Review: FEELWORLD LIVEPRO L1 Multi-Format Video Mixer

Effects

You control effects via the Effects button on the left of the TFT screen. Working with the hardware (and not the software) you have two effects to control; Mix, or transitions, and picture-in-picture. Figure 3 (below) shows the transition options which include most of the usual suspects. Just below the Mix option in the effects area is the Mode selector where you can switch from T-bar mode to FAST mode (explained above) and set transition duration.

Figure 3. Mix (transition options)

Figure 4 (below) shows the picture-in-picture effects. You start by placing the background video in the preview window, then choose the desired effect, then the video to insert into the picture-in-picture. This takes about six or seven clicks, which makes it impossible to seamlessly pull off if you’re the on-camera person as well as the mixer operator. Many other mixers let you pre-configure a PiP effect and then switch to and from that effect in a single click. Switching out of the effect also takes several clicks, which will again take a few moments to perform.

Figure 4. Here are the picture-in-picture effects.

Beyond the ease of switching in and out, the PiP effects are not configurable in size or positioning, though the first five presets generally work fine. The last four are pretty much unusable, stretching or smushing the selected inputs to their respective boxes, which is almost never the desired effect. You see this in Figure 5 (below), which is one of the bottom two effects with side-by-side inputs. You would expect the software to use a center cut of each window, which would be great if you have cameras on two individuals. Instead, it squeezes the two inputs as shown.

Figure 5. The bottom four effects stretch or squeeze the inputs which is almost never what you want. Click the image to see it at full size.

Testing Tidbits

There are multiple YouTube videos that detail testing and several report synchronization issues when using the external audio input port. I specifically tested for this and did not experience this issue.

FEELWORLD recently released software for the LIVEPRO that enables chromakey, PTZ control, and a single image overlay. I tried installing the software on two Windows computers which failed on both computers, skipping all the modules as shown in Figure 6 (below). I tried on two Macs and the software loaded couldn’t connect to the unit. There are reviewers on YouTube who have successfully loaded and used the software, however, so it could be user error or a hardware glitch.

Figure 6. No joy when trying to install the FEELWORLD software on two Windows computers

I tried to contact FEELWORLD through their website messaging system and hadn’t heard back after three days. I checked all the FEELWORLD documentation and tutorials that I could find and found many confusing and incomplete. I’ve been reviewing software for over 25 years and this is the first time I can recall not being able to run the software, and not hearing back from the company.

Summing Up

Where does that leave us? If you haven’t heard of FEELWORLD, they produce a significant line of video-related products, and I have a 4K 7” on-camera display that was very affordably priced and works well, so I trust FEELWORLD hardware. With the LIVEPRO, FEELWORLD has resolved several product deficits reported in early reviews, most notably the ability to record audio from any HDMI source, which wasn’t available in the first software version.

I bought this mixer for my own use, and the current state of operation is pretty exciting, not only for live streaming but for recorded tutorials. The ability to mix multiple cameras in real-time with a single audio overlay will speed many upcoming tutorials for different courses that I’m creating. So, I’m keeping the unit and will hope for the best on the software side.

What about you? If you need to mix audio as well as video inputs or overlay multiple graphics or titles, you should definitely look elsewhere. On the other hand, for just over $300 the LIVEPRO offers solid operation and excellent usability. For basic video switching that’s hard to beat.