Hello,

has anybody tried to connect a CCTV wifi IP camera to vMix?

If yes which one has he used?

I try to make a theatrical project and connect 3 CCTV cameras to vMix on a laptop.

They cameras won't have to be wifi but I think its the easier way to connect them
to a lapotop.

If anyone has a budget non-wireless alternative please advice!!

Thanks!

I've used surveillance cameras with vMix. I have a couple of Grandstream GXV-3672 installed. Not wifi.

Wifi isn't as convenient as you might think, because you still need to power the cameras. Further, it's not all that reliable. I find that wired Ethernet can provide both power and reliable bandwidth.

Michel

Any IP camera that supports RTSP over UDP or TCP will work. The bigger concern when using surveillance cameras is the field of view. They often have fixed focal length lenses, which means that they don't zoom in/out. They see what they see.

The Grandstream models that I use come with 8mm (narrow FOV) or 3.6mm (wide FOV) lenses. When designing a security system this needs to be considered to ensure that you see far enough or wide enough to have adequate site coverage.

In video production it means that your shots are in part defined by where you can locate the camera, and it's FOV. There are PTZ-capable surveillance cameras, but they cost a lot more.

If you use HD-capable IP cameras and your production is in SD you can use the tools in vMix to crop and re-position your camera shots without losing much quality. That does place extra load on the host computer.

To be fair, IP cameras have one significant down-side; latency. They deliver an H.264 encoded stream to vMix. That means that the stream will be delayed from real-time by at least 1 group-of-frames (GOP) which can be a couple of seconds. If you covering a sporting event and need lane cameras IP cameras may not be your best choice.



That could work, but it only supports SD (NTSC/PAL) cameras. That would mean running BNC cables to the cameras. The cameras would also need power. That makes them more cost & effort than IP cameras powered-over-Ethernet.

Many people think that wireless cameras will be very easy & convenient. They're wireless, right? No wires. That overlooks the need for power.

Further, wireless networks are less than ideal for streaming media. Wired Ethernet is more reliable.

Many IP cameras can be powered via standard 802.11af power-over-Ethernet. That means that you only run one Ethernet cable to the camera. It gets power & connectivity over the network cable. One wire.

This requires that you use a P-O-E capable network switch. The switch provides power down the network to the cameras. Such switches are cheap and common these days.

My four Grandstream cameras connect to a small 8-port TPLink switch. It provides power on 4 of it's 8 ports.



Power-over-Ethernet is awesome. It's a great way to power IP cameras, IP phones & Wi-Fi access points. Anything that's going to be mounted in an awkward place benefits from receiving power over the network.

POE splitters allow you to derive power from the network to run things that are not themselves POE-enabled.

You can even get a POE adapter to power a Raspberry Pi. I use this with an RPi used as a music player.

Michael

- Either of those POE-capable switches would work

- A POE switch eliminates the need to POE insertors

- You don't need special cables to use POE

- That camera is NOT POE-capable. while you might be able to find a splitter that delivers the correct voltage with the appropriate connector, it seems like a complicating factor. Given that you're not already familiar with this stuff I recommend selecting a camera that clearly stated a supporting 802.11af power-over-Ethernet. It might cost a few dollars more, but it would be more likely to work without headaches.

I suspect that the 3.6mm lens would be a better choice. The 8mm lens tend to be used when the subject matter is more distant.

Since these are HD capable cameras and you envision an SD production, you can always crop & reposition the shots in vMix to deliver a more ideal result.

You mention nothing about your network.

Does the power on network switch indicate the camera is connected? They normally have a status light for each port.

Does the camera get an IP address?

Do you have a router or DHCP server that issues IP addresses?

Can you ping the camera's IP address from the laptop?

These are common networking issues. They must be addressed before you can actually use the camera.