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Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Suggestions for new features for Magic.
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Terry Payman
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Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Terry Payman »

The Sony PS3 Eye USB camera can deliver 640x480 @ 60fps with a 3rd-party driver/SDK
As it's discontinued, it's very cheap to buy used (£3 in the UK)

Unfortunately the driver is not visible to Magic's VideoCapture module, although it supports operation with Skype etc:

https://www.zonetrigger.com/articles/hi ... e-cameras/
https://codelaboratories.com/downloads
https://codelaboratories.com/forums/viewthread/77/

It would be great to be able to use multiple PS3 Eye cameras with Magic,

The CL PS3 Eye Multicam SDK - 2+ Cameras for Developer "Provides a high performance set of tools that allows for the use of up to 16 PS3 Eye cameras in your projects. .. Consisting of a multi-camera API and a framework with examples for integration. Giving you samples in Actionscript, Java, C++, OpenCV and C# and more..."
https://codelaboratories.com/products/eye/sdk/

A Spout sender that supported multiple PS3 Eyes would be neat!
Sadler
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Re: Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Sadler »

I get the impression that the webcam arena is a bit of a mess and that if a developer gets it working in Skype they think that's their job finished. This is only my user experience though, not any dev insight. For instance, my MS LifeCam Studio works in Skype and MMV but not in Resolume. I have a Kinect V2 webcam driver that works in Skype, partially in Resolume but not in MMV. Spout v2.04 stopped Skype from working but v2.05 is fine. I had a USB microscope a while back but that only worked with its own app which wasn't very good. Most virtual webcam are useless or too flakey though ManyCam seems to be able to handle all cameras I throw at it and all apps can access it. I'd rather not use ManyCam though.

Personally, I wouldn't use a 640x480 camera these days - 720p is my limit. That said, I haven't yet managed to get that into any VJ apps yet.

16 cameras at 640x480 might be interesting though - but what about the bandwidth? Kinect V2 requires high bandwidth USB 3.0 for one camera. It is 1080p with depth, multi-channel sound and skeleton data. Probably need to do some maths.
Terry Payman
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Re: Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Terry Payman »

Sadler wrote:...16 cameras at 640x480 might be interesting though - but what about the bandwidth?....
Personally I wouldn't want to use 16 cameras, but it's good to know that the driver supports that many and that each camera can be individually identified and controlled. Using identical USB cameras under Windows is normally problematic.
Magic
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Re: Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Magic »

In regards to the number of USB cameras, the limiting factor is always hardware (motherboard and USB controllers). Drivers are software, and while they may theoretically support more than 2 cameras, most motherboards can't -- they don't have the USB bandwidth. The only way to fix this is to add extra USB controller cards, but it's not a guaranteed solution.

One of my highest priorities after releasing Magic v2.0 is to improve the VideoCapture module such that it supports DirectShow devices on Windows and QuickTime devices on Macs. This will mean better compatibility with many legacy devices and webcams, and higher-quality devices like BlackMagic cards.

The problem with supporting devices that require their own SDKs, and especially those that are discontinued, is that it's a lot of work, but not a lot of customers will be able to benefit.

In the depth-sensing department, Kinect would surely be the highest priority (based on customer requests), if I ever get there :).
Terry Payman
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Re: Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Terry Payman »

Eric wrote:One of my highest priorities.. is to improve the VideoCapture module such that it supports DirectShow devices on Windows and QuickTime devices on Macs... This will mean better compatibility with many legacy devices and webcams, and higher-quality devices like BlackMagic cards...

The problem with supporting devices that require their own SDKs, and especially those that are discontinued, is that it's a lot of work, but not a lot of customers will be able to benefit...
:D It will be great to have access to so much legacy kit, I can see that's of benefit to a much wider user base and a much better use of your time.

Your forthcoming support for DirectShow could enable use of a single PS3 Eye, at least under Windows 7/8, with the standard $2.99 Code Laboratories driver.
https://codelaboratories.com/products/eye/driver/

Perhaps multiple cameras can be used with Code Laboratories Platform Packs.
https://codelaboratories.com/products/eye/packs/

I'll let you know as soon as I can try a DirectShow VideoCapture module ;)

EDIT:
DirectShow could enable use of modern kit too, like these USB3 cameras (only if the VideoCapture module accepted compressed MJPEG?)
https://www.e-consystems.com/See3CAM-USB-3-Camera.asp

Will the VideoCapture module support the USB3 Vision Standard?
http://www.visiononline.org/vision-stan ... fm?type=11
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/ ... mance.html
Eric wrote:In regards to the number of USB cameras, the limiting factor is always hardware ... The only way to fix this is to add extra USB controller cards, but it's not a guaranteed solution.
Thanks, you had mentioned this limitation previously so I plan to try a multi-channel USB card, Startech PEXUSB3S44V, which needs a PCIe x4 slot.
https://www.startech.com/uk/Cards-Adapt ... EXUSB3S44V

Seems like overkill at 20Gbps and I'd prefer a solution that used a PCIe x1 slot. Any suggestions welcome!
Eric wrote:In the depth-sensing department, Kinect would surely be the highest priority (based on customer requests)

Yes please!
;) Sleep is over-rated. Think how much Kinect integration you could be doing in those wasted night-time hours ;)
Magic
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Re: Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Magic »

Will the VideoCapture module support the USB3 Vision Standard?
From what I read, it seems that most new USB3 devices will still be covered by DirectShow on Windows, but I'll make sure to check.
Terry Payman
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Re: Support for Sony PS3 Eye USB camera

Post by Terry Payman »

Eric wrote:
Will the VideoCapture module support the USB3 Vision Standard?
From what I read, it seems that most new USB3 devices will still be covered by DirectShow on Windows, but I'll make sure to check.

Many thanks Eric :D
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