Blackmagic Web Presenter - Setting Up, Uses and Explanation including using two HDMI Video Cameras

September 10, 2017

John Warkentin from michaels walks you through all the steps required to connect 2 HDMI Video Cameras to a Blackmagic Web Presenter and switch video inputs using the Teranex Mini Smart Panel.

John connects the Web Presenter via USB to a laptop and demonstrates how the output of the Web Presenter just shows up in your list of available web camera sources in any software that supports web cams.

All of the equipment demonstrated in this video is available for hire from michaels camera so you can get up and running live streaming with very little effort. Hire the Web Presenter: https://hire.michaels.com.au/online_h... Hire the Panasonic HC-PV100 Video Camera: https://hire.michaels.com.au/online_h... Purchase the Blackmagic Web Presenter: https://michaels.com.au/products/blac... Purchase the Blackmagic Teranex Mini Smart Panel: https://michaels.com.au/collections/p...

Also, check out the video where John unboxes the Blackmagic Web Presenter and installs the Teranex Mini Smart Panel. https://youtu.be/gBhSVlZnFYk We recommend this video to provide general introduction to the world of live streaming.

Transcript :

Today I'm going to go through a little bit of a training video on how to use the Blackmagic Web Presenter in a simple, two-camera production, in a streaming environment.

 

So, we've got two Panasonic PV-100 video cameras here; and we've got the Blackmagic Web Presenter and the complete collection of cables and adapters that you would hire from michaels if you wanted to do a simple, two-camera production.

 

Now, obviously, I don't have any tripods handy here; and we've got you covered for tripods - all that stuff's easy because we've got lots of stuff to hire.

But what I want to describe is the whole process of, how do we use the Web Presenter?

 

So, first order of business, on the back of the Web Presenter, we have a collection of different types of inputs.

The Web Presenter will take two live feeds from cameras; one will be HDMI, and the other will be SDI.

So, your standard HDMI connectors are this style - sort of fat, sort of silver guys, or gold coloured.

[Holds up HDMI cables to show the connectors]

These are what's on most video cameras and television sets, and many computers have HDMI connectors on them - so these are the full-size style; and the PV-100 Panasonic video cameras, if you look back here, they have a full-size HDMI connector on the back.

[Holds up Panasonic camera to show the back where the connection types are]

So, very simple cables are required for those.

But, this is where things get a little bit different - the second input on the Web Presenter is an SDI connector, and that is this type - and they're called a BNC cable.

[Holds up SDI cable, or BNC cable to show the connection type]

They are the professional standard, and they give you both because you might just be using the Web Presenter in a one-camera environment for simple streaming, and it gives you the option to either use the HDMI input for standard consumer cameras, or the SDI for professional cameras.

 

Now, these are a consumer camera; very affordable and easy to use.

[Touches the Panasonic PV-100]

And they are HDMI.

So, when you want to use two of those with the Web Presenter, we use the small Blackmagic micro-converter, which lets you take HDMI and convert it to SDI, so that two HDMI cameras can feed the Web Presenter, because one will need to be using the SDI input.

 

So, I'm going through the whole procedure and we're going to hook all this stuff up and run these two cameras, and show you how we can dynamically switch between the two cameras in a simple, two-camera production, feeding the signal from the Web Presenter to a laptop - and I've got a small Macbook Air here in front of me.

 

So, the Web Presenter connects to the laptop through a standard USB - I think they're called B? - it's the square format one that your old printer used to use; so everybody's got one of these cables, and of course, the cable is provided when you hire.

 

So, let's get this stuff hooked up.

We're going to plug in the USB connector to the back of the Web Presenter.

We're going to get some power applied to the Web Presenter. Let me just get this cable over here.

[Attaches power cable to the back of the Web Presenter box]

There's no power switch on the Web Presenter - when you apply power it just turns on.

So, that's starting to turn on now.

 

And as you can see from the front panel, there's a small display here; a simple little control knob and a few buttons that you can press to choose your menu, and your SAT and Camera A and Camera B.... actually, Camera One and Camera Two.

[Lifts Web Presenter box and shows front display and buttons]

 

So, we'll get that all hooked up here; plugging it into the USB port on our laptop.

Now, we'll plug in our HDMI connector from our first camera.

We're going to plug that one into the Web Presenter's HDMI input, which is on the bottom here - HDMI In.

Okay, that takes care of that.

 

Now, our second camera - again, because it is HDMI, I'm going to plug in another HDMI cable here and that one I'm going to plug into the micro-converter and it also needs power, and it's powered through a USB micro connector, and there's a little connector here - a little power supply.

So, let's get that plugged in.

So, bottom there.

[Connects HDMI cable to micro-converter; plugs power supply in to micro-converter]

 

Let's get the wire unstrung here; plug that into my power bar.

Get that powered up.

You can see there's a little power light here when this is powered on.

[Lifts micro-converter to show light]

So you know that's all good.

 

Now, I've got a long SDI cable here, which is in the hire kit.

So, I'm going to plug one into the output.

Now, there are two outputs on this - you only need to use one of them - but they are designed that they can drive a monitor, and a you know, into a recording device or into a web streaming device all simultaneously.

 

Now, this is going to go into the SDI input - which is the bottom one nearest the power plug.

[Inserts SDI connector into Web Presenter box]

It's a little bit difficult when you're trying to do this explanation live on video, but we'll  get it there.

 

Okay, now we're plugged in there.

 

Let's get this video camera turned on - our first one.

Get our second video camera turned on.

Oh, I've got to see where they connect... oh, there it is.

