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Does anyone have an existing webcast set up that does PTZ camera control using a local LAN (IP control) -- we're looking for feedback and information about how well this works or doesn't work. We're trying to decide between IP camera control vs. direct (RS-485) control. Not sure if we care about VISCA vs. Pelco, but we definitely want a star (e.g. home run) topology for our PTZ camera control

Is there a multiple second lag between moving the joystick or controlling the camera through software vs. the actual camera movement? If so, how do you deal with that?

Does anyone do live panning (e.g. choir shot) with a PTZ camera that is IP controlled? How well does that work or not work?

The assumption is that for controlling the PTZ camera(a), the IP network (LAN) would be dedicated to the camera control and not be part of the existing building LAN.

If you're using a dedicated network, what would the advantage of IP be?

Good question. That’s why I’m trying to reach out to the community here to find out their experience with using IP to control their PTZ cameras.

I know IP can be used for supplying power to the cameras (POE). It’s also possible to do H.264 video over IP but at this point we’re planning to get video over SDI instead.

We have been using the Sony EVI-D70 camera with a serial control before switching to two Optics 20x SDI cameras. They are controlled via an internal AV network that also controls the webcast box, AV WAP, audio and video mixer. The two camera setup allows for camera movement before switching the live feed to the new camera position. We are using the standard Optics control software on a PC.

Generally we create a list of prepositioned scenes and save them by number and thus do not have to work too hard to setup a shot transition during the meeting. Live panning is done at a low rate for esthetic reasons. The responsiveness of the IP camera versus the serial control is the same to the human operator.

The internal AV LAN resides within the church firewall LAN. Before the new Meraki boxes, it was not possible to reserve addresses for specific devices but with our own router, the network can be setup so that all of the devices reside at specific IP addresses. The only LAN approach freed us from RS-485 wiring requirements. Network traffic volume and latency have not been an issue.

There are some subtle differences with the LAN cameras but it was a step up in overall performance. This brand of camera does not support POE.

Further details can be found on this website under https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 50#p167550

Re: Need simple way to configure monitors on the stand posted on 15 Feb 2017
The attachment has the system block diagrams.

Incidentally, the two camera approach lets us do picture in picture with the chorister and congregation. Not as good as the conference center but at least we are commercial free.

We rotate our webcast between 4 different bldgs-which requires us to have a portable setup. Similar to you, we started out with multiple EVI-D70 cameras. We sent power, video, IR, & RS232 Visca over a single CAT5 to each camera and used a TeleMetrics PTZ Controller. Now we use two PtzOptics cameras with IP wireless PTZ control to each camera using the iOS /iPad app ($3) from PtzOptics. We setup one camera next to our control booth in the overflow area, while the 2nd camera is on the far side of the chapel and is completely wireless (wireless realtime HDMI as well as wireless PTZ control). For distribution within the bldg we convert the HDMI to Composite (for TVs) and to SDI (for pulpit monitors).

Attached is a system diagram.

Evidently the forum has reached a limit on attachments. I get this error message "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached."

CalS201 wrote:Evidently the forum has reached a limit on attachments.

So it does. We'll have to see what can be done to clear up some space.

Here is the missing attachment

You might want to also consider using straight IP cameras. We've been using two Dahua 12X PTZ cameras for the last couple of years with great results. We stream 1080P (using SundayStreams), receive with Roku boxes, and have never experienced a distribution dropout.

The cameras are both POE+ (we use an 8 port POE+ switch) and are controlled by a web interface in each camera. One browser window for each camera allows full control as well as presets for each camera view.

AT my stake center, I use an EVI-D70 camera and I have my computer connect serially to it by the VISCA connection. I use and Ethernet cable to get the signal from the computer to the camera. I do have preset views and it works great.

May I point out one item that I feel that should be address here and that is the KISS principle, which is Keep is simple simon. Just my two cents worth.