Trying to run 2 IP cameras (Linksys & Airlink) & 2 USB cameras (Xbox & MacAlly)

[xcalibr]

I have a 24" iMac running 10.6.2 & 2 Belkin 2.0 USB Hubs. I have a Linksys WVC54GCA, Xbox LIVE Vision Camera, MacAlly IceCam2 & an Airlink AIC250W. I just recently added the Xbox camera to the mix, until then I was using my internal iSight. I had been running 4 instances flawlessly (audio, video, motion, recording, etc..), but once I hooked up my Xbox camera it rarely shows up, displaying just empty/white video - plus it usually counteracts with the other 3 cameras causing them to lose their feeds or fail completely. I have the latest version of the iCamSource software for my Mac & my iPhone, plus all the latest firmware for all 4 cameras. I have tried different USB hub configurations, including plugging the Xbox camera directly into the Mac, but the same results. The only way I can get the Xbox cam to work is by only having 1 instance of the iCamSource software running. I have also tried with having no Login items load on Startup accept the 4 iCamSource apps. Still fails. I have tried activating the apps in a different order, tried opening all with auto-start off, etc... - everything seems to fail.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
-Doren

[Jay]

Are you using Macam drivers for the Xbox camera?  There might be options in the Macam software that could effect the processor usage.  Setting Macam to use a lower resolution would decrease the amount of processing required by the motion detection logic.

[xcalibr]

Actually I'm not using Macam at all, no need to. When I only run 1 instance of iCamSource it sees the Xbox camera just fine, it's only when I introduce multiple copies running at one time does it go all haywire. In fact, when I tried it with Macam, it behaved exactly the same, and the Macam app itself never could see the Xbox camera.  I wonder what I could try next...

[xcalibr]

Actually I can't even get the MacAlly & Xbox camera to play properly by themselves with only 2 instances of iCamSource open. Both USB. It's like there's some weird USB conflict going on or something. Perhaps it is that "bandwidth" issue you were referring to earlier. Who knows......but I'm sure you have dozens of people running 2+ USB cameras constantly with no issues.

[xcalibr]

Yep, it appears that I can run only 1 USB camera at a time. I can click on "Stop" in one and "Start" in the other and vice-versa and i can toggle between the 2, but they will not work at the same time

[Jay]

Some Macs have an issue using multiple USB cameras.  It appears to be a problem with the Mac's USB bus.  It's not a problem with the iCamSource software, the same problem will happen if you try to use 2 USB cameras simultaneously in any program.

You can test to see if this is the problem you're experiencing by opening one USB camera in the Photobooth application and the other USB camera in the iChat application simultaneously.  If your Mac has the USB bus issue, then you should have problems when you try to run both at the same time.

[xcalibr]

Bummer. It does fail too. I thought it was probably something like that. I never suspected the iCamSource software. I was just hoping there was a fix for it. Well, looks like I'm buying another IP network cam. I was wondering, have you tested any battery operated wireless IP network cameras? I was curious about them. I know the vuezone.com cameras will not work since they are FLV based, but I thought you may know of some MJPEG based brands and/or models that you could recommend? Thanx!