Two cameras of same make gives display problem

[kvrajan]

Hi..
I use TechComm Cameras SD654 & SD655 modesl. Since they belong to the same family, they share the same drivers.

The Windows Device manager shows two diff names - USB 2.0 PC Camera #2 and USB 2.0 PC Camera #5. But YawCam does not differentiate them and show in the list with the same name USB 2.0 PC Camera twice.

And one of them displays well in the preview and over streaming while the second does not show preview itself. It shows a black screen.

Please let me know, how to overcome this problem. Thanks./

[z3r0c00l12]

I've had a similar problem before using Manycam. When 2 webcams are connected using the same name (Windows appends #5 to the name) then applications can only address the first one properly. In manycam's case, I would select the first one, the image would show up, and when I selected the second one, I would get the stream from the first one as they both have the same name. I haven't found a solution to this problem. Maybe using some type of webcam splitting software would work, such as manycam. In manycam, select the first webcam and let it run. Point yawcam to manycam in order to access the first stream. When you want to select the second stream, simply point Yawcam to the second webcam.

[kvrajan]

Hi.
Many thanks for responding to this issue. I'm not sure, I understand fully the role of 'manycam' in this. Do you mean to say, I need to use another tool called 'manycam' to handle 2 same type of cameras for yawcam to work alright. Also, I need to have both working simultaneously and not alternatively.

As a matter of fact, when I try to choose in Yawcam one camera in each copy, it works sometimes, but when I restart the system, more often the second camera is missing in the list itself.

Also, while Windows device manager shows thw two cams with a suffice # number, Yawcam in its list does not differentiate the two and shows the same name, which makes it more difficult to choose the second one.

And some times the second camera simply vanishes from the windows device manager list as well and you need to physically pull it out and plug it again to identify the second camera.

It has been a real tricky issue for me for the last 10 days, since I bought the second one.

I wish there is some elegant solution coming up to use both in parallel.

Thanks.

[malun]

kvrajan, get this beta version:
http://www.yawcam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1498

And start Yawcam using the alternate start file: debug_start.bat
If you installed Yawcam into C:\Program Files\Yawcam the file will be located there.

Running Yawcam with this start file will create a file yawcam_debug_log.txt with some extra debug info on your desktop.
Please email this log file to me. Hopefully this file will help me understand the problem better.

Note that the debug_start.bat will probably ask for permission to access windows registry. This is to be able to locate the path to you desktop.

/malun

[kvrajan]

Thanks Malun, for your response and suggestion.

I found out the problem was NOT in windows / YawCam or the Camera. It was due to the fact the long USB cable I had used to position the second camera at a distance.

When I connected the camera to the back pane of the CPU, both works alright without any problems, even when the system was rebooted and running as 2 services !

I figured out I need to procure an 'Active' USB 2.0 cable to keep it away from the computer.

I would like to let this run for few days without bringing in the Beta version at this stage. Things are getting sorted out and seems to be settling down and working fantastic.

However, as I would like to keep experimenting, please let me know, what is new in the beta version, so that I can try and contribute to its build.

Thanks again.
Kvr.

[malun]

Nice to hear that you found the problem!

The only reason I suggested you to download the beta version is that it includes a better script for producing debug information.
This script will be included as default in newer versions of Yawcam.

If you want information of new beta versions you can join the "BETA maling list". More info about that here:
http://www.yawcam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=173

/malun