I would like to preview the video in 3d during capture, or just before that (check the final camera alignment, window violations, etc. I am considering to use NTSC composite video as it is available from my Sony camcorders via the A/V connector, digitize it, most likely with USB dongles connected to netbook PC and either diplay it as an anaglyph, or output it 50% compressed into stereoscopic glasses, using Peter Wimmer's 3dtv software. AVCHD outputs are available as well, but I would guess that route would be lot more difficult. I know some people are doing it, and I am asking for practical and tried solutions for actual Hardware and Software. I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you, Pavel.

Some glasses is not available that have two input, and show the left camera picture to the left eye, and the right to the right?

I am not sure. There are two sources of glasses that will do that that I found (Zeiss and Vuzix). The video for those glasses must be processed for a side-by-side 50% squeeze, so it must be first digitized and processed, which unfortunately means that I have to have a computer between the cameras and the glasses, unless someone has some other way to process the two streams, or know of glasses that will accept two separate analog or digital streams. I was looking for suggestions from someone who actually did it. I think that once I have a computer in the rig, I prefer to use it's screen and display an anaglyph (and possibly differential) preview on a small netbook PC rather than using the glasses, even though once I have the digitizer and netbook PC, I should be able to do it either way.

I am not sure about this. I have only seen one product that seems to be designed for something like that, the Black Magic Design HDLink Pro 3D (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hdlink/), it is not quite clear from its description how exactly it works. Additionally, instead of using the standard HDMI output they have chosen something called DisplayPort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort), so you need another adapter to convert that to HDMI.

Thanks Adam. This would be actually a cool device, unfortunately it only takes in SDI, which I don't have available. The output is not a problem, because it has a DVI-D, an it as well as the dual variety of the DisplayPort can be passively converted to HDMI, which many monitors feature at their inputs. The only outputs my camcorders have are HDMI and SD analog composite or component, so I have been looking into digitizing the analog outputs, running it through the Stereoscopic Multiplexer and Stereoscopic Player on a NetBook, and drive it's screen, or just the Multiplexer to drive glasses. It is generally difficult for computers to digest HDMI streams, specially a pair of them, so at least for now I am thinking about the above method, unless I find something that doesn't require a computer. Of course two HDMI displays are an option, but the bulk, power and alignment seem too much trouble. Your suggestion is very close, except for the input port flavor. Thanks though.

Well, depending on your budget, the same company (Black Magic Design) makes HDMI to SDI miniconverters (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/miniconverters/). They also make analog to SDI miniconverters, though I would go for the HDMI ones if your cameras support it because HDMI is digital from the getgo, so you have no loss of quality in the conversion.

I own one of those HDMI to SDI miniconverters, and they are very well designed.

Thanks, I have to look into it.

well if you got 2 camcorders close enough, it means you can have the viewfinders close enough too.
Problem is many small camcorders are coming without viewfinder (like mine).
the you can get the composite out, and feed some dual lcd glasses (like some HUDs are).
or build a device that take both composite signals, and alternate each side on a monitor.
you can use any cheap lcd glasses (wired or not) to see in 3d.
I purchased the composite synchroniser from colorado-video few months ago, but had no time to test it yet.
it is supposed to take 2 unsynch composite video in and give them back as synchronized out. (in real only one signal is synchronized on the other, but the result is the same).
it cost 700$ but if it works you can build a stereoscopic monitoring system that fits any camera.
I still have to build the stereoscopic mixer (a simple sync extractor that can be build from a 5$ chip).
The fact is the board (MLVXP-01 from Millogic) that process the signal could easily manage to deliver alternate field or frame (frame is better because it will work with any LCD screen, while filed would work only with obsolete CRT), but unfortunately i got no way to change the program inside.
I think that if colorado-video can sell the board for 700$, it must cost cheaper directly from millogic, and with proper programming you would get nothing to do other than connecting a screen on one output, and the glasses to the other output.

Great ideas. As far as the viewfinder proximity, unfortunately they are little too wide for my eyes, because of the drives. I ended up building an arrangement that I am showing in the following sites: YouTube - Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Part 2 Partially Red & Cyan 3D HD Anaglyph (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCQfV9zEk6Y) , YouTube - Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nfNAV2cVuk) , Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Part 2 Partially Red & Cyan 3D HD Anaglyph on Vimeo , Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment - Part 1 on Vimeo . Not as good as some of your other suggestions, but was easier for me to do (and cheaper). I will look into the other suggestions in the future, and thank you all for your helpful suggestions.

