Wirecast Questions

Alright, finally got to play around with Wirecast 5 and there were 3 things that threw me for a loop... #1 is how the audio is handled. That was one I quickly figured out, but had a brief moment of insanity when I realized that I had not "taken" the shot I had setup therefore the old shot didn't have audio and I couldn't figure out why...

So word of advice... Setup all shots with their respective audio sources first... then "take" the first shot into program mode.

Issue 2

Another issue I had... One of my cameras froze... When I realized it, I pulled the camera's USB cord and put it back in. In Vidblaster, I would then refresh the camera and it would all work perfectly... here it wreaked havoc. (warning it will get confusing)... Shot 1 (camera 1) worked well all night. Shot 2 (camera 3) worked well all night. Shot 3 (camera 2) was the problem. Now... when I pulled the USB cord the Shot 3 and Shot 2 went away... My guess is because Shot 2 was camera 3, when I pulled Camera 2, it effected Camera 3. It wound up posting a generic white screen with a red "Wirecast" text on it.

So what should I do if that is to happen again. I couldn't find a way to "refresh" the camera without ruining the rest of the shots. The cameras I was using were 3 Microsoft Lifecams.

Issue 3

How to setup shots and use the number keypad like you can via Vidblaster. I know there is a better way than what I was doing... I was seting up each shot, then using the "Take... or Program" button (whatever it's called) to send the shots live. Each time I would have to click on the new shot, then take it. I couldn't just use the number pad to make it take the new shots.

Anyway around that?

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Originally Posted by BradShoemaker

Alright, finally got to play around with Wirecast 5 and there were 3 things that threw me for a loop... #1 is how the audio is handled. That was one I quickly figured out, but had a brief moment of insanity when I realized that I had not "taken" the shot I had setup therefore the old shot didn't have audio and I couldn't figure out why...

So word of advice... Setup all shots with their respective audio sources first... then "take" the first shot into program mode.

Issue 2

Another issue I had... One of my cameras froze... When I realized it, I pulled the camera's USB cord and put it back in. In Vidblaster, I would then refresh the camera and it would all work perfectly... here it wreaked havoc. (warning it will get confusing)... Shot 1 (camera 1) worked well all night. Shot 2 (camera 3) worked well all night. Shot 3 (camera 2) was the problem. Now... when I pulled the USB cord the Shot 3 and Shot 2 went away... My guess is because Shot 2 was camera 3, when I pulled Camera 2, it effected Camera 3. It wound up posting a generic white screen with a red "Wirecast" text on it.

So what should I do if that is to happen again. I couldn't find a way to "refresh" the camera without ruining the rest of the shots. The cameras I was using were 3 Microsoft Lifecams.

Issue 3

How to setup shots and use the number keypad like you can via Vidblaster. I know there is a better way than what I was doing... I was seting up each shot, then using the "Take... or Program" button (whatever it's called) to send the shots live. Each time I would have to click on the new shot, then take it. I couldn't just use the number pad to make it take the new shots.

Anyway around that?

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Post this problem on the Telestream forum as well: http://forum.telestream.net/forum/ It's a great question. Why did you mention "at night" when you mentioned the cameras?

I will be interested in hearing how you end up resolving this issue as well. I have seen this with my Wirecast 5 setup that has 2 Logitech 920s via USB and 2 Canon HD cams via BMI. I at first thought this was a USB bandwidth issue but I am certain that I have each camera on a separate bus. Sometimes it works and sometimes it just fails randomly. Just the USB cams not the Canons.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlBurr

I will be interested in hearing how you end up resolving this issue as well. I have seen this with my Wirecast 5 setup that has 2 Logitech 920s via USB and 2 Canon HD cams via BMI. I at first thought this was a USB bandwidth issue but I am certain that I have each camera on a separate bus. Sometimes it works and sometimes it just fails randomly. Just the USB cams not the Canons.

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4 cameras!? Cool! Is this on a laptop? MAC or WIN?

Windows... I really don't have a need for 4 cameras...It was just to see if I could do it... :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BradShoemaker

Issue 3

How to setup shots and use the number keypad like you can via Vidblaster. I know there is a better way than what I was doing... I was seting up each shot, then using the "Take... or Program" button (whatever it's called) to send the shots live. Each time I would have to click on the new shot, then take it. I couldn't just use the number pad to make it take the new shots.

Anyway around that?

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Not sure if Telestream baked anything into WC 5, but when I used WC, I used Wirecast Toolbox (Not sure if it's compatible with WC 5). It basically lets you assign hotkeys to cameras and functions, and control the show without having to click through the interface.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlBurr

Windows... I really don't have a need for 4 cameras...It was just to see if I could do it... :)

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No, no 4 cameras is awesome! I was worried that 2 exact webcams would not be recognized by your PC. Do you use a laptop or desktop tower?

It's a desktop tower with gobs of USB options...
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7690/zm41.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlBurr

It's a desktop tower with gobs of USB options...
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7690/zm41.png

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Wow! That is impressive :D

Issue 3: You can put the number you want to assign the shot by putting the number somewhere in the shot name. Thats all, when you press option + the number, it will switch to that shot.

To make sure USB webcams are not on the same bus use Wirecast Sources/Show USB Devices… and you'll see the bus number next to each device.

It's odd that one camera would impact a different shot though baring something going on on the bus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cseeman

To make sure USB webcams are not on the same bus use Wirecast Sources/Show USB Devices… and you'll see the bus number next to each device.

It's odd that one camera would impact a different shot though baring something going on on the bus.

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Maybe I'm not sure how a USB Bus works, but yes it was showing two cameras on the same Bus... Not sure how or why? I have two standalone USB Cards. I plug only one camera into each card. The third camera was plugged into one of the USB 2.0 Motherboard slot (my wireless dongle into Motherboard USB 3.0 slot)

The problem is showing that the Motherboard USB 2.0 slot and one of the stand alone Cards is on the same Bus. I thought the USB cards had their own Bus. The motherboard provided at least 2 Busses if not more considering it has 4 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 slots...

I'll see how tonight goes and see if I have the same issues. I moved one of the Microsoft Lifecams to the USB 3.0 slot on the motherboard and it shows that it is now on a stand alone bus just like the other two cameras (I even checked to make sure no other devices shared the Bus).

Any number of inputs can be on the same bus.
If Wirecast Show USB Devices shows two webcams on the same bus, you'd want to move one to another bus. You may need to move one webcam to another port and test again. Separate cards should be on separate buses but apparently that's not the way it's being seen in your system. You may try moving one of the USB cards to a different PCIe slot.
Always check in Wirecast Show USB Devices to make sure they're on separate buses. It's the easiest way to confirm and troubleshoot.

Again it's weird that one USB card is showing up on the same USB bus as the motherboard's built in USB port, but moving the camera worked. I had no issues all night long.