Theatre / Stage Video

[Guest Guest]

We're having our main hall refitted, with lots of lovely new Sound and Lighting equipment.

 

I'd like a small video camera strapped up on one of the lighting rigs, streaming video to the music room which is also our 'backstage' area.

 

I'm not too sure how to do it. I figure a wall mounted LCD Moniter would do the job, with perhaps some sort of camera that outputted S Video, then running that backstage with some sort of S Video to VGA converter. Can S Video cable be run over a useful distance?

 

Any and all ideas welcome, I'm a bit clueless on this one!

[john]

Why not get an IP Camera and then you can just use the projector in the music room (assuming you have one) and logon to the camera and voilla? Patch it in and off you go

[sister_annex]

I agree with John, an ip camera would do the trick.

 

Sounds nice what you're having done, who's doing the install?

[glennda]

This is a good idea - I Beleive our Drama Dept are looking at doing something like this with ours. I may comment on this to them. Could also then record open evening speachs to publish online.

 

What do people recommend Camera Wise? would probably need to be HD.

[Vanti]

What do people recommend Camera Wise? would probably need to be HD.

 

We've been using the Sanyo VCC-HD5600 for our classroom observation suites. Pound for pound it's the best value camera we've found with the following features:

• IP camera
  
• MPEG4 stream
  
• Plug in an audio feed to add audio to the stream
  
• Motorised pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ)
  
• Optical zoom is exceptional (we can read the handwriting on students' exercise books from the ceiling)
  
• Has Composite output as standard, can add HDMI (mini connector) via an option board
  
• Probably less useful in your scenario but you can add local storage (CF card) to the camera to record locally
  
• 
  

 

Hope that helps,

 

Mike

[Andrew_C]

Depends what you are trying to do really. If you want to record performances then HD might be worth it (beware copytheft). But if all you need is a relay, then composite video would do. It would be a good idea to spend money on the camera, and get one with a motorised iris to help when trying to cope with changing light levels.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Have you looked into any CCTV gear,

[laserblazer]

To enable backstage to see what is going on, I fixed up a camera with composite out and used a wireless video sender to a small TV. Made cabling ok, the only problem is the kitchens are next door and if they use the microwave it interferes badly. As it's mainly used for evening stuff, it's not an issue.

[DaveMurphy]

Internal CCTV Dome Camera, power it via one of the lighting bars and run a BNC Coaxial Cable into multiple rooms and just get BNC to VGA adapters along with using spare monitors... sure you have some lying around which will save money. Tried it and does the trick in a Theatre I work at.

[Andrew_C]

power it via one of the lighting bars

Depends a bit. If the bars are hard-wired to dimmers, this is likely to end in tears. The dimmer may pass enough current when OFF, it may not like driving such a low load, it may fry the camera.

 

To be safe, I'd run a separate, switched, supply.

[Chris_]

Internal CCTV Dome Camera, power it via one of the lighting bars and run a BNC Coaxial Cable into multiple rooms and just get BNC to VGA adapters along with using spare monitors... sure you have some lying around which will save money. Tried it and does the trick in a Theatre I work at.

 

Or just use monitors/screens that will take a BNC/Composite input without the need for BNC - VGA converters.

[FragglePete]

We had ours recently refurbished with new lighting rig, sound, etc. We put in a whole bunch of extra ethernet runs from various points around the hall to a central location. Using things like VGA to CAT5 Extenders we can then squirt various video sources to various locations on it's own network. We can also then patch other various bits of kit around as well.

 

Pete