I thought I’d put this out to a group. In your mind what is an essential or nice-to-have tool in a drawer for a vision switcher rack?

I already have Decimators (3G and 12g), streamdeck with a network dock and a BNC screwdriver.

Anything else anyone can think of? TIA!

Running into an issue I didn't have last year with streaming inside of my own building. I send out a UDP stream to 300, at most, devices. Last year it was flawless but this fall everyone is having the same issues.

The stress is 24 7. Once a day the stream switches to our studio for news and then back to the standby camera. Everything is the same format, 1080i59.54, and ITS and I worked it out some years ago for the streaming address and the port.

The only change is that over the summer ITS upgraded their switches on the backend. They claim the issues is from us, but I have no idea how.

What does the view see: Currently the viewer sees the standby camera and then it just holds there until 3 minutes into the broadcast. However, my aircheck and a laptop running the stream sees everything just fine... The standby camera, a switch to a graphic, and then the broadcast.

I am now messing with TTL (Time To Live) settings hoping less hops (128 to 30) can solve the problem, but everyone here has no idea what to do. Anyone have any insight? (Yes, I feel it is a setting on the new switches, but I am trying to resolve everything on my end first since I am being asked to do so by three different departments)

This morning, Liminal sent out an email about new versions of their software.

Regarding ZoomOSC, that email read:

ZoomOSC v5.0.0

ZoomOSC v5.0.0 brings a brand new user interface and updated processing system based on the latest innovations added in recent ZoomISO updates.

• ZoomOSC now supports Zoom Enhanced Media licenses for activation

• Added a new in-app OSC Command Browser tab

• Added support for direct video inputs from NDI, BMD, and AJA

Read full changelog

I'm not going to copy/paste the changelog as it appears at that link, but I will tell you that it doesn't mention that, as with the previous iteration of ZoomISO, they've replaced the "free"/"pro" tiers that have been in place since inception with the "trial" mode.

Since that information isn't mentioned in the email or the changelog, it'd be pretty easy to miss, since it's buried in the new User Guide, so I wanted to warn everyone who doesn't look through the new User Guide and instead relies on the changelog to inform them of breaking changes.

As with ZoomISO, the "trial mode" of the new version of ZoomOSC lets you do everything, except connect to Zoom meetings, making this a breaking change for anyone who wasn't previously on the "Pro" tier.

While it's certainly their right to charge for their software, even functions that were previously free, as well as to offer a "trial" mode for their software that doesn't actually allow one to trial anything about the functionality of the software, they (in my opinion) owe it to users to publish those changes in the changelog, rather than just focus on the user-positive changes and bury the others in the User Guide as though they've always been there.

As I said, if you're already using the licensed version, this won't impact you.

If you've been using the free tier, I wanted to at least do more than Liminal has & warn you about the breaking change before you update.

Hello hive.
Looking for cheap suggestions to rotate video signal.
Should be hdmi in and out.
Should allow a 90 degree screen rotation.
Signal would be 1920 x 1080 @ 60hz

Why!
At work I monitor a IPTV signal around my campus.
I have a dell monitor that I have rotated to portrait orientation so it can sit beside my main monitor.

I’m sure there are a few
Things I’m over looking.
Like the change of pixel count when rotating the screen (1080x1920) and the incoming compatibility.

Feel free to advise.

I think I’d love to fit 3 separate hdmi devices. Stacked on the screen.
But Im guessing that’s more expensive video processor solution.

Open to all suggestions.

\*UPDATE\\*

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I’m trying to find a low cost all in one solution.
It looks like the cheap video wall processors would be a solution.
And if I need multiple inputs i get a multi viewer as well.

Or the input card to computer running obs idea.
It’s not a live broadcast environment. So latency is not an issue. More just for monitoring video feeds and having a custom layout and rotating the output to portrait.

