garageCube

[mistretta]

Hey, so I've heard that you can have a single live camera input into Modul8 — we want to do that, but also have a second live video input (coming into a Mac Pro with multiple Firewire ports).

Is there any way to do this? Is it feasible? And if not, are there any plug-ins or other software that would be better-suited for this purpose?

- Michael

[david]

Hello Michael,

Modul8 handles up to four video inputs.

However there is some technical limitations :
- the bandwidth is limited on the Firewire/USB bus
- IIRC, you could only have one DV stream at a time

The demo version of Modul8 handles these video inputs the same way as the normal version. So, you should give it a try to see if it meets your needs.

Regards.

[morning_b]

i also have the same problem. i'm working on a project which involve multiple live videos projection in a small exhibition area.
i'm using two webcams and trying to get two more but then the usb hub is not gonna work...
this is a very low budget project. what should i do? what gears should i have as an input hub for 4 webcams? (for 4 video input in md8)
or any suggestion on getting something else for the video capturing devices?
thank you in advance!!

[lotech]

As David said you can only handle so much data down a USB Bus. If you want more inputs you'll need more USB chipsets - not a big problem with a MacPro or on ExpressCard34 supporting MacBookPros as you can buy an inexpensive USB2 PCIe Card.
New Macs can also gain additional USB chipsets via Thunderbolt but anything with the word Thunderbolt = expensive.
Your best bet is to mix format, 1x USB (maybe 2x) + 1x Firewire/DV. Keep in mind though the DV signal will have a few frames delay and be out of sync with the USB feed.

VJnutcracker did some testing getting 4x USB into his Modul8 - with very limited success.

Personally I use an SD mixer to run 4 cameras into a DC60+ USB Capture dongle. It means only 1 camera at a time, but at least you can switch between them easily. This of course might not be appropriate for your situation.

Check the 'Modul8 v2.5.8+ Video Capture Compatibilty List' thread for more possible options too.

[morning_b]

Thanks for your reply!
I've already checked the post you suggested and feel like most of the devices recommended in the compatibility list are for DV cam. (the DC60+, am i right?)
The reason why i choose to work with usb webcam is its small size that i can easily blend it with the surrounding.
The project i'm working on is kind of like an art exhibition/ installation project. Not exactly a vjing kind of thing.
So, from your suggestion, i'm getting an expresscard34 usb hub http://www.sonnettech.com/product/4portusb2express34.html
Is it going to work? or this is just like another usb hub.
And actually i'm thinking about feeding the video input channel in modul8 with Mobiola Webcamera application for iphone. Because i'm going to need the video from outside the exhibition space. Any experience?
Thanks again!

[vanakaru]

You make it too complicated and prone to have problems duration of the time. I think you should try to get over of USB cams. There are too many problems with these if you try to use more than 2. And keep in mind that you can not run long USB cables from long distance on the top of all you want your poor computer to do.
Yes, there are great USB extender cables that you can run about 25m but these work in ideal situations. Since the gallery setup is not something you just experiment to see if you can get it to work but long term reliability project get reliable gear.
To my experience analog security cameras work the best, These come in many shapes and sizes. You can run very long BNC cables or S-video cables 10m easy. Then you need video capture card(s) with the number of inputs you require to your MacPro(Intensity cards?). These cards can capture uncompressed422 video with little latency. You may find it very expensive solution, but I would not trust all that USB crap.

If I must use USB cams I would buy built in iSight cameras off iMac 2006 onward (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-661-3893- ... 690wt_1052) and fit these with USB cable that is very easy to do. These are recognized as native mac cameras as iSight1,2, 3, 4. I have experimented with 3, but I saturate my USB buses on my MBP4.1 fast. On the other hand these work just better than anything else that needs mac drivers.

BTW compatibility list does not recommend DV capture at all as the most CPU hungry one with possible problems of interlacing artifacts.

[morning_b]

Umm i see. Thank you so much for your advice!

