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Multiple cameras with one PC

 
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Leo S



登録日: 2012.10.13
記事: 16

記事日時: Sun Oct 14, 2012 7:26 am    記事の件名: Multiple cameras with one PC 引用付きで返信

Hello SonotaCo and all,

I have been wondering how feasible it is to run 3 or 4 Watec 902H2s (for fireball observations) with one PC.

I've looked through the BBS for previous posts on the subject, but they all seem to be from a few years ago.

Is the answer still the same? ie it may be possible to run 2 cameras, but problematic to run any more?

I would ideally like to run 3 or 4 cameras with a single PC. What hardware configuration would be recommended for this?

I'm thinking that one SSD per camera, plus one for the operating system, a 4-8 core CPU, and 16 GB RAM might be good.

Are there any 4 input video capture cards that might be suitable, or is it still a case of using multiple/separate IEEE 1394 and/or USB2 buses?

Perhaps a good idea to use 1 PCI bus, and then try 2-3 IEEE 1394 and/or USB2 buses?

Also, is there a preferred operating system?

Thanks for any help.

Leo
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登録日: 2004.08.07
記事: 12653
所在地: 139.67E 35.65N

記事日時: Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:22 am    記事の件名: Re: Multiple cameras with one PC 引用付きで返信

Hi Leo, nice nickname Surprised
Leo S wrote:
Is the answer still the same? ie it may be possible to run 2 cameras, but problematic to run any more?

2cam on 1PC is operated by many people, I am running two such systems. They are Core2GHz+2HDD+IEEE1394x2(one on MB, one on PCI)+ADVC55x2. Those have been working well for years.
At first there are few people who tried 3 or 4 cams on 1 PC. But I don't know it was stable or not, nor is still working.

Leo S wrote:
I would ideally like to run 3 or 4 cameras with a single PC. What hardware configuration would be recommended for this?

Performance bottle necks may exist on 4 points. They are CPU, input device, system bus, storage. So it will be possible if you prepare enough performance for all of them.
Required bandwidth is 20MByte/sec for each standard density camera, so...
1) CPU: 4 core (or 2core with HT) 2.4GHz
2) Input device: 4 independent IEEE1394 interface chips on PCI-EXx1 bus
3) ADVC55x4
4) 7200rpm HDDx4 + 1 for system
This may be able to handle 4 cams, but I am afraid 2) might be rather difficult.

Leo S wrote:
I'm thinking that one SSD per camera, plus one for the operating system, a 4-8 core CPU, and 16 GB RAM might be good.

I think SSD is a bit challenging.... I don't know them well but NAND MLC SSDs speed decrease problem is truly solved by Windows7 Trim command?
Anyway if you try SSDs for many nights, please let me know its result.

Leo S wrote:
Are there any 4 input video capture cards that might be suitable, or is it still a case of using multiple/separate IEEE 1394 and/or USB2 buses?
Perhaps a good idea to use 1 PCI bus, and then try 2-3 IEEE 1394 and/or USB2 buses?

I know only independent IEEE1394s can be operated simultaneously. It runs well on all Windows and country, because its driver is provided by Microsoft himself.
USB devices or industrial multi-channel devices use third party drivers, so its information has not been shared widely.

PCI bus bandwidth 33MB/s can handle 1 stream only. Most mother boards has up to two PCI-EXx1 bus,
so, one on PCI, one on mother board, two on PCI-ex seems to have some possibility for 4 cams.

Leo S wrote:
Also, is there a preferred operating system?

If you use SSDs, you should use Windows7 or later.

I am also eagar for these information, please let us know if you try something.
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Leo S



登録日: 2012.10.13
記事: 16

記事日時: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:13 pm    記事の件名: 引用付きで返信

Thank you for the detailed answer SonotaCo.

Would it be safe to assume that drivers should not be a problem running 3 or 4x ADVC55 since it is possible to run two on the same system?

I also have no prior experience with SSDs, but I think it may be worth buying a couple at least to test. Perhaps it may allow the use of 4 cameras with two SSDs, a system drive, and not forgetting a high capacity drive (which doesn't need to be very fast) for backup.

Anyway I will see if I can find a solution to the "4th bus" problem, and decide over the coming weeks what hardware components to buy.

Thank you again,

Leo
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登録日: 2004.08.07
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記事日時: Sun Oct 14, 2012 4:30 pm    記事の件名: 引用付きで返信

Leo S wrote:
Would it be safe to assume that drivers should not be a problem running 3 or 4x ADVC55 since it is possible to run two on the same system?

Functionally, Microsoft's IEEE1394 driver will have no problem in multiple simultaneous operation. But of course there might be performance or bandwidth problem, so we cannot expect anything before actua test Wink
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Leo S



登録日: 2012.10.13
記事: 16

記事日時: Wed Oct 17, 2012 12:31 pm    記事の件名: 引用付きで返信

OK, thanks, I'll keep it in mind.

Forgive me is this is a stupid question, but basic PCI slots have a bandwidth of 133 MB/s (as far as I can tell), so should have enough for 6 cameras (6x 20 MB/s) with some headroom remaining. Am I missing something? PCI-ex is 500 MB/s and above, so even more possibility I would have thought.

Is there another reason why a single PCI card with multiple inputs could not be used? Perhaps because UFOCapture sees all the inputs as a single device?
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登録日: 2004.08.07
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記事日時: Wed Oct 17, 2012 3:17 pm    記事の件名: 引用付きで返信

Oh, it seems I was confused Embarassed
Yes PCI bus has 133MByte/s with 33MHz clock.
My exprience was that one IEEE1394interface on PCI bus could NOT handle two daisy chained video stream simultaneously. It might be the IEEE1394 bus limit.
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Leo S



登録日: 2012.10.13
記事: 16

記事日時: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:33 pm    記事の件名: 引用付きで返信

No harm done, and thanks for the reply once again.

I was thinking it might be possible to avoid the IEEE1394 interface, if the capture card is of the internal PCI type. It seems from the little research I have done on capture cards, there may be cards with suitable specification, that have multiple camera inputs.

I'm looking into it some more.

In the mean time, I've tried to order some suitable lenses. Hopefully they will be in stock, but nowhere else I have tried emailing has bothered to reply to me, which I'm assuming is either because they are out of stock or won't ship to the UK.
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