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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

INDI Driver for SVBONY cameras

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Hello Blaise,

good new ! the drivers work fine for me now. I had a problem with cfitsio. I removed the last cfitio from my /usr/local/lib for use the "official" package.

if you need help for coding or others things, i'm ready for help.

Christian
3 years 9 months ago #56056
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Hi Jon,

Thanks a lot for your help !

You're right, live view isn't implemented yet.
Happy to see that most of the features work.

I did some darks test also, after your message. I think you're right, it's due to the fits viewer. It stretchs the frame's pixel values at display.
Darks only have noise, so, it amplifies the noise. I get the same noisy pictures as you, but if you look at the picture's histogram, "mean" and
"median" pixel values are very low.

Just pushed some new commits :

- a bit of code cleaning
- subframe buffer optimization
- sometime got junk frames after gain change : fixed

I also added a libreoffice calc file to record all test feedbacks

Missing features at his time :

- binning
- live view

Thanks again, and have a nice day (or night ;-))

Blaise
3 years 9 months ago #56061
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Hi Christian !

Thanks ! Great news !

So, the driver works for three of us.

If you want some coding work, I have troubles using the native SDK ROI (subframe) and binning features.
Every time I change the resolution, it fails. I have to do it by software.

Do you already have the SDK documentation ?

At this time, my code is a bit dirty. Code reviews would be nice ;-)

Thanks for your help.

Best regards,

Blaise
3 years 9 months ago #56063
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Blaise,

No problem. Thank YOU for the coding!

With regard to the feature set, and excuse my ignorance of Ekos standard feature set, but I was never able to use it as Ekos has only recently begun to support my hardware: Will there be support for filetypes other than FITS, and specifically, .AVI video? Also, I am used to doing rough color balance, contrast, brightness and saturation prior to image commit (in a liveview environment) or is the plan to capture raw video and do all the adjustments in post processing? I suppose I could see how the V4L module works, but it seems just as easy to ask. And for the record, I am already jumping up and down happy with having it work, so kindly ignore the question if it smacks too much of scope creep.

And yes, I came to the same conclusion about the FITS viewer's motives after viewing the darks image in GIMP. I suppose it makes sense, in a more or less not very useful way. One day, I really must read the instructions.

Oh, and I can help with the code review! Just looked at it...yep...not Java. There...done. :)
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Jon Carleton.
3 years 9 months ago #56066
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Hi Blaise,

I have a the API documentation. Very poor but she has the credit to exist.
I will try to work on the ROI implementation.
I seen your code and seriously he is clean.
Also, Do you think it's a good idea to propose all behavior of the camera that are "forced" to be programming by users ?

Regards
3 years 9 months ago #56076
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Hi Jon,

I'm pretty new to Ekos too ;-)
Some years ago, I used my own software (qastrocam-g2).
Then, I had a break with astronomy. But I'm back now !

Ekos records video streaming as ".SER" files.

I started to work on the "live view" today.
Hope I will be finished soon.

Thanks for your code review ! LOL

Best regards !

Blaise

PS : 3 years ago, I was in charge of our JEE Application servers. I didn't code a lot in Java, but I did a lot of troubleshooting in production ;-)
3 years 9 months ago #56105
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Hi Christian,

Thanks for you review.

Concerning the hard coded settings, the main reasons are :

- I wanted the driver to be available in a short time
- Some settings are inappropriate for astronomy, especially with INDI.
- In my mind, the SDK has been developed for standard cameras, and then patched for astronomy. Some "GetCapabilities" results are wrong, we can't trust it.

But I'm open to work on these features for the next version.

Best regards !

Blaise
3 years 9 months ago #56106
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Hi,

Sorry, I forgot to say : binning done (software binning)

Best regards,

Blaise
3 years 9 months ago #56108
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Hi,

Just pushed the first "stream enabled" version.

I think I will soon ask for a pull request.

There is a lot of possible improvements, but in my mind this first version is usable.

Feel free to send me any comments about my code.

Best regards,

Blaise
3 years 9 months ago #56134
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Blaise,

I checked binning yesterday. Seemed good. I'll check "stream enabled" today.

I did look at the v4l2 driver using my SV105 as a test. The indi control panel does have a significant image control (hue, saturation, et al) screen. That said, I'm not certain that it isn't a bit buggy, though I didn't take time to do a thorough test of v4l2.

*JC*
3 years 9 months ago #56164
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Blaise,

I'm not a previous user of Ekos LiveView, but I think there may be issues. Using a field spotting scope with the camera in daytime, I got reasonable FITS images in the preview viewer. However, clicking live view gave me a dark gray screen. I know something was going on, because I could point the camera at the daytime sky and get a brighter gray and a complete dark with the cap on the camera. The SER file I received seemed very grainy and the resolution was not as set (1080P) as seen here in a SER header display from SER Player:
Header Details:
* FileId: LUCAM-RECORDER
* LuID: 0
* ColorID: 9 (GRBG)
* LittleEndian: 1
* ImageWidth: 960
* ImageHeight: 540
* PixelDepth: 16
* FrameCount: 37
* Observer: Unknown Observer
* Instrument: Unknown Instrument
* Telescope: Unknown Telescope
* DateTime: 28/05/0120 11:06:31.862589 (0x85de096a193462)
* DateTime_UTC: 28/06/2020 15:06:31.862603 (0x8d81b74d780d4ee)

I am not used to working with SER files, but may stack them later in Siril to see if anything more encouraging appears.

At this time, I am willing to "guess" that liveview is not working properly. I did play with gain and exposure duration with no obvious result. Although, changes to gain made significant impact to preview images.

*UPDATE*
I stacked the SER images in Siril and got nothing usable. It is possible I had the gain up too far when I made the SER video. Note, I am not willing to rule out "pilot error" with regard to these results. As I said, I am not used to SER video files. We may have a brief period of clear sky this evening. If so, I'll try again with the telescope.
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Jon Carleton.
3 years 9 months ago #56170
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Hi Jon,

Thanks for your tests. It really helps.

As already said, I'm not an Ekos expert.
I think using live view for capture is a miss usage.

Live view uses a "stream manager". The INDI API says :

<<
16bit frames are only supported in some recorders. You can send 16bit frames, but they will be downscaled to 8bit when necessary for streaming and recording purposes.
>>

<<
By default, the full image width and height are used for transmitting the data.
>>

In my mind, live view is for :

- live FOV corrections
- fast manual focus

It's a kind of "fast preview".

Then, you program a shooting plan and start it.
Then you process all your fits images

Am I wrong Knro ?

For pure planetary imaging, a would use AstroDmx instead of Ekos.
I think Ekos is more "DSO imaging" oriented.

In live view, you have to toggle the "bayer button" to get the frames. I don't know why. I asked to Knro. Exposure time is also much shorter.
But you're right, live view needs more work.

Best regards !

Blaise
3 years 9 months ago #56181
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