ASI290MM FireCapture "capture failed"

jolo

Hello!

A few days ago I received ASI290MM camera and already made a first shots - it is really a piece of art camera :)

However I have a problem with USB3.0 connection - when capturing (or during preview) video in FireCapture using USB3.0 port from time to time (randomly every 5-30 seconds) video freezes and there is a message "Capture failed" in the FireCapture preview window. It is frozen till the moment I change some video settings, but it also can hang completely, so I need to restart FC.

It happens at my Lenovo T420s laptop with Win7 64bit, 16MB RAM and SSD drive. But it work flawlessly at Toshiba Satellite L50 laptop with USB3.0 port, so I suspect that can be a problem with Lenovo laptop USB3.0 Renesas controller. I updated all drivers and even reinstall system, then upgraded to Win10 to test, also played with USB traffic settings in FC - always the same "Capture failed". Do you have any suggestions what else can I change / adjust?

Cheers

Lucas

riverpoet

Hmm, I have the exact same behavior with ASI178MM on 2012 Macbook Air in Windows 7 virtualized in Parallels. Have you tried setting the exposure to 100ms to see if 10fps capture works fine? Or maybe ROI to decrease the used bandwidth?

Peter

Sam@ZWO

can you try SharpCap2.8?

just to make sure where is the problem

sometimes this is just a performance problem

just send us a email

maybe you can help us to test our SDK to fix this problem

jolo

Thanks for hints - I will test SharpCap 2.8 and also try to limit fps with exposure time. And then contact with you if it still fails.

jolo

I have tried SharpCap 2.8.2353 and the effect is the same - every some time picture freezes for some time (few seconds, up to ten) and then it works again for 5-30 seconds and freezes again. Between freezes video is ok and with max speed (like 80fps for full res).

I have also tried to set exposure to 100ms to limit fps and transfer, but it did not change anything - picture freezes. USB traffic does not affect this effect - set to 40 or 90 - freezing occurs in the same pace.

And the third thing I tried was Delock ExpressCard USB3.0 adapter with Etron chipset - the effect is exactly the same.

BTW - at the same machine camera works fine on USB2.0 ports, but of course, with limited speed.

riverpoet

I'm quite convinced the Renesas USB 3.0 Host Controller drivers are the problem.

Here's my funny story: If I run my Windows 7 partition as virtual machine in Parallels, the Device Manager lists "Renesas USB 3.0 Host Controller" and I have the exact same behavior as you.

But, if I boot directly to Windows 7 partition, Device Manager says "Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller". And magically, with same underlying hardware I get stable capture in FireCapture and with HighSpeed checked and USB Traffic at 100 I max out at 60fps at 3096x2080 (I have ASI178) and at 30fps without HighSpeed checked, just as I should according to my SSD speed calculations.

jolo

It's interesting - I will try somehow to uninstall Renesas driver and install some generic one.

I also thought it may be Renesas controller, but yesterday I put into my laptop Delock ExpressCard USB3.0 adapter with Etron controller, and the result was the same - random Capture failed messages. So maybe the problem is somewhere deeper in the chipset...

jolo

I have done two more things:

- removed dedicated Renesas driver, and now have in the device manager "Renesas USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller 0.96 (Microsoft)"

- changed USB 3.0 cable to some other (cheap one)

It looks that it helped - now I am able to reach USB super speed and the video is stable up till USB Traffic set to 90. Above this value frame rate drops, and above 95 video is freezing. Currently I am able to reach 78fps / 16 bit and 170fps / 8 bit at full res. Tested with FireCapture 2.5.05 and SharpCap 2.8.