[Paul Sellis]

morning_b have you tried Mobiola + iPhones + Modul8 ?
I am interested by this combination and just wondering about the resulted quality...
(Mobiola, iWebcamera or other iPhone app)

[BVENHORST]

Can someone confirm that this works or has been tested before.....

Looking to use black magic intensity 4 input capture card to bring in 4 different camera's into a mac pro using MODUL8 software.

1. Is Modul8 software setup to handle 4 different camera inputs?
2. How does Modul8 handle a 480i input?, What is done with interlaced signal to prevent interlacing artifacts?

thanks

bryan venhorst

[vanakaru]

Can someone confirm that this works or has been tested before.....

Search
http://vjforums.com

I have seen many discussions about this card.
And Modul8 as any other software has not much to do with it. But in other hand I can capture with best frame rate using M8 and not the others even Quicktime.

[mkunoff]

@Paul Sells

I have been experimenting with Mobiola and it doesn't seem very stable. However I am getting the feed in Modul8 which is encouraging at least. More testing is needed but occasionally the image freezes and or connection is lost.

It would be great if there was a way to redirect Facetime to a syphon input.

-Mark

[vjjustinallen]

How do you get the Daystar logo off the screen when using the XLR* Proview dongle?

[ejsauda]

Does anyone have experience useing Power over Internet cameras connected to a powered hub such as D-Link 5 Port PoE Fast Ethernet Desktop Switch
(http://www.dlink.com/ca/en/business-sol ... top-switch)
Someone suggested this solution as a possibility because the bandwidth for ethernet is so much bigger than usb or firewire.

I am trying to create a toolkit of hardware and software for design students to construct media environments. The student all use MacBook Pro machines, and I have several Maxxon tripleheaders-to-go for the output linked to three projectors. I am using Modul8 2.6, and I would like to enable them to use all four video in channels if it is possible. I cannot get the machine to work with more than two USB cameras, and one defaults to the isight in the laptop.

Thanks

[radiofreebc]

I work in an environment where we have a need for multiple live cameras/sources (HD-SDI), outputting to multiple projectors/screens and I'd like to start using Modul8/MadMapper to do that...as I love the software. I'm really interested in using a Blackmagic DeckLink Quad as an input/output card with Modul8...as it uses SDI in/out. We need multiple outputs (usually centre screen is data, outside screens are cameras), and this looks like it should work.

I'd also really like to be able to use a MacBook Pro, since we usually have limited desk space to work with. I've seen this breakout box by Magma (http://www.magma.com/expressbox-3t) and I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with a configuration like this (with a DeckLink Quad/MacBookPro) to get multiple cameras/sources (HD-SDI) into Modul8 through Thunderbolt.

Has anyone tested this to see if it would work? I know Modul8 is capable of 4 camera input, which is exactly what we need. Can I use a setup like this on a MacBook Pro in HD resolution without delay/dropping frames? Since they're cameras, we need them to be in sync...that's very important. Is this possible at all, or am I just dreaming? Obviously, if it would work...we would buy the fastest, most poweful laptop available.

Are there any other setups that would work better? Obviously a MacPro would be ideal...but it's not a possibility, given the space we have to work with. Money isn't an object, but space is.

[lotech]

It is possible although you can't use the Decklink Quad to do output at all. As a result you'll need to look at a triplehead2Go or Datapath X4 to get multiple outputs.
Based on my experiments you'll need to limit the amount of processing you're doing to keep camera sync. Using a MacMini i7 capturing in HD-SDI via Quartz and then running into MadMapper @ 720P50 the delay was minimal, but when running it through Modul8 it ended up causing a 1-2 sec delay.

I have recently built a new hackintosh with a decent GTX580 gpu and can capture a single 1080P25 feed into Resolume, layer 2 clips on top and output @ 1080 and have realtime output. Your desired 4x inputs + 3x outputs might work on spec'd MacPro or Hackintosh but probably won't cut it on a MBP. The more powerful the computer the better and I would say that in all likeliness you'll need a MacPro with multiple graphics cards to really get real time output properly.

Also currently MadMapper doesn't support multiple outputs so unless you use a TH2Go/Datapath your stuck with only 1 output anyway.