I picked up a Viliv 7 inch pc tablet. Image quality is very good but the bad news is that it doesn't work with Multiplexer. It has two USB ports, one full size, the other mini USB. But when connecting two cameras it only sees one. My guess is the mini and the large USB is a shared single port.

I will be sticking the Viliv back on Ebay next week. Shame as the screen quality is much better than the 10 inch pc tablet I have which does work.

I have since found this one.
7" Touch UMPC Notebook Laptop PC Pierre Cardin S7 EMS A on eBay (end time 24-Aug-10 21:21:26 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280430245851)

Has two USB ports.

Hi Steve. I have been trying the setup with the new Asus Aspire One 521 netbook, and I normally also only discover one of the dongles, if I power up with both of them in. If I power up with one of them inserted, and after booting into windows, I then plug in the second one, the system discovers both, and everything works fine. I don't know if you have the same issue, and it is probably a specific BIOS issue, because I don't have the same problems with my other computers, but it might be worth a try. If I boot in this scattered way, I just start up the Player, and everything works o.k.

What an excellent thread for a beginner like myself, thank you!

I've got a couple of tiny laptops (MSI Wind U100 and Asus eeePC) that might be exactly what the doctor ordered. Both have two full-size USB ports and I can install Windows 7 on them if need be.

I found an EZCap-equivalent at a Finnish store. It's based on a Trident TM5600 chip and has inputs for composite and S-video. So, if I get two of those, plug them into a laptop and install some software, I could have a passable monitoring solution, right?

But are you limited to monitoring in anaglyph 3D only? I have Nvidia's 3D Vision Kit with active glasses, but have no idea whether they could be used in this setup.

The nVidia 3D vision won't work because the laptops screen is not a 3D monitor with a fast enough refresh rate. You will be only able to monitor in anaglyth, but that is better than nothing!

You don't need windows 7 to monitor. Windows XP, and Vista both work fine.
Cheers
Steve

I picked up a Viliv 7 inch pc tablet. Image quality is very good but the bad news is that it doesn't work with Multiplexer. It has two USB ports, one full size, the other mini USB. But when connecting two cameras it only sees one. My guess is the mini and the large USB is a shared single port.


Did you try an USB hub? It is possible to run two cameras on the same port. The highest resolutions might be unavailable because the two cameras share the USB bandwidth.

The nVidia 3D vision won't work because the laptops screen is not a 3D monitor with a fast enough refresh rate. You will be only able to monitor in anaglyth, but that is better than nothing!
Thanks Steve! Yeah, anaglyph is definitely better than nothing, which is what I have right now :)

Umm. I'll just throw this out there as a very likely numbskulled idea: could nVidia glasses work at a lower refresh rate? 30 frames per eye on a 60hz display instead of 60 frames per eye on a 120Hz display, in other words. 30fps per eye might still look better than anaglyph.

could nVidia glasses work at a lower refresh rate? 30 frames per eye on a 60hz display instead of 60 frames per eye on a 120Hz display, in other words. 30fps per eye might still look better than anaglyph.

No, at least 100 Hz are required. In addition, it only works with certified displays and projectors.

Thanks Peter. Anaglyph monitoring it is then.

You could of course buy a 3d ready laptop. There are a few out there and that would certainly work. I'll see if I can find one at a sensible price. A 3d ready tablet PC would be simply perfect but I don't know of one.

There's a few 3D ready laptops about. These work with nVidia 3D active shutter, so monitoring in the field with full colour 3D is now possible. Plus the laptop can be used for a myriad of other uses. I found these in a couple of mnutes.

ASUS G51JX-3D 15.6" 3D Vision Replaced by G51JX-3DE on eBay (end time 27-Aug-10 02:48:54 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ASUS-G51JX-3D-15-6-3D-Vision-Replaced-G51JX-3DE-/140432865695?pt=Laptops_Nov05)

Toshiba Satellite A665 3D-Ready Laptop (http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/2010/06/toshiba-satellite-a665-3d-ready-laptop.html)

Cheers
Steve

Mods. Please consider removing me from this checking of my posts before posting. I am not an abusive poster and think I add to a discussion. I have said before I will not mention our companies products on this forum without seeking permission first.

