Making a Cisco Precision HD 1080 4X work without the Tandberg controller thing.

I have had this Cisco Tandberg PrecisionHD 1080 4X camera for quite some time now, but I never really had a go at making it work.

spires-video-cisco-lice-local-21-638

This morning I decided to give it a quick go and got it going right away!

I looked up some manuals online:

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/716206/Tandberg-Precisionhd-720p.html?page=22#manual

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/telepresence/endpoint/camera/precisionhd/user_guide/precisionhd_1080p-720p_camera_user_guide.pdf

http://www.pmdtkt.upc.smm.lt/dokumentai/Medziaga/inzinerine/mm8/medziaga/TANDBERG_PrecisionHD_1080p.pdf

From these I was able to find the pinout of the ‘control’ port on the back of the camera.

There is a section in the last link that has the pinouts for things.

I then used some random pinouts of the DB-9 Serial port and RJ45 Jack, to figure out what should go where.

I had a console cable for SOMETHING laying around, so I used a multimeter to trace out where the pins went on the RJ-45 end from the DB-9 end. I labelled these out of an RJ-45 jack and then took my cable from the camera and hooked up the RX to TX, TX to RX and GND to GND.

It looked like a monster..

I cleaned it up a fair bit once I knew it was working, here’s an imgur album:

View post on imgur.com

I was able to connect to the camera over serial with some random non-freeware that I used a trial of, but it wasn’t that great. seemed to be a little jerky in its control.

 

Then I found a link to a zip file provided by Sony for their cameras also using the VISCA protocol.

Here’s where I found it:

(found name of zip: http://www.churchmedia.net/forums/video-and-film-cameras/42436-software-visca-rs-232c-controlled.html?langid=2)

http://j3soft.net/webcam/evi-d30.htm

I will attach a mirror in case it gets lost. (d30e.zip)

I just started it with default options and hey presto! The camera worked! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsV55G9IztM

The software looks like this:

SioSa2_2016-03-29_11-13-13

PT and Z work, but the others not so much. Speed does nothing, and the aperture controls can turn it off (closed) but aren’t so great at opening it again! (it turns off the camera and closes the iris but does not re-open it when you turn the camera back on, and I can’t find how to open it manually…)

 

I think now I will clean the camera a bit cosmetically, and it will be good to go for the use I have πŸ™‚ (live streaming camera through HDMI capture card)

73!

 

 

Update:

Found out what the USB is for, “Future use” πŸ™

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From this manual: http://video.global-one.by/files/precisionhd_1080p-720p_camera_user_guide.pdf

Hubsan lives!

I retrieved my Hubsan X4 from its graveyard recently, here’s a few photos showing the condition it was in.

Amazingly, it still flies!
Even after being rained on.

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Missing a prop

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Looks like that motor was pulled out with the prop :0

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That poor leg is pretty messed up

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The original battery, when I connect it the quad lights up for a few seconds as normal, maybe the protection circuit cut the power before the voltage dropped too low?

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The motors escaping!

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This is the only 1 cell battery I had D:

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Another picture showing my nano tech 950mah battery

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It powers up!

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It works omg πŸ˜€

I’m actually impressed it survived a week in the sun and rain on a metal roof πŸ˜€

I’ll update soon with the footage from the SD card if it’s in tact.

TBS Discovery Pro Restoration

Hello!

So this post is going to be basis for a number of updates, essentially I picked up a TBS Discovery Pro quadcopter off ebay for $200 in pretty crummy condition, and im in the process of restoring it to its former glory.

This post is where I will be posting my progress on this, as well as to reddit but eh, this is my turf.

So just for backlog:

Here’s the eBay item page:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231843059723

Here’s two threads on me trying to identify damaged / broken off components:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/47bkdm/can_someone_help_me_identify_this_component_and_a/

So I am restoring this quadcopter….

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/46rrf7/can_you_please_help_me_find_a_replacement_for/

View post on imgur.com

 

Can I just take a moment to vouch for how incredible isopropyl is at cleaning these boards? just look at the photos and see for yourself.

Here’s the auction win screenshot:

View post on imgur.com

Finally, here is the album of the photos of my initial disassembly / the damage.

View post on imgur.com

The hardest thing for me is going to be replacing the I2C port on the Pixhawk…

I really don’t know if I can do it, and im worried I’ll mess it up even more..

 

If you’re great at tiny soldering please hit me up if you can help!