Pavel, a very good nd interesting video clip of how to get anaglyth on your laptop.

Now this has got me thinking. With all this Shanzai gear showing up for very low prices, I am wondering if there's a small 7 inch tablet running windows which can be used as a smal monitor. In fact I am sure I saw something the other day which runs Windows CE.

If the Stereoscopic Muliplexer can run on Windows CE or android ( highly doubtful) we could have very cheap and simple solution in our hands.

Something along the lines of this is what I was thinking of. Not sure where they are available from to order one to test. Also I would have to make a bracket to attach to the camera. That should be easy to do though.

http://www.shanzai.com/index.php/bandit-gadgets/tablets/1272-lianhua-7q-tablet-packs-sirf-prima-soc

Cheers
Steve

OK I have ordered up the same dongles ( easycap) and cables. Should be with me this week.

I note that the capture device/viewer has to have two seperate usb's and you can't share a single usb slot.

I am wondering whether a USB2 OTG and USB host 1.1 will be OK as the two.

So using one of those cheap Shanzai 5 or 7 inch tablets running Windows CE means that the whole system is portable. I will have to trace a tablet with two USB ports but they are out there and they are cheap.

I received several valuable suggestions on this forum and seriously considered them all. I ended up choosing the method I described just because it was most available and practical for me from technology readiness, financial and other aspects. I will feel very differently about this in the future, I am sure. Some of the items suggested are not available yet, some, like the tablets, (I considered iPad, Dell and couple of others) didn't have the right ports and S/W capabilities, even though the displays, battery life and the form factors are marvelous. Among others I also considered couple of small side-by-side monitors and optical viewer rig - no computer or S/W. I would like to have minimum bulkiness, portability and free hands so that I can operate Steadicam, so the current solution seemed the most implementable option together with the Vuzix glasses, which I didn't show yet, but they work really great for my purpose.

The main problem I have at the moment is how to carry the notebook and how to control it. I was thinking of some sort of backpack (or frontpack) with good ventilation, where I could carry the computer while moving. Another issue is how to control it, so I have to find some sort of super compact keyboard/keypad to put the PC to sleep and to wake it up. I don't want burn the battery too fast. I am currently considering to use the computer display just for initial alignment before capture session, and would be using the Wrap 920 as a viewfinder - the resolution is too low. I have been using the left camcorder viewfinder for framing so far, but that method has several serious drawbacks. I have hard time to see the LCD in a bright sunlight, which is plentiful here in Southern California. I also got into trouble several times in guessing what the right camcorder is seeing, and ended up with serious stereoscopic window violations on the extreme right.

Please keep providing the ideas and suggestions, because as technologies and experiences evolve, I am sure there will be much better solutions than this one. I had to pick one for now though.

Pavel, there are definately 7 inch tablets running windows with two USB2 ports. It would be easy to make a mount to fit on the camera as a monitor.

There is an iPad clone called the ePad which has two USB2 ports. Its 10 inches so a bit large but would certainly do the job. I am sure with a littlw more lookiing there's a 7 inch version with 2 USB2 ports ot there. Then there would be no need at all for bulky, heavy laptops.
Here's one that would work but 10 inch screen.

NEW 10.1"EPAD MULTI TOUCH SCREEN PC TABLET EMS SHIPPING on eBay (end time 27-Jul-10 07:49:56 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-10-1-EPAD-MULTI-TOUCH-SCREEN-PC-TABLET-EMS-SHIPPING-/220628549887?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item335e7c80ff)

I just wanted to chime in and say a big THANK YOU to all of you who are contributing to this thread. It is extremely interesting and informative for me personally. I have been trying to find a low-cost method of monitoring on set, and have considered a variety of methods.

I purchased two of these LCD monitors ( 7" LCD Monitor (http://www.lcd4video.com/servlet/the-152/7%22-LCD-Monitor/Detail) ) and mounted them in a box with a beamsplitter mirror between them. It works okay, but getting them aligned perfectly is a chore, and the alignment depends on the viewing angle.

Monitoring on a single screen via software-mixing of video feeds seems like the best way to go.

A friend also pointed out software called "Max/Jitter" (Max - Cycling 74 (http://cycling74.com/products/maxmspjitter/)) which seems like an option, but would require some programming.

I am now going to study all of the links and videos posted above, because I think you guys are really on to something here!

Thank you so much for sharing, and I hope that you will continue to post your experiences.

--Drew

Pavel, there are definately 7 inch tablets running windows with two USB2 ports. It would be easy to make a mount to fit on the camera as a monitor.

........

