Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

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sooty
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Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:03 pm

Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

#1

Post by sooty »

Hi.I've just been trying to run sharpcap alongside PHD2,but whenever they are both 'running' i get dropped frames in Sharpcap.Sharpcap runs fine,until i start the looping sequence in PHD.I'm using a Hypercam 183C to image,and a GPCAM to guide.Any advice/help,greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sooty.
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Re: Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

so far this seems fine in my testing (183C in SharpCap 3.1.5029, GPCAM 130C in PHD 2.6.4dev8). Are you using the latest PHD (from the development snapshots page - https://openphdguiding.org/development-snapshots/)? If your PHD version shows the 183C then I'd do an update to the very latest if I were you - there was a bug in the Altair SDK at one point that did cause problems with 2+ cameras connected - basically it would get the cameras a bit muddled up. That's fixed in the latest versions of SharpCap, PHD, etc, so worth updating if you are out-of-date.

cheers,

Robin
sooty
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Re: Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

#3

Post by sooty »

Just had another trial run,after installing the latest version.The dropped frames are more consistent,
when i choose RAW16 for the colour space.RAW8 is fine.So hopefully,all is not lost??
The laptop is about 8yr old mind,so that could well be a issue??

David.
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Re: Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

#4

Post by admin »

Hi,

it could be that the older PC is just not up to keeping up with the 183C at full speed and running PHD at the same time.

If you check out this thread - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=617 - I have made a test version of SharpCap that puts info about why frames are dropped into its log file. If you want to try downloading and testing that version and then sharing the log file after a number of frames have been dropped then we might work out a bit more.

cheers,

Robin
sooty
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Re: Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

#5

Post by sooty »

Hi Robin,i'm afraid that whenever i download/install stuff,something always goes wrong! haha
Had another play about indoors today,and if i set the USB speed to 0,then i don't get any dropped frames
using RAW12 at 5sec upwards,with PHD2 running.I gather the USB speed is the speed of the transferred image??
Sorry for all the dumb questions.

David.
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Re: Sharpcap/PHD2 problem.

#6

Post by admin »

Hi,

the USB Speed is how hard the camera/driver tries to get to the maximum possible USB transfer rate - set it high and you will get higher framerates for lunar/solar/planetary. Set it low and the frame rates will drop but it also becomes more robust (less dropped frames, etc).

Sounds like you are back in business anyway :)

cheers,

Robin
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