Going back to the optical part of the camera, I'd like to know where to buy very sharp c-mount lenses. Don't get me wrong, I like the soft movielike look the camera has now but when the adaptor is added, the image will pass through 3 lenses (c-mount, achromat and 35mm lens) and the ground glass so if final image is a bit soft I want the 35mm lens to be responsible for that. The rest must be as sharp as possible.

I don't care if the c-mount lens I choose is a second hand one as long as it's very sharp. In fact, it will be much cheaper if it's used.

Where can I look for it?

Check out this thread, it may have some good information for you: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=62138&highlight=c-mount

Please, i want to test my debayer algorithm ;)
(in fact, the best would be to have the same sequence in bayer and debayered by micron so i can compare... it might be difficult but there is no point to continue to work on my algorithm if it's bad :))

What kind of debayering algorithm are you using? (spline, bicubic, etc.)Also I would love to see the results if possible.

Has anyone managed to obtain the Micron sensor datasheet? I created an account on their site and asked for the NDA, but no one has contacted me yet.

Jose, have you seen this page regarding the lens: http://www.micron.com/innovations/imaging/lens ? They have some useful info there as well as few suppliers listed.

Hi Ivan,

Thanks for the link. Yesterday I uploaded all datasheets, manuals and sample codes that came with the board. Page 10 of this thread.

Hi Ivan,

Thanks for the link. Yesterday I uploaded all datasheets, manuals and sample codes that came with the board. Page 10 of this thread.

Jose, I looked at the file you uploaded, but it seems sensor datasheet is not there. I looked at all the pdf documents. The datasheet should be something like the document at http://download.micron.com/pdf/product_brief/MT9P031_5100_PB.pdf but with a lot more information (registers, timing, etc).

Ok, I'll send an email to Micron asking for the sensor complete datasheet.

Jose -- what is the reason fixed fps speed cannot be set (or if set, cannot be maintained)? With the Sumix, setting say 25 fps would produce a clip whose properties showed an actual frame rate of say 24.96 fps or some other fractions different from the ideal. Because the RAM-recording clips were quite short, the discrepancy was not great enough for an accumulation to effect sound sync. What sort of discrepancy are you getting from the ideal?
John.

Well, the main problem is that I don't have an option to set fps. Framerate depends on the resolution, system clock, gain, shutter... But nothing more. You cannot program framerate.

I mailed Micron asking if it would be possible to upgrade their program by adding an option to set framerate. They didn't answer yet but I don't think they'll do it. That's why I need someone to help me out with this. I need a tool to control all aspects including fps. If you read the sensor datasheet it says framerate is in fact programmable. I just don't know why they haven't included that option.

As I said, I want to stay with this board. I really like it. So now I'm just waiting for someone who can write an application to control the sensor and record the clips.

As for what you said about RAM recording, I can record 2K AVI Debayered to RAM and RAW debayered to disk in realtime with an almost continuous framerate (between 25 and 26fps) with Micron software.

Well, the main problem is that I don't have an option to set fps. Framerate depends on the resolution, system clock, gain, shutter... But nothing more. You cannot program framerate.


That sounds the same as with an IIDC camera. The framerate is depended on the amount of firewire bandwidth you want to be used.

But it is possible to trigger the start of a frame externally. I want to use a 1:2000 frequency divider (maybe a simple PIC processor), clocked to a 48000 Hz digital audio word clock.

Maybe that would work with your board as well?

Take, I must admit I'm a bit lost in terms of pure hardware and coding. Anyway if you want me to test options to get those fixed 24fps, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. From what I know about the sensor, I think it's possible to fix framerate via software though. I read it in the datasheet.

I guess it's not so easy but, would it be possible to develop a tool to control the board and record bayer clips? Or maybe adapt you Boom Recorder? It would be perfect if you could do it.

Thanks.

Has anyone managed to obtain the Micron sensor datasheet? I created an account on their site and asked for the NDA, but no one has contacted me yet.