The SD card, IΒ WAS able to pull flight logs and data from it, but I won’t post it here because it probably reveals the location of the previous owner’s home..

From the electronics I have tested, it appears to work, and the telemetry is a 433Mhz 3DR system. (I confirmed later by removing the heat shrink.

The gimbal motors need replacing, and the main motors need new bearings, the I2c port needs replacing, and the receiver needs its antenna to be fixed or replaced. The top board MIGHT not work, I cant test until the gimbal is repaired. but that would be around $220 to replace im told.

Once these are done, I am confident it will fly once more! (oh and two props are fecked)

Ill also need a new telemetry module, as having one isn’t very helpful πŸ˜‰

The USB port on the Pixhawk was pretty crusty and unreliable, but ordered this and connected it up and we’re back in business!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251655545391

As I mentioned at the start, Ill update here when I have more to post!

ELEAGUE.gg, multicopters and a GoPro

Yesterday was the first of many eleague.gg LAN parties.

It was great, will organised, lots of fun, a bunch of contests with plenty of swag and prizes to be had/won!

I got there a few minutes before opening, and quickly set up my GoPro to take a time lapse of the morning, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out too!
You can watch it here:

I also found out you can add copywrited music to YouTube videos now! It will just monetize your video and give the profits to the copyright holder.

This was the first LAN I have been to in a while, and possibly the first EVER with a decent, and stable internet connection.

The venue had a solid 1gbps symmetrical connection, and boy was it nice, I would really love something like that at home.

The 4 minute long, 4k time lapse uploaded in mere seconds, I was able to do a live stream to YouTube of playing some games with friends, all whole the entire event was being streamed to multiple streams, and every other atendee was using the net as well!

Now on to the multicopters.

A friend ofine from PAX AUS was there at the LAN, and I took my little Hubsan X4 Camera out the front of the venue to fly around a little.

My friend saw this and brought out his DJI Phantom 3 Advance to play around with.

All was good. We were each flying our own craft and it was swell, we decided to give each other’s a go.

I hadn’t properly flpwn a Phantom before so it was a new experience for both of us.

I figured that he was a trustworthy pilot considering what he owns.

This was the mistake..

He was very, very unprepared for how light the Hubsan was, and how powerful. Within seconds, he had flown it high into the sky! And into the wind..

I wasn’t paying attention because I was concentrating on the Phantom, but then my friend panice and shoved the Hubsan TX into my hands, and took his Phantom and said “I can’t control it”

I looked up, and saw the hubsan in a gust of wind, above the warehouse building, shooting down and towards the roof..

I stuck it in ‘advanced’ flight mode and tried with all my might to regain control of the craft, but alas I just did not have time, and could not see it.

Less than 5 seconds after being handed the Hubsan TX and it was gone.

I’m more disappointed that I lost all the video footage I had taken that day, and the brand new Micro SD card.

My friend has organised with security at the venue that they will help him try and get it back but until then he has lent the Phantom to me.

If they can’t get it back he is going to replace it for me (might upgrade to the FPV model…)

Until then though, I am going to learn to fly the Phantom, and get the best footage I can with the time I have!

You can expect to hear more about that soon.

Now all this multicopter stuff has come out of nowhere because the blog has been offline, but essentially I’ve recently gotten into quadcopters, and have a fair few toys.

I have a zmr250, a f550, (had hubsan x4) and some cheerson cx-10 quads.

I also picked up a TBS Discovery Pro that I’m in the process of restoring to flight condition. The poor craft had probably been stuck in a tree for two years..)

I’ll post more about that too.

That wraps it up for this post, leave a comment below if you have any questions.

Updated Photograhy Site

Hello!

I have finally fixed this blog so that its back!

I have also finally updated the slideshow and description on my photography site: http://paradox.photography/

 

I was having a heap of issues with the DNS, but my good friend Tyler Adler fromΒ http://adlerhost.com/ is helping me out with DNS and web hosting.

 

Now, a challenge I faced with the slideshow was that I wanted to showcase some of my portrait oriented photos, but the slideshow only allowed for landscape orientation. I didn’t want to let this stop me though to I chose my favorite three photos in portrait and fit them together in photoshop, over the top of one of the landscape photos.

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I was experimenting with some other photos too, but I think these worked best.

 

I will have to change the dimensions of the image though as its cropping it on the actual page.

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Yay for photos! \o/