Camera Car Build

[eric220]

Run a long wire HF loop style antenna around the room on the RECEIVER antenna only.

Interesting.  Can you elaborate a little?  Would that just involve running a wire and connecting it to the antenna port on the receiver?

[Alaska Railroader]

Interesting David, that we are pretty much the only ones completely sold on the Looxcie as the solution for the absolutely highest quality camera for the absolutely highest quality video. Maybe if they saw Dave Lancaster's video using his $149 Looxcie on a Z scale modular group layout at one of their shows. It was a joy to watch the vid. But here is a warning for whatever you end up using; everything along the route will show up. Things like flaws in track (shows up especially when you are right down on the track), buildings, landscaping, everything that looked OK from 2 to 3 feet suddenly reveals glaring mistakes.

Be prepared to use whatever camera you end up with to do a visual inspection of your route before you take it to a show to allow time for cosmetic fixes.

Another factor, lighting. We have found that most show venues have horrible lighting whereas the room you have the layout set up at home is probably better. Film there, then you don't have to worry about what the car looks like that carries the camera. Dave L's video showed how annoying it is to see people mingling around the layout. Imagine a video of your layout that looked like you were riding a real train.

[DKS]

Interesting David, that we are pretty much the only ones completely sold on the Looxcie as the solution for the absolutely highest quality camera for the absolutely highest quality video.

Not necessarily; I think others are interested. However, the Looxcie does have big drawbacks if you want a totally hidden camera, and it gets expensive if you want a real-time feed, both of which are preferences for a lot of modelers. It comes down to the options people want and the budget they have.

[eric220]

Interesting David, that we are pretty much the only ones completely sold on the Looxci

Two quick points:

1. The TC-9 has the ability to charge off of rail power, meaning it can run virtually indefinitely.

2. I already have a TC-9, so I want to make it work. 

[peteski]

I hope that Gary will chime in here with some more technical info but from my limited knowledge, Brian's huge wire antenna is not an optimal solution. Unlike the old AM wire antennas strung between two trees giving good reception, with short-wavelength frequencies, there are all sorts of problems which will make such antenna function very poorly.

As far as Looxcie goes, I also have nothing against it but the TC-9 is pretty much ready to install and view, and it it designed to be powered from the track (not battery swapping or charging).  Looxcie needs to be taken apart, it needs to be charged whenever you want to use it, it needs a USB connection to be reconfigured and it can also be only viewed from a WiFi-networked computer.  TC-9 is smaller and just much simpler to deal with. Slightly inferior quality video is its only drawback.


Tony's tiny camera looks very promising (once the transmitter and power supply problem is resolved).

I had the idea to mount the smallest camera possible with the best resolution possbible to be mounded behind the engineer's window in a F unit.
The feed would be sent back to a modified briefcase with built in UT4R and LCD screen to allow for portability. It would be the DCC version of remote controlling the train via virtual virtual-reality.

We have sort already with the train cameras I built. The video from the receiver is feed into a video capture card installed in a PC and it is displayed in a window on the screen. Then the DCC controlled train headed by the train camera loco is then controlled by a JMRI throttle also displayed in another window on the same screen. If the turnouts are DCC controlled then you can pretty much run the layout from that PC.  The easy way to make this setup controllable from anywhere on the Internet is to enable remote desktop on that PC then login into it from any other PC in the world.  A more complicated solution would be to set up a web server which could provide video streaming and the JMRI throttle to whoever is viewing the website.

I really don't think that having the engineers view (though the windshield) would be all that different than the video provided by the camera mounted in a headlight (or elsewhere in the nose).  Unless your goal is to totally hide the camera lens.  The main problem is that you can't have the cab (or the windshield edge, which is fraction of an inch from the lens) in focus while also focusing the same lens on the outside view. Camera doesn't have such a large dept of field.

Better solution would be to have the camera provide just the view focused on the outside , then overlay an image of a locomotive cab over that video. That way everything would be in focus.

