Advice wanted: live video beamed @ other location

S

scarum

Member
Hello everybody!
This is my first post as a DVXuser-user :)
I've purchased my first DVX100BE (Netherlands, PAL country) and already I have an opportunity to do a paid job with it. And here's where I need your advice!

I've been searching this forum for quite a bit now, but haven't found anything that fits specifically to my situation, so I'm boldly asking the question.

I'm filming a lecture by a popular speaker at a hotel conference room. The expectation is that this speaker is so popular that not everybody will fit into the room. Therefore there will be a beamer + screen set up in a second room. There will be a LAN available.
My DVX100BE will be stationary on a tripod and pick up audio from a mixing desk into the XLR input.

The question now is, how do I get the live picture and sound from my DVX100BE over to the other room to have it beamed? I imagine having a computer in the live room with software to pick up the signal and act as a server for another computer that feeds the beamer. It will need to be high quality video and audio.

Any suggestion on software to do this with or any other suggestions for doing this are very, very welcome! The solution needs to be foolproof, hassle free and absolutely reliable. Is using cables a better alternative? If so, what cable would be best? S-video, composite? How about the sound then?

There will be no switching of video feeds, so no videomixer is required I imagine. I will be shooting 4:3 interlaced video for best light sensitivity and maximum compatibility with the beamer. Will I be running into trouble with the beamer vis á vis aspect ratios? Is squeeze possible at all? Will I be having issues with delay?

Many questions, I realize... I will be searching for answers on this myself also of course, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask the many experienced videographers on here :D

:dankk2:
 
scarum said:
Hello everybody!

I'm filming a lecture by a popular speaker at a hotel conference room. The expectation is that this speaker is so popular that not everybody will fit into the room. Therefore there will be a beamer + screen set up in a second room. There will be a LAN available.
My DVX100BE will be stationary on a tripod and pick up audio from a mixing desk into the XLR input.
Click to expand...

I would say that perhaps an 'internet ready camera' would be better for this sort of thing.

Unless someone has an app that takes the Firewire DV from the DVX100, then 'streams' it to the Ethernet, it sounds like a hassle.

If you went the 's-video' route, you'd probably have to get something that could drive (aka amplifier...) the say, 20 or 30 meters between the hall with the camera, and the viewing hall setup with the projector.

There are devices that can encode PAL/NTSC to IP packets, and stream them, so perhaps renting such a device for the session would be a compromize.
 
How far away are these two rooms going to be?

The LAN probably won't be much help, but something much like it could help. There are a lot of solutions for sending audio and video down twisted-pair cables: the last time I saw pricing, the ones that would work over an existing LAN were crazy expensive even to rent, but the nice thing about the rentable solutions are that twisted-pair cable is thin, flexible, and all-around easy to run between rooms in a conference center. :) I don't know what's available on that side of the pond, but over here I use transmitters and receivers made by Extron. SD video can easily run 500 feet over twisted pair with their hardware.
 
To be honest you might be best off dropping a few hundred bucks and buying a lot of video/audio cable. Sadly there are enough problems with TCP/IP (LAN) to make it seriously finicky and tricky to debug - to an extent that we don't notice when we're just dealing with e-mail or things slow down for a few minutes. But any hiccups like that will nuke your signal.
 
scarum said:
... how do I get the live picture and sound from my DVX100BE over to the other room to have it beamed?
Click to expand...

How far away is the room? They typically do overflow to a very nearby room (next-door, typically, if possible) Where is the projector coming from? Does the hotel provide the projector or is it rented (hired)? Have you talked to the people who run the hotel? It seems likely that this is not the first time they have done this. They may already have a solution, or know what is typically done by others. If the room is next door, or very close by, simply running a coaxial cable with baseband composite video from the camera to the projector is the typical (and simple) method.

scarum said:
I imagine having a computer in the live room with software to pick up the signal and act as a server for another computer that feeds the beamer. It will need to be high quality video and audio.
Click to expand...

Using a computer and data network is way too complicated and not necessary for the typical video overflow in the same building, unless it is very far away AND they have a very good data network.

scarum said:
Any suggestion on software to do this with or any other suggestions for doing this are very, very welcome! The solution needs to be foolproof, hassle free and absolutely reliable. Is using cables a better alternative? If so, what cable would be best? S-video, composite? How about the sound then?
Click to expand...

Simpler is always better (easier to setup and more reliable, etc.) Never use computers when there is a better, simpler better way. I would first ask the hotel if they already have a way to feed the audio from one room to another. This is a very common practice in most larger hotels, so it seems quite possible that this is already done for you.

scarum said:
There will be no switching of video feeds, so no videomixer is required I imagine. I will be shooting 4:3 interlaced video for best light sensitivity and maximum compatibility with the beamer. Will I be running into trouble with the beamer vis á vis aspect ratios? Is squeeze possible at all? Will I be having issues with delay?
Click to expand...

Nobody here can predict compatibility with the projector since we don't know what make and model the projector is? You will need to work with whomever is providing the projector (the hotel or the rental vendor).

If the viewing location is in another room there should be no issue with delay if you are using ordinary wires. If you are using some sort of computers and network, then you might have some audio/video sync issues. Another reason to avoid computers.
 
Thanks so much for the replies and the advice. i apologize for the late reply.

I did in fact talk to the hotel, but they had no clue with regard to technical issues. I did go the Extron route, which is a very nice, but expensive solution. No software, just hardware, foolproof, modular.

Unfortunately in the end my client blew off the whole thing, because sales for the convention lagged, fortunately I did not invest any money yet. I guess the economic downturn is affecting everyone.

My client was however pleased with the solution I offered and is considering hiring me for future gigs.

So not a total loss! Thanks for all the help! :)
 
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