(keep it on the mailing list, please; back on there now)

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:17:01 -0700 (PDT) jatan wrote:

> > Bandwidth allocation is a kernel config option under
> > the main USB
> > config heading.  I would expect (but don't know)
> > that most distros
> > do not enable it.  It's mostly useless and not
> > implemented at the
> > correct level.
> > 
> > Are you connecting the 3 webcams to only one USB
> > host
> > controller?  I can see how that might create a
> > bandwidth
> > problem, but linux-usb's bandwidth allocation
> > probably
> > isn't the problem so much as only one host
> > controller is,
> > so if you are using only one host controller (check
> > 'lspci' output for USB host controllers), you could
> > consider
> > adding another host controller (e.g., a PCI card
> > that costs
> > maybe US$20.00).
> 
> Thanx for replying. Ya, I am connecting 3 webcams to
> single usb host controller. I am using usb hub to
> connect rest 2 out of 3 webcams. usb documentation
> says that one can attach 127 max devices to a single
> machine. so i started by assuming that things should
> work without any problem. but it isnt.
> i was looking at zoneminder utility
> (http://www.zoneminder.com) and found following in its
> readme file.

127 includes hubs.  Lots of them would need to be low-speed
devices for it to all work out OK.  I've connected around
25 (or 28/29) devices to one USB host controller at a
USB plugfest many years ago.

> USB bus problems:
> If you have multiple USB cameras on one bus then it
> can appear as if ZoneMinder is causing your cameras to
> fail. This is because the bandwidth available to
> cameras is limited by the fairly low USB speed. In
> order to use more than one USB camera with ZoneMinder
> (or any application) you will need to inform the
> driver that there are other cameras requiring
> bandwidth. This is usually done with a simple module
> option. Examples are usb_alt=<n> for the OV511 driver
> and cams=<n> for CPIA etc. Check your driver
> documentation for more details. Be aware however that
> sharing cameras in this way on one bus will also limit
> the capture rate due to the reduced bandwidth.

So some version(s) of the camera drivers do some kind of
bandwidth adjustments themselves.  In 2.6.13, OV511
accepts a "cams" parameter for number of cameras and then
adjusts frame rates.  I don't see anything like <cams>
for the CPIA driver.

What kernel version are you using?

---
~Randy


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