That is a great option Steve. Thanks for pointing it out! Are you going to get something like that?

Part of the reason why I ended up with the notebook, was that I want to use the Vuzix Wrap 920 glasses as a viewfinder, and VGA is the only real connection they have to computer. The glasses are great viewfinder, alignment and balance checker, as well as 2D viewer and 2D to 3D converter. You can input side-by-side or anaglyph video into them, and they can either display it the way it is input in 2D, or convert it into Left/Right eye views - so that you can see the stereo video of the two camcorders, and do on the spot corrections. Since I like to use inertial stabilizers, the glasses are ideal primary viewfinder during capture. I placed on Vimeo and YouTube the final section of the "trilogy", showing the glasses and attempting to describe the advantages. The links are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFYa25w4tUo , and Part 3 of the Articulated Amateur 3D Rig Experiment -Partially Red & Cyan 3D HD Anaglyph on Vimeo . I have the rig mounted on the Steadicam Merlin and it works well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFYa25w4tUo

Unfortunately, that video is set as private, so you are the only one who can see it on YouTube.

That is a great option Steve. Thanks for pointing it out! Are you going to get something like that?

I have to find the right one at a low price. 10 inches is too big for a monitor mounted on a rig to carry. Need a 7 inch with two USB 2 sockets. I have found 7 inch tablets with one USB 1.1 and a USB 2 OTG but that's no good.

Also need to know if Stereoscopic Multiplexer will work on Windows CE. Anyone know?

I'll keep looking and if I find a tablet solution will post it on here.

If it does work we can all have an extremely cheap completely portable 3D monitoring solution as the tablet will have its own built in battery. A pair of anaglyth glasses and we are all good to go anywhere.

Unfortunately, that video is set as private, so you are the only one who can see it on YouTube.

Whoops, sorry, I forgot. I always start in "private" mode, to preview what is there and to block it until it is actually processed. It is "public" now. Thanks for letting me know.

I have to find the right one at a low price. 10 inches is too big for a monitor mounted on a rig to carry. Need a 7 inch with two USB 2 sockets. I have found 7 inch tablets with one USB 1.1 and a USB 2 OTG but that's no good.

Also need to know if Stereoscopic Multiplexer will work on Windows CE. Anyone know?

I'll keep looking and if I find a tablet solution will post it on here.

If it does work we can all have an extremely cheap completely portable 3D monitoring solution as the tablet will have its own built in battery. A pair of anaglyth glasses and we are all good to go anywhere.

You will need to find a tablet running Windows XP, Vista or "7". Windows CE is a very different OS. The system requirements for the "Stereoscopic Player" as well as many other details about it and about the "Stereoscopic Multiplexer" are on their web site: 3dtv.at - Stereoscopic Player System Requirements (http://www.3dtv.at/Products/Player/Requirements_en.aspx) . The S/W is very well documented and flexible. The dongles that I used also require one of the listed OS's for their drivers. Please let us know when you find great H/W device. The smallest devices I found here were Sony's PCs, and these are pretty expensive for the value. The tablets sure sound ideal....

It is "public" now.

Good. I gave a thumbs up. :)

Dekuji Adame!

You will need to find a tablet running Windows XP, Vista or "7". Windows CE is a very different OS. The system requirements for the "Stereoscopic Player" as well as many other details about it and about the "Stereoscopic Multiplexer" are on their web site: 3dtv.at - Stereoscopic Player System Requirements (http://www.3dtv.at/Products/Player/Requirements_en.aspx) . The S/W is very well documented and flexible. The dongles that I used also require one of the listed OS's for their drivers. Please let us know when you find great H/W device. The smallest devices I found here were Sony's PCs, and these are pretty expensive for the value. The tablets sure sound ideal....

OK I found this from China. It has Windows 7 installed. Not sure if the processor is beefy enough. Thoughts?

10.1'' touch screen tablet pc MID Intel N450 1.66GHZ on eBay (end time 10-Aug-10 15:06:17 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-1-touch-screen-tablet-pc-MID-Intel-N450-1-66GHZ-/250664688476?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item3a5cc79b5c)

It costs £288 ( $435). Three USB 2.0 ports.

