Screen/Display with split view and two USB-C inlets - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Kristof
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 01:40:02 pm
content: Hello folksNew guy here trying to find the product I need. If there is one out there. So what I want to do is connect two USB-C cameras made to work with android app to a single display so both of them show on it. Tried to find one all over the place and it seems there is none. Any advice?

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 10:35:27 pm
content: Are you sure the cameras send video on the USB-C connector without a host (android) ?There are various monitors which do allow split views, Dell call it Picture By Picture (PBP).

author: u666sa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 10:46:24 pm
content: What happens when you connect your camera to windows? Can you view it through Camera app on windows?

author: Njk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 11:01:24 pm
content: I bet it will invoke a dialog asking you to select the camera. It's not like an audio mixer

author: Kristof
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 11, 2025, 12:23:14 pm
content: This is the two cameras I would like to connect and view at the same time. They use android app to view. Never tired to connect it to windows pc but will check. Never thought of that.https://www.ebay.com/itm/205439484106?var=506191983145

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2025, 01:03:26 pm
content: Most USB cameras (including these) use JPEG compression so displaying two images side-by-side is a non-trivial operation for a simple IC (would need JPEG decoder block which is quite large). Your best bet is a semi-custom solution using something like a Raspberry Pi, most likely the cameras will work in something like V4L2 and gstreamer or another video pipeline utility can be used to merge the two video streams without too much difficulty. Something like a Pi 3 would probably have the grunt to decode two JPEG streams simultaneously. A custom embedded solution would also be possible but expensive to develop unless you can find an off the shelf development kit.

author: SteveThackery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2025, 02:19:41 pm
content: @Someone has the best suggestion, in my view. Most monitors have multiple inputs. Most of those offer some kind of picture-in-picture feature. Some of those offer a picture-by-picture feature, which would seem to be a solution to the OP's questionThe only trouble is the interface formats. I haven't come across a monitor with two USB-C inputs. (To be fair, I wasn't looking for that when I bought mine recently.)

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2025, 05:58:25 pm
content: Quote from: SteveThackery on July 13, 2025, 02:19:41 pmMost cameras do not generate signals that will natively work with a display. If the camera outputs DisplayPort video or similar, it may work, however, most USB cameras use something like USB UVC, which allows for compressed or uncompressed frames to be sent over a USB connection. The formats will vary, some cameras send data like YUV, others send RGB, others send JPEG. Some do chrominance subsampling. It's a mess, and supporting multiple camera types usually requires some software layer in between (like V4L2 on Linux).OP needs to provide more information on the cameras they have and the budget, type of solutions they are competent with, that kind of thing. No point us suggesting a custom embedded solution if they are not an engineering person for instance.