2.15
#...
·
 |
|---|
|
Hi All. I’m getting started with planetary imaging and have noticed that if I record video to the SD card (Sandisk Extreme Pro in the SD card slot), after a few seconds, the frame rate drops to about 20fps and stays there. If I record the video to the internal storage (ASIAir Plus 1st gen eMMC), the frame rate is more stable but after nearly a minute, I get the following error message: ”The file system type of your storage doesn’t support writing single file larger than 4G, recording stopped and saved as…..” I’m assuming I’m experiencing bandwidth issues when writing to the SD card. What’s the best way to record video using the ASIAir Plus without the frame rate dropping? |
2.71
#...
·
·
2
likes
|
|---|
| Skip the SD card and use a fast USBC 3.2 external SSD with a proper 3.2 capable cable. |
|
2.15
#...
·
|
|---|
Sean Mc: Plugged into the normal usb 3 port on the ASIAir? |
|
2.71
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Yup. One of the blue A ports That’s how I do all of my imaging. Easy to move the SSD to the computer, and I edit directly off the SSD. |
|
2.15
#...
·
|
|---|
| Are you able to get the full frame rate of the camera using this method? |
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
| (deleted) |
|
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
|
I picked up the 256gb version with the understanding that it would have a faster write speed. Given that it doesn't use the same board, there was a running rumor that it was faster than what you would get from an older ASIAir, and faster than any thumb drive. I couldn't tell the difference in my very limited testing. If I need speed I bring my MacBook and connect the camera after I am all setup directly to the laptop using FireCapture to record. For planetary, Lunar or Solar you really don't need to record for very long so the more cumbersome laptop experience is a small sacrifice. I love the idea of testing the SSD via the USB3 ports, but am skeptical that it will also be competitive with the laptop at a time when bandwidth/framerate is important. With the USB3 version of the ZWO 174mm, ZWO claims a peak speed of 164fps. Obviously this is dependent on an exposure length that lets this happen so.... less than 6ms per frame. You also need to be capturing 10bit, as 12bit is limited to 128fps. Realistically I have only been able to see 149fps, but often I desire settings that exceed that peak speed... so maybe I capture at 10ms with less gain and see the peak rate of 100fps. If I do any of this using the ASI Air 256, I see something closer to 30-40fps, therefor to hit my target of 1000 frames it takes 3-4 times as long and I deal with more motion blur but get a longer exposure with less gain.https://www.zwoastro.com/product/asi174mm-mono/ |
4.02
#...
·
|
|---|
| How do you make video save to SD card? I tried saving video to flash drive (I have an ASIair Mini, so no SD car slot), but it only allows me to save images to the flash drive, no videos. The videos automatically get saved to the phone and I can't seem to change that. |
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
| Please Try using a high speed SD card with ample storage capacity and check optimizing camera settings for efficiency. If using internal storage then it has sufficient space and consider periodically transferring files to a larger storage device to avoid file size limitations. |
|
2.15
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Thanks for the input all. It seems like ASIAir isn't suitable for video really, which is annoying as hell. I'm using an ASI662MC (so a ZWO camera) and aren't able to use it's full capabilities due to limitations with ASIAir. What a pain. I'm using a Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB that was just formatted so completely empty and I don't think I'll get any significant speed increases with a larger capacity card. I have a space 128GB M.2 SSD in an enclosure with USB 3.2 so will plug that in tonight and have a go. |
3.58
#...
·
|
|---|
Craig Dixon: I had the same error message when I had my 16GB SSD - using a 64 GB SSD solved that and I can record video files of any size … |
|
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
Craig Dixon: Yeah, the ASIAir is pretty terrible for video for Planetary/Lunar/Solar unfortunately. Now that they are making their own silicon boards, hopefully they can make a model that has fast enough write speed to match their own hardware. For now you can setup using the ASIAir, then pop the camera cable out and plug it into your MacBook and run FireCapture for the video sequences. I just leave it connected to the ASIAir until everything work as hoped. I have to assume that at some point in the future, you are able to select from their entire hardware array and make a fully automated solution like the SeeStar that is able to do all of this for you. This feels like the power move they are building up to. |
|
2.15
#...
·
|
|---|
|
I’ve bought a Dell USFF PC on eBay today (i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Wi-Fi) for £50 so I’m going to start using that and fire capture for video, which is a shame. I figure I can’t go wrong for £50 so will give it a try. Friends keep telling me I should try NINA and move away from ASIAir so maybe this is the beginning of that journey for me. I’ve been waiting for the rotator from ZWO for nearly a year now so I don’t have much hope of them doing anything about this any time soon. It seems they are only bothered about the seestar these days. |
|
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
|
You just inspired me to run a bit of a test with the hardware at hand to check peak rates. ASIAir Plus 256 eMMC, Samsung USB 3.1 thumb drive, and SanDisk 4TB SSD I captured against three different cameras at 1920x1080. The asi2600mc ran at 14.1fps, the asi174mm (USB3) ran between 25fps and 55fps, and the asi174mm (USB2) ran around 15fps on all three drives. There were marginal differences in rates, between each media type... but none of it was decision making, and there wasn't really a pattern. The eMMC probably held the most consistent rate, but it was slower than the USB 3.1 thumb drive most of the time. The message here is use the format you find easiest when you aren't doing video... for me it will be the thumb drive as it's light, packs easy and is easy to plug into my computer to strip off. Also, don't do video capture to the ASI Air. I then took all three cameras to FireCapture on my MacBook. Each camera was able to get close to its peak rate, though admittedly it becomes clear that the peak rate requires some particular settings to get close. The only camera you should really use for these higher rate captures is the asi174mm USB3, so let's ignore the others. There is a 'high speed mode', that needs to be found in a sub menu... no idea what this does (30-40fps difference in speed), but it probably means you are sacrificing something or it would be on by default. You cannot be in full 16bit mode to hit these rates, but it's not clear that FireCapture moves to 10bit... it doesn't say that explicitly. You must be less than 6ms to get 160fps, so you will probably be at 6ms to 10ms(which would drop your frame rate to 100fps). Depending on what you are doing you will likely use a heap of gain, and perhaps increase your exposure rate and accept dropping your peak frame rate. Depending on what you are doing you won't want to capture for more than 60 seconds, as there will be motion in your subject, but 60 second @ 100fps means 6000 frames, which is probably more than you need anyway, so you might find a balance closer to gain of 300, 70fps and a 45 second capture. The message here... use your computer to record video for astro things (Solar, Lunar, Planetary), and don't expect to get peak rate anyway as its not only about peak rate. Also... most of these cameras will exceed their peak frame rate if you do an ROI, so if you don't need/want the whole frame, definitely crop down the frame and make use of that bonus bandwidth. If you need the exposure length for a decent image it will cap your peak rate, so you might actually get to go back and crank up that bit rate, which could make a real difference... so again, peak rate isn't everything. |
