Author Topic: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture  (Read 946 times)

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Offline jonovidTopic starter

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Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« on: February 21, 2021, 05:17:56 am »
is it possible? to behead a dash camera to make a DIY Video Graphics Array HD capture card?
see diagram!
no one else is doing this type of hacking.
not even hackaday.
a way to capture a Video Graphics Array output from a gaming PC. without software!
is it possible?
hackaday has not hacks like this.
the technical question is this.
can a camera   have its image sensor removed and replaced by a VGA input?
the Video Graphics Array output from a gaming PC into the video cameras RGB electronics?
see diagram! is it possible?
even if the analog-to-digital chip bashing fails to work properly.
the question is, can this be used to generate analog video FX ?
analog HD video circuit bending?

so before I kill a working cheap dash camera. see image
I post the question, is it even possible?
as others are far more knowledgeable if this can work.  :-//
can you generate artificial video image sensor output ?

as I have looked at both video camera image sensors & Video Graphics Array specifications
and find no one is hacking them other then the odd home telescope image sensor from a moded webcam
hacking the image sensor exposure settings for astrophotography and observation.

in my case,  is it possible?   :horse: ? to have a dash camera electronics be tricked in to taking a VGA input?
making the dash camera work as a HD VGA recorder with a mini video display.
RGB levels & horizontal vertical sync.

play with the analog RGB levels video circuit bending

note- the audio side of things is looking somewhat straightforward.
replacing the electret condenser mic capsule with an audio buffer attenuator circuit
powered off the Vcc

my hypothetical electronics question this week.
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Offline james_s

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Re: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2021, 05:26:42 am »
What makes you think the dash camera sensor outputs analog VGA? That's not impossible, but I would consider it extremely unlikely.
 
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Offline jonovidTopic starter

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Re: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2021, 08:48:54 am »
last time I  did any investigating of a video camera image sensor pin outs .  were ribbon cable had to have a T in it so oscilloscope probing can take place .
just the length of test cable was enough to let static discharge kill the camera.   :palm: 
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Offline tom66

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Re: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2021, 09:20:38 am »
The dash camera almost certainly uses a MIPI CSI-2 (if 720p or above) or a parallel RGB sensor (if lower resolution) so your idea will unfortunately not work.  Even if it did use analog signalling, the likelihood of you being able to match the timing requirements of the dashcam perfectly are pretty close to zero.

You can get VGA capture cards fairly inexpensively.  If you wanted to do this without buying something, but instead build something, you would need to use something like an FPGA and an ADC chip to convert the VGA signals into a digital video stream.  You could then convert these into MIPI format to feed to the dashcam (if you really insist on using that) or better build a lightweight JPEG encoder and record frames to an SD card.
 
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Offline jonovidTopic starter

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Re: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2021, 05:55:17 pm »
The dash camera almost certainly uses a MIPI CSI-2 (if 720p or above) or a parallel RGB sensor (if lower resolution) so your idea will unfortunately not work.  Even if it did use analog signalling, the likelihood of you being able to match the timing requirements of the dashcam perfectly are pretty close to zero.

You can get VGA capture cards fairly inexpensively.  If you wanted to do this without buying something, but instead build something, you would need to use something like an FPGA and an ADC chip to convert the VGA signals into a digital video stream.  You could then convert these into MIPI format to feed to the dashcam (if you really insist on using that) or better build a lightweight JPEG encoder and record frames to an SD card.
Thank you,  you saved a working dash camera from the knife
I will look into getting VGA capture card on my other PC  :-+

putting it all in perspective,   my first video camera decapitation was about visual effects. 
I have done posterization hacking with an 80s home analog video camera some yrs ago.
getting all manner of color posterization from video circuit bending the vidicon RGB analog pre-amps .   :-/O
the key was keeping horizontal & vertical sync. with any external video input added.
 the vidicon HT had deceased when the VHS color back-pack camera fell into a pool. so I get given it for free!
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Offline NiHaoMike

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Re: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2021, 06:30:44 pm »
Just get a VGA to HDMI converter and one of those cheap HDMI capture sticks based on the MS2109.
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Offline jonovidTopic starter

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Re: Beheading a Dash Camera for VGA Game Capture
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2021, 02:55:59 am »
Just get a VGA to HDMI converter and one of those cheap HDMI capture sticks based on the MS2109.

after searching the internet for a yr and then posting this   |O  I then finally found the exact Recorder I was hoping to make or copy .   ::)
this it!  :-+  a VGA Video Recorder to USB host

Ezcap289 1080P HDMI Lecture Recorder VGA Video Capture box
http://www.ezcap.com/index.php/product/ezcap289lecturecapture.html
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