Streaming Question

[Bill Tabor]

Since most new camcorders no longer support firewire 1394 which was probably the best format for live streaming what are the options with USB? I've heard the USB signal will be lower quality. My main question is can all camcorders with USB 2.0 stream live. Is there special software required to make this work?

Thanks!

 

[Steve Miller]

Bill, I have yet to see one work effectively off of USB unless the camera has "webcam mode". The nice thing about a camcorder with webcam mode is you get the lower quality image which is easier to move across a network AND you have the features of the camcorder like zoom, auto focus and auto contrast; all things not supported by cheaper webcams.
The best solution we have found for live streaming is to get a dongle that converts line out to USB. No matter what, camcorders will have a line out for the foreseeable future and the dongle will be a good bet for easily getting video from the camera to the laptop.
I hope Scott Bennett will chime in on the details of the dongle but basically it's a $45 device that operates off the USB power and converts that line-out signal.

I went SD MiniDV shopping for a corp customer yesterday and am finding new model SD camcorders are no longer available in MiniDV. Firewire outputs on consumer and prosumer cameras may be a thing of the past as USB speeds are gaining. The signal is different though so I imagine we will all be using dongles to move video in the near term.

 

[David Drummond]

USB will stream sufficient quality for those cell data connections. You're not gonna push HD quality through those. Not all camcorders with USB ports will stream, you'll need to research the one you're using. Most of the modern one's will I believe.

I know with ChaserTV all you really need is Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder, which is free, and plugs right in to their system!
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/

and you can have a really cool layout like this on your website with a simple embed code: http://daviddrummond.com/live-chasecam.html

Edit: Steve beat me to the post, but yeah it needs to do webcam mode. I stream off a Sony HC36 USB

 

[Bill Tabor]

My old streaming dashcam was a JVC mini-dv with firewire. It did fairly well, but after a few years of sitting in the hot sun on the dash and going over railroad tracks / pot holes at speed while chasing it starting getting a wierd screen artifacting that would completely distort the picture. I would have to constantly slap it it until it straightened up. People would always ask what is wrong with your image? Plus I occasionally record what the dashcam is seeing as that often is the only footage I have time to record on the move. However I think I'm tired of the mini-dv format. I'm planning on archiving all my mini-dv footage to .avi on hard drive. Too bad since the mini-dv's do well for streaming. Even now I see a good one for sell for $109. I think I'm gonna go with a flash format. I just need to find one with decent USB streaming ability. I like this Samsung SMX-F34 but nowhere I look does it say it supports streaming. It has a 'web mode' but that for importing recorded video to Youtube.

Video out (rca composite) to USB. I'd rather not. Composite is very low quality. Surely the firewire signal over the net would be higher quality and bandwidth? I hate to give that up. For awhile last year when the JVC was acting up I finally put my Sony Vx2000 3 ccd camcorder up as my dashcam and streamed with it. I had a lot of reports from viewers that I had the best image...they really liked it. Not surprising as the Vx2000 was a near Pro-sumer camcorder of it's day with good low light. Still I cant' let that one get shaken to death. It will likely be on the auction block soon as I now have a new Hd cam as well.

 

[Adam Lucio]

I use an old sony HI-8 to stream via USB. The camera was designed for it though and has the USB stream mode that Steve mentioned so for me it works perfectly! The tape drive broke years ago so at least the camera still can serve a purpose. The only thing I had to install were the drivers that came on the installation disc.

 

[Jason Foster]

I use an old sony HI-8 to stream via USB. The camera was designed for it though and has the USB stream mode that Steve mentioned so for me it works perfectly! The tape drive broke years ago so at least the camera still can serve a purpose. The only thing I had to install were the drivers that came on the installation disc.

The one pictured is the Sony TRV-250...which is actually not Hi8, but Digital8. I have the same camera, except my CCD busted when the camera tipped over during Hurricane Ike, because I forgot to splay the tripod legs further out.
(I've been bugging Adam to sell me the camera for parts...LOL, or sell mine because it has the working tape drive).

