Star image in profile view too magnified

[Daniel R.]

Hi,  

After updating to the last dev version (from  2.6.11) I've noticed that the star image in the profile view is too magnified, or at least that's what I get, an 8x8 pixels window:

Is there any option to get a more expansive view of the star image window, at least 50x50 pixels ??

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

[bw_m...@earthlink.net]

Undock the window, then stretch one of the corners to make it bigger?

 

Bruce

 

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com <open-phd...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Daniel R.
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2024 3:33 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding <open-phd...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [open-phd-guiding] Star image in profile view too magnified

 

Hi,  

 

After updating to the last dev version (from  2.6.11) I've noticed that the star image in the profile view is too magnified, or at least that's what I get, an 8x8 pixels window:

 

Is there any option to get a more expansive view of the star image window, at least 50x50 pixels ??

 

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

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[Brian Valente]

Also click to make it interpolated. The uninterpolated view can be surprising when you first see it. the "normal view" is interpolated

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/005801daed0b%247ffe8220%247ffb8660%24%40earthlink.net.

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Brian Valente

astronomy portfolio https://www.astrobin.com/users/bvalente/ 

[Daniel R.]

Thanks for your answer, but interpolating does not change the window size and the star image  fills almost the entire window (specially if using OAG).

Regards,

Daniel

[Daniel R.]

Sorry for the late reply, but I was waiting for an opportunity to test your suggestion.  Undocking the window and stretching it to make it bigger does not change the number of pixels on the window, just make the pixels bigger. Changing from the ASI178 to a 533MC just for testing (with a new profile) results in a 6x6 pixels window. Going back to the previous version of PHD2 gets back the old style, bigger, window. If this is the normal behaviour of new PHD2 versions, I wish the window size could be kept in future releases of PHD2 in the same way as in older versions.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,
Daniel

[Brian Valente]

Daniel

I would not say it's normal behavior, here's an example of mine from this morning:

Describe your equipment and computer details

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[Daniel R.]

Thanks for your answer. Guide camera is ASI178MM,  operating system is windows 10, updated, ASCOM 6.6 SP2, driver ZWO. I have used also ASCOM driver for the camera with same results. The only thing I can think of being wrong is that I don't remember if I have updated recently de ZWO drivers for the camera.  I have also tested the 178 as stand alone camera or as a guide camera along with an ASI533MC as main camera. PHD2 version is 2.6.13dev5.

Thanks for your support.

Regards,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

What are the video characteristics of the PC - display resolution, monitor and video driver, etc?  Are you accessing the PC remotely or locally?

Bruce

[Daniel R.]

Hi Bruce,

I use remote desktop to a mini-PC from a laptop with a 2K (1920x1080)  panel (that's the usual case anyways). It seems that the number of pixels depends on the resolution of the desktop. I've made the following tests:

- RDP to mini-PC from a client with 2K display --> 8x8 window

- RDP to mini-PC from a client with 4K display --> 22x22 window

- Mini-PC connected to a 2K display --> 8x8 window

- Mini-PC  connected to a 4K display --> 22x22 window

The mini-PC has Intel UHD graphics and Pentium N6000 processor.  Obviously out in the field I'm stuck to the 2K panel of my laptop, I hope that there is a solution this problem.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

So, to cut to the chase here - are you only unhappy with the star profile when using a 4K monitor? 

Bruce

[Daniel R.]

Quite the opposite.  With a 4K display I get a reasonable window size (22x22), but with a regular  laptop display the size is too small. I wish the window size could be selected by the user or left be fixed (hard coded) to a useful value (like 25x25) independent of camera pìxel size or display resolution. 

Regards,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

Sorry, I'm not following.  What is it, exactly, that you are measuring when you're talking about an 8x8 or 22x22 "window"?  The entire star profile window?  The portion of the star profile window that shows the magnified star disk and the surrounding sky area?  The apparent size of the star itself?  I'm talking only about what you see when the star profile window is un-docked.

To make some headway on this, try doing this.  Create a new configuration profile just for daytime testing.  Apply these settings:

1. Camera = "Simulator"
2. Focal length = focal length of your actual guider setup
3. Pixel size = pixel size of one of your guide cameras, presumably the one you really want to use
4. 8 or 16-bit mode, whichever you normally use
5. Binning at whatever you normally use
6. Aux-mount = "None".  PHD2 will squawk but just push through that
7. Skip building the dark library just for this testing
   

When you use this profile, just start looping 2-sec camera exposures, auto-select some stars, and bring up the star profile tool.  See if you can duplicate the problem this way, then send us the log files for a failing case.  Don't use a remote desktop tool of any kind.  This is just a test profile, don't try to use it for actual guiding.