 

Okay.

Now.

We've got video signals through here.

So, if I hold up the Web Presenter here, you should see that we are on Camera One, and as I press this button we should go to Camera Two.

[Holds up Web Presenter box and shows how the signal view changes from Camera One to Two using the button]

And if I press the button we go back to Camera One.

 

So, you're probably looking of pictures of (Daffyd) who is operating the other video cameras.

So, let me verify that that's all happy...

Yes, there we go!

 

And, now, I'm going to open up the lid on my laptop here.

Let's get ourselves logged on.

 

So, the Web Presenter is currently plugged into the USB port on the laptop.

The Web Presenter acts as a webcam; the same as the little camera on the lid of the laptop, it's a system resource - no software is required.

So, I'm going to just run Quicktime on the Mac here, because Quicktime is always built in, and it will see any webcam that is connected.

 

So, let's go into Quicktime, and that will run. Give it a sec here.

There we go.

 

Now, we're going to go New Movie Recording.

[The laptop screen is now displayed, and you can see Quicktime running]

And we see that we have on our screen, a signal coming from one of the cameras.

[The movie screen shows a partial view of (Daffyd) standing against a wall]

 

So, it's this one here. If I put my hand in here, you see that's the live signal.

[John waves his hand in front of the camera]

 

So, if I go to the Web Presenter and I switch from Camera One to Two -let's get that power cable out of the picture here.

I can zoom out a little wee bit on that, you can see there's (Daffyd).

[Video image zooms out]

 

I'll zoom out on the second one a little wee bit.

Now, we'll go from Camera One, to Two, and we will get a nice smooth transition.

[View changes slightly from one angle to another for the different cameras]

We'll go back to camera one.

So, that is ready to stream!

 

Any application - WireCast, LiveCast, Facebook, just on the web, Skype, Facetime - any application on a computer that can use a web camera, can use the Blackmagic Web Presenter.

And all you've got to do is have your two signals set up.

If you have the cameras are manned and on tripods, interchanging, and you basically can switch from Camera One to Camera Two, with the simple front panel controls on the Web Presenter.

 

Now, needless to say, I'm not producing a great looking product here from these two cameras - I'm just looking at the other side of the room - but we actually have two cameras that are identical to these, plugged into the bigger brother of the Web Presenter over here at our production desk - and that's exactly what we're doing: We're switching between those two feeds - one's a wide view of me at the desk; one's a little tighter view in of the products I've got, and we've got a third feed coming from the laptop here so that we can show you what we're putting out from the Web Presenter into this other broadcast.

 

So, we're using three inputs on our bigger system; it's called the ATEM television studio.

But the Web Presenter is a very useful product that gives you the ability to have two camera feeds simultaneously running and you can go from A to B with a nice smooth transition into a broadcast.

 

So, that kind of covers it!

If I wanted to, I'll show you here in Quicktime - when I click on the little Quicktime selector, these are the available webcams that I've got.

So, you see that there is the Blackmagic Web Presenter, from a camera selector, as well as for audio.

Now, if you're going to stream you've got to make sure that the audio signal is from the same thing.

So, I've actually got the internal microphone on the laptop, I should have actually had that on the Web Presenter.

[Clicks on the Quicktime selector and brings up the menu for webcams available]

So, we'll get back.

Now, if I go into that same setting, you'll see that I've got video coming from the Blackmagic Web Presenter, and audio.

But I can also flip over here on the computer and just bring in the original webcam, which is the screen - which has got me, looking right at you here.

 

So, it's just a system resource; doesn't matter whether it's Linux, Mac or PC, if the software supports web cameras, it will see the Blackmagic Web Presenter as a system resource and you can just use it.

Any software probably written in the last ten years can use the Blackmagic Web Presenter.

 

So, that's the beauty of the system.



So, some other applications for it?

Well, you could have the one video camera plugged into the SDI connector, and the second  source could be a laptop!

If you wanted to do software demonstrations, you'd plug the HDMI output of your laptop - very similar to what I've got here: I've got the HDMI output through the little dongle from the Macbook Air - that could be plugged into the HDMI input of the Web Presenter, and I could then have my screen as part of the broadcast, and then every now and then when I wanted to have my... head... you know, whenever the camera is looking at me, or my environment, or what I'm shooting or what I'm talking about, I could just go back and forth between the two.

 

So, it's very easy to use multiple types of video inputs.

The only conditions are that the inputs have to be the same frame rate.

So, in the case of these video cameras; they're running at 25 frames per second - which is a good frame rate to use in Australia so that you can gather as much light as possible - and the Web Presenter then converts that into a USB web stream, which then can be fed to any software that can handle it.

 

If one of the cameras was set at a different frequency, the thing would get a bit confused and it wouldn't be able to do the transition.

So, that's the one condition: You've got to make sure that both of your signals are the same format.

So, if you're going to hook it up to the computer, you've got to make sure that your computer is running the same frame rate as your camera.

 

So, but that's all standard, almost any switcher system has to deal with that, so that's nothing new.

 

Anyway, there's basically, a good simple little introduction to the Blackmagic Web Presenter.

 

I'll just bring it back up into my hand here so you can get a good look at the front panel and we will switch again between our two camera feeds.

So, Camera One, and go over to Camera Two, and go over to Camera One.

[Holds Web Presenter box up to the camera to show the views changing on the display panel]

 

So, it's very simple to use and that is the process for wiring it all up.

 

Thank you very much for joining us, and we hope you have great success when you hire the Web Presenter from michaels.

 

 



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