Tutorial: Live-Switched Worship Video with PTZOptics Cameras and Wirecast 9

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how the new PTZOptics camera control features and Telestream Wirecast 9 allow you to easily add multiple cameras to your production. This video tutorial is sponsored by videoguys.com.

PTZ cameras are ideal for churches. Churches often have to rely on volunteers to help produce their live streams. PTZ cameras integrated with Wirecast allow volunteers to simply click a picture where they want the cameras to go (Figure 1, below).

Figure 1. Accessing cameras in Wirecast 9

This intuitive setup has been designed in response to numerous end-user requests, and reduces the learning curve for new users dramatically. Now churches and business organizations alike can easily connect their next live event with the world without the need for multiple camera operators.

One of the top suppliers to US churches is PTZ Optics (Figure 2, below). Their range of zoom and fixed focal length remote cameras perform reliably, and are simple to set up and operate. It also helps that they make some of the most affordable cameras on the market.

Figure 2. PTZOptics cameras

Integrated Camera Control

Telestream's Wirecast software and Wirecast Gear turnkey systems (Figure 3, below) are also used in churches across country, and they just released their version 9 upgrade with integrated PTZ camera control (Figure 4, below Figure 3).

Figure 3. Telestream Wirecast Gear

Figure 4. Integrated PTZ camera control in Wirecast 9

Today we're going to take a look at that new feature that show how it can help with the speed and efficiency in live productions of all sizes. The system I’m working with includes three PTZOptics cameras and the Wirecast Gear 230 Live Production system, with the newly updated Wirecast Pro 9 software. This new version of Wirecast software can utilize the NDI functionality of the PTZOptics cameras to control all their operations.

Setup

Setting this up is easy. Connect each of the PTZ Optics cameras to your network with networking cables (Figure 5, below).

Figure 5. Connecting cameras to the network

Assign a static IP address to each camera so that they can all be found in the same range (Figure 6, below). You'll then be able to locate each of the cameras in the Wirecast 9 software and add them as sources (Figure 7, below Figure 6).

Figure 6. Assigning a static IP address to each camera

Figure 7. Adding cameras as sources in Wirecast 9

Now you can control each camera individually directly inside of the software. There's no need for a hardware controller. And since most churches have the same few points of interest during every service, you can set up visual presets for each camera.