Hey,
I'm going to do a livestream for a client pretty soon. It will involve a PowerPoint presentation grabbed with the VGA2USB grabber. Video input is S-video. The vMix setup is this:

I've made an individual input for the VGA2USB and for the S-video. But I would also like to combine the inputs into one video frame. Therefore I've also made an input based on the Multi View function. I've composed the input with the PowerPoint to the left and the S-video input to right.

The problem/question is this: In the Multi View input I would like to crop the S-video, so that only the central part of the video frame is being shown. But the crop-buttons doesn't work in Multi View. The only way to crop the video is to do it directly in the S-video input. The problem is that when I crop the S-video, there's no way to switch to an uncropped S-video picture. Is there a solution to this??

Thanx for your time :-)

Hi Stefan,
that sounds like the exactly the right way to handle the issue, perfect.

Thank you so much :-)

Nicolai

Hi Stefan,
I really appreciate your tips. I haven't used the overlay function that much, but you made me check it out more. And it turns out that it works perfect for this, as you suggested it would.

What I've done is this: I created a black mask/frame in a photo editor and use that along with the S-video and PowerPoint inputs. Then I use the overlay function where I put the S-video as the bottom layer, then the black mask as overlay 1 to frame the right side of the video and then I use the 4:3 PowerPoint as the overlay 2 on the left side. This way I get a nice looking black frame around all the inputs. I'll still need to do some minor adjustments, but this was definitely the way to go.

I haven't considered using the remote desktop capture function in vMix, but it sounds really promising if you can get a high quality 25 frame capture just using a LAN-cable. I guess you'll have to use a LAN to USB converter since there's only one port available on most laptops (and it will be used for the internet connection). I'll check this out for shure!

Thanx again for these tips!


//Nicolai

The desktop captue app works on its own and runs fine off a USB stick. It is a great tool.

Hi Nicolai,

You don't need anything else but a short standard Cat5 internet cable to connect two computers (the cards are automatically switching to a local setting). Just make a local connection (it will go automatic!) be sure it's a trusted network (home or work) so both computers can see each other.

Then you start only the desktop capture program on the powerpoint computer and vmix on the recorder.

That's all: just select desktop capture on Vmix and you will see the computer connected.

I set the screen size on the PP computer to match the powerpojnt size usually 1024 * 768 and this will fit in perfect in your overlay. VIX will recognize that frame size so you have no letterbox of black sides.

And remember: if you want the computer to be on the other side of the room you can use a long cable or use a local wifi network. If you don't want the wifi suppied you just use a separate wifi hub (just install your own and use as a local wifi). But using a cble is the easiest and most reliable (and CAT5 is cheaper than a long VGA cable to a beamer or something).

Good luck.

PS your overlay setup is exactly as I use it: so you got the trick!

Stefan