Question / Help No more than 4 USB devices worky

[Headbyte]

I am a drummer. I am using a multi-cam setup (4 H9S Action Cams) and a Focusrite Scarlett 212 (3rd Gen) Audio Interface. I either get three Cams & the Audio or
if I uninstall Focusrite, I can get all 4 cams to work. But I can't have all FIVE USB devices working at the same time. I have confirmed that windows sees all 5 devices in Device Manager and I can go to Windows Camera App and scroll thru all 4 cameras. I can also open DAW s/w and confirm the Scarlett works. But no worky in OBS. I am using Win 10 (newest update) on an E6530 Dell Laptop w/ i5 and 16GB of RAM. There was a BRIEF period when I first installed OBS and was using an M-Audio Fast Track that it worked (I think). But then the Fast Track took a dump (not really) -- AVID decided to EOL it so there weren't any new drivers. Has anyone experienced this problem and/or found a fix? I would really like to get all the different angles of my kit while I play for my instructional videos. And ... it's a HUGE drum set which makes it even more fun. Thanks and hope everyone stays safe and healthy durning these crazy times.

best,
e-

ps: I need to grab the log file and will update my post. But I don't have it right now ... sorry.

 

[BionicClick]

hello,

well, it would be good to know what kind of computer you are using. many laptops cannot handle even two full USB streams from two capable devices. many only have one USB controller and that means it can only intake up to 5gbps max, unless its red not blue and it will intake 10gbps.

You are going to be hard pressed to find a computer than will intake 4 1080p cameras + other stuff. if you have a tower computer you can get a startech USB hub for internal and it has 4 ports and two controllers, and this may help your situation. onlly trying will tell you.

I can tell you from my experience as soon as you overload a USB hub things go bad fast with quality and ability to work fluidly. your mouse will even start skipping.

your issue (three cams + audio or 4 cams) this simply means the USB is overloaded.

You can attempt to ingest your cameras at a much lower resolution like 480p or 720p.. but even then I guess your issue will persist.

here is the hub you want. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DFQ6TW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[carlmmii]

The issue with multiple webcams is usually the USB2.0 bandwidth limitation per host controller. If you're only using USB2.0 webcams, they will be limited to the 480Mbps limit, not the USB3.0 limit of 5/10Gbps. Limiting the resolution is the only real way to reduce the bandwidth to work here.

Since you have a laptop, you can't exactly add more USB host controllers to expand your USB2.0 bandwidth. However, you can see if you can use USB3.0 cameras instead -- something like the Brio, or Logitech Streamcam. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now.

Something that might be helpful for your USB balancing is to use a program called USBview. This will give you a full tree view of what host controllers you have, and which devices are connected to each.

 

[carlmmii]

When you have a situation where OBS does not load all the webcams, is it possible for you to go to the non-working webcam's properties, and select a different webcam from the list?

Reason I ask is because of this line:

19:50:26.149: [DShow Device: 'Foot Cam'] settings updated: 
19:50:26.149:     video device: ACTION CAMERA
19:50:26.149:     video path: \\?\usb#vid_04fc&pid_6333&mi_00#8&34faed44&0&0000#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\global
19:50:26.149:     resolution: 1280x720
19:50:26.149:     flip: 0
19:50:26.149:     fps: 30.00 (interval: 333333)
19:50:26.149:     format: MJPEG
19:50:26.196: DShow: Run failed, device already in use (0x8007001F): A device attached to the system is not functioning.

That seems to imply that whatever identifier OBS had ended up pointing to a device that was already in use... which is absolutely something that can happen when using identical model devices.

 

[Headbyte]

Yeeeeeup. It's a crap shoot. 4 of the same crappy H9S Cams all scrambling to get into the club with the same clothes on lol! I hear tell I can go into DM properties and name them differently and I won't have this traffic jam. I will attempt this tomorrow after I do a drive backup because I hear I could trash my registry and fry the disk image lol. I've got some recording to do so gonna wait until I finish tracks before I try. But I think you're on to something here. If I had another Mac Book Pro ... I wouldn't even DEAL with this on Windows ... but hey ... I would like to fix this for the community. Thanks

e-

 

[carlmmii]

Speaking of, I hear Linux doesn't have this device name ambiguity problem that windows has. I have no experience myself doing anything with it -- I'm stuck in the "at the mercy of windows USB port name assignment" camp as well, but at least mine keep their randomly assigned IDs as long as they aren't moved.

 

[Headbyte]

Sometimes, you just can't see the forest through the trees. I fixed it (and boy was it dumb). Thanks for the USB Viewer. I have 3 ports on this laptop (I thought I only had 2). Switched to different ports and VOILA ... it's working! 4 cams and audio. Now I can start my videos. Thanks so much for the help!
best,
e-