Multiple video cameras for coaching - troubleshooting

[Murray]

A coach in the UK has purchased some software (MotionView, similar to Dartfish), a laptop, a PCMCIA IEEE1394 adapter and a couple of video cameras to provide video analysis functionality.

I assisted with the setup last night and found that when both cameras were connected, only video from one would be visible (it's fine if I use one IEEE 1394 camera, plus the laptop built-in camera).

On searching I found this:

Problems with Two Digital Video Camcorders That Are Connected to Two Different IEEE 1394 Adapters

Note at the bottom it says "There is a limitation of One digital video camcorder for each IEEE 1394 adapter. There is a limited amount of available bandwidth for ISOCH data on the IEEE 1394 bus, so two camcorders on a single IEEE 1394 controller cannot be supported. Note that this is a design limitation, and is not supported. Although some combinations of different camcorders may work in this specific scenario, Microsoft cannot guarantee this successful use of this configuration, and this configuration is not supported."

Do you know of anyone who has a multi-camera setup working on a laptop, or does this mean he will need to install TWO adapter cards (most likely into a desktop because of the space requirements)?

It would be a complete pain to set this up on a desktop, so if anyone knows someone who has a similar setup working, please let me know!

TIA, M.


[edit: think I just found my answer... Dartfish Board -> Two DV Cameras ]

[Grepless]

Hi Murray,
I've come across device limitations like this before - I got round it with a desktop machine - using multiple controllers - however - I have found something that may be of interest to you for the laptop :
2 PORT FIREWIRE 800 & 1 PORT FIREWIRE 400 PC CARD
from Sweex - it looks like it is a true 3 port card - advantage being that it is 2 800Mb ports and 1 x 400Mb.
Have a look - Sweex - My Digital Life

cheers

Grep