Back on topic, most of the experimentation I found is that many of the USB webcams that have been talked about throughout ST are good ones. I upgraded mine and I would be curious to see some side by side comparisons with the 2000 mentioned below (or any other webcam). I bet the cameras are better versus the webcams, but is it enough to matter either...as David sort of eluded to...there is still the bandwidth choke for pushing high resolution video.

What about one of you guys that bought that Microsoft HD camera. Has it been tried/tested on a mobile set-up yet. I forgot, but I remembe in another thread folks talking a lot about that one.

 

[David Drummond]

The thing I found using a cheap handicam over your typical webcam, is the camera optics are just much more suited to the (often quickly) varying light conditions in storm chasing. That includes, brightness changes, quick backlight compensation, ability to use autofocus or infinity focus or manual, ability to zoom, and in a pinch when something cool is going on, reach up and hit record, etc etc etc.

Considering a really good webcam should run you at least $50 and you can pick up one of these handicams used for around $100, to me it's a much better tradeoff.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Spent the day screwing around with this stuff going to Frys, and standing around in Best Buy trying to look up features. It's very difficult to find which if any current models will stream via USB. Arrggh!! At this point I may just buy a cheap mini-dv with firewire. I just wanted to get away from the whole mini-dv experience. I already have a ton of tapes I need to archive. I did find one model online that would work - that is flash based, but I can't find it for sale anywhere. Anyway...I continue to muddle along. I'll let you all know if I find any decent models. Thanks for the input up til now though.

 

[JustinRudicel]

I'm trying to convince my tv station to purchase a camera for streaming while i'm out chasing. I have looked around and read some of your posts. So which camera out in the market right now would u suggest buying? To use while doing streaming video with an aircard & laptop. I would also need this camera to be digital so we could record and send back the file via email if live streaming wasn't possible.

 

[Bill Tabor]

After the days anguish and annoyance of constant search I finally pulled the trigger on a Samsung Sc-Mx10. Harder than heck to find any left.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/...ion/SC-MX10/XAA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

There are a few on Amazon used and one at:
http://www.artofsale.net/Magento/in...optical-zoom-scmx10-xaa.html?___store=default

According to the manual this model will stream. Without testing I don't know how well, but I suppose I'll find out soon.

Another good cheap option is mini-dv. That is tape but digital format. Newegg has a great price on that one and it uses firewire 1394 to boot. I'm just tired of mini-dv tapes. However this could be a good option for any of us to use for archiving to hard drive. At $109 new - hard to beat:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830145098

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Any MiniDV cam with composite output and using an Easy Cap device will work just fine.

 

[Ryanne Jobsian]

I like the idea behind the Easy Cap, however, I have read some really negative reviews. I have a Canon ZR-80 MiniDV that I have been debating selling. I bought it for chasing in early 2005 and really never used it because I never knew how to transfer anything to the computer for editing..It has a firewire and AV composite. After messing with it and researching all day, I just might keep it and get one of those Easy Cap things.
I like the prices on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Easycap-USB-Video-Capture-Adapter/dp/B001BWU8US

They make these for VGA too. Not too sure if VGA is better than USB but it is cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/S-Video-3-RCA-Adapter-Matrox-Video/dp/B000Y7T5UU/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_b

 

[Ryanne Jobsian]

I just now noticed there was a thread about this product already.. but I am still curious to know the differences between VGA and USB as far as the quality goes for one of these devices.

 

[cedwards]

The VGA device does not INPUT video to the computer. It only outputs the computer VGA signal to a video source.

With the USB easycap, you can input video from a camera to your computer.

 

[Bob Gould]

Does anyone on the thread have an opinion on which is best. I have a Sony DCR TRV310 video camera that has Firewire, Composite and LaserLink (IR) output. My laptop does not have Firewire port so I am going to have to go with some type of adapter. I see some PCMCIA adapters for Firewire but that slot holds my Verizon PC card so I am considering the Easycap device (Thanks Ryan for pointing that device out) or possibly the IR device. I was wondering if any one had experience with the IR connection or an opinion on quality issues.