I am looking for a way to see a small number of pixels using a PIC. I saw a project where Horizontal and Vertical sync form a camera interrupts the PIC. Then count over in time to the pixel in question. Then Read the ADC. This almost works for me.

I found a “RS232 JPEG” cameras. I can get a frame every 2 seconds. I cannot decompress the JPEG using a PIC. (or can I?)

I have some “parallel out” cameras. I have trouble reliably getting the 8 bit parallel data.

I am looking at an optical mouse sensor. ADNS-3000 ($1.50) It has a 22x22 sensor that I can read in at 2000 pixels/second with handshaking. I have some PCB mount camera lenses. I have not tried this yet.

Questions:
Has anyone grabbed data form a video stream?
Can I decompress JPEG to low res in a PIC (16x16 video)?
What about a mouse sensor as a camera for a PIC?