[PSUBS-MAILIST] Virtual Viewports

[Jon Wallace via Personal_Submersibles]

USB HD webcams are pretty cheap and can easily be put into a homebuilt 
housing.  I am planning on using them with a small 12inch notebook for 
video capture.  You can use multicam software like ISPY to combine 
multiple cameras into one viewing area.  The only problem I've found is 
that I can't get more than three cameras to work with any computer I've 
tried.  IP Cameras are another option but are more expensive and larger 
so require a bigger footprint on the sub.  And of course if the housing 
fails it will hurt your pocket book more to purchase another IP cam. The 
advantage though is that most of them have built in IR lights for night 
vision.

If you want something more basic, check out Raspberry PI with Processing 
Language for building a graphical display.  You can feed a camera to it 
to display on a small touchscreen.  I've tried it and it works very well.

Jon


On 1/16/2016 10:34 AM, Cliff Redus via Personal_Submersibles wrote:
> With the sitting position of the pilot in the R300 and the 
> hemispherical viewport, visibility upwards all around is excellent but 
> visibility off to the port and starboard sides of the boat when 
> looking down is poor.  I am interested in what experience we have 
> collectively on using subsea cameras and displaying monitor as virtual 
> viewports.  Has any one commissioned one of these cameras?  What brand 
> and model did you use and what HMI or monitor did you use?  Has it 
> worked? What has worked well and what whould do differently 
> on your next boat?
>
>  I know from emails a few years back that Carsten was planning on 
> using this concept rather than a physical viewport.  I would be 
> interested in anyone's experience on this.
>
> cliff
>
>