capture 2 feeds into one stream

[jacobjef]

Hi I could use some advice on what software/hardware is available to take 2 camera feeds (firewire) and have it become a split-screen recording. I know Premiere can do this, but i believe it's all done post production. I think I need a digital mixer, but not sure which one. Any help/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[jggimi]

Moved to DV forum (unrelated to analog capture). It might also be a better fit in the NLE forum.

[FredThompson]

On the fly? look at video surveillance systems.

Two feeds? How ya gonna do that? 4 feeds would work, X and Y of each halved and put in a square pattern.

[jacobjef]

jigg, thanks for moving to the correct forum. much appreciated.

Fred, that's what i'm contemplating. I know there's hardware out that can do the task, but expensive and possibly overkill for the project. I've also used software that can support this, but it's more proprietary and wouldn't serve my purpose. I was really wondering if adobe's new premiere could handle this, or if there was some other piece of software (or inexpensive hardware to mix) that can handle the task of recording 2 video streams simultaneously. Or if i would just be better handling everything post production.

Thanks again for your input

[FredThompson]

Short answer: post process

[jacobjef]

I think i might have found what i was i looking for. It's been so long since I've posted here I can't remember if there are rules regarding links. I found Multicam from United Media. It is supposed to support 2 (or 4) cameras, and they claim it to be fully supported within Premiere. Take a look if you get chance and let me know what you think...

[FredThompson]

post a link, plese.

[jacobjef]

http://www.unitedmediainc.com/home/

let me know your thoughts...

[FredThompson]

The link to detailed information isn't working on the site.

Your initial question was multiple live firewire feeds. This software is for post editing of multiple recordings. Those are 2 very different things.

Realtime composition of multiple firewire feeds is available with studio-level equipment and a studio-level price. I guess you could do it with Avid...

[jacobjef]

Hmmmm. Thanks Fred. I believe that is correct. Jumped too quickly to the conclusion I was hoping for.

The project is being done for a University-NIH study, so money isn't necessarly a huge issue. I would really prefer to keep things as simple as possible, and avoid using a lot of hardware. I'd be much happier keeping this as simple as possible (which would be mostly software). Again, the project only requires 2 cameras angles with a split screen (of the two images) being displayed.

[FredThompson]

My choice would be post processing so you can have both feeds stored as full-size then composite as you want. If you want to change something, it's easy to redo from stored footage. It's far, far harder to reshoot. (Similar to the cost of DV tape. It can be reused but the cost of loss because of bad/dirty parts of a tape is far greater than buying new tape...)