Camera Suggestions

My Stake President has asked me for suggestions to set up our 3 meetinghouses for occasional Sacrament Meeting broadcasts. I have a plan in mind, but am having trouble finding an affordable camera. Some things I would like :

• Direct streaming to YouTube or Zoom. I hate using TeraDeks

• App controllable

• Zoom for sure, Pan/Tilt would be nice

• 3.5 mm audio in

• WiFi

Thoughts, ideas, and suggestions? Links would be nice. And yes I will be coordinating with our FM group.

I think a number of wards in my stake have gone with a web cam attached to the front end of the pulpit. You may also consider a cell phone on a mic stand.

While not ideal, I've seen worse. As soon as you start going into something else, the costs, complexity, and time to set up start escalating exponentially. For something that's only "occasional" that level of cost and effort becomes questionable.

The preferred method across our stake has been the Mevo Start camera. This was also encouraged by our area technology specialists and our FM group.

Direct streaming to YouTube or Zoom - Yes to youtube, no to zoom. (last time we looked, there was not a camera on the market that could connect directly to zoom).

App controllable - Yes. The app control with the mevo is brilliant. It has progressed so well since we started using the cameras a year ago.

Zoom for sure, Pan/Tilt would be nice - Yes, although the lens could be considered a wide angle lens and it only has a digital zoom, with a maximum range of 3x. This is the weakness of the mevo for sure.

3.5 mm audio in - Yes, works flawlessly.

WiFi - Yes, which generally has a better signal strength than smartphones or tablets but we do run ethernet to ours with the 3.5mm audio in the same trunking.

It also has a long battery life which makes it truly portable and can be used completely stand alone with no wiring if needed.
It comes with mount adapters for both mic stand and camera tripod.
The prices have dropped by about 25% since we purchased ours. (Can be purchased ~$300)
It is a perfect streaming camera for dummies with little to no training.
The only improvement I can think of would be an optical zoom lens.

If your local leaders insist on the camera being mounted at the back of the chapel then this may not be the solution for you.
If you are able to mount it directly in front of the pulpit or pretty close then you are golden. Most of the wards in our stake do that. It is very unobtrusive. Approx 6 foot from speaker gives a perfect frame for the pulpit without any zoom.
In our ward, we moved it 2 rows back and to the side wall of the chapel so it catches a good 3/4 angle of the pulpit and the 3x digital zoom is more than good enough for this.

Hope that helps. There are so many options available especially since this time last year.

If you want an all-in-one solution, Mevo is probably the way to go.

If you want something that gives you future options, consider a PTZ camera and a laptop with OBS.

PTZ cameras have come down in price these past few months.

OBS has a new plugin that is being constantly updated that lets you control the camera's PTZ functions from OBS itself: https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/ ... rols.1284/

OBS also has plugins which I believe let it be app controllable.

The downside of the OBS/PTZ camera approach is that the learning curve is substantial and creating a permanent setup for it will take weeks of planning and hours of work. The upside is that it's highly configurable and flexible for better quality and future options.

I would highly consider using an Obsbot Camera setup, as it allow you to zoom in/out and control the camera angles via the app. the cost has dropped since they release their new 4k version. But the original will do just fine. I'm currently using 2 Obsbot cameras, 1 in the center behind the 1st bench looking straight into the pulpit. 2nd camera varies if we have a performance that day I'll move it closer to the Piano, if not I'll keep it on the other side next to the organ and do a a close up zoom of the hands playing the organ, as well as using the app to do an almost full 360 and change the viewing angle. My 3rd camera is a must for anyone on a budget: costco J5 webcam has a great wide angle lens and the picture quality is great. (about $39) this I use to show the audience when ever we all raise our hands and or member are asked to stand up. Let me know if I can provide any further details. I'm hoping to do a non audience recording to show case my current set up using OBS. Take care.