Saturday 9 May 2009

Fish-Cam is GO!

I recently made a nice little to-do list on my fridge with a dry erase marker I've had since university. It doesn't judge me; you shouldn't either.
..anyways I've made some very good progress on said project and have now officially kicked off my "Fish-Cam" project. It is essentially a budget/DIY version of this or this.
I decided to use a portable DVD player instead of a stand-alone mini-LCD or *gasp* a mini-CRT. The main reasons for this decision are:
  • Cost. A portable DVD player is ~$80 - $180 CAD right now. Mini LCDs are $110+
  • Design. Portable DVD players are meant for lugging around. Mini LCDs are really meant to be mounted somewhere.
  • Features. A Mini-LCD is useless on it's own. A portable DVD player plays DVDs, mp3s, etc.
  • Availability. Wal-Mart had plenty of portable DVD players. Only a few shops have mini LCDs... and questionable return policies if things don't work!
I've also picked up a B&W (I can upgrade to colour if this works well) CMOS security camera with 6 IR LEDs on it for $29 CAD. It comes with 60ft of cable so all I need to do now is get some PVC tube and acrylic that I can mount the camera in. Then the Fish-Cam will be complete!

2 comments:

Joe said...

Why a fish cam? You don't fish do you?

Andrew said...

Yep! Trish and I got into it last year. Before that I hadn't gone since I was a kid. :)