David Gewirtz
for DIY-IT
| June 15, 2021 — 14:00 GMT (15:00 BST)
| Topic: Cloud
Upgrading a webcam-based YouTube studio to full broadcast quality video for under $3,000
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Let’s put this project into context. Over the past year, many of us have become all to familiar with webcam-based conferencing. We’ve even become familiar with the homes of news anchors and TV stars as programs normally broadcast from a studio have been streamed from spare bedrooms, attics, and basements across the world.
The only thing I found odd was that the focus button was in the ATEM control application on the computer, while ISO and record controls were on the iPad app.
My second iPad was used to maintain sightline to the other guests. By using a virtual screen app (in this case, Screens) I connected into my Mac and mirrored the Zoom call that was on my Mac’s screen onto the iPad. That iPad was placed inside the teleprompter.
Now, I could look at and talk to the other guests by looking straight into the camera. Sure, you can do all that without the teleprompter, but I’m not an actor by nature and find it very hard to maintain sightline without looking at the person I’m talking to.
For sound, we settled on two recordings. For some reason, the Monitor Send output of the Mixer just would not record on the Blackmagic camera. So I sent the headphone monitor output to the camera. That gave the camera not only my track, but all the speakers.
To be able to provide a single track with just my voice, I used Audio Hijack on my Mac. This program does all sorts of audio routing magic, and in this case, it captured the audio signal destined for input to Zoom and recorded that isolated channel to a file.
All told, video was recording on the camera and being sent to Zoom. Multi-channel audio was being recorded by the channel, my single channel was being recorded on the Mac, and that same channel was being sent to Zoom.
It all worked and I completed the event. When you watch the accompanying video, you can see the difference between the webcam and the cinema camera setup. On the left is a video recorded in an earlier interview, using the BRIO webcam. On the right is the video recorded here with the Blackmagic camera.
What do you think of the difference? Have you needed to upgrade your home broadcast studio to keep up with improved production quality? Do you do YouTube or conference video professionally? Let us know in the comments below.
You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
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David Gewirtz
for DIY-IT
| June 15, 2021 — 14:00 GMT (15:00 BST)
| Topic: Cloud