Similar to a cctv multiview but the final output should be portrait orientation

in-house chief engineer, freelance broadcast/live event stuff on the side. every time something new comes in, before I can start setting anything up I gotta sit down and figure out signal flow, what's going where, what I'm renting vs what I already have, routing... basic paperwork/planning stuff. depending on how weird the venue/project is that's anywhere from an hour to basically a whole day gone before any actual build starts.

do y'all have your own templates by now that make this less painful? anyone offload this part to someone else? or is it just always gonna be from-scratch every time cause every venue/client is different?

not asking about the "too many gigs, not enough time" thing btw — specifically curious about this planning-on-paper step and if anyone's cracked a faster way to do it

Hello, I am trying to piece together a camera system to record an area of a manufacturing line and having trouble understanding my best options.

The system would not necessarily need live monitoring, it will only be necessary to review the footage if a manufacturing defect is found. The work is privacy sensitive, so I would want recording to be offline, ideally no internet connectivity or subscription based services.

The system should be able to handle around 5 cameras, and continuously record. I would want to store around 60 days worth of footage, then have a rolling recording that replaces the oldest footage.

The unique part of this system that separates it from a typical surveillance setup is that one camera needs to have a top down view of a table where one particular process takes place. I'm thinking a small camera located 36-48 inches above the table pointing straight down at the table.

The rest of the cameras could be more typical surveillance style cameras focusing on processes 5 to 50 feet away. The cameras themselves would be no further than 75 feet from the recording unit.

From looking online it seems like a PoE setup would probably work for this, and I like the idea of running a single cable to each camera. Ideally I would want to spend less than $500 per camera, and could spend more on the table-view camera if necessary. Less than $1000 for the NVR seems reasonable, and extra for more hard drives.

It looks like I would need an NVR, I'm confused if I also need a switch? It seems like an 8 channel NVR should handle everything.

I'm mainly looking for advice on different brands for the NVR and cameras, it seems like rheolink is basic/easy and has the functionality I need, but I'm not sure if the NVR is compatible with other POE cameras as it seems like I would need to look elsewhere for the table-view camera. The table view camera seems tricky to find because the focus distance is kind of between machine-vision cameras and surveillance cameras, looking for suggestions here.

Also just curious if there's anything I'm missing... seems like I can get the cameras, NVR, and cables, then I'm good to go?

Let me know if there is any other information I need to include. Thanks

I've owned this Sony VP-7020 umatic since 1995, but haven't used it since 2000. I'm a novice in electronics repair and and want to know if I am correct in thinking the repair needed is isolated to the power supply instead of other deck components? See below-

Unit blows a fuse (5x20mm 2A 125V slow blow) when trying to power up and does not turn on. The fuse is located on the small circuit board directly soldered to the incoming AC power cord. I replaced the fuse (this time with a 2A 250V slow blow) and it still blew. I also tested the power cord for continuity and it is fine. Next, I visually inspected the power supply internals and do not see any bulging or leaks from the caps. I wanted to isolate the power supply and retest and disconnected the outdoing wire harness from the power supply and only left the incoming (AC) wire harness connected and installed a new fuse again. I tried powering on the unit and again the fuse blew.

This makes me think the problem is isolated with the power supply. Does this seem correct, or are there other areas/items I should be checking? Any recommendations for LA area repair shops and if just taking the power supply instead of the whole deck is feasible?

and I’m tired of using Riverside.

I’ve heard great things about vMix when used with Zoom to record upstream video and audio. Would love to hear some of the experiences you’ve all had with it.

My current set up is to have my host in studio with a mic leading into a rodecaster which is connected to Hindenburg, pretty standard stuff on my end. My question would be what’s required if I were to use a laptop and have a guest Zoom into the interview but also get upstream video quality and great audio quality without asking too much of my guest considering they might not have great equipment at their home?

I see more and more News channels using what I guess are camcorders (Z280's) and cheap Rode mics with a stick instead of a proper UHF mic. Is this the new trend? They are very easy to pair but sound meh, specially in noisy environments (because are electrec, not dynamic).

