Hi,

I am about trying my first test with several webcams.
I bought 4 PS3 Eye cams but do not receive them yet. So I do not know the USB cable length that comes with it.
I guess it will not be long enough...
So my question is : What should I use to extend the cable ? What is the maximal length of this extension ?

TY

hi , i bought 4 ps3 eye cams too , eash cable is 2mt

bought 5 mt extension cables but fps was low , now also bought hub+adaptor for each one to get better fps..didnt try yet

You need to get USB Repeater cables. These are special extensions with capacitors that boost the power strength and reliability. Some of these can be daisy chained for great lengths.

I have six of these cables, which gives me plenty of extension. You can probably get away with just three or four (one cam attached directly to your computer, one repeater cable for each side camera, and two daisy-chained cables for a distant camera):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812224004

A hub won't necessarily help as it may cause a bottleneck in data flow. You can probably put two cameras on a hub with reliable results, but I think four will cause dropped frames.

_________________
Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

TY for your very helping answer Greenlaw. :-)

Just another question about these repeater cables...
Should we stay below the length of 5m when using them ?
I found some saying that and other ones saying up to 60m ! ^^

TY

Hi Ty,

I would be very surprised if you ever need a 60m (196 feet) USB cable for an iPi Recorder session.

The repeater cables I bought from Newegg are recommended for up to 25m (82 feet,) which is insanely long for use with iPi cameras. The longest chain I've ever needed for iPi is two daisy-chained cables, which adds up to 10m (or about 33 feet,) which is quite long, and probably long enough for most people using iPi Recorder.

I quickly tested a three-chain cable for one camera once, just to see if it worked, and it seemed to work fine. I haven't fully test the limits yet. I'll do this on my next session, probably this weekend. (I got some new studio gear and the tools to mod my PS3 cameras yesterday, so I'm eager to get going again.) :)

G.

_________________
Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Hello again
tried with few diffirent hubs that on each cable, was 25-30 fps and unstable..also 10-15 droped frames

but bought uptech usbhub and all 4 5mt cables on a hub , now getting best stable fps that 30.30 and dropped frames 0-1 for each cam

don't know if helps

TY Greenlaw and serenat for your answer !

I am waiting for my 4 webcams and making my first tests without any extension in order to see first how my PC is handling all that.
I hope it will be ok !

I am asking myself also whether it is important or not to have the same length of extension on each webcam in order to have them "synchronized"...

Synchronization shouldn't be a problem; dropped frames are more the issue. In general, you can prevent this by keeping the exposure setting in Recorder (and in your camera control panel, if available,) on the low side. Remember, the picture does not have to be pretty for iPi DMC, just clear enough for tracking.

_________________
Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

TY again for your answer Greenlaw !

So, the dropped frames are related to the exposure ? Not to bottlenecks in communication ?