From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: September 8, 2010 1:28:04 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Flea2 cameras on the 'bay

Hi Jim;

On 8-Sep-10, at 12:23 PM, Jim Chung wrote:

Hi Milton,

So I got the eBay Flea2 and it works so the ad was legit, don't know

why eBay pulled it.

I have one here too for testing (FL2-08S2C model) with FW 800 cables.

I haveit plugged into my 4 year old Mac Book Pro FW400 port and I can

do 60 fps at full resolution (1032x768) but in only 8 bit.  My

original Flea could only do 30 fps at 8 bit (same resolution).

Actually that's in Format 7 and your not getting 60 fps. Your likely getting 31.33 fps in 8 bit and maximum 32.95 in 16 bit with a FW 800 cable (just tried it).

If you check the Capture log in Astro IIDC 4.06, it indicates what the theoretical maximum frame rate is for Format 7 camera modes.

For 8 bit it shows:

IIDC Format:7 Mode: 0 ClrCode: 9 MaxFps: 31.33 MaxPacketSize: 3136

and for 16 bit it shows:

IIDC Format:7 Mode: 0 ClrCode: 10 MaxFps: 32.95 MaxPacketSize: 6596

Format 7 cameras can have all sorts of weird frame rates as they are camera specific. We pigeon hole them within the range of the fixed rate Format 0, 1 and 2 modes a camera can run in, otherwise the interface gets really strange to work with. However the maximum rate is a compromise. If the camera is in a Format 7 and it's frame rate is faster than one of the other ones, then we enable the next highest frame rate.

So if the maximum frame rate is 31.33 frames per second, then it's faster than 30, but slower than 60, so then we enable the 60 fps so you can run the FMT 7 cameras as fast as possible.

Do my question is, if I run a 10 m cable from I5 IMac in my 2nd floor

office down to my front lawn so that I can take advantage of full

FW800 speed, will I actually get more than 60 fps?

I'm not sure if a 10 meter FW cable will work reliably. It certainly violates specification when running at FW 800 speeds for distance, as the maximum is 4.5 meters without a repeater.

If you run the cameras at lower data rates, then you can use longer distance with FW 800. So at FW 400 speeds, you might be able to run a 10 meter cable. I've heard of people running FW 100 cameras speeds at 100 meters distant over FW 800 cables.

Like Mark, I have

to order a FW800 cable to try the Flea2 on the IMac.

Jim

HTH..

Milton Aupperle