combining a video feed with PC screen into single stream

[Masquerade]

Good day,

I belong to a charity which is looking to record presentations. For example, there would be a camera looking at the speaker who is using a computer to project a set of slides onto a screen. We are looking to have a recording which shows the slides with a window showing the speaker. The current method of using a camera to capture the speaker and the presentation screen in one-shot gives very poor results and does mean that the speaker needs to be close to the screen and not move around too much.

This recording could be used in real-time to enable people to view on-line, or saved to allow it to be sent to people after the event. We would expect to be able to alter the size/shape of the window containing the presenter. Of course - we are flexible and so maybe it is the slides that are in a window.

Ideally this would be Windows based - but am open to others (e.g. Unix, Mac) if necessary.

Ideas?

[Cornucopia]

To do that in real-time usually requires what is known as a "video switcher" (aka mixer, dve), fed into a live streaming encoder. That is dedicated hardware (think $$$).

This can easily be done non-realtime in post-production through editing/compositing with the various Win/Mac NLE's and Compositing apps (costing free up to $$$$). But then, you'd need to record BOTH segments separately, and load them into the app, combine, and render a new master clip, prior to streaming encoding.

Depends on your time, budget, knowledgebase, etc...

Scott

[Masquerade]

To do that in real-time usually requires what is known as a "video switcher" (aka mixer, dve), fed into a live streaming encoder. That is dedicated hardware (think $$$).

This can easily be done non-realtime in post-production through editing/compositing with the various Win/Mac NLE's and Compositing apps (costing free up to $$$$). But then, you'd need to record BOTH segments separately, and load them into the app, combine, and render a new master clip, prior to streaming encoding.

Depends on your time, budget, knowledgebase, etc...

Scott

Time is reasonable and we are IT-literate but with little experience of "Win/Mac NLE's and Compositing apps". I use "Ulead Video Studio" for home-videos and the others have other experiences.

Your comment on the "video-switcher ... live streaming encoder" is valuable in that it immediately puts it into a future phase. We are going to take this steadily - walking before we look to jog and then run.

We will look at the Non-Linear Editing (NLE) options (and learn more about the technology and terminology).

As for the presentation material - we have some more thinking to do. We certainly would not want to film off the projector screen with the resulting loss of quality - so it looks as though we will need to take notes of the timing (e.g. when the presenter changes slides or starts a video-clip) and re-play while playing the video-recording of the presenter.

Thank you.

[Richard_G]

Does Video Studio allow picture in picture because that is what you are actually trying to do (I use Ulead Mediastudio Pro and that definitely does). The main frame showing the presentation with the speaker in a separate box. Depending on the format of the presentation, and if the owner of it will let you, would be to output it straight from the source (presumably a computer) and capture/transfer it as a video. Then you just need to edit the two video streams together.

[Masquerade]

Does Video Studio allow picture in picture because that is what you are actually trying to do (I use Ulead Mediastudio Pro and that definitely does). The main frame showing the presentation with the speaker in a separate box. Depending on the format of the presentation, and if the owner of it will let you, would be to output it straight from the source (presumably a computer) and capture/transfer it as a video. Then you just need to edit the two video streams together.

Thank you for that helpful point. We would have the full permission of the presenter before doing anything. Yes - the source of the presentation would be a computer. Today we only have slide-shows (e.g. Powerpoint) and these are placed on "our" computer which is connected to a projector. In the future we can envisage other sources - e.g. video and audio.

Thanks again.

[Cornucopia]

If you want fully synchronized PIP, and your presentation is on file somewhere (like powerpoint, etc), I suggest using 2 cameras: one shooting the person alone, and one shooting the person+presentation.

Load both viewpoints into separate tracks in a video editor, then adjust their clip start and endpoints so that they are in exact synchronization (can do this visually, audibly or both) - clapper is a good tool here for facilitating quick & easy sync.

Once they're in sync, export your presentation as either video, or better yet, as still picture sequence (with video if there actually was a video insert in the presentation). Load those into their own 3rd track in your video editor and adjust timing to match the "person+presentation" view.
I've posted previously about how to get great pix exports out of PPT (beyond what most are capable of)...

Then, hide/disable/delete the "person+presentation" track and use the PIP functions on the 2 remaining tracks. This will give you clean, high-rez, nice contrast combination of person + presentation, laid out in exactly the arrangement that make the most thematic sense.

Yes, it's extra preparation & cleanup work, but the end result is worth it!

Scott