Submitted Question:
I have had great success using VC3 over the last few months, but only as a recording tool. We record our shows on a PC then broadcast the recording via Windows Media Player the next day. The show is saved to an external hard drive pieced together using Movie Maker then saved as a Windows Media Audio/Video file. The laptop audio runs through our sound board and the video goes through an AVerKey which goes to a VCR then through a coax cable to the media center. It has to go to the media center's channel 10 VCR to go out to the school. It really isn't all that bad of quality. As complicated as this seems it works well. However, I would love to skip a few steps and just do this show live. Any suggestions?
Wow, that is quite a complex workflow, but if it works that's great! Sure you can go live with VC3, this would be known as live analog output (because there is live digital streaming capability over the web or network too).
For live analog output, your computer needs to have a TV-out jack (s-video usually or sometimes composite). This type of video card is known as "dual-head" and can be purchased for under $100. See video card specs here.
Then you would enable the extended desktop mode within Windows, and tell VC3 to use the extended desktop for the fullscreen live output. I cover this in detail in chapter 8 of my Training DVD Volume 1. Note that the live fullscreen output can also be a VGA monitor, Projector, or TV set too.
If you end up wanting to connect multiple TV sets (like we have) then a video Distribution Amplifier (video D/A) would be needed, these are under $100 and I like the Kramer brand.
Hope that helps, let us know below with comments or questions.
That's exactly what I needed to know. My PC does have a SVIDEO jack and I also have the Kramer Distribution Amplifier that you mentioned. I will give it a try.
Thanks!
I want to ask about your pre-recording experience...It seems like adding clips to a VC project in Movie maker would be easier than trying to put them in VC.. to which I am having terrible problems. I am wondering how you saved your movie maker projects and were able to get them to play over your school tv's.... when I have tried this, the video boggs and won't play. When I try to add video clips to my VC show, I can't get them to play without live audio on top of them. I have spent hours trying to figure out the best way to merge VC show content with video clips from my students and get it to save and play correctly. How were you doing it?
First off I should mention that I am not a big fan of Win Movie Maker, instead I would prefer to use Adobe Premiere Elements. Sure Win Movie Maker is free, but for under $100 you can get Premiere Elements which is sooo much better!
Either way though, save out your videos as WMV. I use an encoding profile of 640x480, 2000kbps constant bitrate (CBR) and audio at 128kbps. These clips will work fine in VC3.
You mention "live audio on top" and I think you are referring to the live mic in VC, right? Understand that the mic is always "on" while using VC, so if there is a clip playing your newscasters must be quiet during that time, no coughing, talking, etc. We use a mic mixer so we can control when we want mics live or not, so thats a $99 workaround that works quite well for our shows.
Does that help? Let me know here by adding comments so we can continue the conversation.
Thanks!