Questions Relating to ClearPTZ

Any advice on a 3 camera setup for my church?

Detailed Question:

I want to use 3 cameras in my church to record our services. Is it better to use the 3 ClearPTZ Surveillance Cameras or buy 3 Powerods and 3 camcorders separately? Can I operate 3 of the cameras AT THE SAME TIME with one PC, so I can record from one, and look for a good "take" with the other two? Thanks

Answer:

The camera component of the ClearPTZ is not a camcorder--it's a high-quality analog camera. Unlike a camcorder, the video output cable from it can be run up to 500 feet. The Firewire output cable of standard camcorders can only be run a few feet. I would guess that that in the setup you're envisioning the ClearPTZ-500 will be better for you for that reason--you can place the units around the church without worrying about distance. Another advantage of the ClearPTZ is that it has a very good zoom that you can control from your computer.

We offer a program called CamPanel that will let you easily view the video from all your cameras on-screen at once. It also lets you easily pan/tilt and zoom them. It ships on CD with the ClearPTZ or you can download it from www.trackercam.com/download.

You would be using that program as a preview screen to judge which camera you want to be recording from. To do the actual recording, though, you would probably have the outputs from all the cameras running to a switchbox that lets you turn a knob to select which camera video that then gets passed on to a VCR that's doing the redcoding.

CamPanel offers a way to capture video digitally to your computer's hard drive as an AVI file, but I think you're probably interested in using a VCR and producing a tape that you can give to people.

So, that's my advice, I guess, 3 ClearPTZ-500's, CamPanel software, a video switchbox, and a VCR. Please let me know if I misunderstood you or if you have any other questions.

Thank you,
TrackerCam Support