Home-brewed Video Magnifier

[Dennis Opfermann <dopferm @ qrc . com>]

Greetings!

My father's eyesight has failing eyesight and has not been able to read the 
paper for about 6 months now.  Video magnifiers are expensive, starting at 
$1500 for a B&W model.

I'm wondering about making something for him.  Any 
comments/suggestions/ideas before I start spending $$$ would be 
appreciated.  Here's the two alternatives I'm considering:

1.  Using a 'web cam', with 640x480 resolution, attached to an old Pentium 
200-266, running Red Hat 6.2. with an old NEC 17" monitor.  If I pick up a 
used computer and buy the camera, I'm guessing it will cost about $500.

2.  (off-list solution).  Using a better quality B&W video camera 
(surveillance camera), choosing the right lens, probably a lens with macro 
filter, and hooking it up to his TV, probably thru his VCR.  My top choice 
right now is on from smarthome.com http://www.smarthome.com/7680.html  This 
only provides a resolution of  512 (H) x 492 (V) or  430 TV lines.  This 
option, with camera, lens, filter, power supply and cables will cost about 
$250-275.

In both cases I plan to mount the camera on a photographic enlarger a 
friend is giving me.  I'll replace the projector with the camera to provide 
a fixed mount and a table for resting the book or newspaper.

There is one other parameter I need to take into account.  My father is 80 
years old, a retired carpenter, and has never used a computer in his 
life.  This has pros and cons:  he's not used to Windoze, so Linux/Gnome 
should cause no additional fear, but the TV-based system is technology that 
he would find more comfortable.  A big con is that I doubt I could ever get 
him to use news sources on the internet, which is why I'm heading down this 
rocky path.

Here's some specific questions I could use some help with:

Will either of these solutions provide enough resolution to enlarge the 
newspaper 3x?
Most surveillance cameras use the NTSC TV system, is this compatible with a 
standard TV?
The little 'web cams' that hook directly to the TV come with software for 
Windoze; what open source/Linux alternatives exist?


Thanks in advance for any help.  If you want to mail me off-list and I'll 
post the final solution, that's fine.

Dennis Opfermann
QRC Division of Macro International
Voice:  301.657.3077 x167
Email:  dopferm@qrc.com