I am in love with the new PTZ Camera Control in vMix 17. It is great cost-cutting feature for churches who want a single-camera PTZ option that doesn't need a pricey capture card. But...

For a single camera operation, obviously, you will be making a variety of camera shots available by using the feature Create an input at this position. So far, so good. But, in the actual operation of "switching" cameras (PTZ Optics 12XSDI Gen1), the PTZ cam does not move smoothly from one position to the next. My observation is that it moves horizontally and then vertically. And fairly quickly.

It looks like I can manually control the Pan, Tilt and Zoom and adjust the speed at which these happen by adjusting the sliders. But this does not transfer to the Created Inputs.

Can the PTZ control be changed to record the P, T, & Z speed settings when a Create an input at this position command is issued?

Thank you for your consideration.

- Tom

+1 would be almost worth giving up my joystick control if could do speed controlled sweep presets

There are four main commands available from PTZ cameras such as from PTZ Optics that vMix has access to:

1. Pan/Tilt Absolute Position Command
Using this command we can tell a camera to move to an absolute position and optionally at a certain speed.

2. Zoom Absolute Position Command
We tell the camera to move the zoom into a specific position and optionally at a certain speed.

3. Pan/Tilt Movement Command
Using this command we can tell a camera to start moving up,down,left or right at a certain speed. After some time we then need to send
a second command to tell it to stop moving.

4. Zoom Movement Command
We can tell the camera to start zooming in or out and then after a period of time tell it to stop.

Commands 1 and 2 are what vMix uses to tell the camera to go to an exact position when you create a Input Position preset.
As you can see we have no control over how the camera gets there, and most cameras will only accept one command at a time, so they will pan/tilt into position
and then after that zoom into position.

3 and 4 provide movement controls without any precision, so while you could theoretically time the movements, any latency on the network, or changes in response time
from the camera would result in the camera moving into a position way off from what was intended.

All this is to say that simultaneous pan/tilt/zoom smooth movement from A to B is something that would need to be supported by the camera itself.
If such a command was made available we would certainly add it to vMix!

Regards,

Martin
vMix

This is not entirely correct. The commands we have for manual movement have no position information available and can't be moved in small enough increments
to get them into the exact position we want. The only command we have is for absolute positioning, so it would need extra parameters, provided by the camera
to say how it gets to that position, i.e speed, smoothness etc.

vMix can retrieve the coordinates while the camera is not moving.
However, this doesn't help with the manual controls very much as while you could move the camera towards the coordinates
the timing isn't exact so you will either end up under or over the intended position by a significant distance.

That is not what a PTZ Optics engineer told me today...

He said and I quote: "I just tested my G2 12x USB and when I use the remote control, it does PTZ all at the same time and the focus seems to follow the Zoom. This is what it looks like when using the remote control to call presets."

So, there is a disconnect somewhere in communication.

- Tom

At this point I'd like to see it. I have not been able to make it P/T/Z smoothly. But when I do, you will see it on Streaming Idiots!

- Tom

Per vMix17 help...

Selecting the PTZ camera Device Type

Select the device type that matches your camera from the Device Type dropdown box.
vMix currently supports the following types of PTZ cameras:

PTZ Optics cameras and and other cameras that support the VISCA over UDP protocol such as ValueHD.
Panasonic PTZ cameras that support CGI control over Ethernet including the AW-HE40, 50, 60, 65, 70, 120 and 130 series
Sony PTZ cameras that support CGI control other Ethernet including the SRG-300 series.

It is important to note that for simplicity and ease of use, only PTZ cameras that support network control are supported.
Cameras that only have serial control such as via the VISCA or Pelco RS-422 or RS-232 protocols are not currently supported.

Does you Sony have CGI control over Ethernet?

- Tom

I was able to add PTZ move shortcuts to a regular keyboard for at PTZOptics 2nd Gen 20x SDI camera. The camera will absolutely move and zoom simultaneously. I expect after a few uses, the operators will become very proficient in moving the camera.

I setup the shortcuts to be and speed "0." The operators all LOVE this functionality. The only thing missing is to be able to speed up the movement/zoom on the fly.

Will you share your shortcuts, please?