2 cameras one computer, one problem.....

[joelpirela]

I downloaded the program... awesome.
I have it setup using one isight camera on my macbook (unibody) works flawesly.
I have an intel mini with one xbox camera running for a week. it works like a charm.
Got excited and bought another xbox camera to plug on the mac mini and it doesn't work (I also ordered a linksys wifi and now I'm scared!!!)
the second camera starts (as I can see on the light on the camera but randomly turns itself off) I'm not able to see anything from that camera using the second instance of icamsource. When I switch cameras or quit and restart on icamsource and start with icamsource 2 I can view that camera but the original camera starts behaving like the new one (no feed and switching on and off)
Latest version of leopard and 4gb of ram.
Please help!
joel

[m411]

Are both copies of the iCam source application up to date?

I would try deleting the second instance of iCam source and re-copying the first one.

[joelpirela]

both instances were downloaded separately and today, so they are the latest versions... also, I can switch cameras by stoping one and starting the other one and they work fine (the different cameras) but only one at the time, never both.
Very weird. I'm worry now about adding a 4th one (and being wifi!)
joel

[Jay]

Have you tried using different USB ports for the cameras?

Most users do not have an issue using multiple USB cameras, but some users do. I am unsure as to the cause, as we cannot reproduce the issue, but I believe it has something to do with a power limit on the USB bus. Do you have any other USB peripherals connected to your computer?

Are you able to run two other webcam-accessing applications (perhaps iChat and Photobooth) to see if they can both access the two separate cameras at the same time?

If this is caused by the USB bus power limit, it wouldn't have any effect on the Wi-Fi camera.

[joelpirela]

I'm running a Mac Mini....
So, does a powered USB hub would help with this problem or I'm SOL?
Thanks!

joel

[Jay]

It might help, but I wouldn't suggest you buy hardware without being pretty sure that the USB bus power limit is the cause of the issue.  If you already have a powered USB hub, it certainly wouldn't hurt to try it.

Did you try running the two cameras at the same time in iChat and PhotoBooth?  If it's a USB bus issue, it should happen anytime both cameras are active, so you should see a problem if you try viewing one camera in iChat and the other one in Photobooth simultaneously.

[joelpirela]

Hey Jay!
Thanks for all your help... anyway. How do I show two cameras on photobooth?
I tried photo booth to show one camera and icam source to show another and got the same problem. If I pick the same cameras, everything is fine. if I pick different cameras one freezes while the other broadcast. really annoying. I don't have a powered USB hub but I can buy one, try and if it doesn't work, return it. Anybody with this problem that have found a solution?
thanks again!
joel

[Jay]

Sorry for the confusion.  I meant run one of the cameras in Photobooth and the other one in iChat.  I just want to get iCamSource out of the picture to determine if it's a hardware issue or software issue.  If you see the same behavior when you use iChat and Photobooth at the same time, then it's probably a hardware issue.

[joelpirela]

bought the powered usb hub, didn't made a difference. returned the hub and I think I will set the extra camera at work.

[Jay]

I'm sorry that didn't resolve the problem.  Were you ever able to try the iChat/Photobooth test?

[joelpirela]

nope, same behavior on different applications... now the problem I'm having is icam disconnecting the camera or dropping the connection. It ran fine for a long while but since yesterday, the connection is dropped daily (like around 9:00 AM), any help?

[Jay]

Does the video appear normally in the iCamSource window?

Is there an error message on the iPhone or on the computer?

Is it possible that your computer is going into sleep or standby mode?  If so, you'll need to configure your computer to never go to standby.