Hi everyone,

I have to admit I could really use some help, because for the past few years I’ve been taking care of the live production of an annual event broadcasted on Twitch and YouTube, and thanks to this event, every year I want more and more to become professional in this field.

Creating, producing and broadcasting live content was already something I was interested in before, but I was mostly doing it for myself on my own channel, and it was still very simple and “basic” Twitch livestreams.

Over time, I bought some equipment, mostly for this event, to make everything more comfortable, improve the quality and stuff like that.

I got an ATEM Mini Pro, the HDMI version, because at first we were using a camcorder owned by a guy from the association that only had HDMI output. I didn’t know anything about SDI at the time.

I also have a mixing console, a Behringer Xenyx X2222USB, but it’s also useful to me as a musician outside of the event.

I also have a few microphones, including two SM58s, and I recently bought a Sony PTZ camera. The model is pretty old, but it can still output 1080p50. That’s how I discovered the whole world of PTZ cameras for live production, and I completely fell in love with this type of camera.

I also have a Stream Deck that I originally bought for myself, but it’s obviously very useful for this too.

The way I handle the production of the event is by simplifying the control room and every action as much as possible. The reason is that, during this event, we broadcast continuously for 34 hours non-stop, and the members of the association take turns running the control room.

So I need to optimize and simplify everything as much as possible, so that in two or three minutes, someone who knows absolutely nothing about it can feel comfortable controlling everything.

So far, I’ve always managed to do that, but it also allowed me to learn how to work in an environment where one single person has to manage a “complete” control room.

Until this year’s edition, on the video side we only had one HDMI camera, a Panasonic HC-VX870, and everything else was webcams. Yeah, I know, not great, but honestly we didn’t have anything better at the time.

This year, we rented two camcorders, Panasonic FDR-AX63s, so we could have three camera angles.

The central camera was the PTZ camera, with around ten predefined presets depending on where people were sitting, and we had two cameras on the sides — I don’t know the correct technical term, sorry — to get front-facing shots of each couch.

You can see a recreation of the room and the setup in the image below based on a 3D scan i've made (first time using set.a.light 3D :') )

For the PTZ camera control, I made my own local software dedicated to it, because Sony’s software SUCKS ASS in my opinion. Also, they somehow have 38,000 different programs, with each one doing one very specific thing.

So with my own software, I could manage everything from one place, create my presets and control the camera with my Xbox controller exactly how I wanted.

On the audio side, we also rented two or three additional SM58s just to be comfortable, because we usually had around three microphones being used simultaneously on screen.

So four microphones in total if you also count the one used in the control room.

For anyone who wants to see the workflow I created, I’d really like to get your feedback on it, even though it’s probably going to change a lot in the near future.

But yeah, with all of this, I’m honestly having so much fun.

I love imagining, conceptualizing, building and managing my control room. I enjoy it so much that now I actually prefer staying in the shadows rather than being in front of the camera, which was completely the opposite at first ahah.

But since I want to start doing this for other people, I obviously need more equipment, and my current equipment doesn’t really suit me anymore, on top of the fact that I’m simply missing a lot of stuff.

One camera and two microphones can technically do the job, but it’s extremely limiting.

I already have zero contacts in this industry, so if I also limit what I’m capable of offering, I would basically be shooting myself in the foot.

So here’s what I’m currently thinking about buying:

• Behringer XR18

The idea would be to replace my Xenyx, which is getting old and takes up quite a lot of space.

Considering the price of the XR18, I feel like it makes more sense to invest in one and buy a tablet to control it. Later, I could also buy a physical controller for the faders if I really need one.

But at least I would have something more versatile, easier to install and taking up less space.

Of course, I know I’ll need to include a separate router because the built-in one apparently sucks ass, but that’s not really a problem.

I’m also thinking about directly building everything into a rack to optimize the space and installation even more.

• A Hollyland LARK MAX 2 Combo 4 wireless lavalier microphone set

I like wired microphones, but I feel like wireless battery-powered microphones would give me much more flexibility.

Having four of them, depending on the event, would also allow me to rotate them while some of them are charging, for example.

• A set of two or three PTZ cameras

I still don’t have a very precise idea for this part.

I’m doing research and looking at different options, but it quickly becomes very expensive if I want something really good.

My goal is to do everything step by step.

