Registax 5 problem

[Kal]

I am having problems with regsitax 5 handling my AVI's captured with my DBK using uncompressed Y800 format video. I correctly tick the "use debayer" option, with the BG sub selection, and the image comes up colour. I processthe alignment and it is still in colour. Beyond that, when I create a reference frame, or optimise and stack, my image always turns mono and I lose all my debayering colour information.

When I process in registax 4 it doesn't have this colour problem (although registax 4 has it's own problem of only processing half of my video)

Has anyone else experienced this problem with Y800 video and registax 5?

[asimov]

I've experienced a few problems but never this one! It's new to me.

[Kal]

I've uninstalled the program, deleted the directory, and reinstalled it but the same problem persists.

I am thinking it might be something with my PC (my Windoze XP x64 version has some "quirks" at times) so I am installing registax onto my lappy which has a regular 32 bit XP on it. With 6000 frames per AVI I'd expect it to take a couple of hours per video process though :rolleyes:

[Kal]

Problem persists on the lappy, so it isn't my PC.

I have emailed registax to provide feedback on a possible bug. I'll post back here if I hear anything.

[Kal]

I received a reply from the email to registax that I sent last night.


This is a known problem and it has to do with the "extended AVI-mode". if you use that mode the simple solution is to switch to non-extended mode. This means you cannot process large AVI';s but lets the debayer work as planned. The problem is due to the fact that y800 is a b/w imageformat and in non-extended mode that gets converted to colour internally by RegiStax. The extended mode however does not convert the data to 24bit colour (all channels identical) and thus the debayer leads to problems.

With my 2 minute Jupiter captures, at 60fps Y800 uncompressed, the file size is approx 2GB. So it appears as though I have to either limit my captures to 1 minute, to keep my file size below 1GB, or I have to use a different codec where I add the debayering information on the camera, which limits me to 30fps.

This brings me back to my previous post, which I didn't get any hits to. Is there any software out there that can convert the Y800 video, to a different colour format, by adding in the debayer information? My google searches have come up with nothing so far.

[asimov]

The easiest solution for me these days (& I've experimented a lot with the DBK) is to let the camera do the debayering. Sure, you are limited to 30FPS but I've found the results at 30FPS is slightly better than capturing at 60 FPS anyway. I usually get the problem of not being able to load the whole 90 second AVI into registax anyway, so I clone the AVI using Virtualdub & it will usually load straight into Registax with no problems, however it will NOT work for an AVI taken in Y800 & your intention is to debayer in Registax.

[Kal]

OK, thanks for the feedback John. I'll have to change my capture method until I work out a solution, or until registax updates their software to correct this problem.

I might look in to how hard it is to convert the debayer info into a single bitmap file. I haven't coded anything for 15 years, would need a crash course :) If I can do this then I can maintain an uncompressed data stream @60fps through to my post processing.

[asimov]

Hi Andrew. Yes I'll do some of my own experimenting later & maybe come up with an answer - Or maybe not come up with an answer - Lol.

[Kal]

I think I may have found my solution, although I will need to wait until I get home tonight to try it. Anthony Wesleys (bird on IIS) ninox program has the following option which I may be able to utilise:

-debayer=N (8bpp monochrome data only) Assumes the input frames are 8bpp RAW data from a colour CCD (ie encoded bayer colour data) and converts the RAW format to 24bpp colour. N selects the correct debayer pattern as follows:
1 = GBG
2 = RGR
3 = BGB
4 = GRG

[Kal]

Just a quick update on my progress. Using Veedub64 I can save the frames as BMP files, then using ninox I can add the debayer colour back in to create colour bitmap files. I try to open 6200+ BMP files into registax and it opens 1400 of them only, and crashes halfway through.

I am going to try asimov's capture settings next time I go out and forget about Y800 mode and 60fps.

[Kal]

A final update that this issue with Registax has now been corrected on the latest release. My appreciation extends to Cor for the excellent work he has done in taking note of this issue and rectifying it :thumbsup:

Update 5.1.0.2 available (see downloadpage (http://www.astronomie.be/registax/download.html))
A new version of RegiStax is available from our website. You can now load a fully installable version.
The most important changes are:
- debayering AVI's recorded with a Y800 codec and >2Gb works.
- saving a registered AVI for the "region of interest" has been added.
- saving resized PNG files from the "FINAL" tabpage does not result in errors anymore.
- during multi-point alignment the preview of alignmentpoint #1 now shows the correct area.