SharpCap Forums

Hello,

I have the same problem with the last version 4 and the SkyWatcher mount driver.

But for me, the telescope control arrows keys change to grey when I modify the ROI.
It is necessary to uncheck the mount control and recheck it.


One additional point with the telescope control ...
When I use the mount for optical adjustment with terrestrial targets without tracking, then the SharpCap sets the tracking after each movement with the arrows keys. It is necessary to stop the tracking ... and that again and again each time I move the mount.


Regards,
Jean-Francois

Hi,

I think the fix I have made will also solve the problem you are having of needing to disconnect/reconnect after changing the ROI.

As for tracking being re-enabled, the code tries to set everything back to the way it was - so when you start the movement it remembers the following

* Tracking status (on/off)
* Tracking rate
* RA Drive Rate

And then when you stop the movement, it puts those values back again. Unfortunately there are several ways that all this can work, and different ASCOM drivers use different approaches (some use tracking status/rate, others use the RA drive rate).

If you turn on additional mount loging in the settings and then capture a log of the problem, it might be possible to work out what is going on, as that should capture all the communications between SharpCap and the ASCOM driver.

cheers,

Robin

Hi folks,

Another step towards the release of SharpCap 4.0 is completed today - the 'Beta' testing phase is officially over and there is a new version of SharpCap 4.0 available that I am calling a 'Release Candidate'. What does that mean?

• There is a new download page - https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-4-0-downloads
• The new version no longer has a built in time limit, and will not show itself as a 'Beta' version
• SharpCap Pro features added in this version now require a SharpCap Pro license
• Next week is likely to be the full release of SharpCap 4.0 - it will either be this version (4.0.7888) or an update that fixes any new bugs found over the next few days.

If you do get a chance to download and try out this new version over the next few days, please continue to post feedback here in the beta forums if you have any.

thanks,

Robin

Thanks a lot Robin and a big BRAVO for all this work and the way to work with us. The result is top and we ( I !) are definitivly attached to SharpCap!
Dominique

After reading through all the info on Sharpcap 4, if you have the V3 Pro version with a license, will V4 require a NEW license or will the V3 license transfer/work with V4?

Rob

Hi,

A Pro license for v3 is still valid for v4 - no need to purchase a new license.

cheers,

Robin

Hi,
Just upgraded to 4.0.7888.0.
This version appears to require exclusive access to both the ASCOM telescope and focuser. If for instance I connect these in ASCOM Device Hub, they will not connect in Sharpcap. The reverse is also true. I'm not sure if it matters, but I'm using the Celestron.Telescope and myfocuserPro2.
SharpCap is looking great, but this is a fatal bug for me.
Cheers
Steve
PS Just tried 64bit 4.0.7897.0 and the conflict with the telescope driver appears fixed. Still the same issue with the focuser. (In retrospect, I'm not sure if my test with 4.0.7888.0 was with the 64 or 32bit version, so I'll try the 32bit version of 4.0.7897.0.
PPS Just tried the 32bit version. No difference.

Hi,

there has been no major change around this since 3.2. The sharing (or not) of ASCOM connections is much more dependent on the ASCOM driver than on SharpCap.

* Some ASCOM drivers support sharing themselves - these tend to run their own process - examples include EQMOD. When connecting from a second application, it will start talking to the already running version of the ASCOM driver

* Some ASCOM drivers do not support this - if you try to connect in (for example) SharpCap and PHD2 then both will try to access the same serial port and one will fail. For these you need to use the ASCOM 'hub' options to allow sharing. You configure the ASCOM hub to talk to the real ASCOM driver and *everything else* needs to be configured to talk to the hub. ASCOM will make sure that the hub only runs once and therefore only one program is trying to talk to the serial port

* Running things as administrator can break either of the above two configurations. Basically if you run some applications as administrator then the ASCOM driver (first case) or the hub (second case) can end up running as administrator. Then if another program (say SharpCap) is running non-admin, Windows will block it from communicating with the driver/hub. At that point it may just fail or it may try to start its own hub/driver which will then fail.

Now, I'm not quite sure from your post whether you were doing

Other app => Hub => Celestron.Telescope
and
SharpCap => Hub => Celestron.Telescope

or...

Other app => Hub => Celestron.Telescope
and
SharpCap => Celestron.Telescope

The first option is correct and should work. The second is wrong and would not be expected to work.

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin - Thanks for replying.
I'm not using the old ASCOM HUB. ASCOM Device Hub is just like an ASCOM app I believe. Celestron telescope can accept multiple connections. I could have used PHD2 or Stellarium instead. The newest version didn't seem to have the problem anyway, but if I get a little time, I'll reload the older version and try it, just to make sure.
I was just using ASCOM Device Hub -> SharpCap
or SharpCap -> ASCOM Device Hub
in both instances, the second app failed to connect to the telescope. It was immediately noticeable when I tried the 4.0 version quoted. I know what you mean about admin mode, but I'm not running either as admin.
Regards
Steve

Hi Steve,

difficult to know what else to suggest - all the multi-app-to-one-device stuff is handled either by the ASCOM driver itself or ASCOM - SharpCap just asks to connect , which either succeeds or fails - there is very little that I can do to influence what happens.

If you are getting failure to connect in SharpCap then please feel free to post a SharpCap log - maybe there will be something in that which helps make sense of things.

thanks,

Robin