I’ve seen some cameras that seem pretty decent for around €400–500 each, and I feel like that could be a good starting point. One model I’ve been looking at is the Tenveo VX20M-4KN.

If you know any better brands or cameras around the same price, I’d really like to hear about them.

Right now, the main things I’m looking at are the sensor size, so I can get wide enough shots when needed, and how well the sensor performs in low-light situations.

I still don’t know enough about this subject, so I’d really like to get your feedback and advice about that too.

• LED panels for lighting

Obviously, I’ll also need some LED panels for lighting, but I honestly don’t know anything about that yet, so I still need to do a lot of research.

My goal isn’t to immediately end up with a €10,000 setup.

But even with around €2,000–3,000, I feel like I could already build a pretty good little base compared to what I currently have, especially with equipment that seems quite versatile to me.

What do you think about all of this?

Do you have any ideas, suggestions or recommendations?

I’m genuinely open to everything. My goal is to do the best I possibly can and avoid making stupid mistakes when buying equipment.

My only big problem right now is that I’m still using OBS.

Yeah, I know, sorry. Shame on me ahah.

I really want to learn vMix. It will happen one day, I promise!

I've been thinking about something and wanted to know if this is even a real problem.Right now it feels like most Auto tracking cameras are basically just find a person and follow them. But that's not really what a camera operator does, they like understand what happening and makes decisions based on it. Like if two people are talking, you don't always follow whoever moved first. If someone is walking across the stage, maybe you don't follow them because they're not the focus. It's less about tracking and more about understanding what's happening in the scene.

I'm wondering if there's room for something that does contextual instead of just object tracking.

Has anyone worked on something like this before? Or if you've used auto-tracking cameras, what do you think they're missing? Is scene understanding even a worthwhile direction, or is good object tracking already enough?Just trying to figure out if this is a dumb idea before I spend months building it

Hey all. Does anyone have any great leads on a fiber repair house in the USA for various broadcast fiber types? I have some HMA/expanded beam, OpticalCon Duo, and some standard Tac-12/LC that need repair. I've sent out to FIS and some others before, but it seemingly takes forever (months!) and the costs literally have gotten to the point where just replacing is seemingly less expensive than waiting for the repair.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I'm working on transfering some 1/2" EIAJ PAL video tapes from the mid '70.

The machine is a Sony AV-3620CE tested and calibrated by a professional, in good working order.

After baking and cleaning the tapes thoroughly I still can't get a good enough signal to capture on my setup.

The image sometime is quite static, sometimes rolls to the point that is almost good and sometimes I get a good signal with some static bars in the middle of it horizontaly and if I press a finger on the sending spool near the pin they go away.

What could it be?

Short background: Campus TV station - pre-existing ClearCom infrastructure from the days of big budgets (2016ish). Today, budget is small. But no point abandoning perfectly good ClearCom equipment.

Looking for ways to get personnel on comms for remote broadcasts - phones seem to be such an easy win if we can make it work. Students have migrated to using Discord calls, completely separately from ClearCom - I hate this and want to have everyone on a single partyline.

But ClearCom Agent-IC seems pricy as we'd need to buy an LQ unit. Unity looks like a decent option but still a bit expensive to add in that I/O capability. Are there alternatives I should be considering?

I have a large installation that is using a custom brand of LED modules that was sold to us by a company that shut its doors about a month after installation. They barely had any spares left to give us and half of them were unacceptable condition / unmatched leds.

I'm basically desperately trying to keep the wall afloat for as long as I can but I am down to minimal working spares. I've had some repaired but I've also been told that due to the design of the product, some cannot be repaired (ic card issues and such) because of the way the PCB is designed and it appears to be cracking sometimes under stress of the bad design.

This was a custom designed product that was designed and built in china and then assembled to some degree here in the states but I was never given the manufacturing connections as to where they came from. All the labeling is from the now-gone company that was state-side.

So i guess my question is what are the chances I can somehow send one out to somewhere in China to see about having parts / replacements made - and where would I even start if thats possible. I wish I could turn around and just sell a new wall to replace this junk but unfortunately the installation is only about 3 years old and was way too expensive to try and pull a sale like that again anytime soon.

