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Camera into Qlab 3


groggy

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Hello all,

 

I'm trying to get a live feed from a standard camcorder into Qlab3 with as little latencey as possible. The camera will be onstage approx 20m from the Mac.

 

Current thinking is: Output from the AV jack from the camera -> 20m BNC cable -> BlackMagic mini Recorder (SDI input) -> Mac book (Qlab3) -> Projector

 

I've done a lot of video projection with Qlab but never anything with a live feed, would this work? would the SDI input on the black magic accept the signal out of the camera? I did consider the idea of using a vision mixer however I need to be able to scale and size the feed and have a feeling that would be way out of budget.

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Depending on what you're trying to achieve, starting with a webcam (or phone/tablet, or raspberry pi with camera) can be easier than a camcorder. There are various things around designed to convert ip camera steams into syphon streams, which qlab can see as a camera.

 

No good if you need full camera functionality with zoom etc though. Very good if you want wireless or small/built into set.

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Does the camera have a HDMI out? A lot do these days. You could then potentially be digital straight from the camera and use the blackmagic mini recorder still. You'd need a HDMI to SDI by the camera as well.
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Does the camera have a HDMI out? A lot do these days. You could then potentially be digital straight from the camera and use the blackmagic mini recorder still. You'd need a HDMI to SDI by the camera as well.

 

Though beware of big delays in the video on consumer-type camcorders' hdmi. All the consumer camcorders I have tried have about half a second delay on the HDMI output. This may or may not be a problem depending what you're doing with the picture but I thought I'd mention it....

 

If you do go for HDMI to SDI I have had great success with these really cheap converters for £22 (there are lots of different "brands" which all seem to be the same thing)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MINI-HDMI-Converter-Camera-Computer/dp/B00IIYO08I

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Depending on what you're trying to achieve, starting with a webcam (or phone/tablet, or raspberry pi with camera) can be easier than a camcorder. There are various things around designed to convert ip camera steams into syphon streams, which qlab can see as a camera.

 

No good if you need full camera functionality with zoom etc though. Very good if you want wireless or small/built into set.

 

The idea at the moment is in the show there are three interviews to camera and maybe some more abstract stuff later which would be nice to project live. So full camera functionality is not necessary, Going down the web cam route seems to be the most sensible option. This is pretty far out idea but could I buy a webcam then run a usb signal 20m (with active extenders) or would I run into latencey issues? or am I more likely to get better results going down the ip - syphon route you suggested?

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I've never tried the usb extension, it's always been easier for me to go wired ethernet as I've been able to use venue cabling. I was achieving latency under 0.5 secs, using a good gigabit router with some optimised settings for streaming traffic.
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We went down the wireless route with an Iphone with app called EpocCam, Latency is really not too bad although it does occasionally hang up slightly. As a back up we will record the content that is live streamed and have on a hotkey in Qlab so if any thing does go wrong the 'fake live stream' can replace the actual live camera. I will report back after production week if anyone is interested.
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