Hello everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to peek at this post. Our church is new to vMix, and we are looking to create a new, simple video setup to make the lives of our A/V booth volunteers easier.

We are currently replacing the recoding portion of our booth equipment, and I have proposed the following setup, but wanted to see if I was understanding this software correctly so that I do not purchase the wrong items. My background is in IT, so most of this seemed straight forward to me, although I’m not a specialist in professional video production.

We currently have a beefy desktop computer that will handle the software/recording. It is an i5 with 16GB of RAM and an SSD for the recording scratch drive. It has an Nvidia 1050Ti graphics card.

We are looking to purchase a PTZ camera to mount in the back of our sanctuary. This will be programmed with some hot keys to move/zoom the camera to different locations depending on who is speaking.

We also have a 4:3 projector system, and we’d like to inject this video into the recording as well.

We would like to record in 16:9 or 16:10, so I realize that our PPT injection will be black-barred on the sides.

Here is the equipment list that I’m proposing for this project, and I have also drawn up a schematic to lay out how this all should work in theory. I’ve included a link to the photo of that drawing. (Schematic)

vMix HD software: Used to record from PTZ camera and inject PowerPoint presentation into video mix.

Windows Desktop: i5, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD (boot drive), 512GB SSD (dedicated for capture), 3TB HDD (LT storage), Nvidia 1050Ti (DP, HDMI, DVI)

PTZ Optics 20x-SDI Gen 2: To be mounted for video recording of the church service. This will be captured via SDI on one of the BM DeckLink cards.

2x BlackMagic DeckLink Mini Recorder Video Capture Card: One will be used to capture the video from the SDI output on the PTZ camera. The other will be used to capture the loopback video via HDMI of the PowerPoint output as it gets send to the projector (explained in schematic). QUESTION: Would it be worth it to get the 4K version of this card instead? Any noticeable improvement over this? We do not plan to utilize 4K, but if there is another benefit to using the 4K version, I’m willing to grab that one instead.

HDMI Splitter: This will be near the desktop. This will split the output from the 1050Ti so that one split will loop back into one of the BM DeckLink cards to inject the PowerPoint video into the video mix when needed. The other output will continue on to the HDMI – VGA adapter to get converted over to VGA for CAT5 sends to the projector room.

HDMI - VGA Adapter: Explained above. This is the HDMI to VGA adapter so that the PowerPoint feed can be send via CAT5 to the projector room. The VGA over CAT5 adapter has two local monitoring outputs, and these will feed a 65” confidence screen (black-barred on sides, obviously) in the back of the church as well as a local 4:3 monitor at the booth.

2x Flat Screen Monitors for Booth Computer. One will be used as the vMix software screen, as well as PowerPoint facilitation; will be connected via DVI to HDMI from the Nvidia 1050Ti. The other will be used as a vMix Live Output Monitor and will be connected via DP to HDMI from the Nvidia 1050Ti.

Ideally, the projector would remain PowerPoint-only in the sanctuary. The primary purpose of vMix is to record the live video from the PTZ camera, inject that PowerPoint feed into the recording as needed, and grab the master audio mix from our booth sound board (via USB codec). This is how the setup would work in a perfect world.

I know this was a lot, but I have tried my best to be thorough and pre-plan all of this before spending $3,500 on this equipment (we are pretty small church).

Anything that jumps out at you that we may have issues with? The biggest thing I saw that I’m worried about is the HDMI splitting and loop-back into the second BM DeckLink. This is the option I chose since, as mentioned above, I’d like the in-sanctuary projection system to just be dedicated to the PowerPoint 100% (the vMix output will not feed that projector, as our church is small enough that the projector screen does not need to show the video feed from the camera, but only needs to show the PowerPoint). I’m just hoping that the loopback works to re-inject the PowerPoint at the key times when we’d like it recorded into the mix (i.e. during songs, or unison readings/prayers).

I appreciate ANY input you can offer. I purchased the vMix software today so that I could get this post up and start the process of acquiring the rest of the equipment. Thank you very much!
Zac
First Presbyterian Church, rural Minnesota, USA

I think it's better to go an i7 CPU. Check the hardware's recommendations on vMix website

vMix prevents from ingesting powerpoint or other medias with a capture card. Best is to use NDI over a network connection. Better quality, no latency and no need for a splitter. Thus no need for a dedicated capture card but keeping them both would be my choice for the possibility to add a second camera later on.

If you are not familiar with NDI, go to the vMix YouTube channel and enjoy the excellent tutorials they made for newbies.

Last, I know there is a trend for PTZ cameras in churches, but personally I would rather spend the same money for 2 better camcorders (like the Canon HF G40 for example or Sony equivalent) than a single "not so good" PTZOptics model. IMHO...
2 cams, one static wide angle shot, + another one manned by a volunteer for close ups is a much better choice for directing and the image quality will be better.

Guillaume

Sorry I did not use the proper terms when said "vMix prevents you from..." I meant "with vMix you don't have to..." which is a great thing, but it has nothing to do with copyright issues...


Not ideal or recommended, but yes