Google Hangouts

M

Michael Schrengohst

Well-known member
Hello,
I am getting more and more clients that want to produce "Hangouts"…..
I must confess I just found out about this.
It looks like most of them are shot with crappy webcams.
My clients want to do a 3 camera shoot.
I would need to rent equipment as my HVX or DSLR's won't genlock.

Has anyone shot a Hangout with professional gear??

Thanks
 
As you may have noticed, Google Hangouts are geared towards using webcams. What is the purpose of shooting this Google Hangout exactly? Why not just use a capture device to record the video from a typical Google Hangout?

No matter what cameras you use, you either have to have three cameras in three different locations, then sync them all up. If you use, say, an HVX or DSLR with a Google Hangout, the quality will still not be that great because of bandwidth limitations.
 
Yeah, I was telling the client that….they want to record it in HD - for posting later as well…
That alone is a PITA….I was looking at gear to record a video signal to a laptop that can record
a Quicktime but add the streaming output and it becomes a real PITA….
I never had the gear to do a 2 or 3 camera switched shoot and now in less
than a month I had 3 different clients wanting to do just this with Google Hangouts.
I may just have to pass and let them figure something out themselves.
I don't need to spend tens of thousands to make hundreds - LOL
 
Have you tried any of the screen capture software like Camtasia or Screenflow? If nothing else, a Blackmagic Shuttle 2 should be able to handle it out of HDMI. I wouldn't even bother trying to use cameras for this, let'em use their webcams if they think any third-party would ever be interested in watching their hangout at a later date.
 
Michael Schrengohst said:
Hello,
I am getting more and more clients that want to produce "Hangouts"…..
I must confess I just found out about this.
It looks like most of them are shot with crappy webcams.
My clients want to do a 3 camera shoot.
I would need to rent equipment as my HVX or DSLR's won't genlock.

Has anyone shot a Hangout with professional gear??

Thanks
Click to expand...

Wait, what does it mean they want to "produce" Hangouts? You mean, produce videos which look like the live chats?

That could be done with any camera, any editing software.
 
David Jimerson said:
Wait, what does it mean they want to "produce" Hangouts? You mean, produce videos which look like the live chats?

That could be done with any camera, any editing software.
Click to expand...

They want to go "live" and stream it using Google Hangouts…..
It's some kind of meeting. At first they just wanted us to shoot interviews and
record the meeting for distribution later - which I have done hundreds of times….
Then someone got the bright idea to make it more of an event….
I have done some Ustream stuff - but typically the traffic is just not there - but
I cannot talk them out of it….
I am trying to get them to use a webcam and a laptop to do it themselves
but they think that it would be more "impressive" to use 2 or 3
"real" cameras that can be switched live…..
 
David Jimerson said:
I don't see any point to that at all. No one will ever know the difference.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The problem isn't the webcams per se, it's the compression that Hangouts uses. Complete waste.

No different then using a C500 at 4k to record the LCD playback off an HVX200.
 
Gary Huff said:
Exactly. The problem isn't the webcams per se, it's the compression that Hangouts uses. Complete waste.

No different then using a C500 at 4k to record the LCD playback off an HVX200.
Click to expand...

I know what you are saying….see they want to capture this meeting with 3 cameras as a live switch anyway…..
We will edit it later as well and then put it on their website and distribute DVD's...

They thought - lets take the live feed and put it on Google Hangout.
I have seen a few hangouts where they have done this. It did look better
than using a webcam.
I just have not done the multiple camera switching thing. In the past
it was way too expensive. I just wondered if there is a cheaper way to do it now?

http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/schedule.html
 
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Can you show the video of where they used actual cameras for a Google Hangout? I'd be interested to see it.

What's the market like for DVDs of webcam meetings?

How do you output a live switched source to Google Hangout without it simply being a single window that has three people being switched within it?
 
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