Wi-Fi requirement for trial

[deathtical]

Hey guys, I finally got my trial activated, thanks for that. I guess I missed the fine print that WiFi was needed to use it. Unfortunately, I cannot image on site and there is no WiFi where I setup my scope and camera. Is there anyway to make the trial work without it? I got everything transported and setup only to not be able to run the software. Luckily, I have other tools to use for taking images but not video, which is why I am looking at this package. Let me know if anything can be done.

Thanks

[admin]

This question has been asked and answered several time.

Trial keys require Internet access at every application start.

Purchase keys do not.

The only around this it to purchase.

Regards,

[astroman133]

The trial requires an internet connection. It can be wired or wireless.

I suggest that you test the software at home first and when satisfied then purchase a permanent license which does not need the internet connection.

The reason for the internet connection is to allow the software to phone home to verify that the trial license is still active. The authors were forced to implement this test to protect their intellectual property from cheaters who tried to make a free license last forever by messing with their system time.

Doing a thorough test at home with laptop and camera at the kitchen table is important for verifying how the software work with your camera. First you need to verify that the BYE connects to the camera. There are a few things that may not be obvious that can prevent this. There may also be default camera settings that interfere with BYE that you must change. There may also be Windows settings that can interfere with BYE (read the long thread about BYE not saving settings). All of this is better sorted out without wasting a long driver and a dark sky. Once you are satisfied you can purchase a classic or Premium license.

Finally, the purchased license can be applied to the same software that you have tested with. There is no need to download a new copy of the software when you get a purchased license. Just start the program and click on the padlock button to start license validation process.

[deathtical]

1 hour ago, astroman133 said:

The trial requires an internet connection. It can be wired or wireless.

I suggest that you test the software at home first and when satisfied then purchase a permanent license which does not need the internet connection.

The reason for the internet connection is to allow the software to phone home to verify that the trial license is still active. The authors were forced to implement this test to protect their intellectual property from cheaters who tried to make a free license last forever by messing with their system time.

Doing a thorough test at home with laptop and camera at the kitchen table is important for verifying how the software work with your camera. First you need to verify that the BYE connects to the camera. There are a few things that may not be obvious that can prevent this. There may also be default camera settings that interfere with BYE that you must change. There may also be Windows settings that can interfere with BYE (read the long thread about BYE not saving settings). All of this is better sorted out without wasting a long driver and a dark sky. Once you are satisfied you can purchase a classic or Premium license.

Finally, the purchased license can be applied to the same software that you have tested with. There is no need to download a new copy of the software when you get a purchased license. Just start the program and click on the padlock button to start license validation process.

Testing at the "kitchen table" would be pointless for me. I do astrophotography. I need to see how this works in the field. I don't have lenses for my camera, only T-rings for attaching to telescopes.

[deathtical]

9 hours ago, admin said:

This question has been asked and answered several time.

Trial keys require Internet access at every application start.

Purchase keys do not.

The only around this it to purchase.

Regards,

Sorry for asking a repeated question. OK, so, if I have to buy this to try it, do you offer refunds if this doesn't meet my needs?

 

Thanks

[astroman133]

There is a bunch of testing that you can do with a lens or even the lens cap on the camera at the kitchen table.