Same here, I have not received a single email or phone call from Micron. Also Digikey sells the sensor so I emailed them and asked for the datasheet, the response I got just told me to check the part number... I was not sure what they meant by this so I emailed them back verifying the part number, but I have received no response. However; I did manage to get the full datasheet for the MT9T001 sensor from the digikey site, and I assume that a lot of the information is the same.

According to this data sheet the only way to adjust your frame rate is by changing the vertical and horizontal blanking times.

Don’t take this as gospel but according to my math (which very well my be faulty) to get 24fps at 2048x856 with a 96Mhz pixel clock you would want a Horizontal blanking of 21 and a Vertical blanking of 1093. I chose the minimum number allowed for the horizontal blanking to make my math simpler, so many other combinations are possible.

So Jose if you can use the Micron software to write directly to the registers (assuming the registers are the same as on the MT9T001) you will want to do the following:

Write:
0x0015 to address 0x0005
0x0445 to address 0x0006

Be sure to record the values that are all ready there are first so you can change them back later!

One more disclaimer: I am not positive that this is correct; this would be a lot easier with the proper datasheet! :-(

Edit: Here is the equation as I understand it from the datasheet (Trust me, the datasheet is not this straight forward.)

(((HRes*(VRes+Hblank))+(Vblank*(VRes+Hblank)))*(1/Pixel Clock) = Frame Period
So to get the above numbers I use:
(((856*(2048+21))+(1093*(2048+21)))*(1/96000000)) = 1/24

Also, does anyone out there know if there would be a point to using a lager Hblank and a smaller Vblank? It seems to me that by keeping the Hblank as low as possible it would help to reduce the rolling shutter, but I am not positive about that.

Ok... It's possible to change every single register using DevWare from Micron. I'm just a bit afraid to do it, that's all. I'll see if I can get the datasheet for the MT9P031. Anyway I supose I can always reset the sensor to original settings...

Thanks Jamie!

Take, I must admit I'm a bit lost in terms of pure hardware and coding. Anyway if you want me to test options to get those fixed 24fps, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. From what I know about the sensor, I think it's possible to fix framerate via software though. I read it in the datasheet.

I guess it's not so easy but, would it be possible to develop a tool to control the board and record bayer clips? Or maybe adapt you Boom Recorder? It would be perfect if you could do it.


Is there not a connector on your test board where you connect the tricker?

As for Boom Recorder, I am still working on getting my own camera to work.

I am still not certain what is wrong with my camera, but the reseller doesn't really want to help me, stating that it is normal that it looks like crap if you use gamma correction. So I will have to design an other way of compensating for it.

From the specification of the sensor, it says that a pixel should be more than 6% off, compared to its neighborhood pixels at 70%, before it is called hot or cold. I am going to measure this as well.

Ok... It's possible to change every single register using DevWare from Micron. I'm just a bit afraid to do it, that's all. I'll see if I can get the datasheet for the MT9P031. Anyway I supose I can always reset the sensor to original settings...

The registers need to be set each time you power the sensor anyway, so if you do something wrong, just switch off the camera ;)

I took a look at what you got from Micron, they have a pretty neat library for handling their sensors and very well documented... Should be a breeze to program something (and there is a lot of examples source code so you don't have to start from zero).

And thanks for the raw file, my avisynth filter work quite well, but at half the frame rate, so i've some room for improvement here...

Btw, thanks to Juan to point me to some pretty interesting and cheap hardware dev kit, i think you can build a usb/ethernet camera head for something like 500$ (or less, depending on the price of the sensor board). Some software developpement is needed but nothing insurmountable...

Hey, that sounds great! So for now we can shoot in raw and debayer in post using AviSynth. Perfect! That's a huge step forward! Now he have no time limitations cause raw capture can be done direct to disk in realtime. How do you read the raw files? Is it possible to have a copy of your AviSynth script? We could also modify it so it debayers and encodes to a lossless codec (JPEG Lossless using FFDSHOW i.e.) to save disk space.

On the other side, you say it's quite easy to develop software for the demo board. The problem is that I don't know a thing about coding. It'd be great if you could help me with that. I just need a very simple tool to control all basic aspects (including fps), RAW capture and that's all really.

