Sharpcap 3.1 Beta and SX Lodestar

[HiloDon]

Hi Robin,

I just downloaded the recent 3.1 beta version of Sharpcap and tried to connect my Lodestar x2 mono. It shows the camera, but the program just freezes when I select it. It crashed once and I did send the report on line. I have Windows 10 on a relatively new Dell with an i5 processor. I have the newest SX driver installed and everything works fine with Starlight Live on the same computer. I’ll be happy to try different things if you want me to. I have a Lodestar C and both Ultrastar C and M. I don’t have access to them right now, but will try them tomorrow. I’m using the SX supplied USB cable that is about 3m long. I tried different USB ports as well. I also installed the Sharpcap pre-requisites program.

Thanks for your help.

Don

[admin]

Hi Don,

thanks for the report - I can see the bug report and will try to fix it for the next version.

cheers,

Robin

[HiloDon]

Thanks,

Just to follow up, I tried the Ultrastar C and it connects fine. I did notice that the image controls only have gain and black level. No color, brightness or contrast. Am I missing something? I have tried this with my RT224 and get the same, but if I choose Mallincam with it, it gives me full image controls.

Don

[admin]

Hi Don,

yes, that's pretty much expected - the SX SDK doesn't have any facility for colour balance etc. Even the gain and black level controls that you see have been added by me in SharpCap's code.

I have uploaded a new version, but having looked into your original bug, I can see that at was caused by SharpCap not getting the data it needed from the camera when it asked for it. I don't expect this new version to fix the problem, but hopefully it will reveal more about the reason *why* the data isn't coming through (like an error code with a bit of luck!)

cheers,

Robin

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Robin.

Then how do I control the image? I see there are display controls, but no color. Do the display controls affect the captured image?

I have used Starlight Live for some time with both the Lodestar and Ultrastar. It has full image controls including color, for both Mac and Windows. The controls are effective on the existing live view image immediately, and the saved image is what you see. For EAA outreach these features are very important. Will something like this be available with SC?

Thanks for any feedback.

Don

[admin]

Hi Don,

currently you'd need to adjust colour balance in post-processing as there are no controls to adjust that in the live stacking. It's on my to-do list but didn't make it into SharpCap 3.1 - likely for SharpCap 3.2.

cheers,

Robin

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Robin.

[patryan]

Downloaded newest update and it freezes Sharpcap.

Tried plugging in lodestar before and after starting Sharpcap and always locks up so I have to use task manager to kill the process.

If I select the SX lodestar further down the menu, that I assume is the ascom driver, then it functions like it did before the update.

Let me know if I can provide any more data.

Mike

[admin]

Can I just check - does the freeze occur when you try to start the camera?

Please can you look in the folder

Code: Select all

C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\SharpCap\logs

here you will find the log files that SharpCap generates. If you can find one that matches up with the SX camera freezing, please post it here. Hopefully the last few lines in the log file will help reveal how far SharpCap got before getting stuck.

thanks,

Robin

[patryan]

Hi Robin,

When SC starts it does not auto detect my Lodestar.
When I Camera->select->Lodestar, near the top of the menu, SC freezes.

Info: 09:56:03.4892781 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: SharpCap Version 3.1.4477.0
Info: 09:56:03.5049036 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: GC Memory 3Mb
Info: 09:56:03.5049036 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: Process Memory 59Mb
Info: 09:56:03.5049036 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: Total Physical Memory 8064Mb
Info: 09:56:03.5049036 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: Available Physical Memory 5596Mb
Info: 09:56:03.5049036 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: Operating System : Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
Info: 09:56:04.5833694 Thread:LogInfo Thread#8 SharpCap.LogSystemInfo.ThreadProc() :: CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz with 4 cores.
Debug: 09:56:06.3765287 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm..ctor() :: Started
Info: 09:56:06.8619896 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type BaslerLXDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:06.8619896 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type OldBaslerEnumerator
Info: 09:56:06.8619896 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type BaslerDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:06.8619896 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type QHYDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:06.8619896 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type ASIDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:06.8619896 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type AltairDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:07.2480248 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type PointGreyDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:07.2485262 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type SxDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:07.3968184 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type DS3DeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:07.3983340 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type SPCLXDeviceEnumerator
Info: 09:56:07.3983340 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.AddProvider() :: Added device enumerator of type AscomDeviceEnumerator
Debug: 09:56:10.2293036 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm..ctor() :: Ended
Debug: 09:56:10.3279843 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCapForm_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Started
Debug: 09:56:10.3289875 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCapForm_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Ended
Debug: 09:56:10.3747575 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Started
Debug: 09:56:37.3886785 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Timebomb checked
Debug: 09:56:37.3886785 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Basler.OldBaslerEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Started
Debug: 09:56:37.8889198 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Basler.OldBaslerEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Ended
Debug: 09:56:37.8889198 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Basler.OldBaslerEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Started
Debug: 09:56:37.8889198 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Basler.OldBaslerEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Ended
Debug: 09:56:37.8889198 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Basler.BaslerDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Started
Debug: 09:56:37.8889198 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Basler.BaslerDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Ended
Info: 09:56:38.7959515 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Base.SimpleDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices(Func`1 deviceNameFinder, String infoText, Func`2 fullNameToDispayName, Func`3 tagCreatorFunc) :: QHYCameraFinder - found 0 cameras
Info: 09:56:38.9053351 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Base.SimpleDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices(Func`1 deviceNameFinder, String infoText, Func`2 fullNameToDispayName, Func`3 tagCreatorFunc) :: FindCameras - found 0 cameras
Info: 09:56:39.6710380 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: LodeStar (StarlightXpress Cameras)
Debug: 09:56:40.0626043 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Ximea.XimeaDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Started
Info: 09:56:40.1873883 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Ximea.XimeaDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: XiCam.GetNumberDevices return 0
Debug: 09:56:40.1873883 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Ximea.XimeaDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Ended
Info: 09:56:40.2967750 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: HP Webcam (DirectShow Cameras via SharpCap Pipeline)
Info: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: ASI Camera (1) (ASCOM Cameras)
Info: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: ASI Camera (2) (ASCOM Cameras)
Info: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: Camera V2 simulator (ASCOM Cameras)
Info: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar (ASCOM Cameras)
Debug: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Fake.FakeDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Started
Debug: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Cameras.Fake.FakeDeviceEnumerator.GetDevices() :: Ended
Info: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky) (Test Cameras)
Info: 09:56:40.3124034 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider+<GetDevices>d__19.MoveNext() :: Detected Camera: Test Camera 2 (High Speed) (Test Cameras)
Debug: 09:56:42.7695888 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Docking setup
Debug: 09:56:42.7695888 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Startup scripts (if any) run
Debug: 09:56:42.7695888 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Menu updated
Debug: 09:56:42.8008634 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Splash and tips done
Debug: 09:56:43.4571951 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.SharpCap_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e) :: Ended
Info: 09:57:13.1240639 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Models.Application+<>c__DisplayClass36_0.<set_SelectedCamera>b__0() :: Changing camera from none to LodeStar
Debug: 09:57:13.1552838 Thread:#1 SharpCap.MultiCaptureProvider.OpenDevice(DeviceTagData deviceTag) :: Opening device : LodeStar
Info: 09:57:13.1552838 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Base.CaptureProviderBase`1.OpenDevice(DeviceTagData dtd) :: Started
Debug: 09:57:13.1552838 Thread:#1 SharpCap.Base.SimpleCaptureProvider.SetupDevice(DeviceTagData dtd) :: Started