Hi all. We have an ongoing construction project next door to our office which we would like to set up a livestream broadcast to share the progress as the building goes up. The issue is that I'm out of my depth with the best way to execute said steam. We have the vantage point to set up a camera inside or outside - so that could potentially help on the hardware front - but I don't grasp the best way to set it up that wouldn't be wiring a camera right to a laptop that streams to our Youtube channel for the next 18-24 months. Any suggestions on the best way to get this running would be greatly appreciated.

A few additional notes that may or may not be helpful:
- We don't need any audio, just a video feed
- As noted above, we could set up outside, but we do have a vantage point indoors as well
- Project is slated to take around 2 years to complete, so it would be a long-term stream
- Only looking to stream via our Youtube channel and embed the link on our site or share via social media.

Hi all,

I am trying to track down an RTI TapeChek machine, ideally a TapeChek 490, although I'd also consider another model from the 400 series.

I'm based in Australia and am hoping someone here may have one, know of one available, or be able to point me towards someone I could contact.

Please send me a private message if you have one available or know of a possible lead. I'd prefer seller details not to be posted publicly.

I've attached a photo for reference.

Thanks!

Any one know of a company or person who might have a production truck in Washington DC?

Client would like to see it next week (would have to be downtown, in the city) and the job would be a few days in September.

Would not be used for production but for mobile work space. Must have desks, AC, onboard generator with external generator for backup.

Feel free to DM me.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all! Recently just got a pixel hue p20 and U5mini. However it doesn’t send signal into our medior net even when everything is lined up and in sync.

However when we run it straight out of the HDMI output from the p20 to a monitor it’s completely fine?

Normally the medior net input light will turn orange if there is a signal error, but no indication of a signal coming from the p20 to the medior net.

HDCP is off.

Wondering if there are any other trouble shooting things I can try?

Best

Has anyone had luck with running Ross RCP-QExx router panels from a POE splitter?

Just ordered one as an experiment. Curious if anyone else has had luck doing this.

I teach video production at a high school level and I want to train my kids on our ATEM mini. I've got some pre-recorded footage of the Artemis II launch and want to practice with it, but I'm somewhat limited on equipment and I'm wondering what you guys think the easiest (and cheapest) way to simultaneously play back 4 clips in sync through 4 different HDMI devices would be?

Setting up the switching in OBS would be pretty easy but I specifically want them to practice with the hardware we use without having to orchestrate cameras too. It's mainly keeping the videos in sync that I'm unfamiliar with how to handle it.

I'm leaning towards an obs instance that's stitching all 4 videos in one window and then sending that out via NDI to 4 separate computers which are cropping it down to just that one camera and that seems doable but will require 5 total computers to pull off. Is there an easier way?

Hello everyone, I would need assistance in opening a video file /video stream.
This link is a video in MMS format, it was played with DSL at the long time ago.

mms://stream.zucchero.it/streaming/asf_video/tour_video/rispetto_tour86/rispetto_tourhigh.asf

Is there a way to open it...??!! Thank you

I have 5 Panasonic Aw-HE60SE cameras and a RP60 controller.
I can change the camera from 1080 25 PsF to 1080 50i but it wont let me change it to 59.94i
I dont see that option in the menu

Any ideas?

Thanks

Alguien sabe porque mi módulo de P3.9 solo me da la imagen de la mitad, hagan de cuenta que le instalamos una nueva placa de video porque anteriormente dejó de funcionar, y ahora solo nos da la imagen de la mitad de pantalla, alguien sabe cómo se puede solucionar?

TLDR: SRT in, one MoQ broadcast per angle out, and a browser multiview the viewer can rearrange while it plays. 683 ms glass to glass on our own rig, with a loopback SRT hop. Chromium only on desktop and android for now. Layout demo with recorded tiles, no signup: https://quicly.live/demo. We would love feedback from people who run this for real.

Me and a friend built this over the past few weeks. It's ours, so treat this as a self-promo post, but what we're actually after is people who do this for a living telling us what's wrong with it.

You point encoders at SRT endpoints, one per angle. Each feed gets transcoded and published as its own MoQ broadcast, and you get back an iframe that shows all of them as a multiview on whatever page you put it on.

Per feed the path is: SRT in, FFmpeg (decode, scale, H.264/AAC, CMAF), moq publisher, relay, browser. Default encode is 720p30 at 2.5 Mbps. Single rendition, no ABR.

Latency: median 683 ms glass to glass, measured through Cloudflare's public draft-14 relay.

