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On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:30:08 -0700 (PDT) jatan wrote:

> > > 
> > > 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?
>  
> i am using 2.6.11.1-35 Fedora Core 3. And my webcams
> are Logitech Quickcam pro 4000. Actually, tt will be
> enough if I am able to grab pics from three webcams at
> somewht lower framerate instead of streaming all
> webcams simultaneously. Is it possible that at single
> time I allocate all resources to any one of three
> cameras and do this in a loop for all of them?

As long as they are not streaming, but just taking
snapshots, that should be feasible in theory.
I don't know if anyone has proven that yet or not.

---
~Randy
You can't do anything without having to do something else first.
-- Belefant's Law


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