Urgent buying advice for Timelapse videography - true or false?

[GhostPlayer]

Hi folk!

I've been directed here, and from what I've seen, this does seem like a fun spot to hang around

I've been told I can do all sort of fun trickery to this camera... hope it confirms and fits my needs! Might buy 2 straight away if it does!

I'm abroad for work right now but will return home next week. I'd like to land and go straight to Amazon.co.uk, or .es or .de .... and buy me this amazing camera. I have a new project that is about to kick off, and I really need to buy ASAP to set it up from the start.

So far I've been using the Brinno brand, bloody expensive, and hard to position, and too big in size for my next project. 4x AA battery will record for 3 to 4 months at a time. Set and forget. I went with this camera before because it allows me to take 1 pic every 10 minutes max. so great for very long term timelapse, like construction works etc. - but 720p only. The higher res are crazy expensive and not worth it IMHO

For this next project I need 1 picture every 5 or 1o minutes but in much better picture quality, hence the Xiaomi with Sony sensor!

Please let me know if this is true or false

1 - I can power up the Xiaomi with the USB port straight into a power outlet (USB-Powerplug converter of course) without the battery installed, to prevent overheating ?

2 - I can set a Win7 or Linux box to auto-manage the Xiaomi? Meaning, "ordering it" to take a snapshot every X seconds. The maximum custom setting in the camera is 60 seconds right? This is too quick for me.

3 - If question 2 is true, that means that auto-shutoff needs to be overridden... so do I need a custom firmware for that?

4 - Can I just use the USB directly into a PC for this? It would free the wifi usage and permit me to use the laptop's wifi to connect to the router, thus permitting me to teamviewer into it. I reckon I could also buy a secondary wifi pen if the previous doesn't work.

Ideally, I'd love it if I could pop in a 64GB card in there, set it up at a location with a laptop next to it, directly connected via USB, set it and "forget it" ... just pop in once in a while to check everything is ok, or teamviewer into the PC for remote checking everything is up and running properly.

Can this be done? Advice and tips warmly welcomed!

 

[Yizee]

1. You can power the yi from usb power. Plug it in, turn it on. Battery optional for this if you have sufficient power.
2. https://github.com/deltaflyer4747/Xiaomi_Yi Dig around there, you can then trigger things with those tools from a pc. There's a plethora of means to run scripts on pc's you can utilize.
3. auto-shutoff?
4. There's no direct usb control yet. You could configure the yi to connect to the wifi you're using with the laptop, of course.

 

[GhostPlayer]

1. You can power the yi from usb power. Plug it in, turn it on. Battery optional for this if you have sufficient power.
2. https://github.com/deltaflyer4747/Xiaomi_Yi Dig around there, you can then trigger things with those tools from a pc. There's a plethora of means to run scripts on pc's you can utilize.
3. auto-shutoff?
4. There's no direct usb control yet. You could configure the yi to connect to the wifi you're using with the laptop, of course.

Oh man, thanks for the answer!

Yes, I have already started digging, and found some super great bookmarked for later digestion, like autoexec.ash and CC also this looks promissing
http://www.tawbaware.com/xiaomiyi.htm

About question number 3. If the camera has a script in the card, the sure, it will keep in "on" state, or wake up for a snap every X seconds. Now I know this is not the case, but if the Yi were able to transfer video through USB, and have the PC manage taking a snapshot, the the Yi might think it was in "idle" mode and have a auto-poweroff function, which would completely defeat the purpose.

But since that is not the case, it's just a matter of finding the easiest solution, probably a simple script.

If I use a script, can I still use the iOS wifi app to access the camera to check on the live feed?

 

[Bitmash]

I've been directed here, and from what I've seen, this does seem like a fun spot to hang around

For shure!

About question number 3. If the camera has a script in the card, the sure, it will keep in "on" state, or wake up for a snap every X seconds. Now I know this is not the case, but if the Yi were able to transfer video through USB, and have the PC manage taking a snapshot, the the Yi might think it was in "idle" mode and have a auto-poweroff function, which would completely defeat the purpose.

I'm not shure about this. You can issue some shell commands (I think it's running ambsh), and some firmware related commands. But I have no idea on the scope of the possibilities and limitations of this. You can disable auto-off from the app though, and run it from external power over USB.

If I use a script, can I still use the iOS wifi app to access the camera to check on the live feed?

Yes you can

You can search github.com for "xiaomi yi", and get a couple of pages with a lot of cool stuf!

Also, check out http://hackaday.com/?s=timelapse
It's not the yi in particular, but it's page after page on timelapse related projects from the DIY/hardware hacker scene.

Tell us how it works out

 

[GhostPlayer]

Tell us how it works out

Bitmash!! Thank you! You're a gem. I sure will. Ready to pull the trigger