Problems with PoleMaster

A place to report problems and bugs in SharpCap
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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

Please also read about Troubleshooting USB Issues before posting.

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cytan299
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am

Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#11

Post by cytan299 »

I exited Sharpcap so that it remembers that the gain setting is at 1.

Restarted Sharpcap and did this:

Experiment 2:
Reset
Gain is already at 1. Notice that there are NO frames that get collected! Black screen (because the cap on the PoleMaster is on)
track1.jpg
track1.jpg (402.5 KiB) Viewed 3080 times
This is weird!
Last edited by cytan299 on Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
cytan299
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am

Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#12

Post by cytan299 »

Finally, I upped the gain from the above and frames are being collected. And I get a white screen again.
track2.jpg
track2.jpg (405.34 KiB) Viewed 3080 times

Note: I tried changing the gain and the frame rate changes. Higher gain gives higher frame rate. Very strange!
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turfpit
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Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#13

Post by turfpit »

Cytan

Looking at your image and the USB settings - these might not be optimum. I have a QHY5LII-M running on SC 3.2.6062, using an i3 laptop and connected to a USB2 port. For the USB rate settings - Speed and USB Traffic - I am using 2 (Speed) & 0 (USB Traffic) and running with 30% gain. The USB Traffic slider is non-intuitive as 0 is fastest and 255 is slowest. I have had situations where the frames per second seems stuck at < 1 fps. Disconnecting/Re-connecting the camera in SC has no effect. Removing the USB cable (reset the bus) and restarting SC seems to work (mostly). However, I have had instances where a complete power off/on of the laptop has been needed to kick-start the fps. With a Capture Area of 320x240 and MONO8 I have managed > 100 fps. Once I have the expected fps, I have had no issues capturing 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 frame SER videos.

I suggest you try different USB ports as an experiment. Also note I am using SER Output Format.

I think the QHY SDK is bugged but I have not been able to document a systematic failure to report back to Robin as the problem manifests itself in an erratic way. I have noticed that if USB settings are not optimal the fps is abysmal.

Dave

QHY-optimum-USB-settings.jpg
QHY-optimum-USB-settings.jpg (149.14 KiB) Viewed 3075 times
cytan299
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am

Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#14

Post by cytan299 »

turfpit wrote: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:14 am Cytan

Looking at your image and the USB settings - these might not be optimum. I have a QHY5LII-M running on SC 3.2.6062, using an i3 laptop and connected to a USB2 port. For the USB rate settings - Speed and USB Traffic - I am using 2 (Speed) & 0 (USB Traffic) and running with 30% gain. The USB Traffic slider is non-intuitive as 0 is fastest and 255 is slowest. I have had situations where the frames per second seems stuck at < 1 fps. Disconnecting/Re-connecting the camera in SC has no effect. Removing the USB cable (reset the bus) and restarting SC seems to work (mostly). However, I have had instances where a complete power off/on of the laptop has been needed to kick-start the fps. With a Capture Area of 320x240 and MONO8 I have managed > 100 fps. Once I have the expected fps, I have had no issues capturing 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 frame SER videos.

I suggest you try different USB ports as an experiment. Also note I am using SER Output Format.

I think the QHY SDK is bugged but I have not been able to document a systematic failure to report back to Robin as the problem manifests itself in an erratic way. I have noticed that if USB settings are not optimal the fps is abysmal.

Dave

Hi Dave,
I tried your suggestions and the frame rate still is ridiculously slow with the new qhyccd.dll. It's also interesting that the new version has the USB control when the new qhyccd.dll is used. I still get a white screen.

I reverted back to the old qhyccd.dll and it does not have USB control. And frame rate is reasonable. And I don't get the white screen.

Looking at the above experiments, it might indicate that the new qhyccd.dll is integrating for too long and that's why the bits overflow and I get the white screen.

cytan
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admin
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Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#15

Post by admin »

Hi,

Even with longer exposures the whole image should really go white like that. I will keep pushing qhy to try to find a fix for this problem, but they say that in their tests with the latest SDK everything seems to be fine. We are expecting a new SDK soon which may just have an improvement in it, but I would like to promise that.

Cheers, Robin
cytan299
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am

Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#16

Post by cytan299 »

Hi Robin,
Is it possible for you to get or borrow a PoleMaster? I think this will speed up debugging and convince the qhy developers that something is wrong. A previous post by mwg3656 says that SharpCap 3.2.5986 (but not the latest version 3.2.6062) works with the latest version of qhyccd.dll also needs to be investigated, I think.

cytan
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Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#17

Post by admin »

Hi, unfortunately me having a pole master camera is really going to help much – I can't fix this issue myself anyway because it's obviously something that has changed in the code that is written by qhy. When you copy the older qhy DLL onto the later SharpCap then everything works fine.

So far qhy seem to have been unable to make the problem happen themselves – I would think that the best choice at this point would be for you guys to both report the issue via the qhy forums as the report has less impact with me being the man in the middle each time passing on your findings.

Cheers, Robin
cytan299
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am

Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#18

Post by cytan299 »

Hi Robin

Which qhy forum? Please send me a link and I’ll post.

cytan
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Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#19

Post by admin »

I would have thought this one

https://www.qhyccd.com/bbs/index.php?board=12.0

Cheers, Robin
cytan299
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am

Re: Problems with PoleMaster

#20

Post by cytan299 »

Hi Robin,
It seems that QHY has disabled any new users from joining the groups! See screen capture:
track.jpg
track.jpg (316.16 KiB) Viewed 3018 times
So, it seems that I cannot report the bug.

cytan
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