3 ms·

Would be interested to know the time it takes to scan a barcode. (Compared to a hardware scanner.)

by mhb 3y ago

michaelt 3y ago
The answer to that is: It depends. You can run barcode detection at 30fps on a 1080p video using any modern PC, no problem at all. But high performance industrial barcode scanners have certain features that would be undesirable in any other application. A greyscale-only sensor for maximum sensitivity, jittery autofocus and autoexposure to respond fast when something appears right in front of the lens, autofocus switching attention so everything in view gets a chance at being in focus, built-in illumination to help avoid motion blur, and so on. So although the software can provide a good framerate, a laptop webcam may still perform worse than a dedicated barcode scanner. (zbar is a mixture of good and bad - if you want to experience software barcode detection for yourself your phone's app store probably offers 'scandit' which is closed source but performs pretty well)
- PaulHoule 3y ago
  Laptop cameras seem to be about 20 years behind cell phone cameras in image quality, my experience is that it’s almost certain that the camera in a PC laptop burns out in 2 years. I’ve had them go bad in macbooks too but I think they hold up better. I’ve never seen a mobile device camera fail without the device failing completely.
  - nolongerthere 3y ago
    Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a camera burning out on any device, I wonder what you’re skiing with your laptop camera that its burning out so quickly
    - PaulHoule 3y ago
      It might be living in a house which is rather humid and dusty.
    - DoctorDabadedoo 3y ago
      I've had two in the past 5 years. One with inverted colors and noise on the image from Logitech and another one from a Predator notebook that could very well be a cabling issue. These days I consider cameras disposable.
yonatan8070 3y ago
I can't tell you about this library in WASM, but I know that ZXing on Android (integrated in Binary Eye [1]) can scan a 1D or 2D barcode instantly (to my human eyes) on my Poco F3, it's fast enough that I need to be careful when scanning serial numbers off of hard drives to scan a specific barcode
steinso 3y ago
My (some what old) iPhone 11 scans a QR code from a full frame from the camera within 30-50ms using this, or some similar WASM solution.

Would be interested to know the time it takes to scan a barcode. (Compared to a hardware scanner.)

by mhb 3y ago

Would be interested to know the time it takes to scan a barcode. (Compared to a hardware scanner.)

The answer to that is: It depends. You can run barcode detection at 30fps on a 1080p video using any modern PC, no problem at all. But high performance industrial barcode scanners have certain features that would be undesirable in any other application. A greyscale-only sensor for maximum sensitivity, jittery autofocus and autoexposure to respond fast when something appears right in front of the lens, autofocus switching attention so everything in view gets a chance at being in focus, built-in illumination to help avoid motion blur, and so on. So although the software can provide a good framerate, a laptop webcam may still perform worse than a dedicated barcode scanner. (zbar is a mixture of good and bad - if you want to experience software barcode detection for yourself your phone's app store probably offers 'scandit' which is closed source but performs pretty well)

PaulHoule 3y ago
Laptop cameras seem to be about 20 years behind cell phone cameras in image quality, my experience is that it’s almost certain that the camera in a PC laptop burns out in 2 years. I’ve had them go bad in macbooks too but I think they hold up better. I’ve never seen a mobile device camera fail without the device failing completely.
- nolongerthere 3y ago
  Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a camera burning out on any device, I wonder what you’re skiing with your laptop camera that its burning out so quickly
  - PaulHoule 3y ago
    It might be living in a house which is rather humid and dusty.
  - DoctorDabadedoo 3y ago
    I've had two in the past 5 years. One with inverted colors and noise on the image from Logitech and another one from a Predator notebook that could very well be a cabling issue. These days I consider cameras disposable.

yonatan8070 3y ago

I can't tell you about this library in WASM, but I know that ZXing on Android (integrated in Binary Eye [1]) can scan a 1D or 2D barcode instantly (to my human eyes) on my Poco F3, it's fast enough that I need to be careful when scanning serial numbers off of hard drives to scan a specific barcode

steinso 3y ago

My (some what old) iPhone 11 scans a QR code from a full frame from the camera within 30-50ms using this, or some similar WASM solution.