Might be stupid question, but:
Is it possible to control LEDs?
I mean that blue/red lights on the camera?
Who knows, maybe there is a way.
Just an idea: if this is possible, then simple replacement of native LEDs with IR LEDs and then controlling them through soft. might be of value.

igor1960 - 17 January 2010 12:42 AM

Might be stupid question, but:
Is it possible to control LEDs?
I mean that blue/red lights on the camera?
Who knows, maybe there is a way.
Just an idea: if this is possible, then simple replacement of native LEDs with IR LEDs and then controlling them through soft. might be of value.

You can only programmaticaly control the red LED on the camera. The blue one is hardwired to the USB power.

AlexP

ALex,

That would be great. How could I control that LED? Is interface exposed?

igor1960 - 17 January 2010 12:52 PM

ALex,

That would be great. How could I control that LED? Is interface exposed?

The LED interface is not currently exposed. Could you tell me what are you trying to accomplish by controlling the LED. Are you going to be pulsing the LED? The reason why I’m asking this because if you want to sync the LED with the camera it will be harder to do that.

AlexP

ALex,

No I do’t want to sync: as I explained before—> this can be used to turn on/off IR flashlight for example.
If it’s possible to control at least one light ==> that would be great.
Or for example, someone could come up with some mechanic design that possibly rotates lens and/or have separate assembly.
So, having that signal migh allow to rotate some step motor or whatever…

igor1960 - 18 January 2010 01:12 AM

ALex,

No I do’t want to sync: as I explained before—> this can be used to turn on/off IR flashlight for example.
If it’s possible to control at least one light ==> that would be great.
Or for example, someone could come up with some mechanic design that possibly rotates lens and/or have separate assembly.
So, having that signal migh allow to rotate some step motor or whatever…

Yeah, I see your point. You just have to be very careful with what you drive with that pin (only a few mA is available) since you could easily kill it or even kill the controller chip. Yes, I will add a function to control the LED in the next release of the SDK.

AlexP

Just an idea, but if there is one LED that we can control, I would imagine this project:

—Replace this LED with IR LED (same kind that is used in TV remote), should be extremely low power consuming;
—Then come up with a little project that simulates TV remote presses for particulal TV by sending proper code sequences.

Now that can be used for example not only to check what child is currently watching on TV, but even actively Turn ON/OFF, switch channels and etc.

Alternatively, another project might be something like automatic change of sound volume on your TV, thus mantaining the same level—I’m extremely unhappy that volume on different cable fragments fluctuates, so significantly and there is nothing in TV sets that could perform automatic adjustment.

igor1960 - 18 January 2010 05:35 PM

Just an idea, but if there is one LED that we can control, I would imagine this project:

—Replace this LED with IR LED (same kind that is used in TV remote), should be extremely low power consuming;
—Then come up with a little project that simulates TV remote presses for particulal TV by sending proper code sequences.

Now that can be used for example not only to check what child is currently watching on TV, but even actively Turn ON/OFF, switch channels and etc.

Alternatively, another project might be something like automatic change of sound volume on your TV, thus mantaining the same level—I’m extremely unhappy that volume on different cable fragments fluctuates, so significantly and there is nothing in TV sets that could perform automatic adjustment.

Interesting idea, unfortunately unless you can control LED directly with the micro-controller it won’t work (one of the reasons why I didn’t add the function to control LED in the API). If you read some specs on the IR transmitters, you’ll realize that the frequency needed to pulse the LED is pretty high.

AlexP

Frequency and all that stuff associated with it, is not big deal => more important possibility.
Like microsofts media center remote does that, correct? So it’s possible.

But then imagine:
You place camera in front of your home TV and it is running on fast internet server: then you travel all over the world, but still watch your own home TV through internet.
OK, not in HD, but at 640*480…
More important is your own and paid for channel selection.