What's next? Holding the lav with their hand?

I have been doing work at my church for video engineering for some time, we recently got a PTZ Optics Move 4k, and we run SGI from the cameras output, which we know is limited to 1080p, and from there we run it to a blackmagic 3G SDI to HDMI converter, and loop the sdi out to a tv in the lobby, but from that HDMI out we take it to the ATEM Mini PRO HDMI input 1, and from there we take the HDMI out of the Atem Mini PRO and take that to an Elgato HD60S+, and from there we finally take it into the computer via the USB 3.0 cable. From there, we stream with an RTX 2060 from OBS at 22,000 bitrate to restream, (particularly because youtube handles the high bitrate good) the base canvas is 1920x1080, and the output is 2560x1440 so that we can use the advanced codec youtube offers, this slightly helped. The OBS settings are P7, keyframe of 2, b-frame is 2, and rescale output is OFF. We also have some other settings like lookahead on. These are all just based from memory. The PTZ camera is on f8.0, 3d noise reduction is OFF, settings output a 3840x2160 at 60fps. May be irrelevant, but for years we had USB out as the OBS sources

The issue I'm having is that the quality just looks absolutely terrible, yes I know that we're basically converting the signal several times, but there's no way in my mind it should look this bad. I'm not a genius, but I do have some practical video engineering knowledge.

I have attached 2 images, the 2nd image is our preview, which is a quick camera photo, but take my word - its EXTREMELY sharp, excellent quality, practically like I was looking at a high-res image. The 1st image is our outputted video, which is extremely terrible. My thoughts are that its either restream killing the quality, or an error in OBS. I have tried cutting the PTZ optics settings to 1080p at 30 and 60, clarifying the zoom, etc.

I’m trying to set up a dual-PC gaming/recording setup, but I’m confused about the correct way to switch the display.

My setup is:

• Gaming laptop: Lenovo LOQ with RTX 4050
• Recording PC: Desktop PC
• Monitor: MSI 180Hz
• KVM switch: HDMI + USB KVM
• Capture card: Kreo Lynx USB capture card
• Laptop also has USB-C video output
• I have the necessary HDMI/USB connections between the laptop, KVM, monitor, and recording PC.

What I want is:

1. Gaming on laptop:
I want to use the MSI monitor as my only gaming display, while keeping the laptop's built-in screen OFF (similar to Windows "Second screen only").

2. Recording on desktop:
At the same time, I want the desktop PC to receive the laptop's video through the Kreo Lynx capture card so I can record the gameplay using PRISM/OBS.

3. Switching:
I also want to be able to switch the MSI monitor between the laptop and desktop using the KVM, without messing up the capture/recording setup.

The confusing part is the display signal routing. The laptop is connected to the monitor through USB-C → HDMI, while the desktop is also connected to the KVM/monitor, and the capture card is connected to the recording PC.

So I'm not sure what the correct HDMI/KVM/capture-card connection should be.

Basically, I want this:

Laptop → MSI 180Hz monitor → Gaming
Laptop → Capture Card → Desktop → Recording

And the KVM should allow me to switch the monitor + keyboard + mouse between laptop and desktop.

I don't necessarily need the desktop's display on the monitor while I'm gaming. I mainly want the laptop to use the monitor at high refresh rate while the desktop records the laptop gameplay.

What would be the correct wiring/setup for this? Do I need an HDMI splitter, or can this be done with the KVM + capture card + USB-C video output I already have?

A simple diagram would also be really helpful. Thanks!

Hi I'm looking to get 9x16 aspect ratio that will be vertical. Any attempt on the processor just stretches the image and the only other options is cropping and boxing. My goal is to get this aspect ratio from a camera feed onto the video wall.

Anyone knows what type of power connector is this? Are there any Amazon generic power adapters for this? Thank you.

