USB Cabling Problem - Distance Farther Than 15m

[HeroFay]

Hi there,

What should I do with the cabling if the distance between the camera and the computer is more than 15 meters?

We would like to extend the 5m USB cable by more than 10m, but I also read your product comments, and see the comment that "* Avoid using (USB extension table) between cameras and USB Hubs".

So, if we really need to setup several cameras which are 15m (or more) far away from the computer, what should we do?

Can we use more than 1 powered USB hub as relay? It's like:
Cameras->Hub1->Hub2->Computer<-Hub3<-Hub4<-Cameras.

By the way, will the long distance (15m) or large scale room (8m*8m*5m) affect the capturing quality?

Thanks,
Pengfei

[VincentG]

Well, part of the limiting factor is the specifications for USB are 5m.

The best setup, would be - camera -> hub -> active USB extension cable -> PC

[HeroFay]

Thanks Vincent!

How many active USB extension cables can we use at most?

[VincentG]

I believe we have tested with 2 cables. (with a high quality extension cable)

[HeroFay]

Well, are 3 extensions still viable?

The website says "up to 3" (http://www.naturalpoint.com/optitrack/s ... ables.html).

Thank you very much for your reply!

[VincentG]

You could try 3, not sure how stable it would be with the newer OptiHubs.

[jimmyjoe]

Would a USB 2.0 extender be a better solution than using a string of active extender cables? As you are saying using 3 active cables, might be ok might be not.

One like this device.
http://www.blackbox.com/Store/Detail.as ... ort/IC254A

[Birch]

NaturalPoint has not qualified any USB 2.0 Hi-Speed long range extenders for use with out USB devices. Its possible some of them may work, but it would depend on how well the manufacturer adhered to the USB specifications.