How To Transfer Video From Cvs Video Camera

Well, I got my Dew and my Crispy Craven sandwiches, I'1000 ready to go are you lot? Most everyone has heard about the CVS Camcorder. Information technology is sold for $29 at a local CVS, Rite-aid, and some other phamacies. The idea behind it is that you buy it for $29, use it for 20 minutes, and so bring it dorsum (they keep it) and pay another $12 for them to stick it on a disk. Thats $41 for 20 minutes of low resolution video on a DVD. Well, when you bring it dorsum, CVS merely ships information technology back to Pure Digital (PD), they erase it, repackage it, and ship information technology correct back out. Merely it CVS can have your video off of it, shouldnt yous be able to practice information technology likewise? Enter camerahacking.com, some of the guys there were surfing the PD site when they stumbled into a error. This mistake was the decrypter for the cameras that was non supposed to be publicly released. Being that it was on the web, it was legal for the camerahacking.com programmers to take it and reverse plan it to figure it out and adapt it as needed. That is why it is possible for us to turn our one-time-utilise camcorder into multi-utilise. This decrypter allows us to read the data off of the camcorder.

Ok I am going to take this time to give credit for whom it is due. I have credit for some of this, just not all. Written is mine, but if you are the owner of whatever of these links and do not wish your material to be linked, permit me know or an admin, and it volition be fixed. A lot of people worked difficult to make all of this possible. Thanks to all of them.

There are iii models of this camera even so out. The M200, M220, and M230. The higher the model number, supposedly, the better. The style to tell this in the store is to look at the lesser of the photographic camera, in some of the numbers you will see 200, 220, or 230. Mine is a 230. At present when you purchase this camera, it will counterbalance about 5.0 oz. Thats light, merely still not as light as tin can be. In this guide, we will strip the case off, install a bombardment example, solder in a USB cable or discuss using a Palm cable (no solder), and get all the programs needed to become this thing talking to your computer.

NOTE: Every bit far as I know, all versions of these models are "hackable", but there might be some that are not. If yours is merely not working, do some research on information technology.

Ok, so here is our little friend, the CVS camcorder.
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There are some decisions to exist made here. Ane is to exit the case or not, the other is to use a cable (no solder on the camera) or wire in a USB cablevision. When stripped, it weighs about 2.one oz with AAA batteries (If memory is correct). That is over half the weight gone and even my little Hobbico SkyFly can take it upwards with ease. This is how I did it. Now if you lot get out the case you all the same have to make up one's mind on using a Palm cable or wire in a USB cablevision. If y'all are wiring in, follow me. If y'all are going to use a Palm cable, you can skip a lot of this (even though it is an invigorating read).

Now to the stripping...and get your mind out of the gutter. Yous will need a minor phillps head screw commuter. Remove the bombardment cover (it might be tight), remove inner cover and batteries, then carefully remove the sticker on the back adjacent to the screen. This volition betrayal four screws. Have the screws out then remove the sticker on the summit of the camera...ohh, there is our piffling serial port. Now pull the ii halves autonomously.

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Now the curcuit board/photographic camera should elevator out of the other half.
NOTE: There are a few different ways that PD connects the batteries. One is iv small-scale stiff copper posts that just slide into the board. The other is that they hard wire it in. If information technology is hard wired, the small battery connection part should just come out with a picayune messing with. The iv mail service style will just slide out.

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Flip the lath with the camera facing you and you volition see two black screws (I think). Those agree the screen on. Take them out then carefully disconnect the ribbon cablevision hold the screen on. Now you lot accept your photographic camera stripped. Pat yourself on the back. Crusade hither comes the hard role.

Now if you are chosing to hard wire in a USB, keep reading. If you lot are using a series Palm cablevision you lot tin skip some of this once again.

USB WIRING

You lot will need a USB cable (I'm non certain its the male or female technically, simply it is the same one that you plug into your calculator, I am bold that is male.) Leaving about 3-4 inches, maybe a little more if y'all suck at soldering like me, and cut information technology off. Strip the wire to merely four sheathed wires.

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At present strip those four and go your solder gun hot. I do non accept a picture of this and I wish I did, merely if you lay the camera down, lens up, and put it upside down. The series port should exist facing you with 10 of those little contumely strips. Now counting from the left to the right, vi is cherry, 8 is green, 9 is white, and ten is blackness. Existence very careful, solder these wires this mode. Do not allow dissimilar wires touch or their solder. Proceed everything make clean and start equally modest as possible. Too much solder WILL melt the final three into one big clump...so you take to pull all of information technology off and start over. This is the skill part of the whole chibang. At present if everything is cool and solid, yous can put information technology all back together leaving the wire hanging out, or you can simply about leave it as is.

Note: Depending on how skilful your solder is, or isnt, you might want to wrap things up with electrical tape to keep you from pulling all your hard piece of work out.

This Link MIGHT help

Here is what it will await like if you lot put information technology all back together.

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Okey Dokey... if you decided to leave the example on, your done with the hardware part, skip to the software section. If you desire yours stripped, keep on reading buddy. Its not likewise much more .

