Frank
Frank

Reputation: 27

are there any options for using multiple webcams on windows?

i been trying to use via USB HUB "4 ports" 2 web cams and i get this msg on the notification bar telling me to disconnect one unused usb from the port because low driver resources, yet i only have one port on my windows surface pro2 and on that one usb i connected the usb hub and on that is where i plugged the 2 webcams to use in my pc, So whats up with that driver resource ? thats a first i see that

i also plan to run on this power usb hub 2 optical usb mouse so i will appreciate this information.

using Processing IDE i am specifying which cameras to use which i currently do with just one of these USB cams and the internal cam on my tablet and i get dual video feed from both cam using this lines of code

cam1 = new Capture(this, w, h, "USB2.0 Camera", fps);
cam2 = new Capture(this, w, h, "Microsoft LifeCam Front", fps);
cam1.start();
cam2.start();

and this works fine but when i specify

cam1 = new Capture(this, w, h, "USB2.0 Camera", fps);
cam2 = new Capture(this, w, h, "USB2.0 PC CAMERA", fps);
cam1.start();
cam2.start();

which im telling it those two cams are both USB use it the IDE find it just confirming it is there but only uses one and occasionally i get a driver resource pop up telling me to dissconect any usb im not using while i only have those 2 usb in the 4 usb power hub so im not sure what the issue is, further more if i use just one usb cam and a optical usb mouse and usb keyboard and a Arduino using 4 servos I GET NO ERRORS about drive resource pop ups so WHAT DA @#$%!!?

Web Cams

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1494

Answers (1)

Salar Lotfee
Salar Lotfee

Reputation: 11

I have had the same issue on my pc runnig win10 with 4 industrial usb cams.

At the moment the first usb device is connected to the pc, operating system allocates a portion of the transferring width to the device according to the firmware data inside the device. So lets say up to 20% of your bandwidth has been occupied by the first webcam of surface. Even if you do not use the cam, the space has been already occupied. Now the second cam comes in the ring and lets say this one occupies 30%, and also the pens you mentioned, consider 10 percent per each of them. Machine has some internal universal elements such as touch, finger print, bluetooth etc, which are all under the universal category. So the wise operating system distinguishes that most of the bandwidth of the usb has been occupied and there exists a danger to insert a new bandwidth consuming device which might cause deficiencies for the previously connected devices, that is why it warn every once in a while. The harsh condition would be like mine, by inserting 4 HD usb cams and losing the connection with one of the cams after some seconds where the pc suffers from running out of bandwidth. For laptops or surface there is no option to expand the bandwidth, but for pc you could add a usb slot in pcie.

Hope you will find this helpful.

Upvotes: 1

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