Camera/Tether for 500'

[TigerShark]

Is direct burial stranded and flexible enough to handle as a tether? I was under the impression it was solid.

[rossrov]

Off-topic but no, the stuff I'm referring to is not stranded. Yes, it is fairly stiff compared to the indoor cat5 so due to both of these characteristics you must use a spool or drum to "manage" it. No idea how it goes regarding sinkiness or floatiness.

[rovdude]

If I use an IP camera that sends an optical output, can I buy bulk optical fiber and place the connectors on it and it still work? Of course I would need the optical reciever for up top, and an optical to USB converter (I don't have any optical ports on my laptop). But would this work, with my laptop being able to recognize the signal as IP video? If it does, I could put some reliance in that third party library(it seems to work for most people I see using it) and use it for Processing.

[rossrov]

That other thread I linked to has some good info on terminating cables and also pre-terminated cables. Regarding a fibre camera (thanks for raising that point BTW - I did not know they existed!), my concerns would be that they may be too limiting in terms of being able to send the other data we need. Also the one I just googled had 2 fibres coming out the back, which makes fibre look less atractive

I might suggest buying a cheapo composite video to USB adapter (like used to copy old video tapes from VCR to PC) and see how you go with quality, the supplied application (driver?) and whether it works with processing and with how much delay

If that works OK you can then choose whether to use video to fibre converters or another means of getting composite video topside such as baluns and cat5 etc etc

On the subject of the video to fibre converters, beware the specifications. They can be very misleading. Some look like they will work for ROV stuff, others will not work. Best to post anything on fibre on that thread

[rossrov]

rovdude, gumma has been using a USB converter, and is also using Processing, but video not supported in processing. Maybe he has got some ideas for you? viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1383#p7832

[rovdude]

Thanks ross! I also found THIS helpful PDF, will also post over on the fiber optic thread.

[rossrov]

Cheers. Reading carefully, this http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-UTP-Extende ... 1c266b5c50 USB extender can do longer distances for slow data, and shorter distances for faster data. They claim nearly 1000', but this is only for keyboard and mouse, which is comparatively slow data when compared to a scanner or camera.

It seems that these extenders are just that, extenders, and are not converting the data to a different format that would be capable of longer distances and higher data rates/speed.

So, make sure that distances quoted are for cameras, unless all you are doing is sending or receiving control and status (depth, heading etc) as jpWA appears to be describing over here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1385

[rovdude]

Yeah I've noticed that with a lot extenders. I have also noticed that, like the one you linked, is only USB 1.1 speed, which seems to be a reoccurring issue. USB 1.1, with all the data sent while preserving the speed its sent at, can only be cleanly extended via cat5e/6 by 100', and 2.0 to 330'.