Got an idea for monitoring with active glasses: a 3D-enabled laptop PC.

I'm getting one in for a review from Asus sometime next week. Should be interesting...

....

But are you limited to monitoring in anaglyph 3D only? I have Nvidia's 3D Vision Kit with active glasses, but have no idea whether they could be used in this setup.

There are many ways to monitor 3D starting from anaglyph and using glasses, using 3D laptop, etc. I chose to use the Vuzix stereoscopic glasses, because they have a controller attached, that allows me to see either the anaglyphs or side-by-side for alignment and general camera monitoring, or select 3D viewing. It has a built-in de-anaglyph and side-by-side to 3D converter. The added benefits are that it saves battery power, since the display is a major power sink (right after the disc drive) and lets me see the "viewfinders" in bright light, which is otherwise a major problem for me. I made a video showing my final rig and posted it here: YouTube - Part 4 - Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Partially Red & Cyan 3D HD Anaglyph (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ze5kewgzac) and here: Part 4 - Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Partially Red & Cyan 3D HD Anaglyph on Vimeo .

Nice rig and nice video, Pavel. Thank you. One question: which model Vuzix glasses are you using? Is it the Wrap 920?

Thank you. The glasses are "Vuzix Wrap 920." The resolution is only SD, but good enough as a viewfinder and quick quality checker. Setup can be done with the PC display or any external display or TV equipped with either the VGA or HDMI ports.

Nice video Pavel but I have to admit to have almost burst out laughing with you in those glasses! Lol!

Now this seems to work well for you and I will look into these glasses. Trouble is though I am not sure it would go down a storm wth me at the front of the church filming the bride from behind the vicar! The bride and groom would probably fall about in histerics if I had that setup.

I still think a good quality small tablet pc attached by hotshoe to the rig, with a Hoodman hood to keep the light out, is a good way to go. There's a few 3d laptops out there now, just needs a company brave enough to produce a 3D ready tablet PC!

Thanks Steve. I am fortunately little older and much less concerned about people laughing at my looks. The most important think is that it works well. I am not a professional either, so I don't need to impress people with the gear, just with the results. This allows me certain freedoms and happiness's, many people cannot have. I understand why you like the tablets. BTW, Asus and I think MSI just announced new Win 7 tablets with couple of USB ports and Win 7. They all take the ideas from iPad. That could be a good option for folks like yourself. Look over at Engadget. I really, honestly cannot even see the LCD screens here, in Southern California, outdoors, most of the year. This way I solve several problems at once - making sure that both camcorders are aligned and working correctly, saving battery power and being able to see under just about any condition, while being able to look around. When I was taking some of the mountain biking video's, I realized that there would be no way to climb there with a big rig. I'd have to use a helicopter to get there with big 3D rig.

HI Pavel I really hope you didn't take any offence because none was meant.

I wish we had the same problem in the UK as you have in California. All we get here is rain, overcast skies with the sun poking through every few days or so. Dreadful summer yet again in the UK.

A shame those glasses are not 16:9 720P. Seems strange that they are 4:3 and only SD. I looked on their site and they don't seem to have anything in that direction.

I'll take a look over at the Asus site to see when these tablets are due. They must be of a higher quality than the Chinese Shanzhai tablets. Now if they were only 3D ready..................

Hi Steve. Please don't worry. I am absolutely not offended. I just tried to explain my reasoning. When I post these videos, I am trying to inspire and help to show my experiences and keep some creativity in the technology. Otherwise it will be only in the hands of the elites, who will tell you what you should like. The fact that you want to "make it your way" is actually something I like. I was merely trying to explain why I used the glasses. I will be the first one to say that they are not perfect, but solve some issues that direct view technology just does not - for mine, and perhaps someone else's needs. It is actually more interesting to me what other ideas and solutions clever guys come up with, then about the most fancy and expensive gear. So as far as I am concerned, do it your way and share your experiences. Thanks.

