Multi-Camera Setup

[Joel Brondos]

Is there a way to use a multi-camera set-up for presenters at the same location? In other words, I have two presenters at a table and I want to switch the video back and forth between them. 

Does anyone know if there is some kind of hardware solution -- a video switcher which could be used live to switch between live feeds?

[Niall Brosnan]

I've come across an excellent solution for exactly this scenario.

It uses automatic gain control on the presenters' microphones, and switches the camera to whichever one is loudest.
This would probably be easiest to achieve by switching a video feed to a single capture device.

It was a few years ago, and I heard it on one of the element opie podcasts, possibly "The art of podcasting".

If I recall anything more specific, I'll post back up. 

I'd love to see some more discussion here about hardware setup for producing quality recordings.

[German Acevedo]

Hi Joel,

I use vMix to achieve what you are looking for.  The free version allows me to have up tu 4 inputs (cameras, desktop, powerpoint images, etc.) in any combination.  I can even place the 2 cameras side by side or one over the other in picture in picture. You can find it in http://www.vmixhd.com/

Regards,

German

[Joel A. Brondos]

The VMix looks very impressive!

(1) I'm still wondering a bit about the physical connections for a multi-camera setup. I don't know, for example, if my laptop's graphics card could handle more than one camera connected by firewire or USB -- or perhaps a PCMCIA card? 

The VMixHD website has a demo video in which something called a "Thunderbolt" [sp?] box and cable are mentioned. What is it and where can I get a good price on one? See 00:02:20 into the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=8inGve-4GQw

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(2) Can VMix treat a live Skype or Google Hangouts call as a switchable line?

Thanks a bunch!

Joel Brondos

Brookfield, IL

[German Acevedo]

Hi Joel,

I use a USB video capture cards for my Laptop,the only thing is that you need to have different brands of capture cards.  For example I use a Mannhatan (http://manhattan-products.com/capturador-de-audio-y-v%C3%ADdeo-usb-de-alta-velocidad) and an Easycap (http://www.amazon.com/EasyCAP-Capture-Surveillance-Dongle-AS-EZ-CAP1/dp/B000Z4AQFU).  Just connect each one to different USB ports (I have tryed to connect both to a USB hub but doesn't work) so I think that you can attach as many cameras as available USB ports and capture cards you have.

Regards,

German

[Joel A. Brondos]

German - A very interesting and workable solution. I didn't think it would be as straightforward as that, but I'm glad to hear that it can be done on my laptop without going to "extreme" (and expensive or wasteful) measures.​ 

And your tip about the USB hubs is a time-saver, because I would probably have tried that myself.

Many thanks.

Joel