Type Tablet PC
Screen Size 10"
Processor Brand Intel
Processor Type Intel Atom
Hard Drive Capacity 160GB
Memory Capacity 1GB
Graphics Card Type Integrated Card
Processor Main Frequency 1.66GHz
G.Weight/ Package SIZE 1.7KG/29×20×18CM
Place of Origin Guangdong, China (Mainland)
Display 10.1 TFT LCD widescreen with resolution of 1024x600
CPU Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz
Bus Frequency 1GB DDR2 667MHz
Chipset Intel NM 10 high speed chipset
Camera 1.3MP
Graphic Card Intel945GSE+ICH7-M/NM10 EXPRESS
Network Connection built-10/100 internal card,wif,802.11b/g,+3G
Interface 3xUSB 2.0, 1xVGA, 1 x SD/MMC card reader slot
Battery Capacity 3200mAh
Color Silver

I found an excellent 7 inch tablet PC which runs Windows 7. It has two USB2.0 ports.
It is about perfect, except it doesn't come that cheap.
eo a7330T Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) - TabletKiosk (http://www.tabletkiosk.com/tkstore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=35&idproduct=298)
$1,145.00

Pretty sure this could be mounted with relative ease onto a rig. There's a protective sleeve for it in the accesories section.

Thoughts?

That is a cool one Steve. My son just told me about this brand - supposed to be good. myviliv.com (http://www.myviliv.com/usa/product/x70ex.asp) . They actually have several cool devices, but would need to be augmented with USB hub. If I were to get one of these, I would make sure that it is returnable. Between the dual USB stream handling, muxing, image processing, display processing, scaling and filtering, this maybe a lot for many of these low power portable CPUs, even though processing just SD. Some people complain that these are too weak even just to browse. From these little things I would feel comfortable with the Alienware, but that is not a tablet...

Pavel, if you pick up one of those Viliv's let me know how it goes.
My Easy Cap dongles arrived today but I have just wasted about 5 hours trying to get them to work. Got them off ebay but pretty sure they are Chinese copies of the original device and came with NO DRIVERS! Spent hours trying to source the correct driver with no luck as of yet. I just can't get an image to appear in Multiplexer from any of the different combinations I choose.

As the source of the video is HDV from a couple of Sony HDR-HC5's, I notice the only choices I have in Multiplexer are SD PAL ( which is what I want for this region) Could you please post your settings for Multiplexer so I can see where I am going wrong?

Thanks
Steve

Hi Steve. Sorry that you are having problems. I am using SIIG dongles that I picked up in a local store, because I needed Win 7 64 bit drivers, and not all the dongles have them yet. I got fooled on eBay buying from certain far east country twice already, that makes it "shame on me", and I will not do it again.

The Stereoscopic Multiplexer is set up for 720x480x16 bit capture, TriVid Capture devices, UYVY 4:2:2 subsampling, 29.97 fps (both the resolution and the frame rate are useful for US only),

Renderer: (RGB, 32bpp, 1440x -480), AVI Decompressor: XForm In Connected to Smart Tee (UYVY, 16bp, 1440 x 480), SForm Out connected to Video Tenderer (RGB, 32bpp, 1440x -480);

Smart Tee: Input connected to Stereoscopic Multiplexer (UYVY, 16bpp, 1440x480), Capture not connected, Preview connedted to AVI Decompressor (UYVY, 16bpp, 1440x480);

Stereoscopic Multiplexer: Input 1 connected to TriVid Capture (UYVY, 16bpp, 720x480), Input 2 connected to TriVid Capture (UYVY, 16bpp, 720x480), Output 1 connected to Smart Tee (UYVY, 16bpp, 1440x480);

TriVid Capture 0012: Capture connected to Stereoscopic Multiplexer (UYVY, 16bpp, 720x480), Preview not connected, VBI not connected, Audio not connected, Analog Video In connected to TriVid Crossbar 0016, Analog Audio In not connected;

TriVid Capture: Capture connected to Stereoscopic Multiplexer (UYVY, 16bpp, 720x480), Preview not connected, VBI not connected, Audion not connected, Analog Video In connected to TriVid Crossbar, Analog Audio In not connected;

TriVid Crossbar 0016: 0:Video Composite In not connected, 1:Video SVideo In not connected, 2:Audion Line In not connected, 0: Video Decoder Out connected to TriVid Capture 0012, 1: Audio Decoder Out not connected;

TriVid Crossbar: 0:Video Composite In not connected, 1:Video SVideo In not connected, 2:Audion Line In not connected, 0: Video Decoder Out connected to TriVid Capture 0012, 1: Audio Decoder Out not connected.

You can refer to the block diagrams on their site and draw yourself the connections.

Configuration Wizard: Left capture device: TriVid Capture, Right capture device: TriVid Capture> CApture format: UYVY, 720x480 {wrong for you} pixels, 16 bits per pixel > Frame Rate - Use default rate {for you 25 fps?}, {nothing else checked, I am not flipping anything, but if your cameras are flipped or in mirror rig, your setting would be according to your rig}; > Ignore timestamps > Finish.

