security camera on the mac

beginners
#1

Hi all,

I’m trying to get a security camera (ie, analog video) working with oF (specifically some openCV code).

I’ve tried this-eyeTV-USB-capture-card and also this-Diamond-“TV-wonder”-device but neither has worked.

I’m just trying to get the analog/security cam to show up as a normal webcam – USB, but firewire would be ok too I think?

Does anyone have any specific products that they’ve found to work for this?

thanks!

R

#2

when you say ‘it doesn’t work’, what exactly do you mean? your OS can see the camera but OF cannot? Your OS can see the camera, OF can see the camera, but you get black when you try and capture? Your OS cannot see the camera either? (i.e. can you see the camera in iChat?)

I use this http://www.dvdmaker2.com/ and it works on both mac and windows. It’s a tiny USB stick with RCA input and it does the trick. There is also the Pinnacle Video capture (or something like that, forgot the name). And the ImagingSource analog-USB convertor. I believe there are mac drivers for the FW version.

#3

I’ve tried this eyeTV USB capture card and also this Diamond “TV wonder” device but neither has worked.

Hi - sorry but the eyeTV card doesn’t work with OF because it has its own capturing system that doesn’t plug into QuickTime. OF uses QuickTime for video capture on mac so we can’t capture from devices that QT doesn’t know about.

The option I use for doing analog capture is the Dazzle DVD Recorder ( aprox $45 ) with the VideoGlide driver ( $30 ) http://www.echofx.com/videoglide.html .

Edit: @Memo that stick looks great - nice that it is such a small device and doesn’t require a separate driver.

Theo

#4

oh yea the Dazzle recorder is the one by Pinnacle. They have a version for windows (the one you linked to Theo) and one for mac (http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/u-…-or+Mac.htm ).
You can use the windows version on mac using the echofx videoglide drivers like you say Theo.

A while ago I had asked the pinnacle guys if they had a cross platform version, or at least what the difference was between the windows and mac one. They said if I wanted a cross platform version I should buy the mac version, and then download the drivers for the PC version and it would work on windows too! (I haven’t tried it though, I ended up buying the kworld dvdmaker2. it works well, but I am very curious to compare the image quality against the imagingsource or pinnacle).

#5

Ahh nice they released a mac version!

I think the mac version is just a blue colored version bundled with the VideoGlide driver.
The developer of VideoGlide said that you would get the driver ‘free’ at some point - thats awesome its available.

Thanks for the heads up!
Theo

#6

Hi guys,

thanks for all the info! I just ordered the Pinnacle “Video Capture for Mac” from amazon for about $95. So it seems like that should come with the videoglide drivers.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

thanks again,
R

#7

Hey guys,

So I got the Dazzle hardware device in the mail and finally got a chance again to try messing around with it, but I’m having some problems.

I’m trying to run the basic oF movieGrabberExample (this is from version 0.061) and having some problems. I tried running it right after plugging the device in to my USB (this is on my MacBook), and then after installing the VideoGlide driver (demo, w/out paying) and also something called USBVision (also from Pinnacle) which seems to be a similar version but for USB 1.0 instead of USB 2.0.

Each time I saw the same thing which was this:

  
(unavailable) device[0] DV Video  
(unavailable) device[1] IIDC FireWire Video  
device[2] USB Video Class Video - Built-in iSight  
(unavailable) device[3] USBVision  
(unavailable) device[4] VideoGlide  
-------------------------------------  
OF_WARNING: No camera settings to load

any ideas?

thanks!
Rory

#8

Hi,

anyone have any further advice or suggestions about this by any chance?

thanks!
R