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Video Input

AldoAldo Posts: 9
edited 2010-11-12 12:02 in Propeller 1
Hi folks !

Look at this camera : http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8667

Its a way good camera (640x480x30fps) for the price (circa ten bucks only !!!)

i was thinking about a project to use two propellers :

one to get the picture from this camera, assemble a packet and send down a RS-422 link

other to get that RS-422 link packet and display at a video monitor...

can the prop do this ?

Comments

  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-11-11 14:10
    It isn't fast enough, and hasn't got enough memory.
  • KyeKye Posts: 2,200
    edited 2010-11-11 14:34
    The prop actually can, but those camera's suck BTW. I used them in a project and they will fail on you after a while.

    To do camera input is a major task in assembly. I can't release source I used to get data from those cameras or details on how to do so but I reconmend not using those sparkfun ones.
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2010-11-11 14:42
    Kye,
    I'm not doubting you, but are you sure these are the same cameras that you were using ?

    Is it possible you just got a bum one ?

    These look nice for experimenting, but if they fail, it's not worth the hassle.

    Bean
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-11-11 14:44
    You must have cut down a lot on the colours and/or resolution, then. What were you able to obtain?
  • Dr_AculaDr_Acula Posts: 5,484
    edited 2010-11-11 15:27
    There are more and more cameras out there with amazing resolution and that write to sd cards.

    And at the same time, we now have propeller code that can talk to an sd card.

    I wonder if it is possible to record a picture to an sd card, then use a propeller to read it back? At the simplest level, you could use a 4PDT relay, but there is probably an electronic solution (?4066). The propeller takes control of the camera's power/photo buttons (again, maybe relays or analog switches). Records the photo. Then switch control of the sd card to the propeller and reboot the sd card. Read off the resulting jpg or even movie file.
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-11-11 16:47
    Leon wrote: »
    It isn't fast enough, and hasn't got enough memory.

    I think Hanno would disagree with you. I've used his code to send the video to a second prop without any issues.

    Granted, it's not HiRes VGA, but it is usable.

    Bill
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-11-11 18:25
    With that camera and full color?
  • HannoHanno Posts: 1,130
    edited 2010-11-11 19:27
    Howdy!
    No, not that camera and not full color. I only did ntsc grayscale.

    My PropCVCapture code currently grabs 240x200 frames with 16 shades of gray- at full frame rate. You can use PropCVFilter to run simple filters on that image to determine where a bright/dim point is or where a barcode pattern is. I used this to steer my DanceBot years ago- see the "Programming/Customizing Propeller" book for my 2 chapters or the Circuit Cellar article. You can stream the video to ViewPort the 2mbps connection gives you around 10fps.

    Here's a tutorial:
    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?t=126769
    Hanno
  • AldoAldo Posts: 9
    edited 2010-11-12 01:19
    Found this article about this camera :

    http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA499618

    While its aimed at ARM, im sure Propeller can do it too.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-11-12 02:55
    You won't get anything like full colour, 640x480 video, though.
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-11-12 02:58
    Leon wrote: »
    With that camera and full color?
    Aldo wrote: »
    While its aimed at ARM, im sure Propeller can do it too.

    I'm sure it can... considering that the camera has selectable framerates (based in the clock you input) AND that it already uses 7 bit color scheme.

    I think that you could essentially read the data directly from the camera in a cog and pass that to your buffer directly... which another cog could then render. Especially to Rayman's LCDs, who's inputs match pretty closely with the outputs of this camera.

    Minor processing would be involved... but nothing that looks too difficult.

    Bill
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-11-12 03:12
    wjsteele wrote: »
    Granted, it's not HiRes VGA, but it is usable.
    Leon wrote: »
    You won't get anything like full colour, 640x480 video, though.


    Right... that's why I said that in my first post! :-)

    Bill
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,889
    edited 2010-11-12 06:35
    I had the same idea...

    I've got a couple of these cameras with a similar interface:
    http://www.primelec.com/Electronic-Components/Other/Samsung-14-Inch-VGA-CIS-p4826731.html

    These also have a flashlight and a connector for the camera...

    But, this all looked like too much work for me...

    Now, I think I know how to make a relatively inexpensive Prop powered camcorder that can both capture HD video to SD card and also be a serial camera for low resolution still image captures. This is also going to be a lot of work, but with bigger payoff...
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,889
    edited 2010-11-12 06:51
    Also, I've found a Maxim video decoder that can take NTSC or PAL and convert it into this same standard RGB or YUV format...

    So, if one can do like Kye has done and capture video directly (I'm pretty sure you can), then one could also use that chip to do the same thing, but with a TV source...
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-11-12 12:02
    Rayman wrote: »
    Also, I've found a Maxim video decoder that can take NTSC or PAL and convert it into this same standard RGB or YUV format...

    Yeah... we've been playing with the Max9526. It requires an external crystal... 27mhz I think and can support two inputs. It does 4x oversampling, so the quality is great. If I remember it's and 8bit output.

    It's a great package and we're planning on using it in our next product.

    Bill
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