Question / Help Wall/Ceiling-mounted Options into OBS

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MattPoland

New Member
I do a bit of amateur local FaceBook streaming of playing pool in my basement. I looking for tips on equipment and setup to enhance my production.

Setup
I would like as good of an overhead view as I can. I was using a wall mounted Mevo camera steaming to an RTSP server (Mist) running on my laptop into a VLC source in OBS. I switch scenes between a USB webcam connected to my laptop and the Mevo using an Elgato stream deck OBS plugin controlled from my phone/iPad.

Challenge
The problem is that the Mevo has a 4 second lag to OBS compared to my webcam being instant. That wouldn't be a big problem except I'm able to do challenge matches against friends on FB Messenger and then stream the match. I'm doing some neat tricks with window captures and virtual cameras to make sure my opponent can see my production quality and so can the stream. The only pain point is that lag on my overhead view. At the moment I've opted to force a similar audio lag as a filter when I'm in that scene.

Questions
  • In terms of having a camera mounted on a wall or ceiling, what kinds of options would make for a more lagless experience?

  • Is there a camera that can wirelessly talk to my laptop through WIFI or Bluetooth without lag...perhaps directly acting as a webcam on my PC instead of routing through an RTSP server?

  • Or are some long USB/HDMI cables running across my ceiling, walls, and floor just going to be a fact of life?
 
carlmmii

carlmmii

Active Member
Webcam, active USB2.0 cables (these act like single port hubs, so the signal is retained over much longer distances).

You might be able to get lucky and not require any extra power delivery for the cable, so it's a clean drop... best way is to actually run it from a powered hub with no other connected devices, or from a dedicated usb card.
 
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MattPoland

New Member
carlmmii said:
Webcam, active USB2.0 cables (these act like single port hubs, so the signal is retained over much longer distances).

You might be able to get lucky and not require any extra power delivery for the cable, so it's a clean drop... best way is to actually run it from a powered hub with no other connected devices, or from a dedicated usb card.
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So I take it cables are just going to be a fact of life which is a bit of a bummer in a wall mount situation but I can appreciate accepting that challenge to not sacrifice too much in production quality. It sounds like the more cost efficient model will be a webcam with USB cable extensions running around the room (taking your note about being powered). I assume the higher quality, more expensive option is a true digital camera with long HDMI cables running around the room.
 
carlmmii

carlmmii

Active Member
You would be correct. However, there are several different ways of sending an HDMI signal out with minimal latency. The easiest way obviously is by direct HDMI cable connection, where you will be limited with your total length -- in my own experience for this exact purpose, 25ft is that maximum you can reliably do without repeaters for good quality HDMI cables running at 1080p60 (this is one are where high quality cables DO matter).

There are also HDMI over ethernet solutions... of which there are direct point-to-point solutions, as well as NDI (which you can just plug directly into your network and pull from anywhere). Still, it would require an ethernet drop point and power. But, this solution would allow you upwards of 200ft+ with minimal latency.

Something else you could feasibly do is a combination of USB3.0 active extenders and HDMI cable limits. Basically, Active USB3.0 extender (15'), Elgato camlink, and HDMI to your camera. That would be 40' of cable length, as long as the quality is met and the active extender is supplying enough power. Still requires your camera to have its necessary power, but that honestly would be the best solution in my eyes, if you can make the power drop work.
 
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MattPoland

New Member
carlmmii said:
You would be correct. However, there are several different ways of sending an HDMI signal out with minimal latency. The easiest way obviously is by direct HDMI cable connection, where you will be limited with your total length -- in my own experience for this exact purpose, 25ft is that maximum you can reliably do without repeaters for good quality HDMI cables running at 1080p60 (this is one are where high quality cables DO matter).

There are also HDMI over ethernet solutions... of which there are direct point-to-point solutions, as well as NDI (which you can just plug directly into your network and pull from anywhere). Still, it would require an ethernet drop point and power. But, this solution would allow you upwards of 200ft+ with minimal latency.

Something else you could feasibly do is a combination of USB3.0 active extenders and HDMI cable limits. Basically, Active USB3.0 extender (15'), Elgato camlink, and HDMI to your camera. That would be 40' of cable length, as long as the quality is met and the active extender is supplying enough power. Still requires your camera to have its necessary power, but that honestly would be the best solution in my eyes, if you can make the power drop work.
Click to expand...

Any advice on a camera near the $500 range? I'm assuming for my needs that DSLR and Mirrorless will be equivalent. I'm assuming I want something that can record in 4K but steam in 1080p so that I have good digital zoom quality. I also assume 4K streaming would simply push me outside my price range. I'm getting tripped up on which models have clean HDMI output, whether that means I need to do manual focus (to not have auto focus face/eye boxes in the output, and whether the camera will sleep thinking its idle after 30 minutes. Some warn the camera sensor could overheat after some duration. Every time I find a model that looks good, some obscure forum post seems to point out some pretty big dealbreakers. Starting to wonder if the Logitech C922x will work best for me but I was willing to pay to have a real camera do the job if it looks better. The research just seems daunting.
 
carlmmii

carlmmii

Active Member
MattPoland said:
I decided to go with the Canon EOS Rebel SL3. All my research seems to show it should be fine.
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I can't speak from personal experience, but Canon cameras are notorious for not outputting clean HDMI. There is however a new beta capture driver that Canon put out that's supposed to allow clean USB capture, but it's going to be limited based on which camera it is.

The Sony a5100 and a6000 have been basically the go-to recommendations, just as long as you use a dummy battery to keep it powered. Excellent low-light performance as well. Buy used, it'll save you loads.

If you can find one, a Z Cam E1 also works wonderfully well (I have one... I love it).
 
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