While I have posted these in the past, I'm posting some videos of a layout I took with a TC-9 camera. This was my first attempt at recording and editing and I made several mistakes which degraded the quality of the video.  But at least it gives an idea of a live video on an N scale layout. When I operate on that layout I really enjoy running trains using the video camera, instead of doing it the conventional way.

[rogergperkins]

As far as I can tell from the manual for the Looxcie which I posted earlier; the ear plug would not be in the way; the rubber loop would not be used.
Am I not seeing the camera clearly?  Thanks.

[DKS]

As far as I can tell from the manual for the Looxcie which I posted earlier; the ear plug would not be in the way; the rubber loop would not be used.
Am I not seeing the camera clearly?  Thanks.

Even with the earplug removed, the camera might be too wide for narrow bridges or tunnel portals, or to clear passing trains; it all depends on your particular situation.

Without the earplug, the unit is ~0.9" at its widest:

[DKS]

Here's a test of the Looxcie in action: Not a valid vimeo URL

[John]

I don't like these videos in general - the SU is a good looking layout in the magazine spreads I've seen .. these camera cars point out too many flaws .. when Zox ran his car on my layout, I almost tore it all out because I was so upset by all the crappy track work and flaws it pointed out to me ..

[Alaska Railroader]

Here's a test of the Looxcie in action: Not a valid vimeo URL

So good to see Rick and hear his voice again. I really, really enjoy this type of video. It feels like the viewer is truly riding the train and the view is so very different than the helicopter view we see all the time. It does indeed show where a layout could use some spiffing up which could only help to improve our modeling skills, no? I would run the thing, view it, spot eyesore areas, fix them up, then repeat until I was happy enough to share a video of it. And this would be true no matter which camera was chosen.

Nice music too....

[eric220]

I worked up the nerve tonight to commit drill to plastic. After an infuriating hunt all over the house for my drill bits and a bit of trial and error, including a little more sanding on the camera housing, I arrived at this:



I was very relieved to get here, as I realized about 15 seconds into drilling that I hadn't measured anything.  Fortunately, this arrangement allows space for the camera to be adjusted for an unobstructed view. Now I just have to connect up the Silhouette to build the new internal skeleton and put it all together!

[eric220]

I don't like these videos in general - the SU is a good looking layout in the magazine spreads I've seen .. these camera cars point out too many flaws .. when Zox ran his car on my layout, I almost tore it all out because I was so upset by all the crappy track work and flaws it pointed out to me ..

I definitely agree that this close of a view is good at showing every little mistake and flaw, and it's definitely not for everyone. Personally, I'll overlook the flaws for the chance to get down into my railroad.

[Zox]

when Zox ran his car on my layout, I almost tore it all out because I was so upset by all the crappy track work and flaws it pointed out to me ..

Um, dude, you did tear out that entire layout... 

[eric220]

Here's a test of the Looxcie in action: Not a valid vimeo URL

FOCUS!!!!!!

In all seriousness, very cool.  I actually had mine running on my layout as I watched the video, so I got a really good side-by-side comparison.  There's no argument that the signal from the Looxcie is cleaner.  No interference that I saw.  As far as overall picture quality, however, I like my TC-9 better.  It seems that the optics on the Looxcie may be an issue.  On both my live feed and Peteski's videos, you can count the ties as they pass.  With the Looxcie, they seemed to be a blur.  The depth of field of the TC-9 also seems to be superior to the Looxcie.  I can read the lettering on the cars that the TC-9 is passing.  If you go to the 1:00 mark in the Looxcie video and watch the "HOTEL CAFE" sign on the side of the building, you can see that it's out of focus for most of the pass.  I'm not sure if the Looxcie has adjustable focus, as the TC-9 does, but it seems to be focused for several feet to infinity.

Edit: I think I found part of the problem.  According to the Looxcie website, the live feed is broadcast in 480p, the same as the TC-9.

[peteski]

Looking good Eric!