[AG-TECH] New hardware specification for AG 2.0?

[Lawrence A. Rowe]

Hi -

We have been using the Canon VC-C4 pan/tilt cameras.  They work fine and
have gotten relatively inexpensive.  I just bought one on the web for
$800.

One thing we also did that improved the quality of the images produced
by vic on Linux dramatically -- use an s-video cable from the camera to
the capture card.  most capture cards have both a composite and an
s-video connector.  We are using Bt878 cards with Video4Linux.  The
composite signal had chrominance shift in high frequency signals.  The
s-video signal was noticably better.  The bottom line is that you should
wire up using s-video where ever possible.

You can see the difference if you go to the BMRC room off the
institutional lobby - or just run
	vic 233.2.171.164/59634
i will put two streams showing the Berkeley logo -- one with composite
and one with s-video so you can compare. (I have to go downstairs and
turn it one correctly...)

And, if you're in desparate need of a cheap UTC clock, we usually leave
one camera pointing at our clock... :)!
	Larry
-- 
Professor Lawrence A. Rowe          Internet:  Rowe at BMRC.Berkeley.EDU
Computer Science Division - EECS       Phone: 510-642-5117
University of California, Berkeley       Fax: 510-642-5615
Berkeley, CA 94720-1776            URL: http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~larry