Using IMAQdx with a firewire camera that provides an RTSP video stream

[WFrane]

Hello,

I'm attempting to connect a FLIR SC640 thermal camera to LabVIEW using the NI-IMAQdx VIs. The camera connects to the computer using a firewire (IEEE 1394) cable, just like many generic DV camcorders do. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem be detected by LabVIEW or MAX. Interestingly, it's detected by MATLAB and it can connect to Simulink without any problems, so that would seem to indicate that it does indeed work as a firewire device. I've also been able to open the camera's video stream in VLC by following instructions provided by the manufacturer.

I'd really like to be able to record video from this particular camera using LabVIEW, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've already briefly examined the IMAQdx manual and searched these forums but have been unable to locate a solution.

Thanks!

W. Frane

[Hueter]

W. France

Take a look at this document, it will walk you through troubleshooting steps for a firewire camera. The first thing I would check is making sure the device shows up as expected in Windows Device manager, and that it is associated with the NI IMAQdx driver. This document is fairly though and should point you in the right direction.

Troubleshooting FireWire (IEEE 1394) Camera Installation Problems

Hunter Smith

Applications Engineering

[Hueter]

woops, didn't mean to addres you as West France.....

[WFrane]

Hello Hunter,

Thanks for your reply. I went through the document you linked to; it's quite complete, but unfortunately there are some steps I can't perform since the camera doesn't show up in MAX's Devices and Interfaces tab at all. The camera does show up properly in the Device Manager (as in imaging device with installed drivers), so I don't know why it's not appearing in MAX. Unfortunately, since it's not listed in MAX, I can't associate it with the NI IMAQdx driver. Perhaps I'll try to regenerate the MAX configuration file as detailed in the document you linked to; I'll post again once I see the results.

Regards,

William Frane

[WFrane]

Hmm, it appears that there isn't any file called "mxsr.exe" in my <root directory>\Program Files\National Instruments\MAX folder. Do you know if there's another way to regenerate the MAX configuration file (instead of running the command "mxsr.exe -uconfig.mxs")?

William

[WFrane]

An additional piece of information that may be relevant: both MAX and LabVIEW were able to connect to a Sony DFW-X710 camera that connects to the computer via Firewire. It shows up in the MAX Devices and Interfaces tab and I was able to associate the NI IMAQdx driver with it without any problems. I suspect this camera doesn't use RTSP to send video to the computer, as it doesn't show up in the results of ipconfig /all as an ethernet adapter with a DHCP server address like the thermal camera does.

Perhaps LabVIEW and MAX don't support RTSP. This thread seems to (at least initially) indicate something to that effect as far as audio is concerned. If anyone has any ideas as to how I could access the RTSP video stream from the thermal camera in LabVIEW (assuming IMAQdx won't work), I'd appreciate them.

William