I mailed Micron and asked for another week for testing. If everything goes ok, I'll probably keep the board but I'm also interested in your usb/ethernet camera head for about $500.

Good news! I've got the MT9P031 complete datasheet! I'm attaching it to this post.

There is a plugin named "RawSource" that do perfectly the job, i'll give you everything you need to test it later, i don't have a copy of my plugin here.

For the camera, well, the dev board is 89$ or less (!!) and has everything you need to interface CMOS censors (and i read about a successfull MT9Txxx interfacing) so the price depend of the camera board (325$ here (https://www.em.avnet.com/pns/home/0,5533,CID%253D0%2526CCD%253DUSA%2526SID%253D0%2526DID%253DDF2%2526LID%253D0%2526BID%253DDF2%2526CTP %253DPNS,00.html?ref=https://emwcs.avnet.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/RemoteAdvancedSearchView?langId=-1&storeId=500201&catalogId=500201&manufacturerPartNum=MT9T) when they had it or 289$ at digi-key...)
But like i said previously its only "theorical"... there is quite some work to get it running...

Good news! I've got the MT9P031 complete datasheet! I'm attaching it to this post.

Thanks a ton for the datasheet! I need some time to look it over, but I at least now know that you registers you want to manipulate are the ones I specified above, 0x005 and 0x006. Stephen is right, all you need to do is reset the board if for some reason it doesnt work right, so if I were you I would go ahead and give it a shot. If nothing else you could just guess and check at the values until you get a usable frame rate.

Ok, I just received a mail from Micron. They say it's perfectly possible to run the sensor with fixed framerate. They asked me for the resolution and framerate I wanted. I supose they'll send me a configuration file for DevWare.

Hi John,
I'm Petrovich from Sumix Corp. My message relates to movie creation and the problem with long smooth recording of video stream.
Sumix is going to release new soft allowing lossless record of bayer (raw) frames to HD at 1280x1024 with 26fps, 1600x1200 with 19 fps
Recommended to use a separate unfragmeted HDD partition.
The recording is limited by available HD space.
The recorded file is supposed to be processed with special utility, which plays and converts it into avi. The format of the recorded file is opened so one can use his own ideas on compressing etc

in case of questions: zsp@sumix.com

Best regards
Petrovich
Sumix Support team

Petrovich! I was going to email you this week after reading on here mention of an improvement to the Sumix application. Things are moving very quickly on this thread and I can hardly keep up! A problem is discovered, and a couple of solutions are found almost the same day! It's a great time to be in DIY HD at the moment after a long quiet period. I really think the eventual results possible with the various cameras will make them a practical option for serious enthusiasts at this price point. Soon we won't be discussing how to make it work but how we made films (sometimes, with a steep technical slope to climb, you can almost forget why you're doing this!). Thanks for posting here about the Sumix news: I'll be in touch.

Regards,
John
(refreshed by the progress being made; the community feeling here really works for me -- thanks everyone)

It's just incredible but true. Now we can say we're able to shoot full HD and 2K progresive at 24fps with great image quality and motion feel by just spending $1200-$1500 and I'm sure it'll be cheaper in two or three months. Well, less than a month if we keep on going this fast.

I know it's not a computer independent solution and it's not as easy to set up as a prosumer camera. But its workflow is much easier and faster than any 35mm film camera. You can set it up in less than 2 minutes, then shoot and you can debayer and lossless encode in 2 or 3 minutes per raw gigabyte.

I mean, we CAN do all that already, but if we develop our own boards and software based on what we already have, we can in fact sell this camera, which was not one of the main purposes of this thread when I started it, but it's always a possibility.

Anyway, I really think if we keep on working like we are now, this project can become the very first working really low cost DIY 2K camera, and all that thanks to this great community.

Ok, Micron sent me register values but for shutter delay, width and height. They work as long as I don't touch anything. If I touch exposure value (pixel integration time) everything goes back to 25-26fps.

