How do I save to SER format?

Somewhere to ask questions about the best way to use SharpCap
Forum rules


If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
Post Reply
Luke Spacehopper
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 4:58 pm

How do I save to SER format?

#1

Post by Luke Spacehopper »

Hi,

First post here, really liking SharpCap but have a small problem (possibly).

I'm setting up one of these jobbies: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/ac ... l#SID=1712

All looking good and very quickly realised the free software included wasn't up to the job, so found SharpCap.

It's very intuitive, looks like there's good documentation and great support here. However, when save to AVI format I'm getting HUGE file sizes. I can sort of live with this, and I understand why it's happening, but I tried using SER as a comparison, and whereas I can select it as the format, when it records, it always produces an AVI file.

I'm changing to SER in the SharpCap settings General tab, I've unchecked the Start cameras with Auto output in case that overrides this. One thing I have noticed is that, in the right-hand column, under Capture Format and Area, if I select Auto it always selects AVI even though I've chosen SER in settings, which implies to me that something's not right.

Any ideas? I can live with AVI but would at least like to look at how SER performs.

I also looked through the docs and forums but can't see anyone with this specific question, apologies if this has been asked before.

Thanks.
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13175
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: How do I save to SER format?

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

It should just be as simple as making sure that auto not selected for the output format control and then choosing 'SER' option from the output format drop-down. Once you've done that just press start capture to grab a quick video and see if it works as expected.

If there is no SER format option available then please send a screenshot showing the values of the other controls as in some cases you may be capturing an image in a format that is not compatible with an SER output file.

Cheers, Robin
Luke Spacehopper
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 4:58 pm

Re: How do I save to SER format?

#3

Post by Luke Spacehopper »

Thanks for the reply, and I've managed to make some progress with this.

I've been playing around with the Test Cameras. If I use Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky) it always creates an AVI file even if I have SER file selected. If I use Test Camera 2 (High Speed), it allows me to create an SER file.

So perhaps this is something to do with my camera? It's not a disaster by any means (the SER files are even bigger than the AVI files!) but, you know, it's just good to know why something doesn't work as one thinks it could/should.
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13175
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: How do I save to SER format?

#4

Post by admin »

Hi,

If you have the colour space option set to 'RGB 32' then the SER option will disappear from the drop-down because SER format doesn't support 32 bits per pixel colour formats.

Cheers, Robin
Luke Spacehopper
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 4:58 pm

Re: How do I save to SER format?

#5

Post by Luke Spacehopper »

Ah, thank you! I can still select SER as my preferred format, which is what confused me, but I can see that this is why it falls through to AVI.

Thanks for your help, really appreciate it. :)
Post Reply