Another multicamera question

[travcore]

I'm new to the  forum and have been reading about issues regarding the use of mutiple cameras with iCamsource. I too can't seem to get more than one camera to work. I just bought a new netbook for the soul purpose of running the cameras so I'm hoping to get this issue resolved. I'm thinking it has to do with the way I set it up because only one camera is showing up on the drop down list in the software. In fact the drop down box is grayed out so I can't even select it. I'm sure it's a newbie thing I'm doing but it is frustrating. The equipment I am using is listed below. Also, the netbook has a built-in webcam. Can I also use that camera for viewing on my iPhone?
Netbook: Asus 1005HAB
USB Camera: Microsoft Lifecam HD Cinema
USB Camera: Microsoft Lifecam VX-5000
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[Jay]

If the Video drop-down list is grayed out as soon as you run iCamSource, that probably means you have Auto-Start enabled.  Please disable that option for now. 

If the Video drop-down list is grayed out, that means that iCamSource has been started and is capturing video from your webcam.  In order to changed the setting, you'll need to stop iCamSource by clicking the Stop button, or by quitting and relaunching iCamSource when the Auto-Start option is disabled.  Then you should be able to select whatever webcam you want to use.

If you want to connect multiple cameras to the same computer, you'll need to run multiple instances of iCamSource on the computer (one for each camera).

To do that on Windows, simply run more than one instance of the iCamSource, enter the same login and password, and set up a different camera on each instance of iCamSource.

In order to watch all of the cameras on your iPhone at the same time, make sure that all instances of iCamSource have the exact same login and password entered.

[travcore]

Thanks Jay! The auto-start was the issue. I sorta got all of them working. The HD camera seems to be crashing the software and I get a microsoft error message about adjusting the resolution to a lower setting. I'm guessing it's using up all the system resources.

[Jay]

iCamSource asks the camera for a 640x480 video feed.  It could be that the HD camera needs to be manually configured to output 640x480.  Is there any software that came with the camera that can be used to configure the camera settings?  Look for resolution settings and set it for 640x480, if possible.

[travcore]

Hi Jay,
I took a break from trying to resolve the multicamera issue but I'm ready to revisit it. As mentioned before, I purchased a netbook solely to run the webcams and icamsource. I don't have any other software running. If I use one webcam, everything is fine. When I add a second camera, I get a error message saying: "poor system performance - try reducing video resolution or shutting down unused applications." I get this message regardless of which two cameras I try to use, even the built-in webcam. I'm assuming that the processor in the netbook can't handle processing multiple cameras. If that is the issue then I need to get something else. What would you recommend to be able to handle mutiple cameras. I liked the netbook because of it's size, power consumption (on 24/7) and price. I'd hate to buy an expensive computer just to run these cameras.
Thanks for your help.

[Jay]

The most important thing for iCamSource, especially if you're running multiple instances, is the CPU speed of the computer.  Multiple processor cores or multiple processors would help with multiple instances of iCamSource, but they're not necessary.  It is also important to have enough memory to actually run iCamSource, but if you have enough (2 or more Gigs), then having twice that amount won't help too much. 

[travcore]

The netbook has  a 1.6 ghz atom processor and 1 gb of RAM. Do you think getting more ram would solve the issue or does it have to do more with the processor?
Thanks,
Paul

[Jay]

Usually the processor speed has a larger effect on iCamSource's performance.

Are you still using the HD camera you mentioned earlier?  Did you look for resolution settings for the camera?  High resolution video would require more processing for resizing and motion detection.

[travcore]

I did adjust the HD camera to the proper settings and it didn't make a difference. I also disconnected the HD camera and tried using the other two cameras and still got the error message. Sounds like I need a new computer unless you have any other suggestions.
Thanks for your help Jay!
Paul

[Jay]

One other user was able to get multiple instances working on a netbook by going into the task manager and giving priority "above normal" for the iCamSource processes.