SharpCap Forums

Hi Jim,

I suppose that it is possible that Stellarium is either not asking the same questions, or is ignoring any errors or possibly retrying on an error. The error you posted above is coming from SharpCap first connecting to the mount and quizzing it on what functionality it has.

Also, seeing an error when you try to tick the connected box and the mount isn't actually there is expected. The same applies when you open a camera and the 'auto connect' option is turned on. In both cases, SharpCap will request that the ASCOM driver connects to the mount hardware, and that will fail.
Don't worry about the 'serial port' message - that is just something that SharpCap adds , since the that is one of the common causes of this failure. However, in your case, since you are using WIFI there is no serial port involved.

In your situation, I would suggest trying the wired connection to see if it does work reliably - that would at least confirm or refute the theory that the problem is coming from an unreliable wifi connection.

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin,

This is all helpful, thanks very much.

I've managed to find a way to connect by hard wire, but it uses my hand control connection and I've no software to use to talk to my mount (SynScan app doesn't connect and I can't get a connection through SharpCap). Do I need other drivers/ software to get my laptop and mount to communicate?

Hi,

you will need a different ASCOM driver I think - I presume it is a skywatcher mount, so EQMOD is a good bet (a bit geeky, but very full featured).

Once you have EQMOD or some other ASCOM driver talking to the mount you can set up multiple applications to talk to EQMOD - for instance SharpCap and a planetarium program like Cartes-du-ciel, SkytechX, Stellarium or many others.

Hope this helps,

Robin

Hello -
My system: Windows 11, 32GB RAM and 400GB storage available, Camera - ZWO ASI678MC. Doing mostly planetary imaging (I am a beginner so i am not doing anything fancy). I have reported the crash report multiple times via internet. I was previously using 64-bit but since then i have downloaded the 32-bit version and have been using it but same crash issue(s). It seems there is a new 32-bit version that was made available on 01/23/2023 and i will try it out.

Problem: Whenever i change the capture area from too small to too big (or vice versa), sharpcap crashes. If i go in increments and slowly make my way from 320x240 to 640x480 to 800x800 to 2160x2160 to the max available (or the other way around) - then it seems to work.(around 85% of the time, i am able to get videos; Other 15% - it hangs). It seems, Sharpcap does not like/handle quick changes in capture area.

Any help here will be appreciated.

Thanks
NV

Hi,

I have had a look through our uploaded bug reports, and didn't spot any that I could immediately identify as relating to your issue - I would need some more info to be sure (what version of SharpCap you were using, what camera, and what the error message that you saw said). We do tend to concentrate on reports from the last 5 to 10 updates of SharpCap, so if you were using quite an old version they we would not look into your reports - this is simply because bug reports from older versions tend to be largely either things we have already fixed in newer versions or have external causes (things like cameras being unplugged or glitching).

Hopefully the new update will help - if not, please send a new report and then post a screenshot showing the details about the bug report that you see just before you send it. That will ensure I can find your bug report.

cheers,

Robin

Ok. I will be doing some photography tomorrow evening so i will surely send it via the internet channel. I have downloaded the new 4.0.9538 so keeping my fingers crossed.

It crashed again but i was not able to capture the diagnostic. I will send in couple days. Seeing not so great here in AZ these days.

I sent it again. Let me know if you received it or not.

Hi,

OK, I have found the bug report now, thank you.

I can see that what is happening is the graphics rendering system (a Windows component used by SharpCap) has failed during the resolution change. This has obviously happened in the past, since SharpCap detects this failure the first time and tries to resolve the issue by switching from graphics card accelerated rendering to software rendering. In your case, you are still getting issues with software rendering

One thing that has helped other users with this issue is to make sure that your graphics card drivers are completely up to date (check with the manufacturer of the graphics chip - in your case AMD) to get the most up to date drivers, since the ones that come from Windows update or from PC manufacturers can be much older. It's also worth making sure that other available Windows updates have been installed.

Once you have everything up-to-date, turn graphics card acceleration back on (about halfway down SharpCap's settings - first page), restart SharpCap and see if things behave any better.

cheers,

Robin

Thanks. I will report back once i have completed these steps. Thank You. Really appreciate the help.