[mythtv-users] IR Blaster sadness

[David Brodbeck]

Brian Wood wrote:
> Not quite, unless somebody was using one of the WWII vintage high- 
> intensity IR illuminators used with the "Sniperscopes".
>
> Although most digital cameras will respond to light in the IR range  
> they do not have any significant light amplification abilities. With  
> "gain" a camera might give you a 2x or 4x light gain, a modern night  
> vision device amplifies light by 30,000x (gen 1) to over 100,000x (gen  
> 3, with the GaAs microchannel plates).
>   
This is getting OT, but I thought I'd add that if anyone is playing
around with this, they should check into some of the black-and-white
"box" cameras that are sold for security applications.  They're not
night vision devices, but some of them do have very impressive
sensitivity figures.  I've commonly seen figures as good as 0.002 lux,
which is about one fifth the light provided by a quarter moon.  All B&W
CCD cameras are sensitive to IR light; CCTV lenses often come with IR
filters to improve sharpness.  (IR and visible light don't focus at the
same point, so it results in a slightly blurred image if you don't
filter it out.)  I understand some amateur astronomers have experimented
with coupling these cameras to telescopes, sometimes chilling the CCDs
to decrease noise.