Jamie's option is much better. I tried it and it works no matter what values I choose for exposure or shutter, but you've got the wrong numbers. I'm shooting at 2048x858 but even setting it to 2048x856 and setting those values to horizontal and vertical blanking, it goes down to 16fps. It STAYS at 16fps or 15.9 sometimes, but stable enough to sync audio. We need to find the values for 24fps and we've got our camera ready to test audio and video.

Thanks!

Ok, I was playing with vertical and horizontal blanking values and I have the perfect settings to set 24fps on the sensor, the camera and the interface.

Pixel Clock: 96Mhz
Vertical Blank: 0x01F0
Horizontal Blank: 0x0015

I was just trying values, I don't know if these are the best, but display shows 24,0 on both sensor and camera, and between 23.9 and 24.1 on screen. I don't think that's enough to desync a 30-40 second shoot.

Ok, I was playing with vertical and horizontal blanking values and I have the perfect settings to set 24fps on the sensor, the camera and the interface.

Pixel Clock: 96Mhz
Vertical Blank: 0x01F0
Horizontal Blank: 0x0015

I was just trying values, I don't know if these are the best, but display shows 24,0 on both sensor and camera, and between 23.9 and 24.1 on screen. I don't think that's enough to desync a 30-40 second shoot.

I am glad to see that you got it working! I am guessing that the problem with my numbers comes from the fact my equation was based on the MT9T01 and not the MT9P031. I will look at the datasheet later and see if I can derive a new equation. As a quick note, it seems that by having a larger horizontal blank time will also give you higher exposer times but increase the rolling shutter artifacts.

This is great, soon you will be to the point of building an 35mm adapter for it, I bet you will be filming before to long! How is your search for a good C-Mount lens coming?

Now I am off to start selling junk on ebay so I can start working on my own camera!

I just can't wait till it's finished. If everything goes ok, I'll start building the adaptor in a couple of weeks. Untill then I have to figure out how to record RAW Bayer direct to disk in realtime. I can do it using a very simple debayer algorithm but not in raw color mode. That algorithm gives a rather blurry image. That's strange cause raw bayer is suposed to be faster than debayered, but anyway...

I've got a question. I know I'm capturing in 8bit mode, but if I'm capturing in raw bayer, is it 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0...? I'm not too sure about that.

Thanks.

P.S. The C-Mount lens... I haven't seen much yet. Also we need an equation that can reduce rolling shutter to a minimum.

I just can't wait till it's finished. If everything goes ok, I'll start building the adaptor in a couple of weeks. Untill then I have to figure out how to record RAW Bayer direct to disk in realtime. I can do it using a very simple debayer algorithm but not in raw color mode. That algorithm gives a rather blurry image. That's strange cause raw bayer is suposed to be faster than debayered, but anyway...

I've got a question. I know I'm capturing in 8bit mode, but if I'm capturing in raw bayer, is it 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0...? I'm not too sure about that.

Thanks.

P.S. The C-Mount lens... I haven't seen much yet. Also we need an equation that can reduce rolling shutter to a minimum.

When you capture the debayered video to the hard drive what format does it save it in? Also exactly what happen when you try and save the raw bayer data to the disk, does it just drop frames or what?

I think that being a single bayer sensor the data from it would be considered the equivalent of 4:2:2 since you have twice as much green information as you have red and blue. I could be wrong about this though.

When debayered, it's stored in raw debayered format. I can also choose to save it in AVI uncompressed but I need to capture to RAM to maintain 24fps.

When it cannot save to disk at full speed it just slows down and sets a lower framerate. It never drops frames.

4:2:2 is ok. It still has enough color info for later processing.

"4:2:2" is associated with the video colour model of a luminance channel ("4") and two colour channels ("2:2"). As Jamie says, it's probably accurate enough to describe the eventual RGB colour model (three colour channels) as being "4:2:2" since Bayer (one greyscale channel) has twice as much green ("4") information as red and blue ("2:2") information.

John,

You could say that, but on the other hand a debayer algorithm will try and restore the full RGB4:4:4, before it is edited.

This restoring of 4:4:4 could also be done on 4:2:2 YUV images, it just hasn't been done very often. I think Natress tools can restore 4:1:1 to 4:2:2 with DV footage.

