Xbox 360 Webcam Planetary & Lunar Imaging

Aussie_Dave · #1 11-03-2015, 05:10 PM

Hi all. I couldn't seem to find any topics or content on using an Xbox 360 webcam with the search feature here. I used many different search options but it can up with none. Surely someone here is using an Xbox 360 webcam to image? But anyway...

I'm just starting out and just received a used Xbox 360 Live Vision version 1.0 webcam (the white one) and was wondering how to mod it and also what program to run with it.

I tested it using VLC Media Player and it seemed to go well, although a little slow on maximum resolution (7 fps). I would have stuck with VLC as it seemed to have many options to adjust the video but found that some options didn't work and while altering some of the options VLC freezes and I have to do the Ctrl Alt + Del to close it down. So that's off the cards which is a shame.

If someone could let me know a suitable program to run it with and possible some mod pages, that would be great, thanks.

Dave.

raymo · #2 11-03-2015, 05:22 PM

I've never heard of that particular webcam, but have you tried downloading the latest drivers for it. It might work o.k. with VCL
then.
raymo

Aussie_Dave · #3 11-03-2015, 05:32 PM

I just downloaded the driver from MS Raymo on setup, it did it automatically. I think it's VLC as I have the occasional hiccup playing videos. I'm also running a basic netbook with XP and 1GB ram so I don't think that's helping either. I'd like to use VLC because of all the video options.

The webcam is the small square white one with a grey focus ring that people received with the white Xbox 360 years ago, probably the original webcam for 360.

I'll just check drivers and VLC version...

VLC latest version.

Xbox 360 webcam driver from 2001. I can find many updated drivers for it but from sites I've never heard of before and the driver files are not verified by MS, unknown publishers. They appear to be other programs and nothing to do with the webcam or driver files so not going to risk it.

Through the device manager in XP, there's no available update for the webcam driver. Went to the MS site, did a search and it came back with a bucket load of nothing.

Aussie_Dave · #4 11-03-2015, 06:40 PM

I'm going to download SharpCap to see if the problem is with VLC, driver, or RAM problem.

Should I download the latest stable 2.1 release or the latest 2.5 beta version?

raymo · #5 11-03-2015, 09:21 PM

I have an old Acuter webcam which is great, but no drivers exist for it
later than Windows Vista, so it's useless now. You can buy a webcam
so cheaply now, it's not worth the bother of trying to get old ones up and running.
raymo

Aussie_Dave · #6 11-03-2015, 09:43 PM

Raymo I've just been searching for and trying some webcam astro capture programs since my last post. Out of the 5 I tested there was only 1 that is usable called wxAstroCapture but the features are minimal.

I also covered the lens of the webcam to see noise levels and it doesn't look good. Not just heaps of noise but also about a dozen dead pixels on the sensor, some larger than others. It will only be good for the moon and if I'm lucky, some video of Saturn and Jupiter with a Barlow.

On the up side VLC Media Player seems to apply the settings slowly, it does take time to apply the changes and it's using heaps of memory and OS resources. Probably due to the 1gb of RAM and small CPU. On a fresh system boot with nothing else running, I may get away with capturing some video footage. Time will tell.

Cheers.
Dave.