Starlight Xpress SXV-H9C - Manual (Page 2)

Handbook for the SXV-H9 Issue 1 June 2002
2
The USB 2 connection offers a download speed increase of about 3x that of the
original USB 1.1 interface supplied with the HX916. The full-frame download time is
approximately 3.7 seconds and binned 4x4 downloads take only 0.5 seconds, so
finding and centring are very quick and easy in this mode. If you have only a USB 1.1
connection on your computer, the download time is longer, but is still impressive at
around 7 seconds for a full resolution frame!
Please take a few minutes to study the contents of this manual, which will help you to
get the camera into operation quickly and without problems. I am sure that you want
to see some results as soon as possible, so please move on to the ‘Quick Start’ section,
which follows. A more detailed description of imaging techniques will be found in a
later part of this manual.
‘Quick Starting’ your SXV-H9C system
In the shipping container you will find the following items:
1) The SXV-H9C camera head.
2) A power supply module.
3) A USB camera cable.
4) An adaptor for 1.25” drawtubes.
5) An adaptor for 2” drawtubes and M42 Pentax thread lenses.
6) A disk with the SXV-H9C control software.
7) This manual.
Optional extra items include:
1) A serial port adaptor and cable.
2) A guider output to guider port lead.
3) An add-on guide camera head (includes items 1 and 2).
You will also need a PC computer with Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000
or Windows XP installed (NOT Windows 95 or NT4). This machine must have at
least one USB port available and at least 32 Megs of memory. If you intend to view
the finished images on its screen, then you will also need a graphics card capable of
displaying an image with a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels and 16,000,000 colours. A
medium specification Pentium with between 400 and 1000MHz processor speed is
ideal. USB 2 PCI cards are readily available for upgrading a USB 1.1 machine, if you
want to achieve the best possible performance. Please note that USB 2.0 operates at a
very high speed and cannot operate over very long cables. Five metres of good quality
cable is the maximum normally possible. Adding one, or more, USB 2 ‘Hubs’ in line
can extend this, if necessary. USB 1.1 is more tolerant and will often work properly
over a 15 metre lead without hubs.
Installing the USB system:
First, find a free USB socket on your PC and plug in the USB cable. If you do not
have a USB capable computer, it is normally possible to install a USB 2 card into an