OK I picked up a 4 port USB hub today.
4 PORT HIGH SPEED USB 2.0 MULTI HUB EXPANSION SPLITTER on eBay (end time 26-Aug-10 17:53:56 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270613784739&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

Plugged the cameras in, used the hub and hey presto! The Vilv 7 inch PC tablet works. All systems are go! Now to attach this to a shoe there's a bit of fiddling about. I got one of these:
New Car Mount Holder kit Stand for Apple ipad 3G Wifi on eBay (end time 23-Jul-10 09:22:13 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360277276308&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

Which holds the tablet PC percetly well. The downside is that is has a car mount and I want to mount it onto a camera. It has a metal ball joint which is slightly oversized so I am going to file it down and fit it in a Manfrotto 3102 rapid adaptor.
Manfrotto Rapid Adapter, Converts Standard 5/8" Lightstand Tip to a 17mm Long 3/8" Male Thread. (#3102) (http://www.adorama.com/Als/BG3102.html)

Instead of using the thumbscrew to tighten the ball joint I wil use one of these.
Pro Type 1/4"-20 Tripod screw to Flash Hot Shoe Adapter on eBay (end time 26-Aug-10 12:02:27 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-Type-1-4-20-Tripod-screw-Flash-Hot-Shoe-Adapter-/110525692491?pt=UK_Photography_CameraLenses_Lens_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET)

and then should be able to mount it on the camera. The tablet PC and plastic mount don't way very much at all.

Unless anyone knows a more simple way of mounting the tablet PC ( it has no thread on it to mount direct)

Thaks
Steve

HI Pavel I really hope you didn't take any offence because none was meant.

I wish we had the same problem in the UK as you have in California. All we get here is rain, overcast skies with the sun poking through every few days or so. Dreadful summer yet again in the UK.

A shame those glasses are not 16:9 720P. Seems strange that they are 4:3 and only SD. I looked on their site and they don't seem to have anything in that direction.

I'll take a look over at the Asus site to see when these tablets are due. They must be of a higher quality than the Chinese Shanzhai tablets. Now if they were only 3D ready..................

I may be wrong in my thinking but usually when 720P video is discussed it is HD and digital format, whereas the SD is an analog format. It is not the pixels but the video stream digitization that presents a problem. With SD you have sync and framing pulses and the raw video but with the digital stream you are getting some compressed data format, etc. It would be nice if someone with some good expertise in this would explain it fully since I am not that person but I think it is a major point of understanding that we all need clarity on.

It is true that some of the older analog resolutions are SD, but digital can be SD as well. There are 18 (36) formats total. Wikipedia has good background explanation. High-definition television - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television) The HD/SD difference is based strictly on pixel resolution, and has nothing to do with compression, analog/digital, etc. The picture is always analog, but it is digitized in pixel uncompressed form for the HDMI/SDI outputs. For broadcast, to save bandwidth, it is digitized, compressed and then unwound back into pixels in your TV. The A/V R outputs from the Sony camcorders are analog and SD, to save pins and to make the design more practical (EMI, etc.). Some of the early HD broadcast experiments were actually analog, but took at least couple of channels.

I picked up SD glasses, to match the outputs from the camcorders. It is true that I loose even more resolution due to the 16:9 aspect ratio, but I am using the glasses more less mainly as a viewfinder. For alignment I can use the PC screen. It would be of course better to use the HD outputs and the displays/glasses (all that does exist). Unfortunately the costs and weight of the rig goes up exponentially with resolution. To handle two HD streams, I need fairly powerful PC, and if it is a notebook, it needs a USB3 I/F. This will be easy to get in a year or two, but right now I don't find it economical or practical. No doubt it will come, but I wanted something now. In the future, I hope I don't need to be making 3D stereoscopic rig out of two, poorly matched camcorders.