I don't have the EasyCap, did you try to get the driver from their distributor? They suggest on their site: http://www.usbeasycap.info/support.html that there are fakes?

Sorry for your trouble...

BTW, if you have any driver at all, for the IC inside the dongle, you should be able to see it's output video with the Stereoscopic Player and test each one that way. Once you can see the video from each dongle, you can go back to the Multiplexer. Once the Stereoscopic Multiplexer is set, you do not need to open it up, just open the player, and see either the output of each dongle or connect to the output of the multiplexer, which, as I said, does not need to be opened first.

Thanks for all that info Pavel. I will go through it all whe the new dongles arrive.

That software download page doesn't have any drivers on it. None of the links work.

I have now orderd up two official EZCap dongles with the very latest software. I have a feeling Vista is the problem as my PC runs that and the drivers I have so far installed don't support it. Soon find out when the official dongles arrive. Cost me 3 times as much each but false economy buying cheap fakes.

EzCAP 116 (easycap DC60+) Full retail. 1yr warranty on eBay (end time 08-Aug-10 13:26:33 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110557284681&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)
is the brand new official version.

By the way do you use the s-video connection on your dongle, or the yellow, red and white cables?

Cheers
Steve

I knew that the link has no actual drivers,I just thought that they can point you to UK distributor who might help you. The H/W may still be compatible with the drivers you will receive with the new dongles. In that country of origin they can fake copy stuff really well. In the distant past, when I was an Engineering director in a PC Company here, we had a shop there copy one of our computers to such detail that the design engineers couldn't immediately tell that it was a copy, so the S/W may work. H/W doesn't carry any Copyright notice.

One of the guys in Germany has told me, that the EasyCap DC-60+ works fine, as long as it is the plus version, so you should be fine.

I use the S-video connection. The difference in resolution/quality is amazing from the Composite (yellow) connection. Since the Multiplexer doesn't support HD, the S-video is as good as I could get. There are too may losses through the de-interlacing and possibly side-by-side compression as it is. I would recommend anaglyph for alignment and SBS for checking color, brightness and other video attributes. HD would be best, but for me neither the Stereoscopic Multiplexer, nor the Vuzix glasses could handle HD anyway. If you need HD,some of the other suggestions above, like the one proposed by Adam, are better, but are more expensive and not quite ready. If you use the 7" display, it will not have enough pixels to display HD anyway.
The Red and White cables are audio, I don't use them at all. I just have couple of very thin coax connections from each camcorder for the Luma and Chroma S-video signals. I wanted minimum interference of the cables with the stabilizer gimball. You can see that in the video.

Best of luck,

Pavel

OK the two fakes from China were a dead loss. The proper EZCap arrived this moring, in a proper box with software. It worked straight away. I tried to use one of the ebay fakes and the PC just does not recognise it at all. A waste of a day. False economy etc..

So I have ordered a second EZCap which should be with me in the morning.

Now Multiplexer only works in SD. This is a pain as I shoot in HD. And how would two EX3's work, because they are HD only? My small Sony HC5's are hd or SD, so I guess I could set up the shot in SD then change th setting to make the shot in HD without the monitor. A pain but its still a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a Transvideo 3D monitor.

I am redy to test the water on a tablet PC. I think I am going for the 10 inch E-Pad, which runs Windows 7.It has 2 full size USB 2 ports. If it doesn't work it goes back on Ebay the following day!

I also only shoot exclusively in HD, however, the camcorders that have the A/V-R jack output (among others) Composite and S-video streams, that are only SD. The stream is real time down-converted, so I don't see the problem with EX-3 either. You would have to check with the HC-5 if there is an output with the S-video adapter cable during HD recording. If so, you should be able to see video with one dongle and Stereoscopic Player, even though you are filming HD. Usually the camcorders down convert everything. They have to do all kinds of resolution/frame rate conversions for the viewfinder anyway, it only takes a little bit of silicone these days to convert (or sub-sample) and filter the video stream. Component video can be either HD or SD, so one must check if there is a setting, or what the camera outputs, but I see no problem in most cases.

OK the PC tablet arrived today. It looks just like a gigantic iPhone. It runs Windows 7 Ultimate. It has three USB 2.0 ports. And it works a treat.

It has wifi so I connected it to my network, downloaded Stereoscopic Player and Multiplexer, loaded on the EZCap driver and connected it all up with the two cameras, using two of the uSB ports on the left hand side of the tablet.