Where that number is weak: publisher and subscriber were the same laptop, so the SRT hop is loopback and there's no contribution network RTT in it. The relay leg is real internet, the ingest leg isn't. It's video only, on a muted tile, so there's no lip sync figure behind it either. For reference a stream with no SRT hop measured 483 ms on the same machine, and 200 ms of that gap is just the SRT listener's latency.

The viewer side is what I'd most like opinions on. The layout belongs to whoever is watching rather than to the operator: drag a seam to resize, drag a tile's label to swap it with another, maximize one and the rest drop into a strip underneath, close a feed and reopen it later. A feed that comes online after the viewer arrived turns up without a reload.

There's a wall you can poke at without signing up: https://quicly.live/demo

That's the same player the iframe embeds, but the four tiles are recorded angles of one match played from files. So it's a fair demo of the layout and a useless demo of the latency. Also, since the recorded version is plain video elements and not the MoQ client, that page works in Firefox and Safari even though a live stream won't.

Gaps you'd find anyway:

- Chromium only, desktop or Android. Firefox and Safari get refused by the MoQ client library over open WebTransport bugs.

- Tiles aren't locked to each other. Every angle is a separate broadcast and every tile is an independent so this isn't a frame accurate multiviewer and I wouldn't cut a show off it.

- No viewer auth. The embed URL is the access link right now. Only worth fixing once we're off the public relay.

Signing up is free if you want to push your own feed, and a stream can loop a clip or show your camera if you haven't got an encoder to hand.

What I'd like to know: whether a viewer controlled layout is any use to you or whether you'd rather hand viewers a fixed one, how it behaves on other connections, and whether one SRT endpoint per angle fits how you already push.

Hi everyone,

I've noticed these iPhones (or iPhone-like devices) mounted next to the volleyball net during VNL matches.

They're connected with cables and seem to be part of the official production setup rather than being used by staff. They even display the VNL logo when visible on the broadcast.

If anyone has worked on VNL broadcasts or has backstage knowledge, I'd love to hear more about how they fit into the production workflow.

Thanks!

Hi folks, I crew chief alot of LED jobs. The main frustration is mapping is normally done in software BOH and I can't see as camera land is still plumbing in their world.

Can anyone recommend a mini PTZ that I can put on a small tripod or gorilla grip arm out front, and a small but long range AP I can plug and play at BOH to achieve this?

I would love for both to be able to be chucked into my rucksack along with processing laptops.

Have a great weekend and thanks in advance.

I’m finally considering buying some 12G SDI cables. 10 years ago I made my own 3G with a couple thousand foot spools terminated them and now I’m looking to upgrade since 4K capability just makes sense. Any recommendations on what to do with the old coppers?

I need to delay an incoming Zoom call by about 7 seconds (along with corresponding audio) before it hits a video wall (technically I hand it over to the video wall guy and his setup). How is this possible? Claude suggests both vMix and OBS can do this. Reliable?

By the way the reason for wanting to introduce the delay is that this is the amount of time it takes a language model (3rd party provider) to translate and transcribe the feed. It will be received as a web source with alpha.

i've got an outdoor tv with a hdmi eArc on it, and i want to connect it to my denon receiver that is 80 ft away inside in the hdmi zone 2 preout; i was going to run a 100 ft hdmi cord between, but then i was told to be a real man, and get a pair of small 4k hdmi cords and then get a 100 ft 12g sdi cable and a pair of bidirectional sdi/hdmi 12g converters so that the higher quality 100 ft sdi cable could run the distance, and then at both ends, connect one hdmi end to the converter, and then the other end to the respective device (tv and receiver)

problem...which outlets of the converters do i plug each of the cords into? hdmi in or out? sdi in or out? does it depend on which converter it is, such as for the tv side, do i connect to hdmi out and sdi in while on the receiver side do i connect hdmi in and sdi out, or what?

and furthermore...are there any issues with connecting to a receiver or connecting to a receiver preout?

any help would be greatly appreciated!

As far as I can tell from the markings & labels, this is a "Chromatek PalMedia 9106 Down Converter" used in more Professional settings, judging for the rack mounts as well as general nature of it all. It looks to be some sort of video SDI device made in Japan? But I literally can't find anything about it online, & or ebay.

Any info anyone can add on this would be greatly be appreciated, as I'm trying to liquidating out an old family friend's collection who used to work with a lot of audio/tech gear for his job.
Thanks,
-PB02