Bruce

[Daniel R.]

Hi Bruce,

I was referring to the portion of the star profile window that shows the magnified star disk and the surrounding sky area. I followed your instructions, and with the simulated camera, it works (version 2.6.13dev5). Thus, I was unable to reproduce the problem. After this, I updated the ZWO ASI camera drivers and ZWO ASCOM drivers, but the issue persists with version 2.6.13dev5. Specifically, the portion of the star profile window that shows the magnified star disk and the surrounding sky area is only 8x8 pixels with the ASI178 and 6x6 with the ASI533.

As a last resort, I downgraded PHD2 to versions 2.6.13dev4, dev3, and so on, and found that version 2.6.13dev1 works and displays a nice 30x30 pixel window with both the ASI178MM and ASI533, whether using 1920x1080 or 3840x2160 resolution. Starting from version 2.6.13dev2, it no longer works. It seems something changed between versions 2.6.13dev1 and 2.6.13dev2 that does not behave the same, at least with my two ASI cameras.

Regards,
Daniel

[bw_m...@earthlink.net]

I will need to see the guide and debug log files from both the simulated session (which works) and the ASI camera logs which evidently don’t work.

 

https://openphdguiding.org/getting-help/

 

I know where the changes were introduced in the 2.6.13 release path, that’s not a mystery.  What is a mystery is why it causes the problem with your setup.

 

Regards,

Bruce

 

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com <open-phd...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Daniel R.
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2024 11:51 AM
To: Open PHD Guiding <open-phd...@googlegroups.com>

 

Describe your equipment and computer details

 

On Fri, Aug 16, 2024 at 7:58 AM Daniel R. <daniel...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry for the late reply, but I was waiting for an opportunity to test your suggestion.  Undocking the window and stretching it to make it bigger does not change the number of pixels on the window, just make the pixels bigger. Changing from the ASI178 to a 533MC just for testing (with a new profile) results in a 6x6 pixels window. Going back to the previous version of PHD2 gets back the old style, bigger, window. If this is the normal behaviour of new PHD2 versions, I wish the window size could be kept in future releases of PHD2 in the same way as in older versions.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,
Daniel

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Brian Valente

astronomy portfolio https://www.astrobin.com/users/bvalente/ 

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[Daniel R.]

Hi Bruce,

I have uploaded the logs of a session with both the simulated camera and the ASI at:

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_S3ma.zip

Note that this was a very windy night so ignore the mediocre guiding. Also I've played with the ASI camera binning and discovered that using binning 2 increases the resolution of the  portion of the star profile window that shows the magnified star disk and the surrounding sky area up to 18x18. Perhaps this issue is related to the fact that the ASI178 is a 6 megapixel camera, higher than usual guide cameras?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

Thanks, Daniel.  Yes, the use of a 6M px guide frame is critical information, not something that people normally do and not something we recommend.  But I am looking into this and will see what we can do to straighten it out - it shouldn't behave the way it currently does, 6M px or not.

Regards,

Bruce

[Daniel R.]

I would like to point out that with the higher 9 Megapixel 533 the problem is even worse (6x6). Also as the resolution of the desktop lowers the problem gets worse. With the ASI533 and a 1280x960 display resolution the magnified star image window is only 2x2!   I wish other users could replicate the problem to discard any problem with my computer setup.  The ASI178 is perhaps not the usual guide camera in terms of resolution, but its tiny pixels  do very well with small focal length guidescopes.

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

Yes, the problem is one of erroneous scaling and I know where it's happening.  We will fix it once we know the full implications, including why the change was made in the first place.  There is no reason for you to continue with experimentation and no need for others to get involved at this point.   Please just give us some time to work on it.

Regards,

Bruce

[Bruce Waddington]

We can send you a test version of PHD2 that includes a likely correction for this problem.  Is this something you would be willing to try?

Bruce

[Daniel R.]

Happy to hear that. Thank you very much for your advice and to all the developers that make such as great program.

Regards,

Daniel

[Daniel R.]

Yes, absolutely! Even if it is cloudy I can test it, the issue is evident even if there are no stars in the frame.

Regards,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

Ok, I just sent you a private e-mail with a link to a test version of PHD2 that will hopefully fix the problem.  If you don't get the e-mail, please let me know asap.

Thanks,

Bruce

[Daniel R.]

It works!  I have tested it with ASI178 and ASI533 and both have the same 30x30 window as in 2.6.13dev1.  I assume the changes will be included in the next dev version.

Thanks for the good work!

Regards,

Daniel

[Bruce Waddington]

Ok, thanks for testing it, and the change will show up in the next dev release.  In the meantime, you can continue to use the test version - there's nothing in it that is going to cause you any problems.

Bruce