Still want a cheap video camera?

[robsmorgan]

Note: the reference to the file SPCA1528_V2220_M...Setup.exe appears to be incorrect, as on my CD the file is called SPCA1528_V2240_WHQL windows7.exe - which I presume is the Windows-7 version of the file. No evidence of any earlier versions for XP etc...


4. Time set
There is a CD with the product which contains a file named time synchronisation file.
Please copy it to TF card. When connect D001 with computer, whose time will be displayed
with computer synchronously.

The detail as following:

1. build a text called TAG.TXT under root directory of card.
2. open TAG.TXT, write synchronous date according to enclosure stricktly.
Details as following:

[date] need space with newline
2009/07/02 need space with newline
12: 00: 00

Power on the machine everytime, system will check and analyse TAG.TXT, then set
system time according to file time. After that the text will be deleted by system
automatically

I've got myself one of these camera's as well, but no CD included... Found drivers on the internet, but is there anyone over here who can tell me in short steps how to create a txt file, to make sure time stamps in my recordings will be up to date?

Thanks,

John

Hello John

I included this suggestion in my post of 26th Sept - you just need to insert the correct date & (approx) time when you are about to save it. Perhaps I need to clarify the info a tad.
After typing the lines into your text editor (I used the supplied Windows Notepad) save as TAG.TXT either directly into your camera memory card or to your desktop and then drag the file into your camera memory card.

The camera looks for this file when it boots up and resets the date accordingly there after.

Regards
Rob

(p.s. try writing the TAG.TXT file - in Notepad will do it) exactly as below only with date and time correct-ish, then save the file to the camera memory..... next time you switch on the beast it should display almost correct time!

[date]
2010/10/26
17: 20: 00

 

[3Valve]

Well tested mine last night, sort of. Instructions refered to amber light. Nope mine's blue or blue n red when charging.

Charged up switched on, thought to myself, this ain't working, jsut got solid blue light, nothing flashing.

Connected to USB, lappy detected it but kept saying "insert disk in drive" whenever I tried to access it.

Loaded up the software, no worries, tried to launch the software, the main .exe file was completely missing.

"Not having a good night" I thought.

Thought I'd have one last go before going to bed, switched on and pressed the record button, but nothing seemed to happen, then switch off the lights in the lounge and noticed the faintest hint of a red light flashing, "could it be recording" I thought. Pressed the record/stop again and red light stopped flashing. Looked promising. Tried it out again in the car this morning on the way to work.

Plugged in USB on one of our office PC's, camera detected and up pops the little window asking what I want to do with the files. A Eureka moment.

Browsed the disk and found 28 video clips on there, various shots of my lounge and kitchen, my hand, my lappy screen and a short clip of the journey into work this morning. For 20 quid the quality's pretty good.

Was recording all the time it's just that the red flashing light was too small and too dim to see.

Success, will now have a more structured [STRIKE]play[/STRIKE] test today.

Thought I'd post up my trials and tribulations here so that Trevor didn't feel alone.

 

[3Valve]

(p.s. try writing the TAG.TXT file - in Notepad will do it) exactly as below only with date and time correct-ish, then save the file to the camera memory..... next time you switch on the beast it should display almost correct time!

[date]
2010/10/26
17: 20: 00

Just done the date thing and shot another quick video. Date/time now all correct on my clips too.

Cheers Rob

 

[Round n Round]

Thought I'd post up my trials and tribulations here so that Trevor didn't feel alone.

Thanks Gareth.

I went out and bought a card reader yesterday

Found 5 very very short clips on the card,

one of my hand - one of my desk - one of my left ear - one of the Sheila's right leg - one of my garden fence

Think I tought it was off when it was on etc etc etc .........

I wiped these clips off, did a longer tour of the house and all recorded fine.

PC's still won't reconise camera, so that bit is still not working.

Like you, I see no yellow light only red and blue ones

Mine is on its way back for a replacement.

PS: Sheila was fully dressed

 

[Old Tom]

Mine has arrived today. My question is which button is which?
It shows 'Mode', 'Operation' and 'Power' buttons on the 'detail' page but refers to a 'Record - Stop' button in the destructions. Which one is that?

 

[3Valve]

Mine has arrived today. My question is which button is which?
It shows 'Mode', 'Operation' and 'Power' buttons on the 'detail' page but refers to a 'Record - Stop' button in the destructions. Which one is that?

If you hold the camera with the lens facing away from you the Record -Stop is on the top of the camera on the right. It has a tiny circle/square icon beside it. (hopefully this crude MS Paint drawing will assist).

 

[Old Tom]

Thanks Gareth.
That's the one I thought it might be but didn't want to start pressing buttons at random and getting even more confused!

 

[gregh]

This is the camera I bought on eBay (the white lettering is mine):

See this site for ALL you want to know about these cameras.
http://www.chucklohr.com/808/#raisethedeadone

Now for some tests??[/H2] Note: I haven?t included any videos here, just some stills to give the scenes I?m trying to capture.

The focus starts to go fuzzy at 120mm. Probably 150mm is min, although I can still read writing at 80mm. Angle of View about 35deg horizontally. So at min focus distance (120mm) you get to see a subject about 70mm wide and 45mm high.

The camera is not horizontal within its housing. If I put it on a horizontal surface, the picture is at an angle of around 5-10 degrees down to the right. As you usually have to turn it on and then put in place on the train, it is difficult to get the pic horizontal. I need to mount a spirit level bubble on it !
I made a cradle from styrene to get it back to horizontal ? this pic shows how much I needed to adjust it.

And here it is in the cradle with a long white line to help me align it.

Now what to use it for??[/H2] I mainly wanted it, to put inside a loco cab to get pics looking along the boiler. But it really won?t do this well.
With the camera inside the cab, the cab is all fuzzy. In addition, the dim light in the cab overpowers the outside view and it is so washed out to be almost white. The camera needs to be within 20 mm of the cab window to look ?right out?, so that the brightness is OK. But this means the first 100mm of the boiler is out of focus too. Example:

It looks like I?ll be sticking to the ?blue screen method? and Movie Maker to give me cab views. This camera MAY provide the stills to make the blue screen mask from.
(for an example of this see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8R5BkrWUyQ


So what other views can I get??[/H2]
To get an idea of what the camera will ?see?, I made this ?template? from cardboard

Mounting the camera on an outrigger on a flat car gives good side-on views of the loco and the track ahead. In this pic I?ve used a bit of balsa and an old transformer as weight to hold it on. The camera is bluetacked on. I used the template to try and get a view parallel with the loco side and ensure the loco cab side is in focus.

I tried it inside a carriage and as long as I don?t have any people within ?fuzzy? distance, the view through the windows is quite good. (must remember to put the roof on!)

Along the train shots should be quite good, such as a Guard?s-eye-view. Must remember to get it higher up though.

And there?s always the between-the-rails shots.

Removing Time and Date from file[/H2] The time and date are displayed at the bottom 30 pixels. Can get rid of them by using program VirtualDub, and a free plug-in called Timestamp Remover.
Vdub also has the ability to rotate a movie through an angle, so can use this to regain a horizontal horizon!
If I just Save as avi, the result will come out as a 20 times larger file! Need to select a compression type from Video|compression Menu and select a type. I had to download the MS MPEG-4 codec V3. It works well, in about real time (ie a 30 sec file takes 30sec to save), gives a file ¼ of the original size and allows the result to be opened in Movie Maker



Maybe some real videos will follow in the next few days??