how to get the camera to work in real time with the computer?

Any listings of cameras that have successfully worked?


Thanks

[dmauch]

Response:

Consumer type cameras are slowly moving away from the robust and proven
firewire connection and are starting to use USB. Also, HD type cameras
use special codecs which require special software to edit and convert.
This results in sightly less video quality than the old minidisc type
cameras. Live realtime video at full resolution from the camera is
frequently also becoming a problem with these modern devices. Ebay
should have many old minidisc type cameras with firewire (iLink) cameras
availble. Its also best to benchmark your cameras workings using Windows
MovieMaker, not the best software, but if it works then it will work
with most other software that supports video.

In any case its important that an uncompressed AVI is used when wanting
to process a playback scan. Other compressed formats such as WMV may
corrupt results since the scan process is time dependent.

If possible, use the scanning software to record the scan directly from
the camera.

To process a recorded scan you'll need to define the exact start and end
rotation position of the turntable in the video.

- Open the video

- Go to the Process Settins dialog
- Uncheck PC control. This may be already unchecked if you are not a
registered user.
- Select Hard Disc for the frame buffer allocation.
- Set the frame format drop down to Compressed and the Stack filter to
No Filter
- Set the scan to Geometry
- Close the dialog

- Press the initilize button
- Press start, wait for the scan in the video to end and then press the
stop button.

- Go to the Scan Compile Settings dialog and set the camera angle. This
is the angle between the camera and laser
- Set the Turn Table Center marker by lining up the white line with the
center of the turn table in the video.
- Set the Start and Stop Markers. These define where the 360 degree
rotation of the object on the turntable starts and ends in the video.
Use the Goto frame slider to scroll though the video
- Set the scan isolation slider to about 80, this filters out video noise.
- Close the dialog box and press the Compile button.

Downloaded the demo version last night, watched all the videos, read the manuals......used my own turn table, and cheap harbor freight laser just to test the software...

I tried to get my Sony Handycam DCR-SX41 to record while hooked up to my computer with no luck, so I couldn't do the scan in real time. It connects to the computer via a USB port, but it seems that all that does is transfer the data that has been previously recorded, nothing real time, in fact the camera does not seem to function at all once connected to the computer, it is just a storage device.

The camera does have another port on the side, A/V R for hooking up to my TV or for controlling a remote control device.

Questions:

Manual does not show how to do the scan/conversion from a file on the computer hard drive (lists it as an option), anyone have any luck doing so?

Any idea how to get the camera to work in real time with the computer?

Any listings of cameras that have successfully worked?


Thanks