Video Cam

[emanueltech]

I know this may sound really really dumb. But wats the easiest way to run a video camera from the front of the hall to the booth (back) - could i use a stage box in anyway (12 XLR 4 1/4 JACK ins) the camera out in 3 phono.

[Peter]

could you be a bit more specific about the camera type? If i were to rig up a camera backstage in my venue right now, it would just be a webcam on the school network, viewable from anywhere with the right password. If this is a regular camera with specific types of outputs it's a different story.

[JahJahwarrior]

in theory, yes. make RCA->1/4 phone cables, boom goes int your snake. You won't get best audio or video probaby, because of the long distance, ubut you aren't recording with thi,s, it's just so you can se what's gong on, right?? ought to work.

[Nephilim]

The video will not travel well down audio-grade cable. Your best bet woudl be to use video runs already installed (they may not be) or to use a wireless AV sender type of device that sends composite video and stereo audio over 2.4GHz radio.

[rapscaLLion]

I got pretty good results running video out from a basic camcorder like so:
RCA Output > 3 Pin XLR > Through XLR Snake To Booth > Back to RCA > Into TV

This is a good 25 meter run on audio grade cable (probably more like 35 - 40 meters considering the snake cable isn't going straight....

Mind you it was going from a cam in the booth to a commodore monitor backstage so they could see what was going on... it looked perfect but on a bigger TV or projecter you might notice loss... really depends on your setup I guess.

[avkid]

If you have trouble with long runs look for a signal amplifier.

[falcon]

we convert the rca into the rf cables that household cable lines are, and we just run that through our catwalks down to wehre we have the tvs

[koncept]

slightly off topic, but does anyone know how to mount a camera on one of the electrices/foh or a batton using a c-clamp type device?

[rapscaLLion]

um...
Well basically (and depending on the camera, and its size) it's just a screw that fastens it to a tripod base. You could try attaching a tripod head to a c-clamp, or better yet a yoke. Definately going to want to put a safety chain on that sucker though (or 2)

[BNBSound]

You should be able to buy or build a simple adapter to get it done. Video signal doesn't really care what type of wire it's on. Modulated signal does, but not AV. So if you need just video you could use adapters to go through the 1/4" or XLR lines on your snake. If you want audio too, build an adapter for each end that puts video on pin 2, audio on pin 3 and both share a common ground on pin 1. Should work fine.