LCD and Cameras instead of window in booth?

[quincyg]

I did a little searching and only came up with a mention that Jules used a camera to show the control room to the booth. I am building a very small studio from the ground up and am thinking of using a two way camera / lcd setup instead of windows. Mainly because I don't have a clear line of sight between rooms and I don't feel like explaining the windows to the building dept.

Has anyone had any success with this? If so what kind of cameras, lcds, switchers, splitters, etc did you use.

Thanks!

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by quincyg

I did a little searching and only came up with a mention that Jules used a camera to show the control room to the booth. I am building a very small studio from the ground up and am thinking of using a two way camera / lcd setup instead of windows. Mainly because I don't have a clear line of sight between rooms and I don't feel like explaining the windows to the building dept.

Has anyone had any success with this? If so what kind of cameras, lcds, switchers, splitters, etc did you use.

Thanks!

It's done all the time. Simple security cams are fine...nothing too fancy needed. Cable would be 75 ohm coax, RCA or BNC connectors.

A switcher is another thing entirely...that depends completely on exactly what you're doing...all cams to one screen, one at a time, all cams to separate screens, etc. A basic composite video switcher would take all the video feeds and send one at a time to a single screen...you can get that from Radio Shack. You'd have to scale it up to hi-res in order to use an LCD monitor though...otherwise you'd use a CRT television with video input.

Frank

[quincyg]

cool.
I am thinking that there would be 2 cameras in the control room and 1 or 2 in the booth. It would be great if I could send any combination of the 4 cams to either or both of the lcds. I am thinking that if it would be much easier and cheaper I could mount a 2 smaller lcds in each room as opposed to 1 big one. That way I could send a different signal to each monitor without any fancy video box.

I actually don't know much about video, but It seems like a video patch bay and combiner of some sort would work.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by quincyg

cool.
I am thinking that there would be 2 cameras in the control room and 1 or 2 in the booth. It would be great if I could send any combination of the 4 cams to either or both of the lcds. I am thinking that if it would be much easier and cheaper I could mount a 2 smaller lcds in each room as opposed to 1 big one. That way I could send a different signal to each monitor without any fancy video box.

I actually don't know much about video, but It seems like a video patch bay and combiner of some sort would work.

You could do that, but it's more commonly done with a matrix switcher like the Kramer VS-6EII (http://www.kramerelectronics.com/ind...p?name=VS-6EII). Of course, that's about $460, but it'll do exactly what you want it to do.

Frank

[burke111]

Wow, That is some serious money. I am trying to do the same thing on the cheap. Flat LCDs are nice as they don't high pitch whine and they sit on the wall pretty well.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by burke111

Wow, That is some serious money. I am trying to do the same thing on the cheap. Flat LCDs are nice as they don't high pitch whine and they sit on the wall pretty well.

The only other way to do it would be with a video patch bay. You'll have BNC's on the back and probably BNC's on the front. You should be able to come up with some options with Google. If you wanted to show the same image on both screens you'd have to split the signal somehow.

Frank

[quincyg]

thanks for the ideas

i am thinking the easiest thing to do is to use 2 monitors in each room and a cheap video switch. i am using a $30 3 to 1 av switch for other stuff and it works fine.

so now the question is which cameras to get. they should be color and wide angle.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by quincyg

thanks for the ideas

i am thinking the easiest thing to do is to use 2 monitors in each room and a cheap video switch. i am using a $30 3 to 1 av switch for other stuff and it works fine.

You could do that, but then you could only show the same image on both screens. You'd have to take both cams into the switch, then put a DA on the single output to the screens. You could then toggle between the two cams, but both screens would show the same thing.

Originally Posted by quincyg

so now the question is which cameras to get. they should be color and wide angle.

Can't help you there. Google security cameras.

Frank

[quincyg]

Originally Posted by Weasel9992

You could do that, but then you could only show the same image on both screens. You'd have to take both cams into the switch, then put a DA on the single output to the screens. You could then toggle between the two cams, but both screens would show the same thing.



Can't help you there. Google security cameras.

Frank

I am thinking that i would use a cheap 3 or 4 way splitter for each source. then each switch would get every source. there would then be one switch for each lcd. i think this should work well.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by quincyg

I am thinking that i would use a cheap 3 or 4 way splitter for each source. then each switch would get every source. there would then be one switch for each lcd. i think this should work well.

That'll work. You'd have to have two DA's and two switchers, but as long as you label the switchers accurately it'll work just fine.

Frank

[vespiz]

I'm in a similar situation here, but was thinking about some of these wireless camera systems that I've come across. Any caveats about these? Mainly worried about the video signal interfering audio signals as it flies through the air...

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by vespiz

I'm in a similar situation here, but was thinking about some of these wireless camera systems that I've come across. Any caveats about these? Mainly worried about the video signal interfering audio signals as it flies through the air...

You hit the nail on the head. Bandwidth and interference is still a problem with the consumer end of wireless video systems. It's getting better and better though...a few years from now it'll probably be a very viable idea. Low-res video is better than hi-res stuff.

Frank

[vespiz]

OK, thanks, will reconsider and look into other options!