If you are editing in say Final Cut Pro in YUV4:2:2 then although you can restore to YUV4:4:4, it will revert back to YUV4:2:2 because of the underlying codec.

Cheers,
Take

Take -- that is a good point. Depending on how good the deBayer is, then the full colour restoration of the eventual RGB could conservatively be called "better than 4:2:2". How close you get to theoretical "4:4:4" I guess comes down to the quality of the algorithm used. I suppose that subjectively, if it looks good, it is good. Being independents, we aught to call it "4:3:3" !
John.

That sounds good. And as we're debayering in post, we can have any algorithm out there, or modify one to get even more quality.

John,

I read a couple of months ago that good debayer algorithms can restore better than 90% of the full resolution.

10:9:9 we should call it.

So what's the most acurate debayer algorithm?

It seems in the open source world the two biggest algorithms are AHD and VNG, both are used by the program Dcraw. It would seem that AHD is better at doing hard edges but is slightly noisy in the large solid areas. VNG is less noisy but has a tendency to produce a 'zipper effect' on edges. This page explains it pretty well: http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/digicam/dcraw/vng-ahd-comparison.htm

Since Dcraw is open source it would be fairly easy to make an AVIsynth plug-in based on one of these two algorithms. A clever coder may even be able to write an AVS script that uses both AHD and VNG together to get the best of both worlds... but it would be extremely slow.

Jamie,

I am running AHD at a pretty respectable speed, at around 10 fps 1080x750 with 16 bit half precision floats.

I am not sure how you would combine the two algorithms. Maybe use VNG as a third alternative to horizontal and vertical interpolation. Then make a homogeneity map for all three and select the best one.

There is a paper out there that compares 8 or 10 different algorithms in quality. Interestingly enough although there was a statistically better algorithm than AHD, AHD still visually had less artifacts.

Since Dcraw is open source it would be fairly easy to make an AVIsynth plug-in based on one of these two algorithms. A clever coder may even be able to write an AVS script that uses both AHD and VNG together to get the best of both worlds... but it would be extremely slow.

No because Dcraw source code is an utterly piece of crap that only alien can understand. I know, i was exactly thinking the same... It was faster to read the AHD paper and translate the math to C code. In fact i switched to an other algorithm called "Directional Filtering with A Posteriori Decision" for various reasons already explained in this thread. The avisynth filter currently run at 13 fps @ 1920x800 on my 1.8ghz c2d but i have plenty of room for improvement, let's the MMX magic take over tomorow if i have time ;)
(btw "my" algorithm looked better than AHD in the paper describing it)

You have any plans to release your filter Steven? I would love to have a look at the results.

Hi, I've been reading the thread day by day and I'm really excited with what you guys have achieved. I hope you keep the progress until the camera is fully functional. As I have nothing to help you with ('cause I know nothing about algorithms and coding), I just wanted to ask: What size of a sensor would it be needed, to use a 35 mm lens, with no adaptor? I've seen some sensors bigger than the one you Jose are using (1/2" and 1"). Of course I am not suggesting you change board, but it might be useful to think about that. Maybe in the future, a camera with no adapter, will be possible with a larger sensor.
Keep on the work! What you are doing is amazing!!
Agustin

Hi Agustin,

If you read through the thread a bit more you'll find there's a point where we discussed about having a 2/3" Ibis sensor to get a shallower DOF but sacrifying resolution (cause we could only get 720p) or going for full 2K but using a smaller sensor and an adaptor. Now we're using a 1/2.5" cmos and I'll build an adaptor as soon as I have some time.

Now, what's the perfect size to get 35mm DOF? Well, I don't have it clear yet. Some say the sensor must be 36mmx24mm so it has the exact same size of a 35mm negative, but others say 35mm movie negatives are a bit smaller and closer to 1".

But then you have the SI-2K which has a 2/3" sensor and gives some very good DOF without using any adaptor. That's why I started thinking about the Ibis. But anyway I found I really like the Micron sensor. You get a very good looking image with it and you can always build an adaptor to have your own digital cinema 2k camera for less than $2000.

