Strange timestamps in latest SC with QHY 174 GPS

[wunni]

Hello!

I recently set up SC on a new computer, including QHY SDK.
SC 4.1.12529.0 Pro is running on Win 10 Pro.
With this SC version, I have strange time stamps:



With GPS, I guess the microseconds are displayed after the "Z". And there is a colon as decimal separator for the seconds?!
I didn't find anything about it here in the forum, but maybe I just didn't see it.
Admittedly, I'm puzzled:
What sense does that make? Can the OCR of an analyzing software cope with this? For me as a user, this is also pointless.
For astro applications, the millisecond is enough for me as a time stamp on the image. I just want to see at a glance whether the time stamp is also GPS-supported.
I would rather like to do without the space and the Z, with a '.' after the seconds. If I had one wish free: How about a switch (in the settings) with which I can switch the display to three or seven decimal places?

Cheers,
Niko

[Jean-Francois]

Hello Niko,

It was a discussion here: viewtopic.php?p=44276#p44276
Note that I do not check it.

I have a QHY174GPS camera, but I do not use the timestamp on the image.
SharpCap decodes the binary information from the GPS signal directly.
Tangra or Pyote reads the timestamp from the SER or ADV files.

...

Now I test it: ... one time with GPS activated, one time without GPS sensor.

QHY-GPS_UTC.jpg (60.68 KiB) Viewed 3056 times

Yes ... I guess some improvement is necessary.
But, if you have the GPS camera, then you have no need to show the timestamp on the image (except for some test and verification).

Regards,
Jean-Francois

[wunni]

Hello Jean-Francois,

I would not have expected a discussion on the format of the time stamp under this topic (viewtopic.php?p=44276) Thank you, that explains the "Z".

I always have the timestamp switched on, old habit. Then I have an immediate overview of the times and *see* if there are any irregularities.
On my previous camera PC I have a slightly older SC 4.1.4... version with the 'normal' timestamps. This SC version is perfect for me and can do everything it needs to do. Then I'll just use this version of SC on the new computer.

Personally, I do not need a reference to the time zone (UTC is standard). A reference to the GPS accuracy would suffice. This could also be a small symbol after the time stamp, a ■ for example.
And, as I said, a switch for "Display microseconds" in the settings would be nice.

Best regards,
Niko

[Jean-Francois]

Hello Niko,

The question is "Microseconds or not microseconds" ?

If the GPS of the camera is OFF, then the time is coming from the PC ... so only milliseconds.
If the GPS is ON, SharpCap switch the timestamp view to microseconds.

That is not so good

I will propose that the timestamp switch to microseconds only if the camera GPS receive a stable time (means is "Locked").

If "BadData" ... still computer time, so milliseconds.
If "PartialData" ... then ... if the time is stable, OK change in GPS time, if not stay in computer time (so milliseconds)
If "Locked" ... then all good, the GPS time is received so change the timestamp in microseconds.

I propose that more people using the OCR recognition from the timestamp will respond here.

Somehow, the time has to be recognised as UTC or not.
The question is how to do it so that the "normal" processing can continue (without to many changes).

The timestamp could be so:
No GPS or not "Locked": "2024 09 06 21:24:52.799Z" or "2024 09 06 21:24:52.799 Z"
With GPS locked: "2024 09 06 21:24:52.7996492Z" or "2024 09 06 21:24:52.7996492 Z"

Or if really necessary: "2024 09 06 21:24:52:7996492Z" with ":" as separator.

It seems that a "," is allowed, but I prefer the general "." for the decimal separation.

Regards,
Jean-Francois

Note: I never used the timestamp and I will not start to use it with my GPS camera.

[admin]

Hi,


thanks for bringing this up - looks like when I added the 'Z' to make it clear that the timestamp is UTC, I messed up on where it is placed when the GPS data is present.

I will fix that one for the next update.

cheers,

Robin