wicktech Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hi, A year ago I took over as the lighting and AV technician at a secondary school and we have tried various ways to capture the video of the shows. Our control room is at the side of the hall (not ideal I know but cheap) and ideally we need to be able to capture the video to a computer in the control room as the cameras are mounted above the audience. We currently have 2 relatively cheap cameras mounted in the lighting rig with video over Cat 5 up to the control room. Can anyone suggest some decent cameras we could use and a good way to capture the video? I edit the video using a mac and have been using the elgato usb video capture device along with a 2009 macbook laptop thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJG Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hi We use a panasonic panasonic SD-700 or similar that can be put on a bracket on the rear wall. We did buy a better mic from rode as we knew that the internal one would pick up the noise of the fan but I must say it work really well and the editing software make for easy archiving to disk and is about as fast as you will get with that size file. (It is able to use the cameras cpu to do the render so cuts the processing time by 75%. They are not cheap but we needed quality and ease of use when it came to getting the footage onto dvd. Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicktech Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Thanks, Can you tell me what editing software you use and on what operating system please? also can the camera be operated remotely? otherwhise we are going to have to be climbing ladders over the audience for every show Thanks :)Hi We use a panasonic panasonic SD-700 or similar that can be put on a bracket on the rear wall. We did buy a better mic from rode as we knew that the internal one would pick up the noise of the fan but I must say it work really well and the editing software make for easy archiving to disk and is about as fast as you will get with that size file. (It is able to use the cameras cpu to do the render so cuts the processing time by 75%. They are not cheap but we needed quality and ease of use when it came to getting the footage onto dvd. Philip sorry, also forgot to mention we are trying to install a back stage monitoring system which ideally needs a feed from the camera. thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 It all comes down to how much you want to spend compared to the quality of the result you expect. Your need seems to be for the video equivalent of having a standard lighting rig, or microphone placement for every show. You could do this, of course and you'd have sound of some sort, and illumination, but would it be good? Probably not. A couple of cameras with remote pan, tilt and zoom would help you frame the shots, but also increase the complexity and cost significantly. Going to HD costs more than SD, and any form of serial digital is going to push up the cost. a bit of composite down cat-5 is cheap and cheerful. Without pan and tilt and zoom (most importantly) the results are going to be pretty average but it does depend how much you have to spend. Cheap pan/tilts can be got for around a hundred quid each - but zoom depends on the camera/lens and may be possible or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicktech Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hi, I have been told that money is no object but obviously being a school we are come what limited with our full sound and lighting budget only being around £1500 however we are able to put in for bids for more expensive equipment but id say probably a couple of thousand would be the limit. We really do need a good quality recording system. if need be we can us ethe existing cameras over cat 5 for the back stage monitoring It all comes down to how much you want to spend compared to the quality of the result you expect. Your need seems to be for the video equivalent of having a standard lighting rig, or microphone placement for every show. You could do this, of course and you'd have sound of some sort, and illumination, but would it be good? Probably not. A couple of cameras with remote pan, tilt and zoom would help you frame the shots, but also increase the complexity and cost significantly. Going to HD costs more than SD, and any form of serial digital is going to push up the cost. a bit of composite down cat-5 is cheap and cheerful. Without pan and tilt and zoom (most importantly) the results are going to be pretty average but it does depend how much you have to spend. Cheap pan/tilts can be got for around a hundred quid each - but zoom depends on the camera/lens and may be possible or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 If I had to do this on low-ish budgets then I'd buy second hand consumer DV cams with worn out tape mechs, and use the composite outputs and hardwire into the zoom control and plonk them on the cheap pan/tilt heads - 1 centre, one side and one other from a useful viewpoint - maybe fitted to a mic stand rather than tripod. Second hand mixer like an MX-50 and then just record the output. A few security monitor style screens and away you go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJG Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Hi In answer to your questions We use the standard software that comes with it (HD Writer AE) this gives better quality than avs did when we tried it. For more complex things we use serif as that is what we are licenced for but it needs a good computer if you have a long show.sorry, also forgot to mention we are trying to install a back stage monitoring system which ideally needs a feed from the camera. The camera also has a composite out which could be used for a show relay, the power saving can be turned off so it will run 24/7 even if it is not recording also the external display does not have all the graphics overlay that the view finder has. Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.