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mes71168  
#1 Posted : Monday, September 3, 2018 2:43:47 PM(UTC)
mes71168

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Hello all and first, please allow me to thank all of you who help those of us who are new, struggling or not as well versed in this. I have read several posts trying to find answers to my unique situation and while some posts have helped answer some questions, I unfortunately still have gaps.
Let me start out with who I am and what I am currently doing.

I am part of a very small (3 person) media crew for a small (100 max) local church. We have presentation software that we project onto a screen that provides lyrics to hymns and scripture (and video or powerpoints if necessary). Currently, I am running this software (OpenLP) on a custom PC we inherited about 8 years ago (and it was 4 years old when we got it). I have breathed as much life into the PC as I can, and it is time to rebuild.

On a second inherited computer (this one is a MAC), about the same age, we run WireCast to stream our services to those who cannot make it to church (or who happen to be trolling the web and may come across us). We use a Canon XHA1S camera to capture video and patch sound in through our mixing board. When we are singing, we pan & zoom to the screen with the lyrics (and get a great shot of our lights in the way).

I downloaded vMix to see if I could combine these activities and everything seems to work great except I cannot get the Canon to feed into the system. I have no slots for extra capture cards or usb 3 devices that will work with vMix.

Hence: the new build. I have settled on a great motherboard, hard drive, etc...what I am looking for is how to capture this camera and possibly a second one of a newer bread (with HDMI or other out). We do not have the budget for a couple thousand dollar AJA, Magewell or other "pro" series card. We are not really concerned with true HD output or capture - very basic.
My question is (this is where I lack the knowledge and don't understand the terminology), do I go with independent capture sources for each camera (what seems to be an Elgato HD60 series) and buy 2, or am I better off with a multi feed system (or at least seems to be) like a Yuan SC560 / SC5C0 N4 and leave some room to grow?

Am I on the right track (or even in the right forum)?

Thank you in advance for any assistance that can be given. If you need additional info, please ask and I will provide. If I do not answer right away, please be patient - I do not have internet access at home - only occasionally at work and 2 to 3 times a week when I am at the church.
IceStream  
#2 Posted : Tuesday, September 4, 2018 9:39:36 AM(UTC)
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@ mes71168

Before moving forward, can you elaborate on how you are currently capturing the Canon for your streams?
(it would be nice to get it working with vMix first and possibly have it as an option in a new build)
It is definitely better to have a multi-port capture device where possible (cost/port tends to be lower as well) however, mixing old technology with new is always a challenge and why I always recommend working backwards from your camera's output format first...
Building for the future is great, but that doesn't necessarily get you up and running right now!


Ice
mes71168  
#3 Posted : Tuesday, September 4, 2018 4:38:54 PM(UTC)
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thanks ice! currently, the canon is capturing through the firewire connection to the mac. i have not been able to succesfully capture anywhere else. the original rgb output cord wasnt with the cam when they purchased it. i intend to but one when the new build is done and see if it works. if not, i will already have a new cam in place.
IceStream  
#4 Posted : Tuesday, September 4, 2018 6:23:19 PM(UTC)
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@ mes71168

FireWire is a great way to capture some of these older cameras if the AV output is lacking or inaccessible, the issue is often finding a PC with a FireWire port or acquiring a PCIe FireWire card for your PC.
Often times, such cards are very affordable and will be multi-port cards, however, people have erroneously thought that they could thus capture multiple cameras on one card. Unfortunately, this does not work very well with the FireWire protocols and video bandwidth requirements, more than one camera on those circuits can be very unstable and not reliable.
But for a single camera, they are just fine, one thing to note though is that FireWire adds about 1/2 a second delay, which might be slightly more than other capture methods.
Certainly worth exploring...


Ice
mjgraves  
#5 Posted : Wednesday, September 5, 2018 11:51:28 AM(UTC)
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According to the user manual I found online, this camera has an HD-SDI output.

On that basis, you might find it easiest to purchase a USB connected SDI capture device. These are easy to find from the likes of Magewell, Yuan and others. Most are USB 3 these days.

There are some that are USB 2, like this one: https://www.febon.net/pr...ess-uvc-sdi-capture-card

To deliver 1080p over USB 2 they rely upon MJPEG compression, which is part of the UVC 1.1 spec. Being UVC means they don't require a drive and vMix should see it just fine. They are in essence like a webcam.
universalk  
#6 Posted : Wednesday, September 26, 2018 8:19:19 AM(UTC)
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As an extreme solution you could use your old pc just to convert the video signal to NDI
Once you are able to see the video on screen you can capture it and send over the network, then on the PC running vMix is enough to add an NDI input and you're done
mes71168  
#7 Posted : Sunday, September 30, 2018 9:57:38 AM(UTC)
mes71168

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I really just want to say thank you to everyone! I have taken everything into consideration and will be working through the setup in the next few months. This is a very part time position for me and you have all been incredibly insightful and helpful!
I will be sure to keep you posted as to the final configuration and how everything goes!
God bless you all!
melody  
#8 Posted : Thursday, October 4, 2018 10:18:38 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: IceStream Go to Quoted Post
@ mes71168

FireWire is a great way to capture some of these older cameras if the AV output is lacking or inaccessible, the issue is often finding a PC with a FireWire port or acquiring a PCIe FireWire card for your PC.
Often times, such cards are very affordable and will be multi-port cards, however, people have erroneously thought that they could thus capture multiple cameras on one card. Unfortunately, this does not work very well with the FireWire protocols and video bandwidth requirements, more than one camera on those circuits can be very unstable and not reliable.
But for a single camera, they are just fine, one thing to note though is that FireWire adds about 1/2 a second delay, which might be slightly more than other capture methods.
Certainly worth exploring...


Ice



in my opinion, firewire is very good as an alternative, when you don`t have any other interface to connect your cameras.
it works fine BUT there are some tricks you need to know to get it work 100% on vmix.
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