Help setting up a Skype video studio

[sdsumike619]

I want to set up a Skype video studio so that a musician can give skype lessons to students around the world, however, I want it to be much better quality than the typical "sitting at the computer in front of your webcam" set up. For example, I want to have a camcorder (not a webcam) mounted on the tripod to capture the video and audio to the computer. Then I'll also need a monitor for the teacher to be able to see himself from where he is sitting, as well as a monitor to see the student. I have an older Panasonic DVC80 camcorder that I think I'd be able to use to capture video through firewire, but I'm not sure about the audio, or does the firewire also capture audio with the video? I'm just trying to plan the best way to set this thing up. I have another camcorder, Canon XA10, but as far as I've been able to tell, I won't be able to use that camera to capture live video to Skype, unless I've missed something. I already have lights, good microphone, backdrop, etc. from shooting DVDs. Appreciate any suggestions for anyone who has done something like this...

[smrpix]

Pretty much any camera that can feed video to your computer can be considered a "webcam" for skype's purposes. You may need 3rd party capture hardware such as blackmagic intensity shuttle.

Then just follow their instructions:
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1267/webcam-video-troubleshooter

[sdsumike619]

I've never used any of that blackmagic stuff or other interfaces to capture video to the computer, will have to look into that, I know there are tons.....

[newpball]

Blackmagic intensity is excellent for this kind of use, but I would strongly recommend the PCI (or Thunderbolt) interface instead of USB as compatibility may be a big issue.

However Blackmagic intensity does not support FireWire!
Firewire is old technology (I see visions of stuffy old engineers ready to attack me )

I am not so sure about this business proposal, I fear Skype may turn out too low quality, too unreliable and too inconsistent (especially now that it has been bought by Microsoft) to be used for this purpose.

I think a better solution would be live streaming with perhaps a secondary Skype channel for two way communications.

[sdsumike619]

better solution live streaming, but how? Don't you need Skype or some other similar service? If you have a good camera and fast connection, Skype video looks great, never had a problem with it. It looks great on a cheapo webcam so I'd think it'd look even better on a camcorder, especially with perfect lighting, no? I'd rather use my Canon XA10 just so I don't have to have two cameras set up, but instead of firewire, would I just use the media outputs (RCA) to get audio and video into the computer and usable by Skype?

[sdsumike619]

I'm thinking the older camera that has a firewire input might be a better way to go rather than trying to make the XA10 work with Skype.

[sdsumike619]

One other thing, I have an ASUS P8Z68-V PRO motherboard. It has an HDMI out port on it. Would I be able to use this port to output the skype video window to a television?

[sdsumike619]

I discovered the solution, haven't bought it yet, but this is the thing that will enable you to use a camcorder with an HDMI out as a webcam on the computer with USB 3.0: Magewell XI100DUSB-HDMI

[newpball]

I discovered the solution, haven't bought it yet, but this is the thing that will enable you to use a camcorder with an HDMI out as a webcam on the computer with USB 3.0: Magewell XI100DUSB-HDMI

Not sure why you are going through unnecessary hoops.

Just put in a card in your desktop that has HDMI inputs.

[sdsumike619]

Which card specifically? And will it show up as a webcam in Skype? I've learned there's lots of ways to capture video, but so far this Magewell product appears to be the only one that will show up as a USB webcam in Skype.

[newpball]

I know the Blackmagic intensity pro does.



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/495426-REG/Blackmagic_Design_BINTSPRO_Intensity_..._HDMI_and.html

Also I do not see a reason why similar or cheaper cards would not work as well.

[sdsumike619]

See this video, he explains the problem with most capture devices better than I can https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OT0GoALSLM

[sdsumike619]

the BM products won't work, others have tried:
http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9548

[newpball]

I tried this in the past and got it to work with a virtual webcam which then can be selected in Skype.

Still I think Skype is not the best approach here. Skype is mostly a consumer app and since Ms got their hands on it I think it will a matter of time till they cripple this out of existence.

[sdsumike619]

what do you think is a better approach? Everyone has Skype.

[TreeTops]

Have you looked into ooyala or ustream or even youtube? Some of those have free stream options with ads.

[sdsumike619]

I don't know what those are, except for youtube of course. The reason I say Skype is that it's easy, most people are familiar with it, most people already have it downloaded on their computer. If I'm going to sell a service, I don't want to have to tell the people they have to download some other unknown program the have a webcam session.

[usually_quiet]

I'm thinking the older camera that has a firewire input might be a better way to go rather than trying to make the XA10 work with Skype.

I saw post on another forum which claimed that Skype would recognize the Firewire connection as a source if using Vista or Windows 7 as your OS. http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-archive/Make-Firewire-connected-DV-cams-work-wit...pe/td-p/137036

If you have a Firewire port on your PC, or can install a PCI/PCIE card to add one, you could try the DV camera first and see what you think of the results. If it works OK, it will at least get you started. HDMI will still be there as another option. You can continue to research the best way to implement it and try it later.