What's the problem using larger cmos? Money and framerate. Most 1" cmos are too expensive or can't get to 24fps. If it was easy or cheap to have a 1" 2k sensor demo board going at 24fps, we'd be using it right now. Altasens gets to 2/3" 1080p but a single sensor costs the same as the whole board I'm using. Also they don't support small projects. I mailed them like four times when I started this. I even told them I was going to start selling the cameras if everything went ok, but all I got was this guy almost telling me not to mail them again.

So it's not as easy as it seems. Anyway I said it in my second or third post here. This project is alive. If I can buy better parts in time, I'll do it.

Size apparently doesn't really affect price that much, except marketers would like you to believe that. You can get bigger sensors cheaper than other smaller ones, it is investment and production runs that have an great effect, and the marketing of technology/features. The cost of the extra size can land up being only an small fraction of price, if these things are happening.

Hi John,
I'm Petrovich from Sumix Corp. My message relates to movie creation and the problem with long smooth recording of video stream.
Sumix is going to release new soft allowing lossless record of bayer (raw) frames to HD at 1280x1024 with 26fps, 1600x1200 with 19 fps
Recommended to use a separate unfragmeted HDD partition.
The recording is limited by available HD space.
The recorded file is supposed to be processed with special utility, which plays and converts it into avi. The format of the recorded file is opened so one can use his own ideas on compressing etc

in case of questions: zsp@sumix.com

Best regards
Petrovich
Sumix Support team

Long time no hear Sergey. What ever happened with the cinema cameras you were developing for the first group around here?

It is good to see that you have finally published the smooth motion software recording. is it available for the Ibis cameras, and have they improved in S/N ratio sensitivity and performance, or are they exactly the same as 2 years ago?


Thanks

Wayne.

Btw, thanks to Juan to point me to some pretty interesting and cheap hardware dev kit, i think you can build a usb/ethernet camera head for something like 500$ (or less, depending on the price of the sensor board). Some software developpement is needed but nothing insurmountable...

Steve, what was this hardware?

Some cheap hardware:

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13177

The future of professional production:

http://www.digitalcamcordernews.com/posts/2007/07/932-33-megapixel-cmos-sensor-developed

8Mp, 2Mp, 1Mp all bin into sensors like these. If sensor technology is good enough, than this resolution might be choice for high end professional use.

Just one thing... I don't think that mini laptop can handle 2k res at 24fps. Or I'm wrong? Because for $250 and an external usb disk to store the clips, it'd be perfect!

What do you think about this:

http://minipc.aopen.com/Global/spec.htm

Just one thing... I don't think that mini laptop can handle 2k res at 24fps. Or I'm wrong? Because for $250 and an external usb disk to store the clips, it'd be perfect!

For video, you'll want Firewire, USB2.0 is better on burst transmissions, FW is better on sustained read and write. FW also lets the devices negotiate their own priority on the bus, with USB, the slowest link in the chain is the speed of the rest of it.

No, I mean, you have a 16Gb flash card. You capture to flash and then store in the external disk.

I have been keeping an eye on this thread for a while, you have made some real progress!

In regards to the miniPC options, I have been doing some research into embedded solutions for some time now and would like to share.

My first thought when contemplating building a portable PC to record HD with was to use PC/104+ modules, but the cost of decent PC/104+ CPU boards (1 GHz and up) was near or over $1000 USD, so it looked unlikely. The upside is that everything I would need could be added to the "stack", such as hardware RAID and FireWire and even Framegrabbers... and the boards are only 90mm x 96mm.

Another option, as someone else mentioned, are the 3.5" SBC based systems. I personally felt that this was slightly too big for my purposes, as I am trying to build the computer into the final camera. The size of 3.5" boards are actually approximately 102mm x 156mm (or the size of a 3.5" disk drive). Prices on these are not too bad, you can find decent 1.8 GHz systems for under $700 USD.

