The Camcorder Customization thread!

Joined: 07 Aug 2005 Posts: 9

ahh....a calvin and hobbs fan.....I love that comic. It's the only strip I could really enjoy reading. It's nice to see everyone makeing images to skin the cams. I just wish it was easier to upload them.

Joined: 29 Jul 2005 Posts: 68 Location: new orleans

stickers

http://media.putfile.com/Movie_00460

Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 49

I also deleted PROCES~3.jpg since I do not need it

Joined: 07 Aug 2005 Posts: 278

Love the Fry one ;). FUTURAMA FAN++

Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 441

my new splashscreen

Joined: 07 Aug 2005 Posts: 74

INDECLINE.COM

Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 89

Any FullMetal Lovers? You'll like these screens.

After a long (Read: 2 hour) Time of trying to get them loaded and sitting through unpluggin and replugging the camera and various error messages, I finally managed to get these working: (Are we having fun yet? XD)

If it's worth anything, highlighting the file in Ops seems to help (If you're uploading LOGO.JPG, delete it, upload a 0 byte version, then highlight the 0b logo.jpg and then click upload file to upload the real one)

It also seems to help if you close and open ops inbetween steps.

(Or I may be crazy) Very Happy

[/img]

Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 89

Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 441

PockyBum522 wrote:

If it's worth anything, highlighting the file in Ops seems to help (If you're uploading LOGO.JPG, delete it, upload a 0 byte version, then highlight the 0b logo.jpg and then click upload file to upload the real one)

What helps even more is deleting all 3 'processed' images

CAMPROCE.ZBM
PROCES~3.JPG
PROCES~3.ZBM

this frees up 93KB of disk space, and allows the images to fit on disk much more easily. Most upload failures are due to lack of disk space.

YES, even if the file is smaller than the original!
trust me, i thought i'd never get my splash screen back until i deleted those 3 unneeded file.

Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 233 Location: Arlington, VA

Corscaria wrote:

PockyBum522 wrote:

If it's worth anything, highlighting the file in Ops seems to help (If you're uploading LOGO.JPG, delete it, upload a 0 byte version, then highlight the 0b logo.jpg and then click upload file to upload the real one)

What helps even more is deleting all 3 'processed' images

CAMPROCE.ZBM
PROCES~3.JPG
PROCES~3.ZBM

this frees up 93KB of disk space, and allows the images to fit on disk much more easily. Most upload failures are due to lack of disk space.

YES, even if the file is smaller than the original!
trust me, i thought i'd never get my splash screen back until i deleted those 3 unneeded file.

I'll call this my method...only because I want a method and it's one of the very few genuinely original things I've figured out for this community Razz

Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 441

yes it is yours, but did you know about the 3rd processed file? Razz

Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 233 Location: Arlington, VA

Corscaria wrote:

yes it is yours, but did you know about the 3rd processed file? Razz

I was working on it Razz

I hadn't finished looking at all the files to see if they were used yet Razz

Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 61

Joined: 07 Aug 2005 Posts: 278

cynewolf wrote:

very cool.

Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 89

GWRedDragon wrote:

Corscaria wrote:

PockyBum522 wrote:

If it's worth anything, highlighting the file in Ops seems to help (If you're uploading LOGO.JPG, delete it, upload a 0 byte version, then highlight the 0b logo.jpg and then click upload file to upload the real one)

What helps even more is deleting all 3 'processed' images

CAMPROCE.ZBM
PROCES~3.JPG
PROCES~3.ZBM

this frees up 93KB of disk space, and allows the images to fit on disk much more easily. Most upload failures are due to lack of disk space.

YES, even if the file is smaller than the original!
trust me, i thought i'd never get my splash screen back until i deleted those 3 unneeded file.

I'll call this my method...only because I want a method and it's one of the very few genuinely original things I've figured out for this community Razz

Thanks! That helps alot, now I can worry about filesize less too.

Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 38

Something new. I just added the standard USB-A connector to my latest camera, along with a header plug into which I can connect external on/off and start/stop-record switches which piggyback the internal switches. This will allow me to install the camera(s) in my rocket and have the critical operations accessable from the outside of the model. It will also let me (with the right buttons) turn on and start/stop recording of two cameras simultaniously.

I'll post photos of the modifications to my Yahoo group;

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calhounsrocketvideos

Cheers .....

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 10:45 pm

i did a simple hackaday logo for everything except for processing which i kept the same
this is the screen for my startup, i have a 0kb dummy logo so its just splash I would like to know how do edit the movie deleted screen though

Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 4

I also have a hack a day first screen (best site ever), the second says CVS hacking made simple and the shutdown says thank you for hacking CVS, all have a black background. all silent .wavs, im doing a flame paintjob on one only bcause I ran out of black paint and wanted to paint one. i would alo like to know how to change the image deleted pic so I can atleast make it black to match the rest

Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 5

Hi all. I've been lurking this forum since the CVS camcorder came out, and I just wanted to give you guys a classic Mac theme I put together. Six different screens that can be mixed for your choice of splash, logo and shutdown. The theme also includes camera formatted & tested Mac wav files: startup, quack (delete) and bip (shutdown). I've also included Corscarica's silent SOUND2, because every buttons should not beep.

The demo.gif is just that - download mac-classic-pack.zip to get the actual files.
mac-classic-pack.zip: (renamed because of file hosting)
http://www.thefilehoster.com/images/OXC87663.zip

Few bits to keep in mind: All the new sounds are longer/bigger than the originals. You have to delete the processed images to free up room first. Of course, these images and sounds might break your camcorder.

My sounds are a touch quieter than the camera's originals. If you think that's still too loud, it is easy to fix. Windows XP Sound Recorder produces perfect sound files for the camera. Load anything into in and convert to PCM 16KHz 16bit wav. (I haven't tried 8bit files.) Anyway, dump my sounds into Sound Recorder, hit 'decrease volume' half a dozen times, resave and upload.

Random notes:

I am running firmware 3.40 with PCB B2.

I used the overwrite-and-powerdown technique to upload. No zero byte files and no problems. Everything worked right on my first try.

I tried the special GIMP settings and couldn't get them to work. The image would display for about one frame and then the screen goes black. After the image timeout, the camera acted normally. Image Alchemy worked perfectly for images.

The screen artifacts horribly. I had to blow up my pixel art 3x to make it visible.

I successfully used 160x128, 160x120 and 120x90 jpegs. The camera doesn't seem to care what size images you use, which is good if space becomes tight. Pixel art is very clear at these smaller resolutions, but jpeg artifacts are also very visible.

I added a tripod mount. It's a 20x1/4 nut mounted nearly flush inside the battery compartment. It's tight, but looks good outside. Inside; the lower battery is pushed up a bit, and there is a 0.1 mm gap in the case.

Finally, I have you all beat for a ghetto cable. I made my own USB connector out of scrap PCB, electrical tape, and wire clippings. Smile

Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 59 Location: Glenwood, Maryland

Keenerd -- Could you post a closeup photo of your tripod mount? Thanks.

Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 5

Sure.

How I made the mount: The bottom of the nut was soldered onto a washer. The top of the nut was capped with a bit of scrap, to keep dirt out. A hexagon hole was filed in the base of the camera. The washer/nut assembly was glued in place with contact cement. It's pretty much unbreakable, since the solder joint bears all the stress. The washer makes the camera topple over easily, so I may shim it. Either that or use a mini tripod all the time.

Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 28

great job on the mount.

Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 49

keenerd wrote:

Hi all. I've been lurking this forum since the CVS camcorder came out, and I just wanted to give you guys a classic Mac theme I put together. Six different screens that can be mixed for your choice of splash, logo and shutdown. The theme also includes camera formatted & tested Mac wav files: startup, quack (delete) and bip (shutdown). I've also included Corscarica's silent SOUND2, because every buttons should not beep.

The demo.gif is just that - download mac-classic-pack.zip to get the actual files.
mac-classic-pack.zip: (renamed because of file hosting)
http://www.thefilehoster.com/images/OXC87663.zip

Few bits to keep in mind: All the new sounds are longer/bigger than the originals. You have to delete the processed images to free up room first. Of course, these images and sounds might break your camcorder.

My sounds are a touch quieter than the camera's originals. If you think that's still too loud, it is easy to fix. Windows XP Sound Recorder produces perfect sound files for the camera. Load anything into in and convert to PCM 16KHz 16bit wav. (I haven't tried 8bit files.) Anyway, dump my sounds into Sound Recorder, hit 'decrease volume' half a dozen times, resave and upload.

Random notes:

I am running firmware 3.40 with PCB B2.

I used the overwrite-and-powerdown technique to upload. No zero byte files and no problems. Everything worked right on my first try.

I tried the special GIMP settings and couldn't get them to work. The image would display for about one frame and then the screen goes black. After the image timeout, the camera acted normally. Image Alchemy worked perfectly for images.

The screen artifacts horribly. I had to blow up my pixel art 3x to make it visible.

I successfully used 160x128, 160x120 and 120x90 jpegs. The camera doesn't seem to care what size images you use, which is good if space becomes tight. Pixel art is very clear at these smaller resolutions, but jpeg artifacts are also very visible.

I added a tripod mount. It's a 20x1/4 nut mounted nearly flush inside the battery compartment. It's tight, but looks good outside. Inside; the lower battery is pushed up a bit, and there is a 0.1 mm gap in the case.

Finally, I have you all beat for a ghetto cable. I made my own USB connector out of scrap PCB, electrical tape, and wire clippings. Smile

it seems that the file is not available

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:33 pm

anybody consider making some utility that'll let you replace the screens and sounds without the funkiness of the 0kb dummy files and the fried cameras that can result from that (I was a victim, my camera commited suicide from the abuse).

Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 5

Oops! Sorry. Here it is again, from more friendly hosting:
http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=a51def92a7bce78b8e310944

That should be up for at least a month. By then I'll have real hosting. I will edit my posts when that happens.