This is our last installment before the actual eclipse. We’re less than 24 hours away from the event and we’re just wrapping up the finishing touches, doing one last test.
As expected, the Panasonic AW-360C10 arrived on Sunday. We had learned a lot about the camera over the previous 48 hours and were ready to go once it arrived. The camera has one power connector that plugs into the base AW-360B10, as well as 4 unusual looking cables that appear to be mini-USB to HDMI with the 4 USB connector plugging into the camera and the 4 HDMI connectors plugging into the base. Recording is done externally. In our case we’re using an Atomos Shogun Inferno using a standard HDMI-out connector from the base to the HDMI-in on the Atomos. Finally, we run an SDI cable from the Atomos to our encoder.
Here’s where things got complicated. Our encoder is an Elemental Live with 3G-SDI in. That caps out at 1080p. While the Panasonic equipment can produce a 4K picture, our encoder cannot. The Atomos can downres the 4K picture to 1080p easily. And the Elemental Live is rock solid. Unlike our hit-or-miss testing with the Allie software running on a Windows 10 laptop, we knew every time we hit “start” on the Elemental Live, we would get a live stream that would run as long as we wanted it to. But while the Allie+laptop combination could produce a 4K picture, the Elemental Live+Atomos combination could only produce a 1080p picture.
Our solution? Do both! Ultimately, we’ll only know on Monday just how well each workflow progresses and how good of a picture each produces. But, unlike the Allie which only records on YouTube, the Panasonic is recording everything in 4K locally on the Atomos. The Atomos uses 3.5″ SSD hard drives that can be easily ejected and put into an SSD-to-USB dock, so transferring the recording after the fact shouldn’t be difficult.
The live stream begins at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. Watch it on OSU Live.
CATEGORIES: 360 Eclipse Live Streaming OSU Live YouTube