Orion 52181 User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Orion® Video Capture Device

#52181

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

OrionTelescopes.com

Customer Support (800) 676 -13 43

E-mail: support@telescope.com

Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000

89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

IN 433 Rev. A 10/11

The Orion Video Capture Device enables any NTSC or PAL analogue video signal output from CCTV camera, DVD, DVR, VCR, Cablebox, Game Console or Camcorder to be displayed and recorded on any computer or Laptop with XP, Vista, Win7 or Mac OS X operating

Figure 1.

Software CD.

USB Device and

system installed.

Video input can be from any Composite or SVideo signal.

The software CD includes video capture, video editing and movie format conversion software.

The Video Capture Device can be used for many purposes including:

• Live Viewing and recording of astronomy subjects via CCT V camera such as the Orion Starshoot Deep Space Video Camera or the Orion Starshoot Video Eyepiece.

• Live internet broadcasting via NightSkiesNetwork.

• Capturing and editing home movies from tape to digital formats such

as DVD, Web and mobile devices.

• Capture and convert movies to other formats such as MPEG and AVI formats.

• Automated tracking and recording of meteors using HandyAVI or UFO capture software. (windows only software links on CD installer)

Please read this instruction manual before attempting to use the video capture device or install the software.

Parts List

• Orion Video Capture Device (USB)

• Dual Format Windows PC / Mac OS X CD-ROM

• Manual

Figure 2. Examples of supported Input devices.

System Requirements

The following hardware is required:

• Recommended minimum memory size is 512 MB.

• Disk Space – 1GB or more recommended for saving Movies.

• Video Display – 800 X 600, 16-bit color or higher. 1024x768 or higher is

recommended.

• Mouse (external or built-in)

• Internet connection required to display on-line help and download

additional software

• High Speed USB 2.0 port

Windows

The Orion Video Capture device, device driver and Orion Capture software requires Windows XP, Vista or Win 7 running on a Pentium III™ or equivalent, or higher.

Mac OSX

The Orion Video Capture device, device driver and Orion Capture software requires Mac OS X 10.3 or above running on a Power PC G3/G4/G5 or Intel-Based Macintosh computers.

Input Devices

A wide variety of Input devices are supported (Figure 2).

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Software and Driver Installation

Before the video capture device can be used the USB device driver and image capture software must be installed onto your computer.

Note: If you have any antivirus software enabled, please disable it during the installation of the software.

Note: Do not connect the Video Capture Device to your computer yet.

Figure 3.

Windows Users

Included on CD are the following:

• Orion AmCap – Capture Software

• VCR to DVD – Video editing software

• Blaze Video magic – Movie format conversion software

Please turn to the section titled “Windows installation and operation page”.

Macintosh Users

Included software:

• EasyCap – Capture Software

• Video Impression – Video Editing and Conversion Software

• Lynkeos – Astronomical Post processing Software

Please turn to the section titled “Macintosh installation and operation page”.

Windows Installation and Operation

Turn on your computer and allow the Windows operating system to load as normal. Insert the included CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive, and the Launcher will appear (Figure 3). This allows you to install the included USB Device driver, Orion capture software, VHS to DVD capture and editing software and Blaze video magic conversion software.

Video Capture Device Driver Installation

1. Click Install Capture Device Driver.

provides an easy menu for software installation.

The Windows launcher

2. The USB-TV Device Driver Software Installation will start.

3. Follow on screen Installation instructions.

4. When installation is complete click the Finish button.

5. Restart computer.

Once the driver is installed, the computer will now recognize the Orion Video Capture Device whenever it is plugged in.

Please connect the Video Capture Device to your computer, you should see a window, select “Yes, this time only”, and then select “Install the software automatically (Recommended)”, select “Continue Anyway”. Wait for a moment until the system displays “Your new hardware is installed and ready to use”.

Verify Device Driver Installation

You will now need to check that the drivers are installed correctly.

1. Right Click on My Computer

2. Left Click on properties.

3. Click on Hardware tab and then Device Manager.

In the Device Manager click on the “Sound, video and game controllers”. You should see the “USB 2861 Device” listed. (Figure 4).

If it has a Yellow mark next to it then this means that the driver is not installed correctly. You will need to remove the driver and disconnect the Orion Video Capture device from the computer and reconnect to install the driver again.

Capture Software Installation & Guide

Now that the Video Capture Device driver software is installed, the capture software must also be installed.

1. Return to the Launcher and click Install Orion Capture Software.

2. The Orion AmCap Setup Wizard appears. Click Next.

Figure 4. Device manager screen.

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3. Select a destination folder and Click Next.

4. Click Next again to start the installation.

5. When the wizard is complete, click close. This has installed the capture software.

6. Open Orion AmCap from the icon on your desktop. The Live Video Window should appear (Figure 5). The software will recognize many cameras so check that

USB 2861 Device

Figure 5. The live video window.

is selected from the device menu.

7. Under Options menu select Video Capture Filter and select Video Decoder Tab to modify settings such as PAL/NTSC/ SECAM country video standard settings. Select the Video Proc Amp Tab to modify image settings such as Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation and Sharpness (Figure 6).

8. Under options menu select Video Capture Pin to modify settings such as Output Size (Figure 7). The maximum output size is 720 x 480.

9. Under options menu select Video Crossbar to modify video input settings based upon the video device attached to the Video Capture Device IE (Figure 8). The majority of devices will output standard Video Composite video signal. Higher quality can be achieved using SVideo input.

Figure 6. Video Capture Filter.

10. Select Capture File from the File menu and name your ﬁle

including the AVI extension name. IE MyMovie.avi. Click Open.

11. Enter the amount of disk space to allocate as a Capture buffer for this data. Movie ﬁles need a large amount of disk space. Enter a value such as 50 Megabytes or higher. Press ok. The size of the captured data may be much higher than this value depending upon number and size of frames captured.

12. Select Set Frame Rate under the Capture menu. Check the box Use Frame Rate and type 15. Press ok.

13. Select Set Time Limit under the Capture menu. Check the box Use Time Limit and type 20. Press ok.

14. Select Start Capture under the Capture menu.

15. Press ok when you are ready to capture Images.

An AVI movie sequence of 300 frames (15 frames per second x 20 seconds) will now be recorded.

The total number of captured frames is displayed on the bottom bar. If frames are being dropped this will be displayed also. To remedy this, try increasing the capture buffer size. If this does not resolve dropping frames then the frame rate or resolution should be set to a lower value to prevent dropping of frames.

Figure 7. Video Capture Pin.

Figure 8. Video Crossbar.

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