Player instantly saw the two cameras and I was in business. The battery life of the tablet is said to be 2 hours. I will do a test later to see how long it does last. But two hours is ample anyway.

I have also ordered a mount of the tablet. It's a cheap one off ebay and it might or might not work. I will have to alter the mount as it has a suction cup for a car screen but I will remove that part and change it so it will mount on 15mm rails or on the side of my tripod. I have a Manfrotto 482LCD small ball head to hot shoe mount which should work fine with it.
New Car Mount Holder kit Stand for Apple ipad 3G Wifi on eBay (end time 31-Jul-10 06:33:25 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360277276308)
Manfrotto part.
Manfrotto 482LCD Micro Ball Head-Nice-In Pkg-No Reserve on eBay (end time 23-Jul-10 03:00:55 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Manfrotto-482LCD-Micro-Ball-Head-Nice-In-Pkg-No-Reserve-/150468158134?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230899e2b6)

I will post some pics later of probably tomorrow of the set up.

This whole setup has cost me:

£317 for the PC tablet from Ebay
£46 for the two EXCap cables
£4 for the two S-Video cables
£12 for the Car mount ( to be canabalised)
Total = £379 or $575 US

And I get a PC tablet which has a ton of uses away from this setup.

Cheers
Steve

This is great Steve. Please post pictures here or video on YT. I would be very interested to see it.

I have tried using the ENMVG by Encore Electronics (from newegg.com) and mounting two onto a Vista machine causes it to blue screen stop error 0x0000007E from TridVid.sys.

My plan of using devices from two different manufacturers failed too. I tried a SIIG JU-AV0012-S1 (from Fry's) in tandem with the encore and it caused the same bluescreen. It seems they all use the same tridvid.sys driver and it's not written to support multiple devices. This is true even when connecting them to separate USB busses.

I am concerned that the EasyCap (or EZCap) mentioned here is the same componentry and will cause the same problem. I was looking for the DC60+ version but the exact labelling of thse products for sale doesn't seem to be a priority. Does anyone know of an exact model number that works for this application. I have two blackmagic intensity cards but that solution isn't exactly portable.

I'd like to get this up and running.. anyone?

I use two SIIG digitizers, exactly the same as you mention (you use one, as I understand it). The link is: SIIG, Inc. : USB 2.0 Video Capture Device - (JU-AV0012-S1 ) (http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JU-AV0012-S1) . I picked them because they have 64 bit driver for Windows 7 which I use and 720 x 480 resolution. I did have to load the drivers twice, one each during the installation of the two dongles, or Windows associated the second dongle with the wrong driver. It is very important to load the correct driver. I originally mixed two different dongles, but one only had 640x480 resolution, so the Stereoscopic Multiplexer didn't handle it. I also tried to run the two over an external hub, but the PC only recognized one of them. I never experienced blue screen. I had this setup on two different computers, both worked. Both are Win 7 64 bit machines, didn't try it on Vista. You can see the devices in my YT video @: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ItnjjJ0EqE . The drivers are here: http://www.siig.com/Drivers.aspx?pn=JU-AV0012-S1 .

Robert, the latest EZCap dongles work perfectly with Windows 7. I just loaded on the latest software which came with the EZCap and it worked perfectly.

I am waiting on a tablet mount which I had hoped would be here by now before taking some photos of the complete setup. Hopefully it will be with me this coming week.

I purchased a 10 inch Epad which works perfectly, though really an ideal solution would be a 7 inch tablet solution. I might pickup a Vilix tablet and it it works stick the Epad straight onto Ebay.

Then I will have to buy Stereoscopic Player and Multiplexer because at the moment it only lasts 5 minutes a pop in its current mode!

Thank you Pavel and Steve for helping pave the way here. I have tried two SIIG JU-AV0012-S1 USB Video Capture with the drivers available at the link you posted on a clean install of Windows 7 64-bit and they are not working. I can only mount one successfully, as the second unit appears in device manager, is recognized correctly (same name as the first) but it has a yellow exclamation mark. In properties for that unit it says the device cannot start and gives the generic code 10 error.

As I have seen it work for you in your YouTube video, I believe it can work. Perhaps the more recent drivers have disabled the ability to use two at once? Could you confirm your driver details in device manager please Pavel and Steve?

Here's how to get that info:
Start Menu > Open Control Panel
Click "Hardware and Sound"
Click Device Manager (then authenticate the pop-up)
Got to Sound, Video and Game controllers and expand the list.
Insert the dongles and observe them appearing in the list (they are called Trident Analog Video for me)
Right click on each and choose properties.
Click on the "driver" tab and note the driver version.

