Samtex

Hi Tim, I'm using a Rocware RC840S 4K, which has a 1.8 Sony CMOS sensor, 20x optical Zoom, PTZ, PoE Camera with NDI. The main attractions to the camera were 1st 20x Zoom, 2nd NDI (game changer), 3rd PTZ and 4th larger cmos sensor than other 1080ps. Internally via NDI and viewed via NDI Tools the lag is minimal. It increases a little once it passes through OBS encoding but I'm pulling the audio from a analogue system via a secondary source so I can't really comment on any audio delay that comes directly from the camera itself. I mostly output directly to YouTube Live and Zoom via OBS using the YouTube API within OBS or the NDI output to NDI Webcam and then into Zoom. Having the camera wired via ethernet cable is great as we can use our existing network infrastructure and hide most of the cabling as not to distract from the meeting. Our main bottleneck is CPU processing power as we are using a somewhat older PC without a dedicated graphics card. If you have any half decent nvidia card it takes a massive load off your system especially with the NVEC H264 encoding option in OBS. A quick tip... if your looking for a way to get secure sound over NDI via ethernet rather than WiFi. Pick up a second hand MEVO start as they are half the price of an NDI encoder and with a PoE ethernet adapter you can keep them plugged into the network without having to disconnect them to charge. Maybe a little more than you asked for but I hope this helps 🙂

Hi guys, Thank you for all your suggestions. It's a PoE powered camera so only one ethernet cable and maybe one audio cable. It's dimensions are roughly 14cm x 16cm x 25cm. I've found a solution which I've outlined below. What I did was mount the camera on a tripod and stepped away until the viewing angle looked acceptable. I then did a little trigonometry so I could scale it up to full room dimensions. It works out that 10 degrees is acceptable up to 13 - 15 degrees at a push. This allows me to mount the camera at around 2.6m and still have a little room for height differentials amoung subjects. I know each situation is unique but I hope it gives someone else a place to start in the future. 🙂 Many thanks

It's a difficult one. Your are right the ideal height is eye level but that means we would have to keep taking it down and putting it away after each meeting to keep it safe but this would increase the risk of damage and mean I'd have to check / reset all the resets every time we shoot. Umm it seems like trial and error it is unless anyone can come up with an alternative. I did think of an automated retractable ceilings mount but that's what out of our budget. I appreciate your reply. Thank you.

I'm looking to ceiling or wall mount a PTZ Shotgun camera for recording church meetings. We want to keep it out of reach but not so high that the camera angle looks strange. I've searched everywhere, there is plenty of information on CCTV camera height and angles but nothing for video production. Does anyone have any standard angles or know where I can find such a resource so I can work out the max possible height the camera can be mounted without having an unnatural looking shot? Stage to the back of the room 45 foot Stage height is 1.5 foot off the ground. Ceiling height 11.5 feet. Thank you in advance for any help 🙂