Pavel I agree with much of what you wrote, but I was not thinking in terms of your particular camcorders. It was a guess on my part that Steve Shovlar may have had a newer camcorder that uses AVCHD and he wanted to display that directly like you could to a TV. My own camcorder has AVCHD out and SD out, the SD is analog and you can connect directly to an composite input of a TV. I don't have the cable to connect the AVCHD to a TV, something like a mini-hdmi or firewire I think. But watching the video from the SD output simultaneously as recording the AVC to a memory stick is possible and that is similar to what you are doing I think. I couldn't watch your video, download restrictions it seems.

Back to the glasses, for a set of wearable glasses to display an AVC video stream would require a lot more electronics in them than the SD video in my understanding. That was my only real point. I am thoroughly enjoying your posts on creating 3D video, keep up the good work and effort.

My camcorders also have HDMI (HD), or through the A/V-R connector, I can get analog c-video, s-video or component video - (SD). Either of these can be connected to TV set fairly easily. Most new TVs in the US have either HDMI or DVI ports. Just about all new US TV's are HD and generally have all these inputs. Portable PC's are a different issue. Most new ones have USB-2 ports that can be used for inputs, some have extension PC slot and compact flash inputs - that is just about it. There are generally no video inputs, so any non-USB input must be converted to USB first.

The other problem is that we are dealing with two input streams, and if they are HD, these would start taxing average notebooks at the moment. If you want to use the HDMI ports, the Black Magic design, something that Adam and others mentioned previously, could work fine: Blackmagic Design: HDLink (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hdlink/) . They also have a variety with dual SDI in and HDMI out (I believe), so it could be used for the processing as well as driving any plain HDMI HD monitor. You'd just have to convert HDMI from the camcorders into SDI for the BM box inputs. When I started, this option was not quite available. In addition, I was concerned about cost, portability and about powering all these devices on portable rig, so I took the netbook path.

I strongly suspect that all this will be a non-issue fairly quickly, as the standards solidify and the market grows, because the need is fairly clear. In the meantime I see most 3D camcorder solutions being just little too low end or too high bulk and cost, so many of us have to help ourselves.

Thank you for your kind words.

Hello

I also like to monitor my 3D alignment, colors, etc. on the field.
I have a laptop with XP.
Now i search a cheap usb dongle, and found the EASYCAP DC60 for very low price.
2 of them will work with the Multiplexer or only DC60+ do the job?

Regards!

FYI the Nano3D now provides an anaglyph output option for field monitoring of two HDSDi streams. Not a cheap device but lots of bang for the bucks.

Thanks, but now i have everything for monitoring, except the usb easycaps.
So, DC60 will work?

I answer my question :)
Yes, DC60 work.
I ordered two easycap but have some problem after installing and using it.
At every windows boot, i get a message about a new hardware and have to show the driver folder, and install it. But only for one easycap, for the other i don’t have to, it’s installed.
Why is this? I do it on an Acer laptop with 4 USB2 port, with XP SP3.
Multiplexer and the player works fine!

The problem with loading the driver most likely with your Acer BIOS or with the driver itself. I would ask the customer service of both Companies for help. I had bad luck with ACER so far and, ended up buying Sony Netbook, that works like a charm, after loosing the battle with two different Acers.

The reason why you load the driver just once is in the driver itself. They tie the driver with the type of device. In my case, with the SIIG, they tied the driver with the actual individual device, so I had to install it twice.

With the Acer, I couldn't use external hub, with the Sony, I can. Again, either H/W or (most likely) BIOS issue.

Thanks.
You tested with Acer aspire one?
Maybe i will buy this. Quite good spec:
8,9" display, 1.6ghz atom cpu, etc..
But if it also detects one easycap at every boot, and need to install,
then i look for another model. Maybe Asus eee 900 or Msi wind.

Yes, I did test with the Aspire One, but the one I tried used AMD CPU and ATI graphics accelerator (Acer Aspire One AO521-3530 - Athlon II Neo K125 - ATI Radeon HD 4225). The AMDs run notoriously hot, and the computer died in 15 days. 1 day after my return period expired, 3 days before my trip to Asia. The dealer had no replacement either, so I traded it in for a slightly larger one (Acer Aspire AO721-3574). That one didn't work with the digitizing dongles. It did recognize them, but it didn't display any video. I had no time to troubleshoot the turkey, so finally I traded that one for a Sony netbook (PCG-21313L), with Intel CPU. That one works well for the 3D monitoring application, but it is noticeably slower for general computing and 3D HD playback from YouTube. I took it to Okinawa in early September, with it's notorious heat, humidity and couple of typhoons, and it lasted just fine.

