From: Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@me.com>
Date: September 25, 2009 4:38:41 PM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Astro IIDC vs Registax
I tried the experiment some time ago (with Registax) using Virtual PC for Mac. I converted the QT movies (from Astro IIDC) to .avi so that Registax could use them with Photoshop CS3 Extended. I obtained PS3 for quite cheap some time ago ($250 or so Australian dollars I believe) as I was interested initially in doing mosaics. I knew in time it could be used to process DSOs & anything else I wanted. I found the process of using Registax to be very (perhaps overly) complicated. I`m sure once it`s mastered everything`d go swimmingly. This was soon after Registax 5 was released. One advantage is that Registax is free but then it can`t be used for image acquisition etc. etc. which Astro IIDC can. I believe I had troubles with the green Registax logo. I couldn`t make it disappear so it didn`t obscure the processing window & gave up on it eventually. I think this was perhaps a Virtual PC for Mac problem. Perhaps now I have a PC I could go back & try again.....More recently Alan Friedman has instigated an interest in Keith`s Image Stacker which is also free (although donations are requested).It`s a Mac app. Once again the learning curve is quite steep & I`ve put it in the too hard basket for the time being...
Mark.
On 26/09/2009, at 5:30 AM, doodlebun wrote:
I've used Astro IIDC for years now for planetary imaging but I thought it was time to do a comparison study. To do this I needed to convert the captured QT movie to an .avi movie. I wasn't able to figure out how to create an uncompressed avi movie from an uncompressed qt movie. So I just used the highest bitrate possible which created a 20 MB divx .avi file from a 350 MB Astro IIDC encoded QT movie. You can see the results side by side at http://gallery.mac.com/davidbleser#100176/Jupiter-20set-20three-209-19-09_2&bgcolor=black
Despite a lot of fiddling with parameters in Registax I could not get anymore detail from Registax. I will admit the ASTRO IIDC image is somewhat oversharpened to enhance detail.
However Registax has a "dering filter" which proved desirable. When properly adjusted it smoothes the hard planetary edge to give a more realistic 3D appearance to Jupiter. Perhaps Milton can be inspired to include such a filter in a future release.