Mulitlple cameras on Mas OS 13 undifferentiated

According to a couple different conversations we found out a few things.

Mac OS did have a feature of numbering identically named USB items. I had this feature in Mac OS 10.13 I noticed i lost this feature when I got a new computer and it was updated to Mac OS 12.

Also it seems like an issue of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. Apple is expecting camera makers to have a way to rename a camera. Camera makers are expecting Apple to differentiate between identically named stuff somehow like Auto numbering like that was apparent in OS 10.13.

I think it's a bigger than a camera issue because also I have two microphones one on one studio setup one on the other and they are undifferentiated and every time the computer goes off the OBS program loses track of which one is which and you have to reset it.

So it's not an issue with cameras or microphones per se, but the relationship between the OS and the USB items that plug into it.

Originally I wanted to name each camera personally so that I don't have to memorize numbers associated with cameras. Apparently Apple left that up to the usb device makers, and enough device makers left that up to Apple.

The people who run OBS project say that if the operating system won't let you differentiate them then there's nothing OBS can do. I assume Apple assumes that software makers use the USB tree to differentiate One USB item from another if you're using a multi camera system like obs for Twitch streaming.

And it's weird to assume every camera has a memory, because a webcam by definition has no memory. It's just plug and stream live.

And if you tell me to write the camera manufacturer, I would like to know who exactly is the camera manufacturer of the device called an sq-11?

Well, we're up to os 13.2.1 and still no differentiation of cameras OR microphone inputs at the "visible" OS level.

There might be some little differences in the underlying code, but OBS relies on locking on to a USB name, and if names are unable to be differentiated, then OBS is confused. It can't lock on to camera 1 and camera 2. OBS is locking on by name and not by underlying data. The makers of OBS say it's up to Apple to fix this.

The people OBS say there's nothing they could do as long as the Mac OS does not differentiate between multiple cameras of the same type ( or microphones or anything else of that matter)

I know as early as Mac OS 10.13 there was a number in parentheses automatically assigned to each multiple version of the same thing so they could not be confused.

Could you at least go back to that having numbers in parentheses when identical items appear in the USB bus so that OBS and other similar apps could deal with it properly.

What's more logical to assume that someone would have 12 different cameras or 12 cameras of the same type? I need those sq-11s because that's the only way I could get two cameras within 2 inches of each other to make a stereoscopic pair. Every other camera just has too much bulky stuff around it where you can't line them up as a stereoscopic pair.

Yes we researched the company and there's a whole bunch of people selling these sq-11s. Apple told me to call the manufacturer then the question becomes who is the manufacturer and apple said we're in a real mess here because no one wants to take responsibility for these sq-11s at a consumer level.

If Apple is relying on camera makers to change names and app makers are relying on Apple to differentiate different cameras at the same type, then unless my suggestion of going back and numbering those various connections is back in play, it looks like we're at an impasse.

Why did Apple get rid of the numbering system of multiple connecting items that are identical? That fact makes OBS unstable and OBS unable to connect on various cameras unless I'm willing to keep the computer on for more than 24 hours at a time which is not healthy to do usually.

I don't want to spend 20 minutes before you show honing in on my cameras and unplugging and replugging stuff just to get the things connected I want connected.

Do you have any suggestions for me and how I can make this quicker without having my computer on overnight in a standby mode?