XH-A1 as Webcam
 

Hello everybody,

I have a quick question, my local Church ask me is there is a way to broadcast over the internet without using lot of money. I know there is software that converts camcorder to webcam. But I never used before.
If any of you guy use this before, can you please tell me your feedback.
Example,
Can I stream and record at the same time?
Do I have to record in DV?
Does this require a powerful PC?

Thanks for your comment and have a good day.

Should be easy enough. There should be no reason why you cant stream and record at the same time. All you need is a fast connection lots of bandwidth and software that will stream it for you from the firewire. Mid range pc should pull it off.

You can use WebCamDV (WebCamDV - DV Camcorder to WebCam Software Converter) to turn your XH-A1 into a web cam. You have to set the camera to SD mode. You can use it to stream live video to services such as Stickam - The Live Community and thousands of people can watch your footage live. You'll need a good upstream link from your ISP.

so that mean I have to record in SD, there is no way to record in HDV and stream in SD. I will try that software as soon I get home and see how this work. We usually record everything in HD, even that the final project is for SD DVD, I like to keep copy of everything in HD, so when Blu-ray get cheap, i have this ready.

thanks for respond and please keep giving me more info. and as soon i finish playing the software i let you guys know how this work.

The software I pointed you to will only stream SD. The upstream bandwidth requirements for HD video are way above what is usually available to "normal" DSL/Cable subscribers. I think you can set the XH-A1 so that it automagically down-converts from HD to SD, so you may be able to get around this limitation that way. I haven't tried it though.

I just tested the website posted above using my HV30. All I had to do was put my HV30 in DV mode then connect to my computer via firewire. Seemed to work pretty well. I don't see why this wouldn't work with the A1.

I have done this, you can stream out the firewire port in SD and record in HD with the camera down sampling it on its own.

OK, here is the deal, I try everything and it only work as SD, when using HDV, the software wont reconize the camcorder.

as SD work fine, but any chat software or website won't reconize the camcorder either.

what I'm missing?

...Probably setting the Down Convert to SD in the camera menus.

everything is set up for 480i. DVdrive and WebCamDV reconize the camcorder as SD with no problem, the only way I think to used is buying a capture card and stream the video from the component cables or record everything and SD. If you have the way to stream sd and record HD, please let me know

thanks

See Louis' message above. It can be done, but you have to set the camera up to down convert using the camera's menus. That way you're recording HD to tape, and outputting SD through the firewire port to the web cam software.

ok, this think is going to drive me crazy, I change all the setting to DV locked, and down-convert, still nothing. i even try with my canon hv10 and i have the same problem, the computer keep reconizing the camcorde as HDV. When i look under the Device Manager, it show "AV/C Tape Device" the camcorder is set for HDV recorder, when is set for SD it show "Canon DV Camcorder"

I'm going crazy with this.