This year's trick

[gary]

so strap that iphone to your hat and press record up load here later

But Harry, I haven't got an iPhone yet... just a mechanical camera!

Steve

Just plug the Mechanical Camera in to your Windows device (laptop etc) via the audio input and use The Big Picture! to stream it to the world!

PS The Raspberry Pi will soon support Windows 10 so for US$35 the world is your oyster.

[Harry Dalek]

Just plug the Mechanical Camera in to your Windows device (laptop etc) via the audio input and use The Big Picture! to stream it to the world!

Sorry i am really dumb on this stuff i just know it exists ,and it might be a silly question where does it stream to ? i don't understand the where it sends to or receive to part sounds like internet radio to me , you need your program on the other end that would be logical .

Is it one person receive or multiple ?

can you send a wav file video instead of live ?

Does any one do this to have a look ? i wonder if any one will do a transmit or broadcast to have a look ?

Sorry gary for all the questions but i didn't know it could do that

PS The Raspberry Pi will soon support Windows 10 so for US$35 the world is your oyster.

arrrrr i have no idea on that at all it sounds like lego for electronic hobbists from the little i know .

Steve you need to update your cameras

[gary]

Harry, most of that is answered in my video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yblVZXcCth4

The main concept is that the DirectShow plugin "NBTV Virtual Cam" makes the output of TBP or Video2NBTV "look" like a webcam source to your Windows computer (actually it's not really limited to those two applications but they are the ones I have added it to at this time).

This means that any other application that normally uses a webcam to capture video (and potentially stream it) can use the NBTV Virtual Cam as it's input.

This means that an application like Skype (which is one example of VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol) can use your NBTV source (mech camera, wave file, etc) to make a video call to one or many other Skype users.

Other examples include

the built in video conversation system "Firefox Hello" - to which all users of Firefox V35.0.1 have free access.
Google+ Hangouts
Yahoo Messenger

Other possibly better ways to stream it is to use something like YouTube Live Event and simply watch it live on YouTube or whatever - there are no end of possibilities.

I can demonstrate that for you if you like.

[Harry Dalek]

Thanks for the detailed reply Gary on it , i had a look i need to look at skype to understand that program ,i like that you can see its working in skype.

I would be good if the forum had an on line viewer and you could select nbtv channels if more than one were broadcasting,

live you tube might be the best bet for nbtvers ? i suppose people could send a link here and a time for a broadcast .

Once again some thing i have never really looked into interesting.

[gary]

Yes a YouTube live event would probably be the best bet - it is easy to set up and get going and you get a permanent YouTube video of the event at the end so people who can't get up in the middle of the night can see it in the morning.

It can be set up to be unlisted or private so only members with the link can see it.

All we would need is someone with a suitable mechanical camera...

[Panrock]

All we would need is someone with a suitable mechanical camera...

You lookin' at me? My mechanical camera needs a crane to lift it. That's why I shall be so glad to dispense with it at this year's convention and use a little black box instead.

The 'adapting viewing lens' has now been made but it leaks! So I have ordered some transparent casting resin to fill it instead of water. Pics to follow when it's all up and running.

Steve O

[gary]

Not necessarily Steve, but we could all chip in to hire a crane if necessary

Sorry for hijacking the thread BTW.

Back on topic.

I look forward to seeing your pics.

BTW would a section of acrylic rod be too expensive or otherwise unsuitable? (what would the MINIMUM useful diameter be?).

I have actually seen blocks of acrylic turned on a lathe and then polished to optical clarity - but it looks to be a lot of work.

[Panrock]

Hi Gary,

The acrylic rod would have to be more than three inches in diameter - that's fat! Moreover, in this case its native curvature would be the opposite of that needed - here I need a steep concave surface.

Btw I believe Ancient Brit has also made a mechanical camera. His was mono, so would probably be lighter and smaller than mine.

Steve O

[gary]

Hi Gary,

The acrylic rod would have to be more than three inches in diameter - that's fat! Moreover, in this case its native curvature would be the opposite of that needed - here I need a steep concave surface.

Btw I believe Ancient Brit has also made a mechanical camera. His was mono, so would probably be lighter and smaller than mine.

Steve O

Aha right I missed that bit.

Yes Graham is not off the hook yet .

[Panrock]

Some bad news. The transparent resin has reacted with the polystyrene, rendering it cloudy and useless. All this after over a week painstakingly assembling and sticking together the polystyrene lens form, panel by panel.

Back to the drawing board!

Steve O

[gary]

Ha! that reminds me of the time I got some black paint (from the perspex bead disk) on some of my optical quality balls (no dirty side jokes please) and used some paint thinner to clean it off which instantly turned the ball opaque - oh well lucky I had a few spares.

Steve your trials and tribulations are incredibly interesting - don't be shy in posting pictures etc. failures can be even more educational (let alone entertaining ) than successes.

[Panrock]

Yeah it's good to have company too - even if 12,000 miles away, when things go wrong.

So here's the partly filled, wrecked, lens assembly for your delectation.

This morning I drove - twice - into town to buy suitably curved plastic bottles* for a re-try. The first trip was wasted because the bottle turned out to be green on my return home. I had thought this was the colour of the 'Sprite' within - but it proved not so when emptying it down the sink!

Steve O

*The vacuum-formed type of plastic these are made of doesn't seem to be affected by the resin.

[Panrock]

And here's the Mk. II version... There's still some tidying to do. This time I've used an aluminium bearer. The clear curved surface was taken from a plastic bottle of Indian Tonic Water. I won't have time to fill and test this for a couple of days.


Steve O

[Harry Dalek]

Steve are you still filling that with water a liquid of some sort ?

Or gone with a clear resin ? which i suppose ups the cost of it .

Looks good .

[Panrock]

I tried filling it with water last night and it seals and works a treat. I haven't run it with a picture yet, but (looking through it at a Fairy LIquid bottle) It seems to give the correct amount of 'squeezing' for adapting the square picture of my disc to the Baird standard. The optical form is smoother on this attempt too, so the picture quality should be better. So it's looking good.

If I were to use the clear resin, its refractive index would be 1.47 rather than the 1.33 of the water, so it would squeeze the picture even more. Water is guaranteed to be clear and bubble-free, so I'm inclined to use the water.

Got guests here at the moment so getting it going will have to wait...

Steve O