Question / Help Multiple Video Capture cards of same name not working

AlbanArts1

New Member
I am attempting to connect 3 capture cards all from the same manufacturer into OBS. The capture cards are working fine when I open my camera program on the computer, and I can switch between all of them seamlessly. However, when I open OBS and try to use them as a video source I get no video feed. OBS recognizes all three devices and lists 3 separate USB Video devices (all by the same name). I am thinking the issue may be because the devices all have the same name, but I cannot find a way to rename them, but that is just a guess. When using my camera app it automatically lists USB Device #1, #2 and #3 but in OBS it does not add the numbers which is why I'm led to believe that may be the issue. Please advise me as to how to change the names of inputs or how to address this problem another way. I know there has to be a way to get this working.
 

Tangential

Member
Have you tried deactivating and the reactivating them? Sometimes I have to do this on Win10 to get USB webcams to work. Also, can you see all three webcams actually working at the same time with the other software? By this I mean see simultaneous video feeds?
 

FerretBomb

Active Member
Many times less-expensive cards will work one at a time, but the drivers aren't programmed to support simultaneous use of multiple of the same device, in the device drivers/firmware. OBS can handle multiple identical-named units just fine, itself.
 

AlbanArts1

New Member
Have you tried deactivating and the reactivating them? Sometimes I have to do this on Win10 to get USB webcams to work. Also, can you see all three webcams actually working at the same time with the other software? By this I mean see simultaneous video feeds?
I tried deactivating and reactivating, and still not working. Also yes I can see all 3 cameras working in other software, just not in OBS.
 

AlbanArts1

New Member
Many times less-expensive cards will work one at a time, but the drivers aren't programmed to support simultaneous use of multiple of the same device, in the device drivers/firmware. OBS can handle multiple identical-named units just fine, itself.
Would this be the case if I can still see all 3 cameras in other software? I can see and switch easily between all 3 cameras in my camera application, just not OBS.
 

AlbanArts1

New Member
I'm using Windows 10 and the capture cards work in the windows camera program as well as Snap Camera. The video capture cards im using are made by BlueAVS. I know they are not the best quality video capture cards, but everything is back ordered or price gouged like crazy right now. I feel like since they work in other programs easily that the issue is with OBS and how it recognizes the devices and not the capture cards, but maybe I'm wrong.
 

AlbanArts1

New Member
Windows camera doesn't show 3 videos on the screen at once but I am able to switch back and forth between the 3 grabbers without any issues. I can run windows camera and snap camera at same time and see 2 grabbers at the same time that way.
 

Tomasz Góral

Active Member
And you are fooling us here;)
In OBS, after adding a video source, it is still active (reserves the USB band, etc.).
When you use only one device in another program as the source, it works in OBS all you define.
So this is a problem, e.g. USB bus (one USB 3.0 bridge has a bandwidth of 5 Gb / s, FullHD signal is 3Gb / s), the other problem is drivers, they can only allow one device working in the system at a time.
 

AlbanArts1

New Member
So is there a way to fix this problem, change something with the drivers or get a bigger faster usb bridge? Or am I screwed and just need 3 different capture devices?
 

Tomasz Góral

Active Member
You need more USB bridge and device who can work together.
I have, for example, GC553 2 items and GC311 3 items. These devices can work in a number greater than 1.
 

Tangential

Member
There is a checkbox in OBS to deactivate a webcam when not viewing. Have you tried that?
Screen Shot 2020-05-22 at 9.09.50 AM.png
 

BigYuckFou

Member
Hey, just to clarify you can use multiple capture cards. I had three USB cards attached to a laptop. the USB hub would get overloaded until I started using OBS a little differently. I started bringing the inputs into OBS from the capture cards at a lower resolution from all inputs. trying 1080p @30 or 60 even with one capture card over USB is enough to overload most USBs.

So I sold two of the capture devices so I could stop using USB for two of the three. both the HD60 S from Elgato and the Elgato Cam Link were sold. I now instead use the following internal solution along with one external USB capture card as well all Avermedia Live Gamer Ultra without any issues.
The Avermedia software that comes from the Avermedia website to update firmware shows all 4 devices independently as does OBS, see image below for OBS window. it also numbers and/or names the Inputs in OBS automatically.

Have you tried updated firmware for your capture devices? Some USB 3.0 devices have issues when inserted to higher capabillity USB plugs like 3.1 or 3.1v2 = just a thought.

My current capture card setup
Triple Avermedia Live Gamer 4K Internal
Single Avermedia Live Gamer Ultra External USB 3.0 Capture

Here is the input in OBS you can see all 4 cards, 3 internal and one external. and the external USB cards stream engine also.
2.PNG


This is the PC itself.
avermedia-smaller.jpg
 

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AlbanArts1

New Member
There is a checkbox in OBS to deactivate a webcam when not viewing. Have you tried that?View attachment 56512
That didn't work either. Actually for a brief second I saw more than one video input with a live image, but it was short lived and went back to blank screen. The fact that I got them to work for a brief moment leads me now to believe that my issue may be the usb hub I''m using and not the capture cards. I think I might be overloading what it can send at once...
 

AlbanArts1

New Member
Hey, just to clarify you can use multiple capture cards. I had three USB cards attached to a laptop. the USB hub would get overloaded until I started using OBS a little differently. I started bringing the inputs into OBS from the capture cards at a lower resolution from all inputs. trying 1080p @30 or 60 even with one capture card over USB is enough to overload most USBs.

So I sold two of the capture devices so I could stop using USB for two of the three. both the HD60 S from Elgato and the Elgato Cam Link were sold. I now instead use the following internal solution along with one external USB capture card as well all Avermedia Live Gamer Ultra without any issues.
The Avermedia software that comes from the Avermedia website to update firmware shows all 4 devices independently as does OBS, see image below for OBS window. it also numbers and/or names the Inputs in OBS automatically.

Have you tried updated firmware for your capture devices? Some USB 3.0 devices have issues when inserted to higher capabillity USB plugs like 3.1 or 3.1v2 = just a thought.

My current capture card setup
Triple Avermedia Live Gamer 4K Internal
Single Avermedia Live Gamer Ultra External USB 3.0 Capture

Here is the input in OBS you can see all 4 cards, 3 internal and one external. and the external USB cards stream engine also.
View attachment 56524

This is the PC itself.
View attachment 56526
I think you may be onto something here. For a brief moment I got OBS to recognize all three devices, but as soon as I added a second scene all 3 went back to black. Which leads me to believe that it may be my USB hub mot being able to handle the load. I'm using a Microsoft Surface for this set up, and there is no way to add internal capture cards. Do you have a suggestion possibly to solve this with still using external capture cards? Possibly a faster USB hub?
 
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