Live switched multi-camera setup

[Al Gardner]

Nice, What's the weight going to be ? I hope you are keeping it under 50 lbs.?

Can you ship it in this case?

[Adam Grunseth]

Originally Posted by Al Gardner

Nice, What's the weight going to be ? I hope you are keeping it under 50 lbs.?

Can you ship it in this case?

Right now the total weight is 44 lbs. I suspect it will probably be closer to 45 once all the cabling is finished. Most of the weight is from the power conditioner- That thing is heavy!

And yes, I suppose I could ship it in this case. However, most of what I plan on using it for is local so at this point I am not intending on shipping it anywhere.

[James Palanza]

This is very interesting. I've actually been tossing the idea around in my brain about making a rather complicated but certainly doable three camera live switching system for shooting wedding ceremonies with DSLR's. Basically each tripod with a DSLR on it would be setup with remote pan/tilt as well as remote motorized follow focus. These would also have a wireless HD transmitter installed. I could then theoretically control all three cameras from one location. I'm fairly certain I could build the pan,tilt, focus device for under 2,000 a piece. I'd then run it all into a beefy portable pc or laptop solution and live edit similar to what you are doing.

Its an interesting idea. Glad to see your succeeding in your project!

[Al Gardner]

Actually when I started doing wedding probably at least 30 years ago, i built a cart on wheels and had a 3 camera live switched rig that we would roll into the church. and lay out the cable. It was so cool. i would say even today that would be the way to go.

I don't know if anybody remembers the Showtime switcher and genlock. That was the heart of my system.

Along with Radio Shack headsets for communication between the cameras.

Adam if you ever plan to fly with this thing keep it under 50 lbs are you're gonna pay through the nose.

[Adam Grunseth]

Originally Posted by James Palanza

This is very interesting. I've actually been tossing the idea around in my brain about making a rather complicated but certainly doable three camera live switching system for shooting wedding ceremonies with DSLR's. Basically each tripod with a DSLR on it would be setup with remote pan/tilt as well as remote motorized follow focus. These would also have a wireless HD transmitter installed. I could then theoretically control all three cameras from one location. I'm fairly certain I could build the pan,tilt, focus device for under 2,000 a piece. I'd then run it all into a beefy portable pc or laptop solution and live edit similar to what you are doing.

Its an interesting idea. Glad to see your succeeding in your project!

I really enjoy being able to switch and direct multi-camera shoots live. Being able to see what all the cameras are coordinate all the shots I feel helps me deliver a much, much better product than I would be able to otherwise.

Currently I am planning on using HD-SDI cable to go from my cameras to the switcher. In the future I would love to upgrade to a wireless HD video transmission system, but at this point I don't have the funds to do that. There are also a couple upgrade I want to do first, once I start making some money with this system. The first thing I am going to do is upgrade the communications system to a professional intercom solution- No more FRS radios. Next I want to get a dedicated hardware control panel for the switcher, instead of running control software on the PC.

Once you get your system all set up I would be very curious to see how it works for you. Personally I like having human camera operators, but I am intrigued by the idea of a fully automated system.

Originally Posted by Al Gardner

Actually when I started doing wedding probably at least 30 years ago, i built a cart on wheels and had a 3 camera live switched rig that we would roll into the church. and lay out the cable. It was so cool. i would say even today that would be the way to go.

I don't know if anybody remembers the Showtime switcher and genlock. That was the heart of my system.

Along with Radio Shack headsets for communication between the cameras.

Adam if you ever plan to fly with this thing keep it under 50 lbs are you're gonna pay through the nose.

I really don't plan on flying with this system, but who knows what the future will bring. Still, I am trying to keep it as light as possible for the sake of portability.

[Adam Grunseth]

High def flypack update-

My various cables and connectors that I needed to start wiring everything up arrived on Friday. As a result I was able to do all the cabling for the flypack.

This should have been the final step. At this point everything should be working and I have everything I need. Unfortunately there is one component that is apparently not working. The Behringer SRC2496, the A/D audio converter, is not functioning properly. Some of the buttons on the front are not responding and it is not outputting audio.

An internet search has revealed that this is a hardware issue. Unfortunately it is now too late to return it to the retailer, so I have to try to go through Behringer's warranty repair service. Based on what I've read online, this could potentially take several months.

Obviously this is extremely frustrating. I was hoping to start advertising the system for rental within a few days. Now I have no clue how long it is going to take before I have it all up and running.

On a positive note, everything else is working perfectly. Video switching, audio mixing, and wireless audio system are all functioning beautifully. I just can't combine the audio with the video for recording or live streaming.

[Adam Grunseth]

It's been a while since I have posted an update on the progress of my Flypack.

It is done!

I finally have everything put together and working. All the various cables and connectors, everything. Now all I have to do is finish my website and get some clients :-)

Attached is a picture of the finished flypack showing how it will likely be set up when I am actually using it on gigs. The table is a portable folding table, there are two monitors plus the keyboard and mouse that will all need to be plugged in. This is all run off of the power conditioner with only a single power cord for everything. The cameras will all plugin to the back of the flypack. I can run four wireless mics off of the flypack itself, but I also have two free 1/4" audio inputs for patching in external sources.