 I am sure you guys have heard about it by now.. CVS (http://www.cvs.com) has released a "One Time Use Camcorder" in which you can buy from them for around $30. It records 20-25mins of 320x240 divx compressed video. The catch is you have to return it to the CVS store to have them retrieve the video and put it on a CD/DVD for you. They then keep the camcorder, refresh it and put it back on the shelf for another customer to use. Well I am going to show you how to easily create a Camcorder Dock that will allow you to keep your $30 camcorder, and download your movies!
You will need the following parts:
1) CVS One-Time-Use Camcorder
You will need to go to your local CVS store to pick one up. You can use this store locator to find you nearest one. If you dont have one locally, you can always try our forums to see if anyone will pick you up one. (and then there is always ebay) The camcorder will cost you around $30 but if you sign up for their "buyers card" you can save $5 plus there may be a coupon floating around here or there for another $5 off.. Regardless, this thing is worth way more than $30, so give CVS a break. =)
1) PalmIII sync cradle
To be honest, this was the hardest thing for me to find. I went to Microcenter, Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Office Max, and Office depot and could not find one! Then went to the DAV, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Dollar Store, and Big Lots hoping I could find one.. I tell you I couldnt believe how hard it was to find! Well of course there were plenty on ebay, but I didnt want to wait for shipping, so I tried emailing all my geeky friends as well as put a post out on Freecycle. Luckily there was a kind soul on Freecycle who had a spare and GAVE IT TOO ME! If you are reading this, Thank you! Literary millions of people will be looking at your cradle! =)
1) Usb cable that you dont care about.
You will need a spare USB cable that you will cut. This could be off an old mouse/keyboard that doesnt work anymore, or just a spare USB cable that you have laying around. It will need to be a "Standard A Type" USB connector. (the type that you plug INTO your computer)
MISC
You will also need assorted small screwdrivers, a soldering iron, solder, solder wick, and gorilla glue. (or other superglue) You will also need some software, but I will get to that later in the article.
.:Getting Started
Before we get started hacking the dock up, Hold down the "playback", "record", and "delete" buttons and then press the power button. This will tell you some info about your camera. Write this down. For example my camera shows me the following:
FW-VERSION: 03.40
CAMERA ID:
GB305XXXXXXX (x'd out to protect my camcorder)
PCB VER: B2
Then turn your camera off and back on. Take a few small videos for us to retreive later. Btw they better not be naked ones of you -- you sicko. =) While you are at it, you might as well warm up your soldering iron.
Ok, now that we have some videos on the camcorder, lets get to making the dock. Take apart your PalmIII cradle. There was one small screw on the bottom, and once removed gave us access to the PCB and connections inside.
.:Making the Cradle CVS Camcorder Compatible
Keep taking your PalmIII cradle apart until you have the cable with the PCB all the way out. Make sure not to damage any of the plastic pieces on the cradle, as we will be using them later! As you can see, the spring loaded connections are facing UPWARDS with the standard PalmIII cradle. (just make a note of that ok) Using your soldering iron remove ALL of the wires from the PCB. I like to work with nice and clean PCBs, so I used some solder wick to clean up all the connections once everything was removed.
The PCB Showing the spring loaded connectors we will be using to interface with the camera.
Please make note of the E1, E2, E3, and E5 solder pads. (on your own pcb, they are kind of hard to see in this pic)
The back of the PCB.
Now, MEASURE THE LENGTH OF USB CABLE YOU WANT!!! Measure, Measure, Measure. Then cut. We will be soldering the USB cable wires to this PCB, and then routing it back through the Cradle. Make sure that you have enough cable to connect it to the back of your computer, your USB hub, or whatever you will be connecting it to. (or just cut the longest amount of cable you can, up to you) Once you have cut the cable, strip back the shielding and locate the Black, White, Green, and Red wires inside the USB cable. (if there are any others, just cut them -- you will not be needing them) Strip a small section off the end of each of the Black, White, Green, and Red wires and tin them. (Tinning is the process of applying a small amount of solder to the wires) Now solder these wires to the PalmIII PCB as follows:
Wire Solder Pad
Black -> E1
White -> E2
Green -> E3
Red -> E5
So that it looks as follows:
You may or may not have a yellow I-Hacked.com sticker on your work area =)
At this point, you may want to test out your cable. Plug the USB end into your computer, and then remove the "Top Sticker" off your camcorder to reveal the connection.