Unfortunately, we are using the H/W beyond what it is meant to be used, and I don't think the manufacturers test the BIOS very well. The netbooks are meant for light weight web browsing, and the digitizing dongles are meant for digitizing old video tapes, so the system similar to digitizing two video streams is probably never tested. Most of the low cost manufacturers just slightly modify the IC manufacturers reference designs. They, as quickly as possible, put their logos on it and ship it. In my experience, Sony has higher corporate quality standards, so their products cost little more, work better and are more reliable in complex applications.

I have better experience with Intel then with AMD chips as well (I used to design PCs). I had thermal management issues with AMD chips for years.

Yesterday i tested with Toshiba NB100 8,9" netbook. Weight is only 1kg.
It worked perfectly with win7 32 bit. Stereo multiplexer and the player with the
cheapest DC60 easycaps!
Too bad the boy solded it today for about $250 :(
Now i search another model.

Yes, it is too bad. You'll find another similar one, I am sure. The system is really useful. I've placed several clips on Vimeo ( 3D Stereoscopic Alignment Procedure Last Part - Multiple Disparities on Vimeo ) and on YouTube ( YouTube - 3D Stereoscopic Alignment Procedure Part 4 - Convergence Disparity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PocBML22N10) ) to show how useful such monitoring method can be to me. I hope others find it useful or interesting. Best of luck in finding another PC.

Nice.

The 8,9" netbook is comfortable for outdoor use?
How can i setup it up? To the tripod? Or to the ground?
Some real life experiences? :)
Or a 7" is even better? But we need 2 usb2 of course.

There are many ways it can be done. If you use a stationary setup such as tripod, there are commercial holders like those shown here: +notebook Holder (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&N=0&Q=&Ntt=%2Bnotebook+Holder&A=endecaSearch) . I am cheap, so I use a music stand: Amazon.com: On-Stage SM7211 Professional Folding Orchestral Music Stand, Black: Musical Instruments . On my portable setup, I just carry it in the Kata bag: Part 4 - Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Partially Red & Cyan on Vimeo .

Thank you, great video!
Can you also see anaglyph video in the glasses?
For me, this netbook preview possibilities is not only for alignment correction, but also
for set the correct stereo base distance between cameras.
I like to record far objects, with 30cm base, etc.
So with anaglyph mode i easily can see, if the horizontal parallax is too big or slight for a scene.
Of course the side by side version is also good for preview (sure the best), no color distorsion, real 3d preview, but when i set the base too much, i can only see "hard to watch 3d video", and cannot see exactly the horizontal parallax. Hope, you understand my question :)

regards,
Marton

With the glasses you can see either 2d, so that you can see side-by-side, or anaglyph overlays, just like on the screen. What they add to it, is they can convert either side-by-side OR anaglyph to true 3d (each side displays the proper lens). Another words, it can de-anaglyph and display left and right into the proper lcd (even though some colors are lost in the case of anaglyph 3D), so that if there is a discomfort due to various unpleasant disparities, you can see them before you get back and start post-processing. The main downside is the low resolution of the glasses. That gets even worse with 16:9 aspect. There are higher resolution glasses on the market, but those would be out of my budget. With the glasses you can switch between 2D and 3D with just the controller that comes with the glasses, without touching either the computer or the rig. Sometimes it is nice to align everything in anaglyph, and verify the setup by quickly switching to the 3D view. It is like putting on the anaglyph glasses, without actually doing it.

Ok, thanks.
Definetly i will buy glasses, but in higher resolution, and not now.
Tomorrow i check an Aspire one (with intel processor), and if it works,
i'll buy it and use as anaglyph preview monitor.
Other great thing with this method: on the computer screen i can see the whole frame,
not just the cropped, overscanned area like with camcorder's lcd screen.
There was many situation, where a tree or something was on the picture, and i
cannot saw it because overscan, but there was on the projected silverscreen!...

