How can I recreate the effect in the video above? Having multiple camera frames blended together in a live stream Preferably better. I need some kind of video encoder that can stream to my FMS.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
1 Answer
While there are video encoders that do this kind of thing, most commonly this is the work of a video switcher or mixer. A video switcher is a device used for mixing live video from multiple sources. The bad news is they generally aren't cheap. An HD capable switcher is typically in the $6000+ range with the absolute cheapest one I know of being the Black Magic Design Studio ATEM which is $1000 and requires use of a software interface to control it.
The switcher then would output the final composite video that would go in to an encoder to be sent out, or in some newer cases, may even provide encoding functionality itself (such as the previously mentioned ATEM Studio).
Alternately, you probably can find software that will attempt to do the scaling and encoding operation on the fly, but it is going to require quite a beefy computer to pull it off and you'd likely end up spending more than the $1000 for the ATEM Studio to build a powerful enough system to handle it with any high level of quality.
answered Apr 12, 2014 at 16:14
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Thanks AJ, you've been extremely insightful. From a scalability standpoint, say I want to install this at many different facilities, would a software solution not be the superior solution? Do you have any specific examples of video encoders that can perform this kind of blend?– ljavorCommented Apr 15, 2014 at 21:32
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ljavor - you would need thousands of dollars of hardware either way. Is it going to actually be used simultaneously in many places? If not, hook it up to a road case and setup a connection point for it at each location. It would be far, far cheaper than buying setups for every location. You are going to spend close to 3 grand per encoding system to get the kind of real time performance you would need to do it right. The studio ATEM is a more affordable solution in addition to being more reliable and higher quality.– AJ Henderson ♦Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 21:42
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The idea would be to have many locations going all at once, however initially for testings sake it could be limited to streaming from 1 location. I need to make the system as automated as possible such that once I go and install the system, no further interaction on site is needed. The back end of my site would handle when the feed would be visible as well as delete un-wanted files. Do you still think a switcher is still the best way to go?– ljavorCommented Apr 17, 2014 at 19:45
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Hmm, maybe not, but permanent installation stuff like that is less my area of expertise. A preset scaler could probably make the output with a fixed encoder/streamer unit, but that will probably be more expensive than the ATEM.– AJ Henderson ♦Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 19:54
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Are there any video encoders that track and display a video frame with the most motion in it? I would imagine that would suffice. So is the blending being done in the above video chroma keying? And if I went with the ATEM, what additional equipment would I need?– ljavorCommented Apr 17, 2014 at 21:26