Do you leave cameras on when not Live?

**robistech** · 08-09-2012, 05:05 PM

I use a mixture of DV Cams and Webcams and I was struggling to decide whether its safe to leave the Cameras on when not live, or not. I wouldn't normally think twice about it, but my main concern is I believe ended up running an old Canon GL 2 by leaving it on and connected by FireWire all the time. Just curious if you guys leave cameras on all the time, or if you turn them off after broadcasting.

**Amnon** · 08-09-2012, 06:41 PM

I leave them on.

**Donovan** · 08-10-2012, 06:50 AM

XSplit keeps them up and running even when a scene that uses them isn't selected. So, yep, I leave 'em on.

**William Thomas** · 08-10-2012, 11:23 AM

rob,

do you mean leave the cams on when you are not podcasting at all...like when you are sleeping???? if so i cant see any reason to do that. of course cams stay on during podcast but thats it. i have a canon gl2 as well and i dont use the firewire i use the a/v connection. no problems. Not sure really what you mean by cams staying on all the time ....i can think of no reason to do that. maybe someone can enlighten me to what the advantage is.

good luck

**robistech** · 08-10-2012, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by William Thomas

rob,

do you mean leave the cams on when you are not podcasting at all...like when you are sleeping???? if so i cant see any reason to do that. of course cams stay on during podcast but thats it. i have a canon gl2 as well and i dont use the firewire i use the a/v connection. no problems. Not sure really what you mean by cams staying on all the time ....i can think of no reason to do that. maybe someone can enlighten me to what the advantage is.

good luck

I mean leaving them on all the time, 24/7. The reason for this is that I have Wirecast open 24/7 for re-runs, and Wirecast messes up when I turn off the camera and turn it on while its still open. The only way to avoid this is to keep the camera on. The other reason I ask is that I recently visited TWiT's Brick House Studio, and I notice they leave all 40 cams on all the time. Does this not ruin the camera?

**theiosshow** · 08-10-2012, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by robistech

I mean leaving them on all the time, 24/7. The reason for this is that I have Wirecast open 24/7 for re-runs, and Wirecast messes up when I turn off the camera and turn it on while its still open. The only way to avoid this is to keep the camera on. The other reason I ask is that I recently visited TWiT's Brick House Studio, and I notice they leave all 40 cams on all the time. Does this not ruin the camera?

Actually they don't run them all the time. I visit the Brick House all the time(I live 15 mins from TWiT). They only turn on the ones that they are using that day. I asked them and they say they turn them off to save power. So its your decision.

**Linuxcooldude** · 08-10-2012, 10:00 PM

I use to leave them on but after a while one camera ( Sony HDR CX110 Camcorder ) developed two lines across the live feed and with recorded video. I think any electronics eventually wear out after so many hours leaving them on. Perhaps with cheap or inexpensive cameras leave them on is fine. The more expensive cameras I use only when doing the live show, then turn them off.

**andrewzarian** · 08-11-2012, 07:09 PM

We turn our cameras off when we are finished with the show.

**joedemax** · 09-24-2012, 02:23 PM

I plug a lot of my cameras in via capture cards, this way i can turn them on and off as much as I need to, and Wirecast need never know. So indeed, I turn them off.