Can't use identical webcams in OBS?

[Captain_Ogre]

(Version 26.0 final)
I'm looking to do some livestreaming of a band, and I picked up a pair of identical cheap 1080p webcams. However, when trying to use both, only one at a time will show any video when both are activated. In order to switch over to the other one, I have to deactivate both, and then activate the other one to get it to show. Is it because they're identical cameras? They both show up in the video source selection list as "GENERAL WEBCAM." (Of course, being careful, I observed their positions in the list, and set them up in their respective positions.) But, they won't show video at the same time.

I've also tried separating the cameras in different scenes, with the same results. I've even gone as far as editing the registry to change their names, and that didn't work either. Same deal when trying this on a different computer.

Has anyone else figured this one out?

 

[Vedepo]

are you running in admin? also are they the same name inside the scene give them unique names with obs

 

[InteractiveDNA]

(Version 26.0 final)
I'm looking to do some livestreaming of a band, and I picked up a pair of identical cheap 1080p webcams. However, when trying to use both, only one at a time will show any video when both are activated. In order to switch over to the other one, I have to deactivate both, and then activate the other one to get it to show. Is it because they're identical cameras? They both show up in the video source selection list as "GENERAL WEBCAM." (Of course, being careful, I observed their positions in the list, and set them up in their respective positions.) But, they won't show video at the same time.

I've also tried separating the cameras in different scenes, with the same results. I've even gone as far as editing the registry to change their names, and that didn't work either. Same deal when trying this on a different computer.

Has anyone else figured this one out?

See my video on YT setting the best video system.

 

[FerretBomb]

(Version 26.0 final)
I'm looking to do some livestreaming of a band, and I picked up a pair of identical cheap 1080p webcams. However, when trying to use both, only one at a time will show any video when both are activated. In order to switch over to the other one, I have to deactivate both, and then activate the other one to get it to show. Is it because they're identical cameras? They both show up in the video source selection list as "GENERAL WEBCAM." (Of course, being careful, I observed their positions in the list, and set them up in their respective positions.) But, they won't show video at the same time.

I've also tried separating the cameras in different scenes, with the same results. I've even gone as far as editing the registry to change their names, and that didn't work either. Same deal when trying this on a different computer.

Has anyone else figured this one out?

Most commonly this is an issue with cheaper webcams; the firmware/drivers they use are set up with static device identifiers, instead of enumerating properly. Essentially it's an "I'm Spartacus" situation... both cameras are saying "I am Camera A" because they're hard-coded to do so instead of checking if there's already an A and calling themselves B instead, and OBS can only talk to one Camera A at a time. This isn't something OBS can really fix.

 

[Captain_Ogre]

are you running in admin? also are they the same name inside the scene give them unique names with obs

Yep, I'm in Admin. No, they are not the same name in the scene (I named them "left cam" and "right cam.")

See my video on YT setting the best video system.

Got a link to that?

Most commonly this is an issue with cheaper webcams; the firmware/drivers they use are set up with static device identifiers, instead of enumerating properly. Essentially it's an "I'm Spartacus" situation... both cameras are saying "I am Camera A" because they're hard-coded to do so instead of checking if there's already an A and calling themselves B instead, and OBS can only talk to one Camera A at a time. This isn't something OBS can really fix.

And yeah, that's what I'm suspecting. I was hoping somebody knew of a workaround for that...

 

[Captain_Ogre]

So, I actually did get it to work... sort of.

I have a three-cam setup, a left webcam, right webcam, and the built-in on the monitor that I call PC cam. The left and right cameras are identical. What I do is, on initial startup, deactivate all cameras. then I select a cam and activate it- it shows up. But, if I want to select a different cam, I have to hit the deactivate button, select the next cam, and hit the activate button.

This works, but I'm not quick enough to do this process to make it effective in a livestream. What I need is a macro that I can tie to a keyboard key (or, more specifically, three macros to tie to three different keys) that I can use in OBS (Feature request? hint hint).

Yeah, it's a "dirty" approach, but it's more conducive to what I'm looking to accomplish for this purpose... OK all you gurus! Got an idea how to do this?