I am currently working on an image processing project using Java OpenIMAJ library. I need to grab frames from multiple cameras (using Logitech C270 USB Webcams right now) to perform manipulations on the grabbed frames.
I have hit a snag right now. I am able to add 2 cameras when both are running at 640X480 resolution and 3 cameras when the resolution is reduced to 320X240 for all three.
But I need to read the outputs from at least 5 cameras at reasonably good resolution to correctly perform my operations. Is this a limitation on the part of the hardware I am using or a software limitation?.. I have listed some details that I believe could help. Do let me know if you need any further information.
Windows 7 Professional 64bit
JDK 1.7
OpenIMAJ v1.1
Pentium Dual-Core E5700 @ 3.00GHz
4GB RAM
No dedicated Graphics
Webcams are connected to USB 2.0 ports
(Windows Experience Index 4.1)
Exception thrown for 3rd camera at 640x480 resolution is
org.openimaj.video.capture.VideoCaptureException: An error occured opening the capture device
Any comments on why I am getting this limitation would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance
In all likelihood this is down to a hardware limitation; streaming from multiple cameras tends to saturate the USB bus. We managed 6 cameras on two separate busses at 320x240 resolution on a single laptop before: http://blog.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/2011/08/01/goggles/