Realtime multicam switcher/capture device & Vegas

beatnik wrote on 5/2/2003, 9:07 AM

Hi folks, I just purchased 2 pd-150's and one dsr-250. I will be doing multi-camera
shoots. I need a device that will enable me to capture and switch between the three
cameras directly into the Vegas timeline. This device needs to support three IEEE
1394 devices & be able to view all three cameras on eigther an analog or an LCD
monitor. I know that videonics makes such a product but it only has 2 IEEE 1394
inputs. Thanks for any suggestions.

Alex

Comments

jetdv wrote on 5/2/2003, 9:14 AM
First of all, you probably won't see an image difference between the firewire connection and the S-Video connection to the switcher. Secondly, how close are the cameras going to be to the switcher? Firewire has a very limited run length.

We are using up to 4 cameras on an MXProDV. However, the firewire OUT on the MXProDV cannot be seen by the computer. Here is how we capture live:

1. Up to 4 cameras connected to the switcher via S-Video
2. S-Video from the switcher to a deck (we are using a Panasonic AG-DV2000)
3. Firewire from the deck to the computer
4. Capturing using Scenalyzer Live because it is easier to get started. Just double-click the icon and press capture
5. File from Scenalyzer then placed on the Vegas timeline for editing.

This procedure has been working great.
PhilinCT wrote on 5/2/2003, 12:14 PM
I pretty much do the same thing. I personnaly hate the videonics product but it is the only affordable option I have been able to find. It really was intended as an editing product, and not a production switcher. I have found no difference running between firewire and S-video, most of my camera runs start at 50 feet. I have gotten usable video as far as 150 feet with s-video. If anyone has any other devices/switches they like please respond. I tape about 2 plays a month using 3-4 cameras. Would love a switcher like the old sony & panasonic 6 input analog switchers of the past, they offer cuts/dissolves and simples wipes and keying, a preview bus and monitoring of each source on a seperate monitor. I still have one but it requires genlock making small format DV-cameras useless...

Phil
beatnik wrote on 5/8/2003, 8:56 PM

Thanks for your reply to this question. I purchased an rca cable video/audio 4 to 1
switcher from Radio Shack. I hooked-up my three cameras to the switcher's inputs.
I then ran an rca cable from the output of the switcher to my 4th dv camera's a/v
input and a firewire out from the 4th camera to my computer and Vegas (I'm using
the 4th camera as an analog to digital converter).

I then opened up the capture utility in Vegas, hit play on the three camcorders and
IT DID NOT WORK? I can see the video on my 4th camera when I switch from camera
to camera but Vegas could not capture the switching.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,

Alex
RBartlett wrote on 5/9/2003, 1:20 AM
You shouldn't have firewire device control turned on in Vegas. It waits until the tape transport is ready before capturing frames.

If Videonics/Radio-Shack gets tiresome: NewTek's VT will switch multiple firewire cameras on a single firewire card (their own driver) as of version VT 3 (beta programme in progress). VT[2] with SX8 external BoB will already switch 8 SVIDEO or component sources, and 24 composite devices. You need to use a loop thru from each source to monitor and the concept of preview-bus only lives on the desktop window. Needs a recent PC with excellent IDE or good SCSI performance. You get deals on NewTek kit at around NAB and Siggraph.
Integration with Vegas is via offline files only, and preferences for uncompressed AVI (SX8) or DV.AVI (VT 3). VT 3 has an AVI wrapper/frameserver that wraps the equivalent of .veg files into AVI, very slick for many different workflows.