forums.naturalpoint.com

Our lab very recently purchased and received a Tracking Tools 2.0 package, including 6 V100R2 cameras, 2 OptiHub USB hubs, and USB Hardware Key.

The software installed fine. I plugged in the OptiHub, which was correctly and successfully installed (driver version 2.50.0.0, 11/19/2009). I then connected the cameras (one at a time). I got this sequence from Windows:

New Hardware: USB Device -> Unknown Device
Your Device is installed and ready to use
USB Device Not Recognized

This behavior was identical for all 6 cameras. I additionally attempted to connect the cameras directly to the computer, with the same result (same sequence).

I attempted to install directly, i.e. pointing Windows HW Installer directly to the folder C:\Program Files\NaturalPoint\OptiTrack\Drivers, and when that didn't work tried pointing directly to (same path) npusbio.inf and npusbio9.inf with no success.

My lab computing system is a Dell Dimension 8200, Pentium 4 2.53GHz, 768MB RAM, Windows XP Pro 2002 SP3. I am using the recently released TrackingTools.2.1.0.Final.exe and OptiTrack_1.3.037.exe, both dated Feb 11, 2010.

Motherboard info is partial:
MoBo Manufacturer = Dell Computer Corp. (no model or version info)
BIOS Manufacturer = Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS Version = A09
BIOS Release Date = 09/13/2002

NOTE: The only USB ports on this computer are USB1.1; does this create a compatibility problem? I had hoped to use this computer temporarily for development at lower data-rate. If I need a USB 2.0 PCI card, is there a preferred brand?

I purchased an Ultra 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI card and installed it.

This allows me to, at least, see all 6 cameras, although the camera data is quite unreliable. Over the course of a few power cycles of the OptiHub, data from up to 3 cameras would cease to be displayed. I don't know if this means the camera stopped sending data or if Tracking Tools just stopped displaying it. My computer is older and the video card is not great.

Any tips?

Is there any way to "restart" the cameras from software once the feed goes dead?

Yes, the cameras/hub/hardware key require USB 2.0.

When you cycled the power on the hub; was this the USB cable, the power cable, or both?

Did you restart the TT software as well?

Are all the cameras being detected in tyhe system device manager?

In the power cycles, I usually unplugged the Hub-to-computer USB cable first, then removed power from the Hub. Sometimes I additionally disconnected the cameras at this stage. I tried reconnecting the cameras both before and after reconnecting the Hub-to-computer USB cable (with power to the Hub connected).

I did not keep detailed notes about the situations where the cameras would stop. I only noted that each time it occurred, TT was displaying data from all 6 cameras, and at some point one or more cameras stopped. In general, the cameras seemed to stop one at a time. I believe (but am not sure) that the displayed number on the front of the cameras remained lit when the imaging stopped (and stayed lit until "Remove Camera" was selected in TT, TT was closed, the camera to Hub or Hub to computer USB cable was disconnected).

When the camera feeds stopped updating, the hardware was still listed in HW Manager and in Project Explorer, and the green LEDs on the OptiHub were still lit.

Is there a way to "reactivate" a camera from TT after "Remove Camera" has been selected (i.e., other than disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable)?

What is the minimum recommended computer hardware? I see that in a test with only one camera connected directly to my USB 2.0 port, simply streaming with Video Type->"Precision Mode" at 100% Imager Clock and "Every Fourth Frame" Decimation uses 70-80% of my processor clock. Is this bottleneck due to my processor (Pentium 4, 2.53GHz), RAM (768MB RDRAM), video card (ATI Radeon 9000/128MB), or other?

We have ordered brand new computers, but need to get some experiments done before those will be here.