Twitch/livestream setups.

Interesting. I guess I’ve never had more than two of the same cam hooked up.

The piece of software I was using was called camcontrol. It was an executable so probably not the same thing unless someone compiled and changed the name. Camcontrol worked for up to 4ish cameras but started losing track beyond that. I tracked down the author at one point and asked him if hed be interested in working on a new version but, didn’t get much further than that. It’s very possible that I haven’t tried this. It’d be awesome if the new version could handle the 20 odd cams in the rig! lol

i thought there may be the secret of capturing Stern LCD screen hidden somewhere in there :smiley:

1 Like

When using camcorders and USB capture devices, do you have any experience with what is more reliable: short HDMI cable and long USB cable, or the other way around?

Would love to see an annotated picture of a complete setup!

Longer HDMI vs Longer USB for camcorder connection seemed to work best in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean that’s correct.

1 Like

I’ve experimented a lot with usb extension devices, and I agree, longer hdmi cables is a better choice than longer usb. So leave the cam link right at the computer and use a long hdmi cable to run to your hd cam at the rig.

Since elgato can link is usb 3.0, the options for very long usb extenders for 3.0 are very limited. There are viable options at 2.0, but not 3.0.

1 Like

A great recommendation from a few folks, I will record a video of setting up a stream on the computer side for ease of reference!

just in terms of specifications, HDMI is rated for longer distances than USB (15m vs 5m) though higher quality cables (generally lower gauge, i.e. thicker) will improve reliability as those length limits are neared.

1 Like

I use 30ft-50ft runs of HDMI without issue. Once you get to 50ft+ you may start having signal issues depending on hardware/wiring and will need a repeater. This usually manifests as sparkly pixels in the video. You can also turn your cameras down to 720p, which will work better over longer distance, and a 720p vertical playfield cam fits in a 1080p stream anyway.

I use a 50ft USB cord to control my HDMI switches and with some C92x here and there, but USB cams over distance are finicky and nowdays I avoid using any USB cameras.

2 Likes

Oooh how do you control your hdmi switch with usb?

Some HDMI switches are controllable via serial port. Wrote a little app to do it, posted about it earlier in the thread: Monoprice 8x1 controller

Keeping this “How to stream pinball” train rolling, we’ve published our first, super quick tutorial on how to “Fix Your Webcam’s Quality!”

Check it out, and make your webcams look super sexy!


#pinball #streaming #Tutorial
4 Likes

Is there a fix for an issue with using multiples of the same camera (c920) with OBS? I can’t use the OBS camera adjustments for more than one camera.

I had to install the Logitech gaming software, make the adjustments there and then open OBS. If I don’t like what I see, I have to go back and forth. It’s workable, but just a pain in the arse.

There’s a bunch of discussion on this about 20 posts up. Good luck !

I stumbled on that thread, but was hoping hoping that there might be something a little more straight forward. :grin:

1 Like

So multiples of the same camera do work, but depends on the resolution you’re running them at, and how many are plugged into a single port.
Try plugging them in and dropping all their resolutions to 800X448 just to make sure they are all showing up.
Then up the resolution on each a bit until you find a cap.

If it’s exposure and gain (etc) that you 're having trouble with, there is a tutorial on the “chain of command” method on my “how to stream pinball” page, also with a link to a piece of software for PC that makes it easier to work with.

I’m making a tutorial about this, later this week!

The rig we use in Texas has 21 C920s. It is a nightmare getting the settings dialed, and there’s no way around it. I use the method described by @GarrettHays in this thread. It’s basically the “chain of command” stuff that @DEADFLIP talks about, but on a ridiculous scale.

There’s also the bootleg software shown above, but I haven’t tried it yet

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the Logitech Gaming software and OBS. It’s manageable, but I only have 3 cameras. I can’t imagine what it would be like with 21!

For anyone else using the Ulink usb hub Ethernet extender, make sure and use shielded cat 6 cables.

I had intermittent screen tearing using a cheapo flat Ethernet cable. Switching to a nice shielded cat 6 fixed this issue.

2 Likes