Good news!
The Acer One also works great with Easycaps, so i buyed it! :-)
I setup the multiplexer once, start the player with the command line parameters:
use the multiplexer as input, start in full screen mode and don't show logo..
All of this run with a simple hotkey! No mouse is required, very nice.
I can check the setup, the correct base distance, alignment errors, etc.
With F4 i get side by side view, so i can check colors, exposure differences and with F5
i see anaglyph preview, so i can check the final depth and horizontal parallax..
After checking i simply set the netbook to sleep mode, go to another location, and check
the again when opening the netbook, within 5 sec!!

The battery capacity is about 2,5hour. So i think for 3D checking
i can work with it in a whole day!

Now i start searching a 90 degree usb connector for easy placement
of the digitalizers.

Thanks all of you!
Marton

Most of you are pro's who will probably laugh at my "rig", but some may wish to experiment with 3D without investing thousands of dollars or buying milling machines. Those maybe interested in the latest improvement of the camera support, which makes the cameras very stable. Something like that is needed to support a moving rig. The solution doesn't cost a lot, works really well, and is reversible. The clip is here: Part 1 Followup - Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Mechanical on Vimeo or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3fNlIWHqqI . The charts mentioned are here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEBm2bQ0aAk . and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIgozlQf6o . They help me to correct just about any alignment disparities I normally care about.

This thread helped inspire me to build my own two camera 3D rig.
It consists of two Canon HF21s, a Lanc Shepherd Pro that I interfaced a Phidget relay module with, a motorized pan/tilt head that I interfaced with the same Phidget module, two video captures modules and a Samsung Laptop that controls everything.
I also added a Phidget servo to toe in and out the right camera and it is also controlled via the laptop.

I use the laptop as a remote server running Stereoscopic Multiplexer and Stereoscopic Player.

I log into the laptop remotely and control everything over wifi and also over the internet.
For the moment I am using the standard Phidget control software to operate the functions while I watch the video with anaglyph glasses on my Iphone 4 or Ipad.

It's a lot of fun.

That is very clever rig Frank. The Canon HF21S's are great choice I think.

For those of you not against the stereoscopic glasses, Zeiss is coming up early next year with what could be really cool 720P eyewear, that has cool interfacing and OLED display technologies for about $500. IFA 2010: Carl Zeiss Presents New 720p OLED 3D Glasses - DigitalVersus (http://www.digitalversus.com/ifa-2010-carl-zeiss-presents-720p-oled-3d-glasses-news-15747.html)

Thanks Pavel.
I primarily use the rig to shoot 3D video of the local wildlife.
The biggest problem is keeping the cameras in sync within about 4 or 5 ms.
Unfortunately, the HF21s tend to start quite a bit out of sync when you power them off and then on and stay that way no matter how many power cycles you give them.
I am working on a replacement for the Lanc Shepherd that gives me a lot more control including starting them at slightly different times to compensate for this.
It will also have manual focus which the lanc shepherd doesn't support.

For those of you not against the stereoscopic glasses, Zeiss is coming up early next year with what could be really cool 720P eyewear, that has cool interfacing and OLED display technologies for about $500.[/url]

It's about time somebody made them!

...I am working on a replacement for the Lanc Shepherd that gives me a lot more control including starting them at slightly different times to compensate for this.
It will also have manual focus which the lanc shepherd doesn't support.

That sounds very interesting. Do you have to do a lot of zooming to capture wild life from a tripod? Do you need to re-space the rig? Are you going to share the design or manufacture the controller? Are you planning to incorporate an "in-sync" indicator? We really need a genlock port. It is not so hard to implement. Every old analog TV had to genlock to syncs everytime one changed channel or a source, so it is not such an amazing or exotic "professional" feature. It would probably cost dollar or two to implement in volume and they could charge $50 for it. It would sure convince many of us buy new camcorders (two at a time - Sony, Canon, Panasonic marketing, please wake up).

