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joshghimire edited this page Jan 20, 2022 · 20 revisions

Description:

Our system makes use of a camera attached to a 4mm lens and an infrared filter. Each camera connects to a local computer via USB3 and produces an .MKV video file every 4 hours. Currently, we use a custom version of Open Broadcast Software (OBS) to record/output at a scaled resolution of 640x512 at 30 fps.

The Digital Homecage system has a perpetually lit infrared(IR) LED backlight behind a translucent acrylic plexiglass panel (1/4” x 13.5” x 24”), which diffuses the IR light, allowing for even illumination. The wavelength of the infrared light falls below the detection threshold for mice, allowing for continuous recording, even in dark hours. The .mkv video files are ultimately converted to .mp4 files on BB-Overseer via HandBrakeBatchBeast (HBBB).

Note: .mkv files are much larger in size than .mp4 files. However, the .mkv format allows for some playback of corrupted files, which .mp4 does not support.

We will use HomeCageScan (a commercial rodent behavioral analysis software), which uses .mp4 files, to analyze our recorded videos. So we have to convert the original .mkv video files to .mp4.

Components:

  1. Camera: CABR133, 1280 x 1024 1/2" Monochrome CMOS USB3 Camera Basler Ace U acA1300-200um Camera Software/Camera Settings
  2. Lens: LSBR200, 1/2.5" 4 mm 5 MegaPixel Lens, Basler C125-0418-5M
  3. IR filter: FRMS208, NIR Bandpass Filter, 46.0 mm Thread Midwest Optical Filters
  4. Lens adapter for IR filter: LSBR903, Filter Adapter for Basler Lens

3-D Print files for camera tripod:

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