Battery case

If yours is going to exist stripped, obviously you volition have to make arrangements for power. Some fancy smanschy people tin go away with actually powering the photographic camera from a reciever. This camera runs on 3V, but the 5V from a reciever works for other people. (I have not done this, do some googleing). I ability mine independently then I can move it around. I visited RadioShack and bought a two AAA battery case. I know, I know, your like, "Expect just a min, it came with AA batteries!". Merely to analyze, AA batteries and AAA batteries make the aforementioned 1.5V each, AAA is just smaller and wont last as long (Just they are much lighter *Ding Ding*). I have taken over 10 full 7 min movies on the same set of AAA alkalines (Not Heavy Duty). I will give up those actress five videos for the weight. Now back to the pack, mine is light every bit possible (batteries just pop in, no door, and real sparse plastic). And it comes with most 5 inches of wires. I employ this to put my camera under the wing on one side of the plane, then put the batteries on the other side to residual. And so y'all got your pack, now how do you hook information technology upwardly? This can be a small event. I will fess up and say I did brick one camera by hooking the battery pack up wrong (thanks for a neat refund policy CVS!). The ane that I bricked, was a hard wired version. Now I dont desire to get out you out in the cold and fending for yourself, but I withal dont know what I did incorrect. The wires on the hard wired version were white and red. Usually red is positive, estimate non in this case, but dont hold me to it. The simply cinch way to hook it upwardly right is to leave the batter jump part wired in, and just solder the positive of your battery pack to the positive spring, and the negative to the negative. Information technology is ugly and cumbersom, but information technology will work.
Now the kind with the four copper posts, I had it wired to the springs at first, merely a rapid meeting with the footing broke the posts off. Now this is a little disruptive, I am sad. The way I solved it was to break off the petty blackness part on the board and look at information technology closely. There are four little "posts" where the blackness "box" used to be. Two are positive, 2 are negative. There is a small "+" next to two of them, those two are positive, the other two are negative. I soldered my pack directly in that way. I soldered the two posts that were positive together with my ruddy wire. Then the same to my negative posts with my negative wire. Do not let the solder bear upon, this could crusade a short and brick it. Later all this was washed, I electrical taped everything for force and cosmetics then crossed my fingers and put the 2 batteries in. (Put your screen back on if y'all took it off). Then find the "Power" push and push it, listen for the sound and the screen should come on. If it did, lay it down advisedly and then leap upward and down like a little girl. If it didnt, get over your soldering job again. Or brand sure your batteries are put in right (small center-attack solved).

Ok, for those wanting to use the Palm 3 cable, I'm going to transport yous to a link. I did not exercise this for my camera, and I am not an practiced on it.

Hope this will pull you through

Software

So at present everyone should at least take their camera turning 1 whether information technology be in the example or stripped. They should too take some way to get the serial port to USB. At present nosotros are in the same boat from here on out. This is the role of the guide that I just hope I can explain well plenty to guide anybody from the computer nerds, to the erstwhile guys who just wanted to show their buddies some videos from their hobby.

I should explain some things beginning earlier we try to work on the software. Ok, the style that the camera communicates with the computer is that it uses a driver. We volition need to install this driver. Secondly, nosotros will need some mode to tell the camera what to do and how to do information technology. To do this nosotros volition utilize a plan. We volition use OPS v.xx. Now how this program works is that information technology will send a challenge to the camera, the camera will and so send a response. These are unlike for each camera, and they have to be the correct ones. OPS does non know the correct challenge to give, and then nosotros apply another program (not sure how legal this is...) chosen CronusKey. I will not provide a directly link because of these legal bug, merely I will leave the rest of the explaination to this guy. This seems to be a wonderful guide. You will need to click on "Other useful files" at the very tiptop. Then download the acme 1...the camcorderkit. Hopefully this will explicate enough for everyone to get it working.

Annotation: My comp didnt do it perfectly, and then when it asked for a driver after hooking up the camera to the comp, I had to scan to the commuter included in the pack.

Connecting the Camcorder to the Estimator

NOTE: If the camera does not beep and plow on when hooked to the estimator, your wiring may not connected well to the camera. If using the cablevision, brand sure it is lined upward, if using the USB, the only culprit is your soldering skills.

So at present hopefully everyone has their camera connecting to the computer and OPS is recognizing it. Take a video with your camcorder while NOTconnected to the figurer (this also bricked another of my M230s). Ok now turn it off. Connect information technology to the computer, the camera should plough on, Open up OPS .twenty, then click on Open Camcorder, it should tell yous something like connected, and so click on Unlock Camcorder. It should say Camcorder Unlocked. If it does, set everything down advisedly and again spring around like a little girl. If it does non, you need to read the HOWTO in that kit yous downloaded and make sure you used CronusKey and moved the file to the OPS binder. (Easy huh? ). Ok so if everything worked correct, you lot can now click on download all movies, and tell it where to exercise and then. After that, to erase all your movies, just click format memory. Thats how you take them off and become it ready to brand some more!

Optimizing Your Camcorder

Now the camcorder stock runs at 340x280 resolution at a certain bitrate. This is rather pocket-sized. And so to make the picture better in that location are a few things you can do. In OPS you see the button far correct that says, "View/Change Cam Settings". After opening and unlocking, click that. Yous can change the settings of the camcorder, merely be warned, practice things in pocket-size steps. Too much messing effectually with besides extreme values, and you can brick it. Simply things are mostly condom.
Here are my settings for swell movies:
Resolution: 640x480
Bitrate: left alone
Max Fourth dimension: 10 mins

Now you might enquire, why modify the time? It turns out that by turning the fourth dimension downwards, you increment resolution. And who flies for 20 mins anyhow?. The decrease in fourth dimension is well worth the better quality. The bitrate tin can be changed, but exist a fiddling careful with information technology. The higher the bitrate, the faster you will make full up your memory. Fill information technology up, and information technology volition terminate recording until you format information technology again. A really high bitrate will but concluding for about iii mins with these settings. It could also cause things to mess up. And so keep the changes to a minimum.

You got your photographic camera stripped, wired, powered, connected, hacked, and optimized... sounds like yous are set to roll! Now go out in that location and requite information technology a shot, bring back some vids, and be that much more proud of yourself for getting it all done.

Note: If you accept any issues bank check www.camerahacking.com first then if yous are even so confused ask me and I will endeavor to work it out with yous.

Source: https://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14584

Posted by: johnsonsefuldsider1981.blogspot.com

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