BTW, you probably know this, if the power up is consistently off, the problem could be in the camcorders, their H/W or even F/W if it is different or batteries. If for some reason one has bigger filter caps or power-up reset sense threshold or is otherwise different, you could have consistent discrepancy. The Lanc Shepard and similar controllers depend on consistent components. I know that Werner Bloos was matching camcorders for the pairing purpose, and usually wanted to try at least six pairs. If you have a chance, you may want to see if you can try to power up with a different camcorder, store demo, or friend, etc. My camcorders definitely do not power up in sync every time, but most of the time I am within .5 ms, which is good enough for running water, flopping wings, etc. Of course if you design your own, you should be able to scatter the power-up commands. I believe that it is what the original LANC Shepard did as well.

"Do you have to do a lot of zooming to capture wild life from a tripod?"
I wouldn't say a lot but some for sure.
"Do you need to re-space the rig?" No, but I plan on building a new small beam slitter unit with a servo so I can change the interaxial distance remotely also.
"Are you going to share the design or manufacture the controller?"
Too early to say. At the moment, it's breadboarded with four processors with the main processor running an Apache server. I don't see it as a hand held unit for now.
This is what it is going to do:

1. turn cameras on
2. turn cameras off
3. start recording
4. stop recording
5. set zoom speed
6. zoom in
7. zoom out
8. set auto focus
9. set manual focus
10. focus near
11. focus far
12. set max sync error in milliseconds
13. enable auto resync when max exceeded
14. disable auto resync

I don't want the camcorders to start in sync, I want the slower camera to start first, in my case that would be around 2 milliseconds before the faster one.

This thread helped inspire me to build my own two camera 3D rig.
It consists of two Canon HF21s, a Lanc Shepherd Pro that I interfaced a Phidget relay module with, a motorized pan/tilt head that I interfaced with the same Phidget module, two video captures modules and a Samsung Laptop that controls everything.
I also added a Phidget servo to toe in and out the right camera and it is also controlled via the laptop.

I use the laptop as a remote server running Stereoscopic Multiplexer and Stereoscopic Player.

I log into the laptop remotely and control everything over wifi and also over the internet.
For the moment I am using the standard Phidget control software to operate the functions while I watch the video with anaglyph glasses on my Iphone 4 or Ipad.

It's a lot of fun.

Frank I have used servos to control some lipstick cameras with marginal success but the same servo system wouldn't support the weight of a conventional camcorder. Are your servos only controlling the toe in or do you also adjust pan and tilt? If you're controlling the pan/tilt can you tell us what servo you are using that can handle the weight of two cameras? We were a bit disappointed with the amount of adjustment we got from the servo, not nearly fine enough to really aim the cameras to the same point unless they were perfectly aligned to start. We were using separate servos for each camera thinking we could adjust them to the same target using the controller but that didn't work. The Huber mount that someone else has mentioned would be nice but they are extremely expensive.

Pavel if you were starting from scratch with the intention of building this type of stereo rig what cameras would you use? I am thinking that block cameras might be the best way to go but I am not familiar with their video quality and capability, but their design looks right for this type of project. Also it would seem that progressive image capture would be of great benefit for stereo video along with the external sync of course. The Sony FCB-H11 would seem good but it is interlaced and no ext sync from what I can tell. Once you get a block camera with ext sync the price gets out of hand.

"Pavel if you were starting from scratch with the intention of building this type of stereo rig what cameras would you use? I am thinking that block cameras might be the best way to go but I am not familiar with their video quality and capability, but their design looks right for this type of project. Also it would seem that progressive image capture would be of great benefit for stereo video along with the external sync of course. The Sony FCB-H11 would seem good but it is interlaced and no ext sync from what I can tell. Once you get a block camera with ext sync the price gets out of hand. "

