The problems I’ve found with this setup are: The result is much better (see video below from 2017), and although professional services might do better (at a price), it’s enjoyable to watch, and the foundation of most of the recordings I’ve been involved with since then. He also had written down a detailed list of steps for setup and operations of the “recording stations”, and had dedicated operators assigned per room. I think Tobias invested in dedicated laptops the following year, running the Open Broadcaster Software (OBS, a free & OSS tool for recording and streaming content), and connected to the HDMI Capture device and a webcam on tripod. The choice of HDMI capture itself is challenging: recording at 1080p when the projectors are 4/3, recording on external HDD can be unreliable, laptop/PC can be unreliable, USB/drivers can be unreliable, Mac/HDCP is a pain… In short, test your hardware, and it will still surprise you… – HDMI Capture works, but it can be fiddlyīest to record a pre-mixed AV signal with a direct capture of the speakers’ HDMI output, using a dedicated camera to see the speaker, and taking the speaker’s voice through a microphone consistently close to the speaker’s mouth, even when he moves. – Avoid recording projected screen on camera – Avoid post-processing as much as possible The main learning points I’ve drawn from this: Nevertheless, that was a tremendous learning experience for all of us involved. You can imagine how hard it is to record both subject and screen (different light requirements with a consumer camera), the microphone is quite far from the speaker, thus picking up noise. It still had to be improved in post processing: I imagine Amanda had to trim, maybe fiddle with the audio and compress in a format such as MP4 or similar before uploading to YouTube. A readily available mix of Audio and Video capturing the subject (the speaker), the content (the projected screen), and the sound in the room’s through the (directional) camera microphone. In the end, the most useful video recorded was what came from the Camcorder. And if the plan was to get the recordings back together in post processing (Syncing the video with the audio, and adding the camera input), that would have been a huge undertaking. Issues with the process, because you need someone to be there end to end to make sure it works. It could be that some video were corrupted or not recorded in the entirety because of the external hard drive. I think we were only capturing the content from the screen, and I don’t remember the details of the results, but it was probably not a resounding success. We must have had someone’s laptop to plug the HDMI capture device (LGP2) to, and some external hard drive.A consumer camcorder to record from the back (We had only one).AverMedia Live Gamer Portable II (LGP2) – an HDMI USB capture device.If I remember correctly, the setup was roughly the following, for each room: I think some of the ideas also came from the PS Summit folks who’ve had already experimented a few things. Amanda kindly (and patiently) trained me with the setup prepared for the conference, and gave me the instructions on how to set up and wire the devices. I started at PSConfEU in 2016 (I think), trying to assist Amanda Debler and Tobias Weltner with the recordings. Advanced Kit for big rooms and capturing venue’s provided audio.Starter Kit for small venue with one presenter.3M Dual Lock and 3M Command Damage-free hanging.Capturing the screen from the presenter’s laptop.Modularity and portability for audio (advanced setup). ![]() Public Announcement (or Public address) Systems & Audio in Conference Venues. ![]() Wireless Lapel / Lavalier Microphone with USB Receiver.Otherwise, I’ll take a tour of my experience and what I learnt. If you just want to know what I recommend, jump to the conclusion. This, however would be worth another post, so it’s out of scope. The investment needed, even for amateur recordings or streaming, is substantial and it may feel unfair for attendees to bear the cost and share the benefits. ![]() If you’re attending events, or not, and wondering why it is so hard or expensive to get decent recordings published, I hope this detailed explanation will help you understand why. I’m an amateur, who’s spent a bit of money and time trying to help, mainly because I’ve been on the event organiser side, and I know the effort required to deliver recordings, in terms of budget, time and effort. I am by no mean an expert in the subject, and not a professional in this field either. From a couple of hours recording for a user group, to several days of PowerShell conference recording and streaming, I’ve went through a fair share of experiments (a.k.a. As you may know if you’re following me on twitter, I’ve tried to help when possible with the recording or streaming of PowerShell & DevOps events.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |