Registax question.....file sizes

Dear All,

I got what I think are potentially some pretty good captures of Saturn last
night with K3CCDTools, and now with a new laptop I have managed to get
pastthe 1610 frame limit I had before. Anyway, I have a couple of runs - one
of around 3000 frames and the other of around 4000 frames. The problem now
is that Registax chokes and gives a "failed to decompress avi" error. I
presume this is related to file size being too big for it.

So - what do you guys do ? Do you split the avis into smaller chunks,
convert to an uncompressed format, or what ?

Thanks in advance....

Alasdair

"adm" wrote in message
...
Dear All,

I got what I think are potentially some pretty good captures of Saturn
last
night with K3CCDTools, and now with a new laptop I have managed to get
pastthe 1610 frame limit I had before. Anyway, I have a couple of runs -
one
of around 3000 frames and the other of around 4000 frames. The problem now
is that Registax chokes and gives a "failed to decompress avi" error. I
presume this is related to file size being too big for it.

So - what do you guys do ? Do you split the avis into smaller chunks,
convert to an uncompressed format, or what ?

Thanks in advance....


Are the files over 2GB? There is normally a 2GB files size limit on avi
files which I believe later versions of both K3CCDTools and Registax have
overcome. Can you load the file back into K3CCDTools? If you can you could
split it up and resave it from there.

Robin

"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message
...


Are the files over 2GB? There is normally a 2GB files size limit on avi
files which I believe later versions of both K3CCDTools and Registax have
overcome. Can you load the file back into K3CCDTools? If you can you could
split it up and resave it from there.

Robin


You might find this recent reference useful too
http://qcuiag-archive.technoir.org/2006/msg00027.html
(Cor is the author of Registax)

Robin

"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message
...

"adm" wrote in message
...
Dear All,

I got what I think are potentially some pretty good captures of Saturn
last
night with K3CCDTools, and now with a new laptop I have managed to get
pastthe 1610 frame limit I had before. Anyway, I have a couple of runs -
one
of around 3000 frames and the other of around 4000 frames. The problem
now
is that Registax chokes and gives a "failed to decompress avi" error. I
presume this is related to file size being too big for it.

So - what do you guys do ? Do you split the avis into smaller chunks,
convert to an uncompressed format, or what ?

Thanks in advance....


Are the files over 2GB?

About 1.6Gb - but reading Cor's note (from your next post, it appears he's
puzzled about whether it's a 1 or 2G limit) - in any case, it chokes at
about 2300 frames, which also matches what he says.

There is normally a 2GB files size limit on avi
files which I believe later versions of both K3CCDTools and Registax have
overcome. Can you load the file back into K3CCDTools?

Yes - no problem at all.

If you can you could
split it up and resave it from there.

And then process them together in Registax presumably....

I have another idea though that I will play around with. I think I will load
the files back into K3, sort them by quality and then export only the best
2250 or so frames for use by Registax. Kind of a pre filter run.....

Thanks Robin.
Robin

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:17:07 -0000, "adm" wrote:

Dear All,

I got what I think are potentially some pretty good captures of Saturn last
night with K3CCDTools, and now with a new laptop I have managed to get
pastthe 1610 frame limit I had before. Anyway, I have a couple of runs - one
of around 3000 frames and the other of around 4000 frames. The problem now
is that Registax chokes and gives a "failed to decompress avi" error. I
presume this is related to file size being too big for it.

So - what do you guys do ? Do you split the avis into smaller chunks,
convert to an uncompressed format, or what ?

Thanks in advance....

I can happily Registax 2,000+ frames in a single bound (disk file size
around 1.3Gb). Selecting multiple files, the limit is 10,000 frames.
What version of Registax are you using - is it the most recent
release? My new strategy is to capture AVI's of 1000 frames each. I
can then pick and choose which ones I use.

However, you still need to be aware that too many frames captured at,
say, 10fps, could represent quite a turn of the planet. You'll get
nice smooth bands but no scientifically worthwhile detail!


--
Pete
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk

"Pete Lawrence" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:17:07 -0000, "adm" wrote:

Dear All,

I got what I think are potentially some pretty good captures of Saturn
last
night with K3CCDTools, and now with a new laptop I have managed to get
pastthe 1610 frame limit I had before. Anyway, I have a couple of runs -
one
of around 3000 frames and the other of around 4000 frames. The problem now
is that Registax chokes and gives a "failed to decompress avi" error. I
presume this is related to file size being too big for it.

So - what do you guys do ? Do you split the avis into smaller chunks,
convert to an uncompressed format, or what ?

Thanks in advance....

I can happily Registax 2,000+ frames in a single bound (disk file size
around 1.3Gb).

I can too - but any more than that and it's "tits up", not to put too fine a
point on it....

It seems to limit out at around 2300+

Selecting multiple files, the limit is 10,000 frames.
What version of Registax are you using - is it the most recent
release?

It certainly is - just downloaded onto the new laptop a couple of days ago.

My new strategy is to capture AVI's of 1000 frames each. I
can then pick and choose which ones I use.

I'll try that. I like the modular approach :-)

However, you still need to be aware that too many frames captured at,
say, 10fps, could represent quite a turn of the planet. You'll get
nice smooth bands but no scientifically worthwhile detail!

Good point. Although I thought capturing over say 5 minutes on Saturn would
be OK with Saturn, but not with Jupiter ?

What frame rate do you use ? I am leaning towards going with whatever lets
me use the lowest gain settings - normally seems to be 10 fps - while still
keeping shuttr speed at 1/33rd or higher.

My latest two are he

http://adm.smugmug.com/gallery/974519/1/55839901

and he

http://adm.smugmug.com/gallery/974519/1/55839900

I think I'm now getting a bit more detail, whithout having to "push" them so
hard in Registax which I presume adds artefacts caused by sharpening.

Now I want a 3x Barlow as well as the 2x I have. I'd also like a bigger CCD
with the same fast frame rates....

Oh well....

My largest avi file contains 3011 frames ( @ 352 x 288) and is 500982KB, it
loads into registax 3 and works OK.

Cheers

"dylan" wrote in message
...
My largest avi file contains 3011 frames ( @ 352 x 288) and is 500982KB,
it loads into registax 3 and works OK.

Cheers

Thanks Dylan,

Now I think about it - maybe it's a c.3.25K+ choke limit, not 2K+

Interesting that you use the smaller frame size of 352 x 288 - I can't
reliably get Saturn to stay within those bounds and need the 640 x 488 full
frame to make sure. Maybe it's because I live near a busy road though...

Anyway - sorted now thanks to various answers from the group.

What's more - I've found that doing a bit more processing in K3 (quality
sort, then export as AVI using only contents of rectangles) before
exporting to Registax seems to improve the whole process.....

BR

Alasdair

Interesting that you use the smaller frame size of 352 x 288 - I can't
reliably get Saturn to stay within those bounds and need the 640 x 488
full frame to make sure. Maybe it's because I live near a busy road
though...

The 352 x 288 is a crop of the 640 x 480 so you keep the quality. It makes
the file sizes a lot smaller so easier to copy between my PCs.

To keep the image on the screen I use the LX200 emulator connected to the
LX10 and manually keep the image central using AstroSnap.

I could just use 4 switches connected to the LX10 guide port to manually
guide it but I have the PC running anyway to capture the avi.

Cheers