software to control multiple cameras

[asheenlevrai]

Hey

 

I have a project for which I would need to connect around 20 USB cameras to a Windows computer and have each camera take a picture every 5-10 seconds.

 

Do you have any suggestion for a (free) program that could handle that?

 

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

 

Best,

-a-

[goatedpenguin]

OBS? Just add multiple sources? Or try using a software known as ManyCam. 

[whispous]

2 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

Hey

 

I have a project for which I would need to connect around 20 USB cameras to a Windows computer and have each camera take a picture every 5-10 seconds.

 

Do you have any suggestion for a (free) program that could handle that?

 

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

 

Best,

-a-

Is this for an incredibly janky "CCTV" style setup? How long are the longest USB runs intended to be?

[asheenlevrai]

15 hours ago, whispous said:

Is this for an incredibly janky "CCTV" style setup? How long are the longest USB runs intended to be?

No. it's to monitor the growth/movement of plants over the course of days.

A few images per minute (frequency still TBD).

Not all cameras need to take pictures synchronously (actually I figured it would be better if they DO NOT take the images synchronously, in order not to risk saturating the USB bus, right?).

Length of the USB cables should be under 2m each (probably under 1m each).

[asheenlevrai]

17 hours ago, goatedpenguin said:

OBS? Just add multiple sources? Or try using a software known as ManyCam. 

ManyCam would be $60/year for 20 cams (50 cams tier). I hate subscriptions. When did we stop paying for software upfront, once and for all?

I'll look into OBS (it seems like it's limited to 8 sources max, but TBC). Thank you

 

Do not hesitate if yo have any other suggestions.

[whispous]

2 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

No. it's to monitor the growth/movement of plants over the course of days.

That actually sounds really interesting. If you have time, could we see pics of the setup?

[asheenlevrai]

2 hours ago, whispous said:

That actually sounds really interesting. If you have time, could we see pics of the setup?

There's no setup yet. But it's probably going to look like a laptop with a big-ass USB hub and a bunch of webcams attached to it.

 

I'll keep you posted.

[goatedpenguin]

6 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

I'll look into OBS (it seems like it's limited to 8 sources max, but TBC).

Strange, I thought the number of sources is based how much gpu and cpu overhead you have… it seems like your use case is going to require quite a bit off hudles to get through especially with the part of taking photos with a 5-10 sec delay from multiple cameras.