Livestream/Webcam with EX3?

[Stefan Sonnabend]

Hey there,

is it possible to do a livestream/webcam thing with the EX3? As it's got no firewire I know I could do it with HD-SDI, but there's a shooting in a few weeks and I can only take with me my Laptop and this Camera. Do I need a PCI-E capture card or is there an adapter so that I can somehow capture live from the camcorder?

Thank you in advance.

Stefan

/e: Okay, I've found this nifty little thing here: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/ That should work, right?

[Craig Seeman]

I do this regularly with my EX1.

EX1 HD-SDI to Matrox MXO2-LE to MacBookPro with Express Slot.
MXO2 has SDI and HDMI in as well as analog composite and component. It attaches to MacBookPro via Express slot. I use Telestream Wirecast software and usually stream to Livestream or Ustream depending on what the client needs.

[Barry J. Anwender]

This was at NAB and will be available near the end of June for a very attractive price point of $349. Check it out at Blackmagic's site:

Blackmagic Design: H.264 Pro Recorder

12-Bit, 4:2:2 real-time and scaleable processing output to a USB 2.0 port.
The downloadable brochure has a handsome EX1 (EX1r/EX3 not withstanding) shown as a desirable video source.
It will interesting to see a side by side comparison to the Nano/Flash XDR MPEG devices.
H.264 is supposed to rival MPEG long-gop in performance but I have yet to see test results using real equipment comparisons.
Cheers!

[Craig Seeman]

From the product description that's not going to help for live streaming.
You don't want a recorder but a device that feeds the computer like that can be grabbed and encoder real time for RTMP, RTSP, MMS use for example. Software could range from Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder to Telestream Wirecast or VidBlaster maybe or Windows Media Encoder.
In addition to Matrox MXO2, Blackmagic Decklink cards can work but obviously not with a laptop. Some people are holding out hope this new Blackmagic toy might work but it's USB3 based. Blackmagic Design: Intensity

I can't imagine USB2 would be sufficient unless you like the webcam look but then again I've seen some decent webcams these days such as Microsoft Lifecam at 720p so maybe Barry is right if it can do that much with USB2.

[Dave Morrison]

Originally Posted by Stefan Sonnabend

Hey there,

is it possible to do a livestream/webcam thing with the EX3? As it's got no firewire I know I could do it with HD-SDI, <snip>

Wow, I guess you better not tell those EX3 owners who have been using their Firewire (iLink) connectors that they don't actually have one.....they'll be pissed.

dave

;-)

[Craig Seeman]

Well it can do HDV out of firewire but shooting XDCAM and sending HD-SDI would give him a better camera and decode for encode from uncompressed might be easier on the computer than HDV's GOP.

[Andrew Stone]

Originally Posted by Barry J. Anwender

This was at NAB and will be available near the end of June for a very attractive price point of $349. Check it out at Blackmagic's site:

Blackmagic Design: H.264 Pro Recorder

12-Bit, 4:2:2 real-time and scaleable processing output to a USB 2.0 port.!

I completely missed this. Wow this is huge if you have to generate web ready video in a hurry. Thanks for the post Barry.

-Andrew

[Stefan Sonnabend]

Originally Posted by Dave Morrison

Wow, I guess you better not tell those EX3 owners who have been using their Firewire (iLink) connectors that they don't actually have one.....they'll be pissed.

dave

;-)

Hehe, when I wrote this it was already late. Of course the camcorder has got an Firewire. Actually I wanted to say my laptop doesn't have one. :)

Even if the laptop I'm gonna use would have an iLink, I can't convert the HDV signal to DV. Both Adobe Live Encoder and the Livestream(.com) Procaster tool only accept SD signals. :(

This Intensity Shuttle thing seems quite awesome, considering the price. I could go with a component signal and the quality would still be sufficient for the stream. But clever as I am, I can't get a component signal out of my camera. I've got a Blacklink HD Extreme capture card in my Mac Pro, which should work (iPhone with component cable works).

There's an option in the EX3 menu for downconverting the HD signal to SD. It's in "VIDEO SET" and called "YPbPr/SD Out Select", then I can choose between "Off, HD or SD" to. The camera should down convert any format to SD, when I choose SD. But it just doesn't work. :/

/e: Okay, the component signal works now, finally. And it doesn't look too bad for a SD signal. I can't tell why it didn't work earlier, but I suppose it's the capture card. I just rebooted the machine AND camera and now I see the video, yay! :D

I'm gonna order the Intensity Shuttle. Anyone here gonna get this thing as well?

[Richard Crowley]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

From the product description that's not going to help for live streaming.
You don't want a recorder but a device that feeds the computer.

That is NOT a "recorder" it is an I/O interface that uses software on your computer as the "recorder" You can use the same input interface to get the video into your computer for streaming (done by the computer). The hitch is that it apparently does the H.264 compression in hardware (which is why USB2 is fast enough). And the question is whether you can get from H.264 into whatever you need for streaming.

[Barry J. Anwender]

"And the question is whether you can get from H.264 into whatever you need for streaming."

Richard, thankfully now even Microsoft has officially embraced H.264 as its default codec in IE9. So along with Google, uTube et.el and Apple's HTML5 push, the industry is gradually focusing on H.264 as the scalable video codec for most all platforms from mobile on up to broadcast quality. Looks like Blackmagic is among the first to the plate with its H.264 ProRecorder. Cheers!

[Stefan Sonnabend]

Thanks for all the input,

as the Blackmagic box won't be released anytime soon (I need it until 4th of June), I'm gonna try getting the Matrox MXO2 LE.

@Craig: I figured the box will work with Windows Laptops as well. Will the input signal be the same as if I'd connect my camera to any internal capture card? Do I need a powerful machine in order to make it work smoothly? And what do I need the wirecast software for? Do downconvert it to a SD signal for Livestream? (Since Livestream.com won't work with any other signal than SD)

Thanks!

/e: Anyone here knows what streaming provider is better? Ustream or livestream? I like the livestream studio better, but since you can't just try the ustream producer pro tool for free, I can't really tell the difference.
/e2: Forgot to mention, that we want multiple cameras equipped to different laptops/devices. I've found that in the livestream studio you can mix them all together, regardless where the cameras are coming from
/e3: Now that I'm at it. I've tried wirecast and Vidblaster. Vidblaster seems pretty good to me. But is there any similar program which can add videos with alpha channel on top of my cameras? :)