...and now, here's PART 3!
let's talk about different setups.
the first one: VFX-CONTROL with a good multichannel digitizer for cameras and an external mixer. This is a fine studio for doing awesome stuff. In this setup you will stuff your Vfx with a few camerastreams. You can choose the different cams (even a webcam if you want) as a kind of tracks and drag'n'drop them into unused players to fade them in. It is absolutely like using finished videos. If you think about one video already running, you can prepare up to 3 cameras simultaneously, read: load them into the other players. After you loaded a cam into a player it will take maybe a second until it is available because Vfx has to synchronize the stream to its own system and often the driver of the digitizing card starts first when being called. This is another topic which calls after a really GOOD PC.
So what you have learned is, that the 2x2 Players in Vfx don't care whether they are filled with audio, video only, video WITH audio or even camerastream. And you can mix audio and video differently in the system.
What you need to get it streamed is a second computer with a video/audio-in possibility, some "grabber card". This PC shall provide the stream to the uplink so you can be seen worldwide. This CAN'T BE HANDLED by your video-PC (unless it is outstanding!!!).
Now, here's a thought about the
second setup:
Exchange the grabber for the second PC with the VR-3. This unit is really fine in encoding the correct stream you will need for uplink. Additionally you can mix your Mic in there like WAZZA said above. And you can also use this as a kind of "Master unit" just before the uplink. What I am talking about is the "fallback". What if your PC with VFX-CONTROL fails for a reason? If you are using the VR-3 you would have the chance to play some emergency video (preproduced) from two simple DVD players and you will still have two cameras available. You can also think about using one or two cameras constantly on the VR-3 and the others (with FX and text screening) on VFX-CONTROL. This multiplies your possibilities.
the 3rd setup:
think about less camera FX and the use of two VR-3: Now I change the multichannel Grabber-card of the VFX-PC into another VR-3. It delivers a ready-to-go stream to Vfx. And this stream shows up to 4 cameras. You need only one player in Vfx, maybe player 4 and keep this player constantly "open". In the VR-3 you can black-out the output so it won't matter. Now you can play whatever you want with the first 3 channels. This means audio for background, videos, prerecorded reports, and so on. And when you need the cameras you simply turn to your VR-3 and open the channels there. This safes your possibility to show your station ID within Vfx because the cam-signal is completely routed through Vfx and not changed unless you need the fallback solution. Oh, I forgot to mention: you can constantly show your Station-ID in Vfx when you once prepare a nice "PNG-file" with the grafic and use it as a "frame" to be overlayed in the videooutput of the software.
I think this is MUUUUUUUUUUUCH to be read and understood. I won't write more at the moment because I think it will be better if I answer to your questions.
At the bottom end: YES, it's possible. There are a few obstacles in the workflow but I am about to solve this. I am mainly speaking of MIDI-programming of secondary controllers so you can easily control video and audio of all 4 channels differently. So are the PLAY and CUE buttons. But that's only a gain in know-how and I got rid of it...
Now it's on you to understand what I have written and ask questions if I didn't answer them in advance...
Have lots of fun!!!
Ralf / PartyVIBES