I recently purchased this low-lux IP camera for $51. It is an easy plug-and-play with PC, and comes with the free CMS software to allow display on the computer. It has good 1080p resolution, is full color and weatherproof, so easy to install and use, OOTB. www.aliexpress.com/item/32550636905.html
However, it has a limitation of 80msec exposure time in the software, so only the brighter stars show up, and the milky way very faintly. I asked their tech support, but they do not offer an option for increasing the exposure time.
Given, it uses a standard Sony IMX291 CMOS sensor, maybe there is another way to access the firmware to allow longer exposure times?
So, two solutions appear: (1) Locate a third-party generic software that can modify the camera parameters, or (2) hack the CMS software to override the 80msec limit.
I am looking forward to any expert opinions on this matter. If this minor problem can be resolved, this would make an excellent, inexpensive all-sky camera!
Mike
Cameras like this have been modified ("hacked") before, it's not crazy to assume that there is Linux running on that device and if you somehow can gain access to it, you could even install your own software on it. Gaining access can be as easy as finding an unsed diagnostic serial port on the PCB ... see https://hackaday.com/tag/ip-camera/ for an entertaining example. Still this is something for someone experienced in low level Linux I guess.
CS
HB
Browsing some of the CMS software files with HxD hex editor, it appears the source code is in C/C++. It seems that I would only need to change a single maximum limit integer in the executable code, so I could easily use HxD on the correct module, without changing the size of the code at all. The difficulty is finding which DLL or other file in the CMS directory contains the specific shutter limit value! I searched for the "millisec" text and found it in at least one file, ConfigModule.pdb
Here is the directory listing of all the files:
Directory of C:\Program Files (x86)\CMS
08/20/2020 04:45 PM <DIR> .
08/20/2020 04:45 PM <DIR> ..
08/20/2020 04:43 PM <DIR> Uninstall
08/20/2020 04:43 PM <DIR> Sound
08/20/2020 04:43 PM <DIR> Skin
08/20/2020 04:43 PM <DIR> Patch
08/20/2020 04:45 PM <DIR> LOG
08/20/2020 04:43 PM <DIR> Language
08/20/2020 04:49 PM <DIR> XML
08/20/2020 04:43 PM <DIR> HCNetSDKCom
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 102,400 LvfFile.ax
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 197,120 Decoder.ax
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 86,016 NetStream.ax
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 7,168 mac.db
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 393,728 7000sdk.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 193,536 vld_x86.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 266,240 UCRemoteConfig.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 340,024 DhDecode.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 278,528 dhdvr.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 4,837,459 dhnetsdk.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 614,459 dhplay.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 27,136 DllDeinterlace.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 339,968 dllh264.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 323,584 dllmpeg4.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 806,912 DllPlayer.dll
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 249,856 DownloadPlan.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 147,456 ToJpg.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 237,682 SystemTransform.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 221,650 swresample-1.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 45,056 DrawYUV.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 6,656 FrameAddHead.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 341,504 glew32.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 358,912 h264dec.dll
03/14/2018 10:37 PM 671,744 H264Play.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 159,823 StreamTransClient.dll
05/09/2018 10:53 PM 2,514,944 ConfigModule.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 864,347 HCNetSDK.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 118,784 avutil.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 536,637 HH5KDecoder.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 626,753 HH5PlayerSDK.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 237,568 HHNetClient.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 45,056 HHReadWriterSDK.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 1,101,917 hikplaympeg4.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 167,936 hi_h264dec.dll
03/17/2016 11:29 PM 126,464 hi_h264dec_v.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 385,024 hi_h264dec_w.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 24,576 HookOperate.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 151,607 hpr.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 64,512 avcore.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 316,416 HW_H265dec_Win32D.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 12,475,392 avcodec.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 2,191,360 libonvifclient.dll
01/09/2018 02:08 AM 122,950 StreamReader.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 121,344 HW_H265Decoder.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 745,984 sqlite3.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 167,936 AmrDll.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 463,360 AudioIntercom.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 124,416 AudioRender.dll
08/20/2020 04:42 PM 325,960 lua5.1.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 204,288 vrsoft.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 2,841,088 HBPlaySDK.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 98,304 PlaySdk.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 1,101,917 PlayCtrl.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 909,372 MP_Render.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 3,399,749 MP_VIE.dll
04/18/2018 08:16 PM 1,024,000 NetSdk.dll
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 1,040,384 PlayBack.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 905,216 NetSDKDLL.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 155,648 NetSdkV2.dll
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 446,464 LocalRecord.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 212,992 Password.dll
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 36,864 AudioPlayer.dll
08/20/2020 04:42 PM 1,344,512 uninstall.exe
06/05/2018 11:16 PM 2,740,224 CMS.exe
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 1,826 DownloadPlan.exp
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 2,201 LocalRecord.exp
08/20/2020 04:45 PM 72 User.ini
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 437 right.ini
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 6,779 mac.ini
08/20/2020 04:50 PM 3,256 ConfigModule.ini
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 29 Dec_Config.ini
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 4,620 LocalRecord.lib
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 4,082 DownloadPlan.lib
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 286,720 WndManager.ocx
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 643,072 MapCtrl.ocx
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 5,164,032 DownloadPlan.pdb
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 1,469,440 StreamReader.pdb
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 2,067,456 libonvifclient.pdb
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 9,366,528 ConfigModule.pdb
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 1,174,528 sqlite3.pdb
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 6,687,744 LocalRecord.pdb
06/05/2018 11:02 PM 11,496,448 PlayBack.pdb
06/05/2018 11:16 PM 19,893,248 CMS.pdb
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 1,321,984 vrsoft.pdb
04/12/2018 10:57 PM 2,509,824 H264Play.pdb
06/03/2018 10:25 PM 6,999,040 NetSdk.pdb
86 File(s) 120,840,248 bytes
10 Dir(s) 933,908,074,496 bytes free
C:\Program Files (x86)\CMS>
I would start with the .ini files, if they are in plain text.
No luck for camera exposure time in the .ini files, they are for general system settings. I suspect the .dll will be the files containing the fixed set of exposure times they use (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.333, 20 msec). I have to methodically go thru all the .dll and search for where these consecutive floating point numbers are set. However, a problem I don't know the floating format they use - 4 byte FLOAT, 8 byte DOUBLE, or 10 byte extended, so I have to do a lot of brute force searching, ugh :(
Mike