Wireless Remote Control PTZ

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Wireless Remote Control PTZ

pmcnamara

Good Day Joel, I hope this finds you well..

I am trying to prepare a live production from a local car racing facility where manned operation would be unsafe.

I want to place 4 PTZ cameras (AVKANS 20X-SDI PTZ Cameras) which will need to be controlled remotely via internet utilizing the AVNKANS RS232 controller. The video will be outputted from the SDI into a wireless throw (no wires can cross track, not even elevated) of approximately 200 feet, from where it can then be run via wire to a mixing board.

At the mixing location, an announcer will "call the race" watching the 4 camera inputs on a monitor. Output from mixer will be run into an encoder, and then uploaded to the server via a cell phone data connection (no ISP at facility).

My questions.. how does the PTZ operator see the video fast enough to keep it on the cars. what equipment should I use to convert sdi into a wireless signal to throw it across track. do I need to set up a good wireless network at the track via high powered routers, connected into a bonded cell to internet, how would I do that ?

joelwsmith

pmcnamara

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community!

how does the PTZ operator see the video fast enough to keep it on the cars. what equipment should I use to convert sdi into a wireless signal to throw it across track.

The absolute best option is to use a "near-zero" latency RF solution. Teradek is basically the cheapest reliable brand I recommend for this. You can see my list of recommendations here: The Best Wireless Video Systems For Live Production.

Teradek (and other broadcast RF system brands) will offer a max of 1 frame of latency, which should be no issue for your situation.

HOWEVER...

The PTZ cameras you've chosen might be an issue. Cheaper PTZs (in other words, PTZs under $5,000) usually have a lot of latency. I have seen upwards of 300 milliseconds of latency from PTZs like the AVKANS you mentioned. That much latency will most definitely be an issue for your PTZ operator in a racing environment. You can try them, but I would not be surprised if the latency hinders operation.

do I need to set up a good wireless network at the track via high powered routers, connected into a bonded cell to internet, how would I do that ?

If you are referring to streaming, yes. You will want a bonded cell connection for streaming, or you will want a streaming service that offers RSP (Resilient Streaming Protocol) like Resi or Boxcast. The resilient streaming protocol provides a buffer with forward error correction that makes streaming over unreliable and slow connections more possible.