listing Devices - multi cam project

advanced
1

I’m working on a project that involves taking input from two cameras and therefore requires assigning a deviceID for each one:

vidGrabberPtr[0].setVerbose(true);
vidGrabberPtr[0].listDevices();
vidGrabberPtr[0].setDeviceID(2);
vidGrabberPtr[0].initGrabber(WIDTH,HEIGHT);

vidGrabberPtr[1].setVerbose(true);
vidGrabberPtr[1].listDevices();
vidGrabberPtr[1].setDeviceID(3);
vidGrabberPtr[1].initGrabber(WIDTH,HEIGHT);

To find the device ID I used the listDevices method which was difficult at first because what it was printing to the console was just nonsense. But then I discovered a little bit of code that outputted the array of devices:

ofSetLogLevel(-1); // important

This listed my devices to the console:

OF_NOTICE: listing available capture devices
OF_NOTICE: (unavailable) device[0] DV Video
OF_NOTICE: (unavailable) device[1] IIDC FireWire Video
OF_NOTICE: device[2] Sony Eye Toy (1) #459 - macam #0: Sony Eye Toy (1)
OF_NOTICE: device[3] Sony Eye Toy (2) #460 - macam #1: Sony Eye Toy (2)

So I assigned my devices accordingly, but then for some reason I get only one camera working and this output to the console:

F_NOTICE: listing available capture devices
OF_NOTICE: (unavailable) device[0] DV Video
OF_NOTICE: (unavailable) device[1] IIDC FireWire Video
OF_NOTICE: (unavailable) device[2] Sony Eye Toy (1) #459
OF_NOTICE: device[3] Sony Eye Toy (2) #460 - macam #1: Sony Eye Toy (2)

I find this very strange. Any help?

N.B. The cameras I want working are the two Sony Eye Toys.

Thanks so much!

2

the output looks fine to me, you start one and it becomes unavailable. But you are saying that the second one won’t start or doesn’t give you any frames? I’m not too familiar with maccam but have you verified that the driver supports multiple cameras being open at once?

3

Hi,
i had some similar problems when i worked with a modified CCV version.
My solution:
load the latest MacCam version from http://sourceforge.net/projects/webcam–…-009-09-25/
The PS3 deviceIDs startet with 2 (The first two channnels where used by inbuild adapters from my macBook.)
There is some other usefull thread about the whole multi cam PS3 stuff: http://forum.openframeworks.cc/t/sony-ps3-eye/1182/0

cheers

4

Hey,

Thanks for the quick feedback.

I’ve laboured over this problem for several hours over the past few days. Normally I work on a Macbook air with the two cameras hooked up to a USB hub which is then hooked up to my machine. This is necessary because the Macbook Air has only one USB outlet.

So I tried running my code on a different computer, one of those Mac towers, and it ran fine. I guess it has something to do with the hub then. It would be good to know how to resolve this issue, but in the meantime I’m just going to run my project on a different computer.

Thanks again for all the help,

Eric

5

I think you can only have one PS3 eye per hub.
On my Macbook Pro ( three USB ports ) it works but only if I have the cameras on the two usb ports which are on different internal hubs.

6

Yes, it sounds like a bandwidth issue, if not a driver issue. Try lowering the framerate to 15 and resolution to 320x240 and see if that works.

I’ve had issues with 3 cameras for anything higher than 640x480@15 even on different internal hubs. I think I have to move to separate controller cards from here to do any more than 3.

7

How do you use webcam to communicate with others who have a webcam? I have the HP MediaSmart Webcam on my laptop. No where can I find instructions on how to use it to communicate with others who have a webcam. Can someone please point me in the right direction. Thanks!
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