How many USB cameras can be accessed by one PC

c# .net camera usb pc
John Hadikusumo picture John Hadikusumo · Apr 20, 2012 · Viewed 8.8k times · Source

I am just wondering how many USB cameras can be accessed by one desktop PC? Is there any limit? I am planning to create my own Windows application (using .NET) to capture around 10 USB cameras that are connected to my desktop PC. Is this possible?

Answer

Christopher picture Christopher · Apr 20, 2012

The problem is not how many you can discover. On a single USB bus, ~127 could be possible.

But, a USB bus can only transfer a limited amount of bytes per second. So if you want to use more then one, you have to calculate the amount of bandwidth you have for the video stream.

Example : A USB bus normally can deliver realistically ~35 MB/s. 640*480*2 bytes per pixel => 614400 bytes per frame. @30 FPS this is ~17 MB/s, so you can use 2 cameras simultaneously with this setup.

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