Live Cam Projection

[aholmes11]

this is a newbie question so please bare with me. I have a show that will require a live cam video projection with a panasonic dvc-30 cam . the a/v out has rca connector that I was planning to use but I am not sure what I use on the pc side for capture.

I am projecting a live band and on top of the cam I am required to project lyrics on top of the feed (lower third) and I am not sure what software to use other than powerpoint but I it would be could if I could use opaque background for lyrics so vid feed is showing in background.

any help at all would be much appreciated.

 

[museav]

You might want to try it first. You have a digital camcorder with processing and D/A in order to get the composite video output. That composite signal then runs some distance to a computer, where it goes through an A/D conversion and some other processing. Then out of the computer to a projector, possibly with some processing and scaling involved at the projector. That's a lot of conversion and processing and thus probably some readily noticeable latency.

Do you have a capture card? What constraints do you have as far as type of computer, budget, etc.?

 

[aholmes11]

Hey. thanks for your quick reply. lets pretend I have an unlimited budget. What would be the best way to do this? I do not have a capture card. I was hoping maybe you could recommend somthing. Appreciate your help!
thanks
Andy

 

[NickJones]

This is possible with software, but it sucks.
I use and Edirol V4 Vision Mixer, that let's me overlay stuff & switch between 4 video feeds, does heaps of other cool stuff, and I also use a TVOne CS320 Scan converter to turn my computer signal (VGA) into a signal the V4 takes, be warned though that scan converting is fine for lyrics, lower thirds, chryrons, but if you want a high quality power point or movie coming from the computer, it won't look that good.
Do a search on CB for scan converters, if you decide to go down this route it will cost around 1k if you go second hand, for the switcher/mixer (V4) and the Scan Converter.
Edirol V4 (Have seen them second hand for $400 US)
Scan Converters-Most electronics computer shops sell these, your's doesn't have to be over $50.

If you want to go down this route I can send you some stuff to help you out, as for software, look into Media Shout, or Pro Presenter if you use Mac.

Nick

 

[NickJones]

Oh my apologies, if you had an unlimited budget you would use a Ross Synergy 54 Channel Vision Switcher, with 8 Dedicated Down Stream Keyers, around 30 HD cameras and a budget of at least 500k

Shiny or what?

 

[headcrab]

That is really trippy.

 

[Soxred93]

Oh, that's so bright! I'm blind!

 

[aholmes11]

Nick. you are awesome! Let me digest this a little and get back to you! thanks so much.
Andrew

 

[NickJones]

Can't hear that enough!

 

[museav]

Anyone ever notice that the weapons controls on the Death Star look suspiciously like a large frame Grass Valley production switcher of that era? Imagine moving the T-bar for a take and it's as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

 

[NickJones]

I'm sure it can blow up planets as well as switch video... I wouldn't be surprised if it was a switcher, in numerous movies I see them and think "That's not switching video.." I saw one recently where there was a plane about to land, and it showed a shot of the guy's in the radio tower, one had a vision switcher in front of him....

 

[SHARYNF]

As suggested above, using a live video mixer or vision mixer will probably work best for what you want to do in REAL TIME. In general software computer capture and then combining two sources typically will introduce significant delays.

The Edriol is a good solution, and so are the Panasonic mx 30/50
If you set your pc up for 800x600 resolution, and use a decent quality scan converter (some of the Extron units show up on ebay for pretty low prices) you can get a decent conversion. These are the VSC LINE. For the overlay you can either go with a chroma key system where you use a specific color or more common for simple solutions is a luma key where you just use a white background, and during the keying the white becomes transparent.

Sharyn

 

[ruinexplorer]

You could also look at a seamless switcher that allows layering. Check out this one who's twin resides at Barco. Granted, something like this new will set you back about 17 grand. However, if you don't need to own this, many rental companies will have something like this in their inventory.

 

[NickJones]

I still think that if it's going to be a regular accourence than the V4 is your cheapest bet, it's bigger sister the V8, has 8 inputs, and built in scan converter, so that's one less box, if you think you might need more than 4 channels in the next 5 years, go for the V8.

Ruinexplorer's Barco system is definitely cool, and look into that if it's just a one off thing.

There is software out there to let you present lyrics in a chyrons style, Media Shout & EasyWorship for the PC, and ProPresenter for the Mac. I ended up with EasyWorship, it plays DVD's and Videos, but intermittently, so it's only used for lyrics. Pro Presenter is also nice, I liked the Demo but I didn't have a spare couple of hundred to buy a full licence.

Nick

 

[museav]

lets pretend I have an unlimited budget. What would be the best way to do this?

Just to keep this real, do you have an unlimited budget? As you are seeing from some of the responses, whether this is a one time use or a regular event may have a bearing on the suggestions. So will any budget. If you are just wanting to brainstorm 'what if' scenarios that's great, but if you are looking for help with a real application then identifying the actual conditions and as much as possible about the application will usually benefit both you and those responding.

My first thought for an unlimited budget would be to start with a camera that can provide better than a converted composite video output, but that is exactly the type of thing that may not be practical and could just be wasting time to explore.

 

[Studio]

Use a simple hardware tricaster with a chroma effect then make your powerpoint the foreground and the video source the background. them make the part of the power point that you want video on and make it a solid bright color then use a chroma key. use a s-video or composite video output from the pc or get a vga scan converter to make the signal s-video of composite video then take the output from the tricaster and connect it to the projector