Please pardon this question from a pre-newbie, especially if I'm in the wrong forum. I'm trying to figure out if vMix and PTZOptics 30x-NDI cameras are what I should be purchasing. My goal is to connect three of these cameras, each with a single Ethernet cable, to a gigabit network switch with PoE and then use vMix on a computer also connected to the network to simultaneously record video from all three cameras and save the videos in three separate files. I see that the MultiCorder feature in vMix should be able to do this, but my concern is the following statement in the vMix documentation: "Any source with irregular timing such as NDI-HX, Desktop Capture and vMix Call are not supported by MultiCorder and should not be used." The PTZOptics 30x-NDI cameras have "NDI | HX" stamped on the base. Does that mean that I can't use those cameras to do what I want with vMix?

Thanks,
Paul

Paul,

I just tested this with my PTZ Optics 20X NDI/HX camera and vMix Multicorder. Video was beautiful. BTW, the PTZO cam does not have a SD port. The USB port does not support recording.

Holler if you have any other PTZO questions. I've been using & selling them for years.

- Tom

The vMix warning has to do with NDI issues that the record file could start over and you have to fix it post show. Similar to the calls that might interrupt. The multicorder just dumps the data onto disc, no continuity guaranteed.
NDI is very similar to what RTSP is. NDI wraps stream and control data which RTSP doesn't.
Medialooks offers their direct take software which is a 4 channel NDI recorder. Newtek obviously has a 2 Ch recorder for free and also a paid 4CH version. Even Studio Monitor includes a recorder. You need a seperate instance running for different feeds then.

If you want reliable recordings you need to transcode NDI sources to normalize the resolution, bitrate and frame rate. The multicorder does not do this on its own unless they are recording one of the 4 external outputs. If you don’t need the external outputs for something else you can use them. NDI no longer sells a multi channel recorder and the one in studio monitor is no better than the multicorder- it just dumps the raw data stream to disk.

I use another instance of vmix just for iso records but you could also do it with OBS as long as you’re careful to transcode the source.

Also don’t ever use the “fault tolerant” mp4 recording option. It’s a complete garbage workaround that should never have been released.

Yes. You can route the camera inputs to the external outputs and tell the multicorder to record the external outs. That will give you stable transcoded records. There may be other reasons to use Rtsp or NDI but the camera feeds will need to be transcoded regardless.