2 cameras recording to one computer
 

Hi

Anyone know how I could record from two cameras using the firewire into one computer at the same time? Is there any software that does this? I use DV Rack but I do not think it will take two inputs.

Thanks

Trevor

This is possible (we do this under Linux with custom software), but difficult. My recollection is that the cameras default to broadcast on Firewire channel 63, and we had to write software to switch them to different channels so that we could receive streams from four at a time. (My comments apply only to HDV mode -- the HD100's DV mode uses a completely separate Firewire interface that could behave differently.)

I'm happy to share our software with you, but unless you're willing to use Linux and muck around at a low level to adapt it to your needs, it probably won't be of much use to you. If the existing programs can't do this (I've never used HDV Rack, so I don't know one way or another), just be aware that you would be in for a significant undertaking that would probably require custom software.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful,
Keith

I beleive it's possible with M$ Windows and firewire, but, in order to make it work you need a seperate firewire bus for each device. That means one adapter card for each camera and one adapter card for each HD. If you're recording to an internal HD, I'm not sure how to handle that.

Thanks for this.

Bill, any idea what software package would do it, given the hardware you suggest?

Keith, thaks for the offer but its out of my league I think.

Trevor

If it is possible to run multiple instances of VLC videoLAN player, have a seperate firewire interface per cam, and configure stream capture to a seperate drive, it might be possible. Of course have enough cpu and ram to handle it all. Shouldn't be that bad though.

I would assume multiple instances of the capture program would work. The capture programs usually have a dropdown window allowing you to select the input device.

Hi,

there is a german software company who made a program called "dual dv" or "multi dv" with their HDV brothers "HDV dual" and "HDV multi":

http://www.video-tools.tv/

its recording from different fiwi inputs to Harddisk and writes the same TC to all streams - so when done you´ll find up to 6 videostreams with synced TC.

Ive never seen it in real live - no idea if its worth the money (HDV multi goes for ~500$)

Uli