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Known Participant
October 20, 2008
Answered

Flash Media Encoder with multiple cameras?

  • October 20, 2008
  • 5 replies
  • 16189 views
Hi,

Is it possible to stream 2 or more cameras on one computer with Flash Media Encoder, or are you restricted to one camera per machine?

Cheers
    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer pauljonese
    Now i realise that i have Cutfour installed on my PC but i didn't check to see if flash encoder do recognize it. I didn't know ....so I thank you for all you time.

    5 replies

    Known Participant
    November 13, 2008
    Hi,

    Ok, I didn't realise you were looking for fade in style transitions.

    If you have a MAC then the obvious choice is CamCamx

    http://b-l-a-c-k-o-p.com/CamCamX.html

    But not cheap.

    For the PC check out:

    http://www.avtake.com/cutfour.asp

    This app can take 4 cameras and has Live Streaming ability for the web.

    If none of these suit then hit google and look for:

    Live Streaming Video Mixers

    Hope this helps.
    pauljoneseCorrect answer
    Participant
    November 14, 2008
    Now i realise that i have Cutfour installed on my PC but i didn't check to see if flash encoder do recognize it. I didn't know ....so I thank you for all you time.
    Known Participant
    November 13, 2008
    Hi,

    Yes, you are clear.

    What you are looking to do is have the ability to switch cameras live during a session.

    There is no straight forward method to do this however......

    Check out WebCamMax.

    http://www.webcammax.com/

    This very clever software allows you to connect sevral cameras on the computer and during a live broadcast will allow you to switch cameras in WebCamMax. You can even switch live to pre recorded movies, images etc....

    WebCamMax can be used a WebCam source, just like your webcams. It can even do Picture in Picture (PnP) with several Cameras. Just make sure you have plenty of RAM even using more than 2 cameras.

    So when you have WebcamMax installed, You start up one instance of Flash Media Encoder and choose "WebCamMax" as your Camera.

    You then use WebCam Max as your "Control Centre", Whatever Camera you switch to in WebCamMax will be streamed live through Flash Media Encoder. I use it to sewitch between Cameras, and it also allows you to switch to your desktop to show applications etc...

    I hope this makes sense.
    Participant
    November 13, 2008
    thank you....your information did help.....but this is not exactly what i was looking for....with this software you can not do a smooth transition with the cameras, or i couldn't find it.
    Known Participant
    November 10, 2008
    Hi,
    As JayCharles explained to me, you run two instances of Flash Media Encoder on the Computer. I was running 1 camera on just one computer and so used 3 computers instead of using just the one computer.

    In my new case, I had 2 Cameras on the one machine.

    When you launch Flash Media Encoder it will detect any cameras you have on that computer, you will get a dropdown box so you can choose which camera you want to use in this instance.

    Choose the camera you want.

    In the FMS URL box type the rtmp path to your Flash Media server directory you want to stream this video to using either the ip address or web address of the FMS server followed by the correct path to where the file will be streamed to for example:

    rtmp://192.168.1.10/vob/live

    In the Stream Box type the name of the video file without the .FLV tag, ie:

    livevideo

    Click the Connect button to connect the Video to the FMS server.

    When ready click the Start Button to start the stream.

    So far you are streaming the video, but no one can see it.

    Open a Dreamwaver page for example and go to:
    Insert/Media/Flash Video (CS3)
    or
    Insert/Media/FLV (CS4)

    Change the Video Type to Streaming Video

    In the Server URI box type or paste in the rtmp address you set:

    rtmp://192.168.1.10/vob/live

    In the Stream Name Box type in the Stream name you set in Flash Media Encoder:

    livevideo

    The Skin type must be HALO, (Dont understand why you get no choice)

    Set the width and height of the Video on the page

    Tick the Autoplay to play a pre recorded file, or tick Live video feed if it is live.

    Click ok.

    If everything is correct then when you lauch the page the video feed should be playing.

    Lets assume it is, to add a second camera you just repeat the same steps.

    Open another instance of Flash Media Encoder on the Computer you already have a feed running.

    It might complain that the camera is already in use, as it might try to connect to the same camera on the running application.

    Open the Camera source dropdown and now choose the other camera that should be available.

    Put in the same info for the Server URI as you will also stream to the same folder.

    Chnage the Stream name now to:

    livevideo2

    Click Connect and also Start.

    Open the Dreamweaver page you created for the first video.

    Follow the same steps as before to create the Video on the page

    changing the name this time to livestream2.

    You should now have 2 live video feeds on the same page using two different cameras.

    hope this helps.



    Participant
    November 12, 2008
    thank you for the information....Let me tell you what i wanna do: I want to stream live using flash, a church service. I have 2 cameras, using flsh media encoder and FMS3. I did connect to the server and i realized the transition with one camera and it's working just great. My question is how to mix those 2 cameras?....is there a digital mixer to do that?..not necessary free....Thank you, hope i made myself clear.
    October 21, 2008
    Keep in mind that you'll want to run some tests on your hardware to see how much processor time and memory 4 instances of FME will consume. I've used two instances on one machine with great success, but I don't know if capturing 4 cams and publishing 4 streams will kill your processor or not.

    About the green screen thing... I've never tried that, but my gut tells me no. To make that happen, you'd need to feed FME with a video source that contains a transparent alpha channel, and I don't know if that's something that can be done or not (I don't know if a live stream can have an alpha channel transparency or not).

    I'd look into some of the webcam emulator programs that support chroma key and overlays. I've had good experiences with WebcamMax, but someone else on the forum mentioned that it didn't work well for them, so I suppose you'd need to try it out for yourself.
    Known Participant
    October 21, 2008
    Hi,
    Thanks for the quick response. I had an idea that was the case as I could not find anything on the web.

    We actually use WebcamMax 5.0.5.8 on one system as the moment and it is useful for PnP livestreaming but again the background effect is gimmicky and not a pro recommendation.

    We have over 120,000 employees, and in the past month we have had a global travel ban put in place (I've had to cancel my booking to MAX 2008 in Milan) due to the current economic environment as a precaution.

    Because we have several dedicated training Departments who rely on travel to provide trainings, obviously the ban has created an impact....so I'm everybodies friend now, as I'm responsible for Training needs in Europe. As I have been running live streaming video trainings for 2 years now along with recorded training material everyone wants the same ability but with "adjustments".

    Strange how 2 months ago the same people thought live streaming was a gimmick!!!

    Anyhow thanks for the input...I might suggest the greenscreening live video to the Premiere Pro Forum for the CS5 release perhaps.
    October 20, 2008
    You can use more than one camera at a time, but you need to run separate instances of FME for each of them
    Known Participant
    October 21, 2008
    Thanks for the tip. I didn't realise you could run more than one instance of Flash Media Encoder at the same time. I've been putting 4 cameras on four machines up to now. This will reduce my maintanence.

    As a quick sideline, is it possible to have two cameras, one live streaming with a person in front of a green screen, and the second camera containing the backdrop that you want to use, and then be able to combine both while streaming live?

    cheers