Plug your connector into your camera and make sure that your computer detects it... (but dont install any software or drivers yet) If you are using Microsoft WindowsXP, you will hear the Dun-Deen! Sound.. That is good enough to know that your cable is working.
.:FINISH & PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
Ok, now it is time to put it all together. Start by putting the PCB back in the base... BUT PUT IT IN BACKWARDS! In order for the camcorder to fit in the dock, the connectors have to be facing backwards, instead of up as they were before. Then route the cable infront of the pcb, and then back through the snake channel.
Remember, put it on backwards or it wont work!
Now, we will need to make some small alterations to the back rest plate. Using a dremmel with a cut off wheel, completely slice the back plate off. This will allow for our camcorder to fit in there perfect. Yeah, it might not look 100% sweet, but when the camcorder is sitting on its dock, -- trust me you wont care.
As you can see the back plate has been modified
Now, using your gorilla glue, put a VERY SMALL Amount along the edges, and clamp them down. As soon as it is dry you will have a rigid Dock!
I printed a small "i" for my button, I suggest you do the same =)
.:SOFTWARE
At the time of this writing you need the following software to get your computer to talk to your camcorder. Several people have contributed to the software development for this camera, specifically BillW and Corscaria. I am presenting the software as I see it to be the most "User Friendly" but please be aware that there are other alternatives to the software that I am posting.
BillW's Saturn Ops:
You can always check the SourceForge project to ensure you have the newest software. At the time of this writing Ops 0.4 was current.
libusb-01.10.1
Download the libusb-win32-device-bin-0.1.10.1.tar.gz (not the EXE) you will need both the bin and filter files (filter contains the .sys file needed)
--OR--
You can use carpespasm's QuickInstaller which will install all the needed drivers and file, BillW's Ops, adds desktop and start Menu items all in one easy to run exe. You can check for an updated version on his repository (at the time of this writing the current version was 2.4) Incase this site goes down, I have a local copy of 2.4 here. If you decide to use the Quick Installer (which I suggest you do) Just run it. Once it is complete it will kick off the LibUSB filter installer, just next-next-next though it until you are done. Now your computer is setup and ready for your camera to be plugged in. If windows asks for a driver for the camcorder, point it at c:\Program Files\CVS Camera Quickstart\libusb-win32-device-bin-0.1.10.1\bin\ and to libUSB0.dll if needed.
If you didnt choose to do the Quick Installer, Plug in the camera and wait for the PC to identify it. But don’t try to install any drivers yet! Unzip libUSB-win32 and run inf-wizard. (this will create the required inf file) Now continue installing the device (Saturn) using the inf file you just created and point to libUSB0.sys when windows asks for it. Run the libusb-win32-filter-bin-0.1.10.1.exe. Your computer *SHOULD* now recognize your camera, however you will need the Ops program to unlock and pull your videos from your camera.
If you didnt use the Quick-Installer, Unzip Ops and run the "Ops_libusb-0.1.10.exe" file. If everything went smoothly, you can now unlock your camera, and pull down your movies, deleting them from the camera when complete! If you did use the Quick-Installer, all you have to do is run the icon off your desktop.
As you can see from the screenshot, Ops gives you a lot of options for working with your camera. Let it be known that this software CAN KILL YOUR CAMCORDER if you do not know what you are doing. Since this article is written as to pull the movies off your camcorder, follow these steps to accomplish that task:
- 1. Click "Open Camcorder" it should say "Found Camcorder" and "Connected to Camcorder"
- 2. Click "Unlock Camcorder" Once the camcorder is unlocked, you can now download movies off your camcorder.
- 3. Click on the "Download All Movies" and tell it where to save them..
- 4. Once you are done downloading your movies, press the "Close Camcorder" button and disconnect your cable. Now you can watch your movies!
If for some reason when you go to play the movies on your computer and you don't get video, this means that you do not have the divx codec installed. I suggest you install the FFDShow plugin (which includes a divx codec)
I would like to thank everyone over at camerahacks for all the hard work!
((UPDATE))
Not everyone will be able to find a PalmIII cradle, and I have had a few people email me telling me that in some revsions the E-lables are wrong, so lets put it this way.. Check your connections with a multimeter first, then solder.
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Consumer Electronics 
