Two Instances from one Webcam

Question

I am new at DirectShow and found one example to capture when i ran two instances of this app it throws exceptions like camera is already in use.I having a requirement that the same camera will be shared by two Applications.

Is it possible to acheive this using any filters

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

DirectShow web cameras are typically exclusive use resources, applications cannot share them. One solution is to use a virtual camera software that creates a virtual device available to many apps, backed by real devices. Or, you can also implement the sharing yourself.

See also:

• Why does Windows only allow one application to access the webcam?
• Is there a way to create a duplicate device of webcam?