multiple isights

[msp]

Hi,

for an event I want to add 4 (yes four) iSights to a MAC to capture video streams and present them on a video wall.

Is this possible? Does a (Power/Intel)Mac have enough firewire bandwidth to get all four streams?
Does a Mac have enough CPU-power to do the necessary processing?

I want to add 4 streams to a live picture with one cam picture in a edge of the screen. It should look like this:

1 2
3 4


Is there a app out in the wild that could do something like this?

I glad for any hint I get.

Thanks

msp

 

[Scarlet Fever]

What do you need to do with them? You might not need to have four.

I know you can have four computers, each witt their own iSight conferencing together with iChat on a network.

But i dont know about four on one computer...

A G5 Powermac will have the ports and the power needed to run four cams (if it were possible).

 

[msp]

What do you need to do with them? You might not need to have four.

I know you can have four computers, each witt their own iSight conferencing together with iChat on a network.

But i dont know about four on one computer...

A G5 Powermac will have the ports and the power needed to run four cams (if it were possible).

I need this setup for a competition. There will be 4 players, therefore I need the 4 video streams.
All should go into one Mac with a software that creates the layout (as shown above) that will go to a video projector for the audience.

Anyone has a idea how to achive this?

 

[michaelrjohnson]

My only contribution might not be all that beneficial...

I know that the software that you must use is not provided by Apple. Most programs I've stumbled across only accept a single video feed. Also, you're going to need a few more Firewire ports, but I'm sure you thought of that.

Good Luck!

 

[jacg]

Have you actually got the hardware yet? (if not, try with two sources - a firewire DV cam will do) Have you tried opening multiple quicktime 'new recording' windows? (This might be a QT Pro feature, can't remember) I haven't tried this yet but IF you can do more than one at a time and IF you can chose from a range of sources (like you can in iChat and Skype) then you could arrange your 'players' this way, perhaps in front of a customised desktop?

If you need me to try this, I could test it on an Intel iMac for you.

 

[jacg]

Update to my suggestion

Bad news. Quicktime won't allow more than one recording window (and it didn't even recognise my external video source in the same way that iChat does). I managed to get two video sources on screen - the iSight in the QT window and my video capture unit in iChat preview. Skype video could allow another stream in a preview window but this is not exactly the elegant solution you are looking for.

Good luck - please post your solution if you find one.

 

[Coheebuzz]

You can try Evocam. On the feature list it says it can support multiple cameras but i haven't tried it.

Features
Supports multiple cameras simultaneously
Supports multiple webcam windows, each with independent settings
Supports virtually any QuickTime-compatible camera or video input device

I have also found Wacaw. Don't know how it works but it seems relevant.

Hope that helps you.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

I watched the WWDC keynote, and Jobs had 2 iSights on his ACD, presumably connected to the one MacPro. Looks like it might be possible...

Ask an Apple tech in an AppleCenter. They may be able to help.

 

[cube]

I watched the WWDC keynote, and Jobs had 2 iSights on his ACD, presumably connected to the one MacPro. Looks like it might be possible...

They had a backup computer, so most probably one iSight connected to each of the 2 machines.