The camera choice is highly dependent on your needs, e.g. size and weight, portability, targeted results (movie theaters vs TVs vs computer screens), close-ups, general videos, landscapes, etc. I like portability and fairly quick preparedness, so I would use the HDR-CX550s and Werner's latest controller ( digi-dat Dienstleistungen - Anlagen - Technik (http://www.digi-dat.de/produkte/index_eng.html#stefraLANC) ). But I can see why others would use other brands. The choices of camcorders would be between the the Panny HDC-TM700 (sync?), Canon HF-S21 and Sony HDR-CX550. I would pick the Sony. With the right spacing (the Sony being fairly narrow) one should be able to look into both viewfinders at once and skip a lot of baggage. The Sony only has limited shutter control and only 60i at full HD, but has other advantages (you may wish to see this discussion: (Yahoo! Groups (http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/3dtv/message/25623) ))

I am not familiar with the Sony FCB-H11, but it seems to have only analog outputs, that would be a big hassle.

There are times I could use mirror rig, but fairly rarely. To me it takes too long to get ready, but I will probably do one sometimes in the future. It's got a lot of opportunities to do things wrong, specially if you have to shoot quickly, but the only way I know of to get really close and have flexibility.

Frank I have used servos to control some lipstick cameras with marginal success but the same servo system wouldn't support the weight of a conventional camcorder. Are your servos only controlling the toe in or do you also adjust pan and tilt? If you're controlling the pan/tilt can you tell us what servo you are using that can handle the weight of two cameras?
The only servo I am using is the toe in out servo.
The pan/tilt is a standard inexpensive unit that I am controlling with a phidget 8 relay module.
Amazon.com: Bescor MP-101 Motorized Pan and Tilt Head For HDslr and Video Camera's Up to 6lb.: Camera & Photo

"The camera choice is highly dependent on your needs, e.g. size and weight, portability, targeted results (movie theaters vs TVs vs computer screens), close-ups, general videos, landscapes, etc. I like portability and fairly quick preparedness, so I would use the HDR-CX550s and Werner's latest controller ( digi-dat Dienstleistungen - Anlagen - Technik (http://www.digi-dat.de/produkte/index_eng.html#stefraLANC) ). But I can see why others would use other brands. The choices of camcorders would be between the the Panny HDC-TM700 (sync?), Canon HF-S21 and Sony HDR-CX550. I would pick the Sony. With the right spacing (the Sony being fairly narrow) one should be able to look into both viewfinders at once and skip a lot of baggage. The Sony only has limited shutter control and only 60i at full HD, but has other advantages (you may wish to see this discussion: (Yahoo! Groups (http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/3dtv/message/25623) ))

I am not familiar with the Sony FCB-H11, but it seems to have only analog outputs, that would be a big hassle.

There are times I could use mirror rig, but fairly rarely. To me it takes too long to get ready, but I will probably do one sometimes in the future. It's got a lot of opportunities to do things wrong, specially if you have to shoot quickly, but the only way I know of to get really close and have flexibility.

Thanks for your thoughts Pavel. The FCB-H11 does some sort of LVDS digital but I will confess I don't know what that truly means. Also a conventional camera has internal storage although I have the opinion that you are capturing the video streams on your laptop. I am still concerned with the use of interlace capture for 3D work, I may not understand how the interlace is actually captured in the camera but I would think that the time lag between fields (probably wrong term) could lead to false depth clues in the image. I will look at the yahoo link you provided, maybe it will be more clear how the interlace impact is mitigated.

The only servo I am using is the toe in out servo.
The pan/tilt is a standard inexpensive unit that I am controlling with a phidget 8 relay module.
Amazon.com: Bescor MP-101 Motorized Pan and Tilt Head For HDslr and Video Camera's Up to 6lb.: Camera & Photo (http://www.amazon.com/Bescor-MP-101-Motorized-HDslr-Cameras/dp/B003UNEZD2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1289589470&sr=8-4)

Thanks Frank that pan/tilt looks pretty nice. I am going to assume it has the same level of control as a standard, inexpensive servo, about 1/2 degree of movement with each increment so using it to adjust toe in on a per camera basis is not practical. The 6lb capacity is certainly a big plus compared to the tiny pan/tilt heads I have used with small servo motors.