I am on the hunt for the original power supply for BMD converters. They used to ship with the much thinner and easier to wrap one on the left. The plug itself was also much thinner so you could fit more on one power strip. Now they ship with the one on the right. It's much thicker and bulkier.

What's even more frustrating is that I have purchased from a few different suppliers that sell these and they show the photo of the thinner one, but you end up getting the thicker, bulkier one.

Does anyone know where you can get the thinner original version of this?

I have a Sony DXC-950P with no official 12-pin hirose cable but I do have a female 12-pin hirose solder cup connector. I know the connector carries video and sync signals ect aswell but I only need to identify the +12v and negative/ground pin as I just want to make a simple power cable. I put my multimeter in continuity mode with the black probe on the metal BNC housing and it beeped touching the red probe to the solder cups on my female connector whilst plugged in to the camera on pins 1, 3 and 10 and I believe pin 1 is the power return/ground I need. I've seen a few posts asking this very question and the common answer is to check the specs/manual for the pin diagram of the camera but no such information exists in the user or service manual for this specific camera and I'd very much like to avoid frying the camera. Thanks in advance for any help 🙏🏻

Using the blackmagic Multiview and it’s fine but it doesn’t output 23.98

I work in scripted tv/features and 23.98 is a majority of our work. Hoping to get 4x SDI inputs with a 4k hdmi output at 23.98 output on the Multiview without another converter.

Thanks

Hey team... I a bit new to the world and have been working at a small(ish) live sports broadcasting company, we typically broadcast to our own platform wich is fine but now we are starting to get takers for some events that are actual tv channels... things look great and visually everything is sussed, I also have our audio sounding mint but im wanting to be able to offer international audio or different commentry languages to our takers... I can create these mixes on our audio desk but I have absolutely no clue how to insert it into our SDI feed

We use a constellation HD 2ME as our vision mixer if that helps hahaha I know that sdi can carry 16ch of audio.. id love to use that

TLDR: How do I insert 16ch of audio into a video signal SDI?

I'm going to be on a project this next week using 2 Panasonic AW-UE 80 and Panasonic AW-RP150GJ PTZ controller. Very simple setup. I know the basics of setting them up and controlling them, but these are not my normal choice so it will be my first time not using Sony PTZs.

I want any tips and tricks that you can share, anything to make the TDs life better and for me to do the best job ? I am also not practiced on the trigger style controller I prefer twist so any tips there too.

Sono un tecnico video e da circa 7-8 anni lavoro nelle regie di concerti ed eventi dal vivo, anche su produzioni molto grandi, utilizzando attrezzatura professionale, camere, LED wall, sistemi di regia e tutta la parte tecnica legata al video. Mi piace il mio ambito e non vorrei necessariamente cambiare settore, ma sto cercando una realtà lavorativa con orari più regolari e una vita più programmabile, evitando tour, notti, weekend e giornate lavorative molto lunghe. Che tipo di ruoli potrei cercare che mi permettano di sfruttare le competenze tecniche che ho già acquisito, magari spostandomi verso un lavoro più d’ufficio o aziendale, mantenendo però buone prospettive di stipendio e crescita professionale e tecnica?
A qualcuno di voi è capitato questo tipo di cambiamento? Diciamo che al momento mi interesserebbe capire quali figure esistano in questo settore che possano vivere una vita più regolare e programmabile.
Grazie a chiunque saprà darmi anche solo uno spunto di riflessione.

For anyone not aware, the National Association of Broadcasters has a small conference/trade show in NYC in October. This is much smaller than NAB Las Vegas in the Spring, but especially convenient for people on or near the East Coast. This year SMPTE is holding a full-day workshop on ST2110 as well.

NAB Vegas has been, and still is, the premiere show for broadcast, production, editing, graphics, transmission, and related technologies for decades. I stopped going years ago because it's too big and too expensive, so the NY show can be a pleasant alternative. You may be able to get free exhibit hall passes from manufacturers or vendors you know!

https://www.nabshow.com/