Next. and maybe the most accessible to end-users, are the new Pico-ITX boards from VIA that should be shipping by the end of this month. There is no word on price officially, but some estimate it at $350 to $450 USD. These are 72mm x 100mm and have a LVDS/DVI and a duaghter board with additional TV out. Downside, 1 Ghz processor (enough???), only one SATA and no GigE.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=472

The last option, and the one that I am attempting, is to use a system called COMexpress or sometimes called ETXexpress. These systems provide great flexibility in the design, with fast processors and lots of memory (some up to 4 gig) in 95mm x 125mm. The downside, the CPU modules have only the chips and electronics... no connectors! They require a "carrier board" that holds all of the connectors (and some supporting electronics). The CPU modules do offer a lot though... Gige, USB, TV out, duel SDVO, up to 4 SATA (some offer on-board RAID), and it runs with a PCIexpress bus including support for a PEG slot. The Kontron ETXexpress-PM (without CPU) can be had for around $330 USD... plus the cost of building the carrier board.

http://www.congatec.com/b945.html?&L=2%22%20onfocus%3D%22blurLink%28this%29%3B
http://us.kontron.com/index.php?id=82&cat=460

I have started designing a carrier board, but I am very BAD when it come to electronics and it does not seem like it will be a simple task, but I am going to try anyway. Kontron does have a design guide here http://us.kontron.com/downloads/white_papers/ETXe_DesignGuide_v1.4.pdf if any are interested.

Some places that I have found that sell these embedded systems are:
http://www.wdlsystems.com/index.shtml
http://store.orbitmicro.com/commerce/catalog/spcategory.jsp?category_id=1018
http://www.eplatformpro.com/us/
http://www.emacinc.com/home.htm

Sorry for the long post.

Jose, what do you feel are the minimum requirements for capturing? Have you tried capturing to any other system? You are using a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad with 2 gigs of ram, correct?

Hi Seth. Thanks for all the info.

Yes, I'm using a Core2Quad. In fact it has 4Gb of RAM but Windows only sees 2 of them. OSX sees the four though.

I also have a Centrino solo laptop, 2Ghz and 1Gb RAM DDR2. I can capture with it too. No problem. 1Ghz... I don't know. I'd say 1,5Ghz and 512Mb RAM is the minimum, but I can't really say without testing.

Hey, just wanted to drop some ideas, hoping it helps:
I was thinking that a Pc-dependant camera could get unpractical. And thought that there is maybe the possibility of transmitting wireless data, to a pc, and capture in the pc (not having to mount the pc on the tripod, or camera to capture. There is an article about something similar here
http://www.worldscreen.org/download/index.html
In a home-made solution... Would it be possible to get the info through the USB output, into the router ( http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/laptopaccessories/tp/pocketrouters.htm ), and send it wireless to the pc?

Maybe this is useful to someone
http://www.dcinema.fraunhofer.de/messen/nab07_e.html

If I am just saying things that are not possible, just ignore me, je =)
Cheers!!

Design of a multilayered com express carrier board is I think to big for DIY guys, and size of those boards are in the end same as 3.5" embeded pc. Best one I have found is the one i have posted already. It cost 270€ with shipping to Croatia. Here is link http://www.spectra.de/ (find in 3.5" LS 371 )
It has all you need for this purpose. It has mini PCI so you can add SATA raid 0,1, or more Glan, or firewire or more USB. It even has component 1080p out onboard. All connections that you dont realy need are on pin headers. Only what is missing is PCIe.
If you want expansion functionality you have to go to mini ITX or 5.25" size boards (find in www.spectra.de find in 5.25" EBC 500)
Next option is PICMIG
http://www.millertech.com/mb-sbc/sbc/picmg/P4.htm
Those are even bigger embeded pc but carrier boards can be realy small.
Minimum chipset type for our purpose is Intel 915. Best are 945/965. All those chipsets on those boards are for laptops but they have enough speed and power to handle bayer recording to sata disks.

All those stuff are industrial grade computers made at very tight tollerances.
Camera size of SI2K or JVC HD100 are exelent sizes, and those boards fits to those size.
Dont get me wrong. I have none of those boards. This is what I have found on searching on internet and various dv related boards in a last year period.