My driver provider is Trident Multimedia Technologies
My driver version is 2.96.0.33
My driver date is 10/16/2007

I really appreciate your help in getting this working. I have purchased 4 capture dongles thus far and am reticent to invest in another pair of EZcap dongles only to encounter the same issue.

Thank you,
Robert

Robert, I only installed the software once. I didn't have to install it twice for the two different dongles. Make sure the two USB ports are completely seperate and they are not a shared USB port (two hubs to one port)

In Stereoscopic Player you can see the live footage from each connected camera by switching between the two devices.

Robert, just for you I installed the two dongles on my Vista machine from the supplied CD. I really dislike Vista, but it all installed with no hitch. I just put in the disc and installed the driver (mine is 32 bit). It asked me to plug in the dongle, and in few seconds it was done. I removed the CD and rebooted the machine. Left the dongle plugged in. After the reboot, I installed the CD again, ran the driver install, and when prompted, I plugged in the second dongle. All went well. I then tried both with the Stereoscopic Multiplexer and Player, all worked well.

In the Device Manager, the device driver is version 2.84.0.23 and the date is 11/22/2006.

If I were you, I would delete the installed drivers and re-installed from the CD that came with your dongles. Otherwise I don't know what would cause your error. I do have to install the same driver twice, cannot re-use the first installation. I don't know why. It actually doesn't make much sense. If I just plug in the second dongle, it always associates it with some other, irrelevant driver. It should work the way Steve says, but I had problems that way so far on three machines.

I hope this helps. I'd make sure that your USB H/W is working correctly and that the ports are USB 2. Try different ones if you have several and install the driver each time. From the sound of it, you might have H/W problem. Do you have an access to a different PC just to try it?

Hello again,

So I installed the dongles exactly according to your method, Pavel, and this did allow for more than one to be used.

I tested the devices and they work one at a time (in the test device section of the SM configurator), but I'm getting only one image as it appears all of the USB ports on my intel desktop motherboard go through the SAME CONTROLLER. It doesn't matter what USB ports I connect to on my computer, I get only one image by the multiplexer. I have a port that is built into my case that connects to pins on the motherboard and apparently that is the same controller as the USB ports on the back of the computer. Even at the lowest res setting, I cannot get two images to appear.

Under device manager, I can see where the SIIG dongles are connected and they always are connected to different ports on the same hub. I did manage to get it to read that they were connected to different ports on different hubs but it did not resolve the issue.

Pavel: Could yoi please connect both dongles and tell me what device manager reports as their connected port and hub? I saw you plugged them into adjacent USB ports on your laptop and it worked with no issues.

By the way, the drivers on my CD were 2.84.0.33, very close to yours.

Also, just to note, if I change my cameras to standard def and connect them via firewire, everything works fine. This isn't usable for me as my cameras do not allow recording in HD and outputting over firewire SD. Another bummer to note is that I didn't realize it was a laborious effort to change how Stereo Multiplexer presents the images. I can't find any options like "Anaglyph, Page Flip, Onion Skin, Side-by-side, Over/Under, Interlaced" etc. which are common in other 3D applications.

One more bummer is that installing Stereoscopic Multiplexer broke my nVidia 3D vision stereoscopic player. Now, the nVidia program tries to use 3dtv.at's decoder and the eyes aren't synchronized. getting stereoscopic multiplexer to play nicely with 3DVision... If I use 3dtv/at's stereoscopic player it works fine with 3d vision. After loading the stereoscopic player for the first time, I was a little surprised at how nvidia's and 3dtv stereoscopic players are nearly identical. I assume nvidia licensed 3dtv.at's technology?

Robert, it sounds like you only have one USB controller on your PC. Bummer if the case.

Secondly, nVidia Stereoscopic Player and 3d.at look identical but the nVidia one is a stripped down version.

When you attach the dongles, you should open Multiplexer from inside stereoscopic player. File, Live Video, Sterescopic Multiplexer.

Then go to viewing method and chose the way you wish to viw the footage. Hope that helps.

I loaded XP 32-bit as a Parallels machine on my MacBookPro and installed stereo multiplexer and the SIIG dongles and it worked. Ultimately I'll be looking for a small laptop/tablet as you've mentioned here previously, but at least something is working at the moment. Now to figure out Graphedit and onionskinning....

