Portable video production solution

[aortiz32]

Hello,

I recently inherited video operations for our church and need some advice on what the best solutions are for our situation. Our church doesn't (yet) have a building. We meet out of a middle-school auditorium weekly, so we setup and breakdown all our audio & video equipment, chairs, portable stage, etc. every Sunday -- usually within 2 hours.

We currently have the following video equipment:
Cameras

• (2) Panasonic AG-DVC200
• (1) Panasonic AG-DVC15
• Firewire cables and adapters

Switcher

• Datavideo SE-800 Switcher
• DVC/DVPRO recorder
• Videonics CG titler
• Audio Board
• (6) 3" LCD screens (for camera preview, program preview, CG, and program output)

Post-Production Editing

• Intel Core 2 Quad-Processor / 8GBs RAM
• Sony Vegas Pro
• Records to master DVPRO tape

I'd like to revamp our operations and have 3 goals in mind:

(1) Reduce the amount of equipment we carry in and out every Sunday
(2) Allow for post-production to happen from someone's home (ahem, mine)
(3) Facilitate online streaming while still delivering TV broadcast quality tapes (or DVDs?):

I'm considering moving to a software switcher and replacing the post-production system and existing switcher with a laptop with Wirecast.

• Mac Book Pro (15-in; 2.5GHz quad-core; OSx Lion)
• Firewire Expresscard (for additional Firewire port)
• Final Cut Pro X (post production)
• Wirecast or BoinxTV (switching/capturing/streaming)

I'm also considering getting smaller cameras.

So my questions are:

• Does it make sense to move a software-switching solution, given our needs?
• Does buying new cameras and moving to HD make sense?
• If you had a similar setup, what would you do?

I'm new to video production, for the most part. I've spent most of my time behind a camera, and very little time editing video, or worrying about the technical aspects our solution.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

[petereit]

If you're sticking with strictly web-based video distribution, the software switcher may make sense. Tape is dead and DVD will be soon, so making future plans that include either in my opinion is wasted time and money.

If you're considering switching to HD, I don't think the software switching solution will be robust enough. Though I can see a use case for both: software switching for live internet and web, hardware switching and capture for post.

[cseeman]

It can be challenging doing multicamera with a laptop.
The current 15" MacBook Pro has Firewire, USB2, Thunderbolt. To add an Express port you'd need the 17" MBP.

I think the best software solution is Telestream Wirecast which is a software switcher, live streamer, recorder. Typically I'll stream Flash and record to hard drive in Apple ProRes (if you have Final Cut Pro) or Apple Intermediate Codec.

Generally you can only use one DV camera on a firewire bus.
You may be able to add a second bus by using a Firewire to Express card of you get the 17" MBP. Sonnet has an adaptor for Thunderbolt.
Another thing some people have told me is that if they use a Grass Valley ADVC-55 Composite to Firewire convertors they can put two on a bus. That's because the issues around Firewire on the bus are due to camera manufacturers So Grass Valley seems to have designed specifically for well behaved bus use as the bus itself would be capable.

Another nifty thing about Wirecast is that it can work with some wireless IP cameras if you want to go that route. They list the compatible ones on the Features link of the product page. That can solve the input problem or even add more sources. You'd need to get the Wirecast Pro version for that.

Of course there are good webcams these days so using something like a Logitech C910 could be used for a wide shot.

They also have an neat utility called Desktop Presenter which you can install free on any number of Mac or Windows computers. This can send both audio and video over LAN. You might use this for bringing in something like Easy Worship for example.

If you want to use an external switcher that can feed into MBP with Wirecast as well. I know some people are using Blackmagic ATEM with a Blackmagic video card into Wirecast. They have some interest Thunderbolt Video I/O coming which would work. There's the Blackmagic Ultra Studio 3D which some people are already using. A lot of people are looking forward to the Blackmagic Intensity Extreme and Shuttle Thunderbolt.

Since Wirecast has many ways to get video into it, and can handle the variety all at once, you're only limited by what your MBP CPU/GPU can handle.

BTW I love editing with Final Cut Pro X. It actually handles Wirecast recording much better than the old FCP7. With FCPX you can even edit H.264 recordings straight away. That's great if you need to do a bit of editing to get a VOD version of the service up with fast turnaround.