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If you’ve got your mind set on building your PTZ network but you’re not sure what that will—or should—look like, we’ve got a few diagram examples of how different components work together on a PTZ network. Starting with a single-camera setup, then working forward with multi-camera, then adding components such as encoders, video switches, controllers, and software, we’ll walk through a few basic configurations to help take the complexity out of your setup.
The single-camera setup is the simplest to start building your PTZ network. This example shows a PTZ camera with HDMI, SDI, and RJ45 outputs. The HDMI is used to monitor your video, while the SDI sends the video simultaneously to a converter/audio injector to the Internet from a digital audio mixer, so that both video and audio streams are joined into a single stream.
The camera can also send video to the Internet directly as a backup stream or for recording with a computer. The PTZ camera can be controlled using an IR remote to configure its start/stop streaming, as well as its pan, tilt, and zoom operation.
Example components in this setup:
In this setup, we have four of the same PTZ camera. They are connected to a video switcher using coaxial cable, and they are sending video using the SDI protocol. The video switcher has four BNC inputs for the cameras, and it also inputs the audio from a sound board using 2RCA audio connectors to mix the audio into the output signal.
The cameras are also controlled using a camera controller using serial control, and the cameras are daisy-chained over a serial connection so the controller has full control over all four cameras with only one cable run.
Because the destination in this diagram is a computer-based software switch to send the transmission to the Internet or a LAN-based device, the video switcher then outputs the combined video and audio signal out a BNC SDI coaxial cable to a converter that captures the SDI video signal and converts it to a USB signal so the computer, in this case using Telestream’s Wirecast broadcast software, can process it.
Example components in this setup:
This setup features three PTZ cameras with different video connectors: HDBaseT and SDI. It also adds another video source to the mix in the form of a laptop with a PowerPoint presentation. The camera controller connects to the cameras using HDBaseT, and there are also two HDBaseT receivers between the two PTZ cameras and the video switcher, so it can translate their HDBaseT signals to HDMI.
The third camera connects directly to the video switcher via BNC SDI, and the laptop with the presentation connects to the switcher using SDI through an HDMI to SDI converter box. The reason for this setup is that the box only has two HDMI inputs that handle higher resolutions, so the SDI conversion is being used because of the lack of remaining HDMI ports.
A hardware control panel connects to the video switcher to control transitions and switch to the primary output, and an HDMI multiport output from the video switcher sends your image to a monitor. The other HDMI output from the switcher is sent to an IP encoder so the signal can be sent to the Internet.
Example components in this setup:
In this setup, we have 7 cameras of two different types that are all powered using PoE connected to a PoE switch. The cameras transmit video to a LAN-based video switcher. The setup also includes a computer that can be used to control the switcher, as well as send its own content, such as a PowerPoint presentation or video playback, via HDMI to the video switcher.
The switcher can also be controlled directly by a keyboard and mouse using its USB inputs, and it can output its program information to a multi-view HDMI monitor. The switcher can input audio using analog inputs or even directly from a microphone to mix it together with the video from the camera, and then the switcher can stream directly to the Internet or to another destination on the LAN.
Example components in this setup:
Browse the B&H Photo website for more PTZ camera solutions, and let us know how your PTZ environment setup is progressing in the Comments section, below.
2 Comments
How about the "Multicam NDI switched in software (OBS, etc.)" version? Can you sketch that one out? I'm sure I'm not the only one trying to put that one together presently! :-)
Currently we've got a basics of NDI article, will think on a diagram that can suit these needs as well https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/buying-guide/what-you-need-to-know-about-ptz-camera-networking-with-ndi