Using smart phones as a viewfinder at DVinfo.net

Brandt Wilson · September 7th, 2010, 12:18 PM

I've been looking online for information regarding using smart phones, such as an iPhone or one of the flavors of the Droid, as a viewer for an external video source, and I haven't been able to find anything. Would someone who has been working on the integration side please point me to how such an integration can be implemented?

Thanks!

Sebastian Pichelhofer · September 9th, 2010, 04:25 AM

More powerful hardware that has emerged recently and the higher resolution displays make this indeed an interesting option.

Android is a Linux flavor and ElphelVision is written in Java as most Android Apps are so that should be a good precondition.
Also a lot of emerging tablets with even bigger displays in the 7"-10" range are running Android.
My main concerns from software side is that ElphelVision is now using libVLC (mplayer before) to display the live video stream and I am not sure how far the efforts to port VLC to Android have progressed yet, but since everything is open sourced its only a matter of time.

From the hardware side the lack of a Ethernet port on all smartphones - and I guess most tablets - might be a problem. There are USB-Ethernet adapters, this would need some testing.

Brandt Wilson · September 13th, 2010, 06:27 PM

Hm. I spoke with a friend of mine who controls his Canon 5DMkII with his iPhone. He has a WiFi interface plugged into his camera and can view and trigger his shots from his phone. I'm particularly interested due to the resolution of the screen of the iPhone 4 (326dpi?). This, coupled with a diopter like a Z-finder, would be a nice wireless solution if WiFi were implemented on the elphel body.

Just thinkin' out loud...

September 7th, 2010, 12:18 PM	#1
Brandt Wilson Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 220	Using smart phones as a viewfinder I've been looking online for information regarding using smart phones, such as an iPhone or one of the flavors of the Droid, as a viewer for an external video source, and I haven't been able to find anything. Would someone who has been working on the integration side please point me to how such an integration can be implemented? Thanks!

September 9th, 2010, 04:25 AM	#2
Sebastian Pichelhofer Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 112	More powerful hardware that has emerged recently and the higher resolution displays make this indeed an interesting option. Android is a Linux flavor and ElphelVision is written in Java as most Android Apps are so that should be a good precondition. Also a lot of emerging tablets with even bigger displays in the 7"-10" range are running Android. My main concerns from software side is that ElphelVision is now using libVLC (mplayer before) to display the live video stream and I am not sure how far the efforts to port VLC to Android have progressed yet, but since everything is open sourced its only a matter of time. From the hardware side the lack of a Ethernet port on all smartphones - and I guess most tablets - might be a problem. There are USB-Ethernet adapters, this would need some testing.

September 13th, 2010, 06:27 PM	#3
Brandt Wilson Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 220	Hm. I spoke with a friend of mine who controls his Canon 5DMkII with his iPhone. He has a WiFi interface plugged into his camera and can view and trigger his shots from his phone. I'm particularly interested due to the resolution of the screen of the iPhone 4 (326dpi?). This, coupled with a diopter like a Z-finder, would be a nice wireless solution if WiFi were implemented on the elphel body. Just thinkin' out loud...