DanSteely Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Hi All, Can anyone please give me a bit of guidance in using live video feeds in Screen Monkey. I have a new build Windows 7 PC with a newly installed 8 input PCI video acquisition card which appears to work with the PVR/CCTV type software that came on the driver disk. However in SM I get no option to use these video sources.. Edit:.. This is the card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ADIRAOI (BTW: I am not trying run the two applications together..) Please can someone shed some light on this... Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 It's probably worth firing this on the SM forum if you haven't already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hi Folks, We have a school production of We Will Rock You fast approaching and need Screen Monkey to switch live camera feeds and images/video and can not get live video to work.. (see original post above) Camera to FOH PC Control distance is 20m.. Due to the number of live sources it seems a PC card with multiple inputs is logical (as opposed to USB capture devices) Can anyone please let me have a make & model of PCI video capture card that is know and proven to work in SM? All help is very much appreciated.. BTW: I've posted my question on the Screen Monkey forum but have not received an answer yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 What outputs do you have on your cameras? I suspect you won't have SDI otherwise a BlackMagic Designs card should do the job. If analogue, a Viewcast Osprey card would be the way to go - they're specifically mentioned in Screenmonkey's instructions. I've used them for live streaming before, although not with Screenmonkey - they're very good. As with all things decent in the world of video, they're not particularly cheap though. You might be better off procuring a small vision mixer (Panasonic AVE55 for example) - it'll be significantly easier to work with and as they're quite old now, should be a very cheap hire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I'd have thought that you're better to go for an old video mixer as suggested. in my experience, pretty much every computer solution has too much delay for a large screen above a stage. It's ok to record or webcast bt not where the audience can see both. There are also (probably harder to get) vertical interval switchers that will do the same as a vision mixer, but cut only.Both solutions delay the video signal a tiny bit in order to wait for the exact sync pointy to cut the video. When using vision mixers I have found that a vey short fade is better than a cut as it removes the risk of a stutter at cut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hi Shez & Dave, and thanks for the reply's. The cameras in question are a mixture of Elmo remote control colour and some elderly Panasonics. Both types output composite on BNC's. Please forgive my ignorance here but is there a name for the type of video card technology you describe (Viewcast Osprey card) vs the type I picked up for £20 from Amazon? Latency is an issue but this is a school production and providing it's not beyond, say, 500ms, I think the audience will forgive us.. The price of the VO card is indeed steep. A video mixer would be the way forward but new, even from the semi pro providers like Roland/Edirol are staggeringly expensive for what they are.. (Again, forgive my ignorance on the inner workings) In this instance I don't need wipes,dissolves, captions, CSO, etc, just a way of switching between a few sources on a PC and a few cameras. I have a plan B, of borrowing a video mixer and that might be the only, reliable, simple way forward. I would though, like to sort it in-house if at all possible. Again, sincere thanks for your help and advice on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I don't think there's a specific name that would distinguish between a cctv type capture card and something a bit higher end. Brand names can give some indication - Osprey and BMD both make very good video hardware. To be honest, I would be amazed if a £20 eight channel video capture card would work at all let alone well but the reviews suggest that for cctv work it obviously does. I imagine Screenmonkey needs a card that adheres to certain standards or uses a certain type of driver although the instructions are a little vague. I would still aim for the vision mixer route - it's the kind of thing your local AV company will probably have sat on the shelf as there's not much demand for composite video devices any more. It should be a cheap hire. I know ebay isn't exactly school finance department friendly but looking through the completed listings, there are plenty of decent mixers that went for well under £200 and would probably sell again afterwards if you didn't need it again. Another option would be to crash switch your cameras - it's clunky but very cheap. You'll get a glitch when you switch of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 Hi folks, Support/answers from SM have been very unhelpful/non existent to say the least and under the circumstances I'm ditching the idea of switching live video with SM and resorting plan B in the form of a borrowed video mixer. Many thanks for all your input and help on this thread. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 So far as I know, Screen monkey is a one-man effort by Blueroom member Olie, he is sometimes away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJG Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 HI We did WWRY 2 years ago and I spent many hours looking at software options (screen monkey and powerpoint and several VJ titles) to mix pre recorded video and live video. We ended up with 2 dvd players with the same disk in each so we could cross fade between the 2 with each scene being a different chapter and a 4 channel vision mixer. We also had 4 live camera positions and moved the camera as required which did mean a repatch mid show but did not cause a problem. If I was doing it again I would definitely use a vision mixer again, the pupils worked out how to use it in under 15mins and they made hardly any mistakes and it was the part of the show I thought would give us the biggest problem but once set up it needed very little adult attention. Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSwed Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 If You need HD switching/mixing with low latency (1 frame w/o genlock according to specs) and can get by without a hardware surface, the BlackMagic ATEM Television Studio might work. SDI/HDMI as well as computer inputs and a very clever preview system. A bit more expensive than the CCTV card but it might be possible to rent one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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