1. Do the cables work? People often try to use cables that are faulty or too long to work.
2. Does BYE recognize your camera and connect with it? There are several reasons why this could fail.
3. Can you figure out how to build and execute an exposure plan for a sequence of deep sky images
4. Can you figure out how to create an AVI from a Planetary imaging session. The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction is just a couple of weeks away!
5. Is your model even supported by BYE? It is surprising how many new users have a camera, hot from Japan, or the find a camera that has been in a drawer for 10 years and they just assume that BYE supports it when it can often take months for a new model to be fully supported by BYE and old models are no longer supported because drivers for 64-bit Windows do not exist. Some models are designed and marketed that will never work with BYE due to decisions made by Canon.
6. If the camera has WiFi capability it must be disabled in order for the USB connection to be used. While it is not recommended to use WiFi due to reduced speed, lower reliability and susceptibility of the Canon SDK to even momentary connection loss some people have figured out how to pair the camera to the PC outside of BYE and are able to use WiFi (some users have provided details that are in the archives of this forum).
7. There are settings in the camera that BYE has no access to that can interfere with BYE's ability to control the camera. WiFi above is just one. others include LiveView AutoFocus, exposure bracketing, High ISO Noise Reduction, Long Exposure noise reduction.
8. Windows recognizes the camera as a storage device rather than as an imaging device.
9. BYE is not saving settings changes that you make. This issue is a work in progress for the devs, but there is a workaround.
10. Figure out how to use your smartphone as a WiFi hotspot so that you can use the phone to connect your laptop to the internet at a dark sky site to validate the trial license.
11. Learn how to adjust the brightness of LiveView frames for lucky planetary imaging.
12. Images are not downloaded from the camera. This can happen due to overly protected anti-virus software.

There are probably more issues that new users stumble over, but you should get the idea. None of this has to do with evaluating the nature or quality of the captured images. Image quality is a function of the camera, not BYE, and the quality of the images from Canon's cameras is proven. Your testing will not change that. What isn't proven is that you can successfully apply the functionality of BYE to your astroimaging workflow. This is simply because you are a new user of the software, not because it is particularly difficult.

Probably the biggest reasons for kitchen cable testing, even with a lens cap on the camera are the ability to use the internet to connect and to search this web site for answers to your questions about BYE's behavior and to familiarize yourself with how BYE basically works with your setup. This familiarity will pay dividends when you get to the field with limited connectivity.

And to answer your followup question. In the past O'Telescope has not offered refunds for a purchased Classic or Premium license. Think about it. They provide you with a license that makes the software work forever with no Internet connection needed. They have no way to take your license key back or to invalidate the license key, so how could they provide a refund and be sure that you were no longer using the software. That is why they offer the free, fully-functional, Trial license with a key that expires after 30 days. 

All of that is why you may need to get creative while using the Trial license because the cost of purchasing a license is non-refundable.

 

 

[admin]

1 hour ago, deathtical said:

Sorry for asking a repeated question. OK, so, if I have to buy this to try it, do you offer refunds if this doesn't meet my needs?

 

Thanks

Good question, and the answer is no refund of software keys once they are issued.  Please read refund policy.

There is a lot of testing you can do to evaluate the product in-house.

In the field, you could tether your phone to your laptop, connect to the Internet momentarily, start BYE, the stop tethering.... and image all night with Internet.

Another alternative would be to start BYE while at home (or wherever you have Internet) and minimize it, put your laptop to sleep, travel to your dark site, and use it all night long.  At this point I would suggest to start few more instances of BYE and minimize them all.  Only use one.... but if something happens and you need to restart BYE at least you already have a few more instances already validated to pick from

[deathtical]

5 hours ago, admin said:

Good question, and the answer is no refund of software keys once they are issued.  Please read refund policy.

There is a lot of testing you can do to evaluate the product in-house.

In the field, you could tether your phone to your laptop, connect to the Internet momentarily, start BYE, the stop tethering.... and image all night with Internet.

Another alternative would be to start BYE while at home (or wherever you have Internet) and minimize it, put your laptop to sleep, travel to your dark site, and use it all night long.  At this point I would suggest to start few more instances of BYE and minimize them all.  Only use one.... but if something happens and you need to restart BYE at least you already have a few more instances already validated to pick from

Unfortunately, tether to phone isn't an option as the site I go to has lousy 4G service. I tried that already. I guess I could try to open it before I head out. I do try to trouble shoot things before asking. Granted, I'm not very good about searching forums to see if the question as already been asked.

 

Thanks

[dkerber]

Another option would be to start the laptop and BYE at home and let it validate the key, then put it in Sleep or Hibernate mode while you travel to your dark sky site. As long as you don't have to shutdown BYE during your session, you should be good to go.