Thanks for the hint about opening stereo multiplexer via the stereoscopic player to simplify choosing viewing method. I already fought my way through graphedit and built my custom filter chain but I will use the simpler method in the future.

I'm the developer of the Stereoscopic Multiplexer and would like to comment on a few issues mentioned in this thread:

OS/platform support: The Stereoscopic Multiplexer works on Windows XP/Vista/7. There are no plans to support Windows CE or Android and the ARM platform in the near future. Although the Stereoscopic Multiplexer DirectShow filter written in C++ could be recompiled for Windows CE quite easily, the GUI cannot because it is written Borland Delphi. Anyway, I expect that webcam drivers are not available for mobile platforms or that the performance is not good enough to compress and display two video streams. A tablet PC based on Windows XP or Windows 7 is a better choice and offers the greatest flexibility regarding capture device and codec support.

Mac OS: If you want to run the Stereoscopic Player/Multiplexer on Mac hardware, it is highly recommended to use Boot Camp. Although some features also work on Parallels or other virtual machines, full hardware acceleration cannot be guaranteed so that performance might be low or some features are not functional.

HD support: The Stereoscopic Multiplexer supports HD. For HDV camcorders connected via Firewire, select a resolution of 1440 x 1080 and YUY2 colorspace in the multiplexer. A MPEG-2 decoder, like the on included in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is required. If the camcorders have HDMI outputs, you can use two Blackmagic Design Intensity cards to capture left and right streams with the Stereoscopic Multiplexer. The proper setting is 1920 x 1080, HDYV colorspace in this case. On Windows Vista and Windows 7 it is necessary to turn off the User Account Control or run the applications with admin rights to work around a bug in the Blackmagic capture drivers (the drivers won't store the settings otherwise).

After loading the stereoscopic player for the first time, I was a little surprised at how nvidia's and 3dtv stereoscopic players are nearly identical. I assume nvidia licensed 3dtv.at's technology?

Stereoscopic Player and 3D Vision Player are indeed similar, the 3D Vision Player is a customized edition of the Stereoscopic Player.

Hello Peter. I was under the assumption that the Stereoscopic Multiplexer only handles SD, based on the line on your web site, that states that: "However, HDV multiplexing is not an official Stereoscopic Multiplexer feature yet." The information on the web site is then incorrect and most likely out of date in this respect.

Hello Peter. I was under the assumption that the Stereoscopic Multiplexer only handles SD, based on the line on your web site, that states that: "However, HDV multiplexing is not an official Stereoscopic Multiplexer feature yet." The information on the web site is then incorrect and most likely out of date in this respect.

Your are right, it needs an update...

Cinetal davio box will do that for dual DSI inputs in HD , not sure if it will accept other signals or the cost. I doubt its cheap. Works great though.

Cine-tal™ Collaborate - Process - Display | visual media (http://www.cine-tal.com/products/davio_main.asp)

I use a pair of USB EasyCaps fed by the composite output of a pair of Sony HC7s on a mirror rig. Computer is an Asus eeePC 901 netbook with Win7 Home. Software is a combo of Stereoscopic Player and the demo version of Stereoscopic Mux. Everything works right out of the box... nothing special other than installing one copy of the EasyCap driver. Stereoscopic Player lets me preview in Anaglyph, Side-by-Side, or whatever; and will flip the mirror bounced image to the correct orientation. The netbook is a perfect fit just behind the mirrorbox, it has 6+ hr. battery life and is rugged because of the solid state disk. Using a dual Lanc controller the cameras are synced within a millisecond or so. However, the Stereoscopic Player/Mux and Netbook have about 1/2 sec. lag on the preview. Nonetheless, it works well for setting up shots.

Regarding HD preview, when using Stereoscopic Mux with 2 HDVs over 2 firewires, you need 2 separate firewire controllers; a single controller with 2 ports will not work. I don't think this is Peter's fault, but rather an issue with firewire protocol. Sadly, I can't find a netbook with 2 firewire controllers, so I'm stuck with SD preview and HDV recording.

However, the Stereoscopic Player/Mux and Netbook have about 1/2 sec. lag on the preview. Nonetheless, it works well for setting up shots.

The delay over Firewire is quite high, especially in HDV mode. This is caused by the MPEG-2 compression/decompression that uses motion compensation and bi-directional prediction. It transmits the frames in coding order, not display order. Thus, you always have a few frames delay.

There is virtually no delay when using HDMI, which transmits uncompressed video.

On notebooks, you can use the internal Firewire port and a CardBus/Express Card for the second Firewire port. That's how I run the Stereoscopic Multiplexer on notebooks.