Hey Yall,
Ive been using TD and combing forums for a couple years, just never logged into my account until recently … I’ve got a pretty frustrating bug that’s been plaguing me since November.
I’m running a 6 webcam rig for creative multicam streaming of live concerts. I’ve slowly built it up since late 2021, originally off an intel MacBook Pro, and in October I upgraded to an m2 Mac Studio w 96gb of ram and 38 gpu. The sole purpose of this purchase was to get rid of any processing limits - I’m using audio reactivity, having cameras interact with each other, controlling the whole thing with a midi controller - I’m very proud of the setup and the efficiency of design (since I originally had to keep within the MacBook processing).
After getting the Mac Studio and setting up and testing my sessions at home, I finally took the rig into work (I book and run sound at a venue in Austin, TX). It was for a solo piano performance, and I wanted to do a 4 cam setup with a single audio reactivity effect. But something happened when I got there …
I can no longer run multiple webcams. As soon as I get up to 3 … the 3rd one will not show. It will go active on TD, the webcam lights will come on, but the screen will be black, or sometimes very, very dark … if I turn off webcam 1, webcam 3 will suddenly work. If I turn webcam 1 back on, webcam 2 or 3 will cut out. This started at the piano show, and has never worked again after. I cannot get more than 2 webcams running under any circumstance.
This problem has persisted through:
Swapping ports
Putting each webcam on its own port
Removing certain cameras
Rolling back TD versions
Wiping computer and putting TD as the only software
Repairing the Mac Studio (at this point everything but the chassis has been replaced)
Upgrading to OS 14 (was on OS 13 before, my audio programs don’t all like 14 yet)
Reordering all webcams and hubs to ensure the failure wasn’t there
I suspected dirty power, but after having every piece of the computer repaired, that seems like it can’t be the case. The webcams are all pretty light, 1080p, h.264 compression so super light on file size, USB 2.0. I’m using a couple different hubs and extenders to run the cables live … the main thing being that it all worked, until 1 day it didn’t.
Any guidance?
Here is a vid of the piano performance, where it all fell apart and I just used 1 webcam
Here is a clip compilation of a test session, the last one I did on the MacBook.
For webcams I’m using:
2x SVPRO Portable USB Camera 1080P Mini USB Web Camera with Aluminum Case, HD Camera with 170 Degree Lens Ultra Wide Angle, 0.01lux Low Light Camera with Sony IMX323 Sensor H.264 30fps
^stage right and stage left views, cameras onstage
SVPRO Manual Focus USB Camera Zoom 2.8-12mm Lens 1080P HD Low Light Webcam with Sony IMX323 Sensor H.264 Portable USB Web Camera with Metal Housing and Bracket
^front of house wide shot, whole stage + crowd
XPCam Full HD 1080P Webcam with Privacy Shutter and Tripod, Pro Streaming Web Camera with Microphone, Widescreen USB Computer Camera for PC Mac Laptop Desktop
^fx cams for interesting views. I like them up at drummer between snare and hats, or clipped to a mic stand, mostly nontraditional I retesting shots that are fun to fx. High movement is best imo.
SVPRO 1080P USB with Camera 4mm Manual Focus Lens USB Surveillance Cameras Sony IMX323 Sensor Built-in Mic Digital Low Light Camera H.264 Compressing
^lead singer shot