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Live video streaming and video capture with a mobile computer (notebook)

In microscopy or macroscopy, it is often necessary to use the micrometer button to optimize the focus before capturing the image. As a rule, assessing the picture quality on the digital camera’s built-in TFT monitor is unsatisfactory. The internal TFT monitor is usually too small and the picture quality, such as the brightness and contrast, cannot be judged properly. Furthermore, it is not ergonomic to work without external control monitor. Because the TFT monitor is not directly visible due to the awkward position, a monitor within the immediate range of vision would be preferable.



Almost all consumer digital cameras have an analog video output (composite or s-video). If you use a video cable to connect a digital camera and a video monitor (television), then the image can be viewed on a large screen. Good video monitors are very expensive and take up a lot of space. Because in digital photography a computer is required to edit images, it is possible to use a notebook as a control monitor. Modern notebooks deliver high performance and have very good TFT displays. The analog video signal is fed into the mobile computer using a PCMCIA digitalization card. Such PCMCIA expansion cards are used to digitize video films (video recorders, SAT receivers). This makes it possible to record a microscope video sequence onto the hard drive. Good expansion cards have an integrated chip which supports the hardware encoding. The expansion card takes over the calculations for compressing the video to a standard video format, such as MPEG1 or MPEG2. This removes some of the workload from the computer’s processor (CPU). An old notebook (Intel Pentium I with 800 MHZ) is sufficient for digitizing films. Good PCMCIA expansion cards (such as Terratec Grabster AV 400 mobile) cost about 200 Euro (as at 2005)). The software provided with the cards is simple to use.

Advantages: 

• No control monitor required
• Low acquisition costs
• Very simple to record videos onto hard drive
• Simple to create video CDs or DVDs

Packaging for the Terratec Grabster AV 400 mobile

Included in delivery:

• Grabster AV 400 mobile
• Breakout cable
• S-video cable
• A/V cinch cable
• Scart adapter
• Software and driver CD
• Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2
• Ulead VideoStudio 7 SE
• Printed software manual
• Printed hardware manual

PCMCIA expansion card for mobile computers



PCMCIA card with cable attached


PCMCIA card is inserted into the computer



Attachment of video cable and connection to digital camera
Caution! Always use the original video cable provided by the manufacturer for the respective camera model.



Connection of the video cable


Live video image from a microscope image


Pressing this button takes you to the program settings





Set the brightness, contrast, etc.


Set the capture quality for the hard disc recording


Capture quality of fixed images