Capture video from CCD camera through USB?

[vcao102]

Dear video capture gurus,

I'm struggling to understand how to tackle what may be a simple problem (or not), but I really don't know what I'm doing. I need to take a video of a very minute surgical procedure, which is usually done under a dissection microscope. There is currently an old CCD camera hooked up to this dissection microscope, which can broadcast what one would see through the eyepieces to a TV. (Think the zoomed up surgical procedures on tvs you see on medical tv shows).

What I need to do is take the output from the microscope/CCD camera and feed it into my laptop instead of the tv, so that I can capture the procedure into an avi or similar video format for video editing.

This is the CCD camera that is currently mounted over the microscope: a Hitachi KP-D50
http://www.hdeg.tzo.com/002__cameras/Color-Cameras/KP-D50-51-Operation_Manual.pdf
http://www.southimg.com/pdfs/KP-D50.pdf

I bought a serial to USB converter, but now I'm not sure what to do next. Is it possible to hook up the CCD camera to my laptop and then import video somehow through the USB connection? Please enlighten me so I can figure this out!

Thanks so much!
--V

[aedipuss]

serial to USB converter

what is that supposed to do?

the cam has composite, s-video, and rgb outputs. you could hook it up to a capture device that supports at least one of those inputs.

[vcao102]

It plugs into the serial port on the back of the camera (RGB). I was trying to figure out how to connect it to my laptop and someone at a RadioShack looked at the back of the camera and said I needed a serial-to-USB in order to hook it up to my laptop. Thing is, today I tried it and although the driver for the cord installed, I can't access the camera as a source of video. Is this setup wrong? What should I be using?

[jagabo]

You need to use a USB video capture device. For example:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-VC500-Touch-Capture-Device/dp/B000VM60I8/

That's not a serial port on the back of the camera, it's an RGB/S-video port, though not the usual D15 shell. You need the "RGB output plug" accessory to use that. Then you'll still need some kind of video capture device.

[vcao102]

You need to use a USB video capture device. For example:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-VC500-Touch-Capture-Device/dp/B000VM60I8/

Wish the RadioShack person had told me this. That one on Amazon seems to use composite connections to the usb connection. The camera doesn't seem to have that (all it has on the back, in person, regardless of what the manual says, is a power port, a port that plugs into an old-school TV, and the 9-pin serial). Is there a serial to USB video capture device?

[jagabo]

That one on Amazon seems to use composite connections to the usb connection. The camera doesn't seem to have that (all it has on the back, in person, regardless of what the manual says, is a power port, a port that plugs into an old-school TV, and the 9-pin serial).

It looks to me like there's a BNC connector on the back labeled "video". A Female BNC connector looks like this:



That should be composite video. You just need a BNC to RCA adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-BNC-Male-Female-Adapter/dp/B000V1R97U/
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104082

Then use a standard RCA video cable to the USB capture device:

http://www.amazon.com/Male-Quality-Composite-Video-Cable/dp/B000HDKZPU/

Using the s-video (Y/C) output on the D9 shell would be better. But you'll need the special cable.