Video makin Software to record simultaneously from 3 cameras, then simple cut/merge/edit additions

[DocAElstein]

Video making Software to record simultaneously from 3 cameras, then simple cut/merge/additions

Hi
I want to have ago at a YouTube Tutorial Video Channel.
I never made a video in any shape or form. I haven’t got or want a Smartphone.
I want my Videos to be a bit different to the average. I don’t want to just talk over a recording of the screen. I want to deliberately try to give them a more real life / raw feel to them.


This would currently be my plan, and what I am asking is for suggestions for the software to do it, and any other advice to get me started; At the moment I haven’t a clue where/ how to start:-

I want to have three cameras recording simultaneously, ( or possibly 4 simultaneous recordings – three cameras and a screen recording – see later ***)
_Camera 1) One would be set up to mostly looking at a very large TV screen, and that would work like a very primitive screen recording. (I would be sitting at the side on a laptop with the screen of the laptop and the TV in some cloned/extended monitor arrangement. You mostly would not see me, I will just be there as a small dark thing in one bottom corner. I realise this sort of thing can be done more properly, where a small shot of you is superimposed on a screen recording, but I would like to give it all a more raw look, at least initially I would like to try that. )
If this does not work so well then I might consider replacing this camera with a screen recording, or possibly having an additional simultaneous screen recording***.
_camera 2) A second camera would encompass a slightly larger area including a bench or table in front of the screen. This is so I can jump up occasionally, (which will automatically turn on a lot of lights behind the camera) , so that I can try to do a quick entertaining practical demonstration of some Theoretical thing that I am explaining)
_Camera 3) A third camera would be set up to show the whole large room, (or something similarly live/“raw”….)

I want some way/software to make that recording, and then the Editing I want to do would be fairly simple:
I want to cut out bits from all 3 recordings at the same points. This is because I anticipate I will have a lot of dead bits , or mistakes which I notice at the time so repeat immediately, or where I deliberately do something more than once so that I can pick out later the best attempt.
Then I want to be able to merge the three recordings into just one recording.
(Just to be clear what I mean here: I won’t be adding the recordings. I would like a software that allows me to go along and pick out just one of the 3 ( or 4*** ) recordings at any point. I would do that after I chop bits out of all recordings at the same points )

(Camera 1 recording would be the dominant in the final video. Camera 2 recording would just be for the demo bits. Camera 3 recording would just come in for a second occasionally just so as to help give the raw / real look to the video that I want to achieve.)

The only other thing that would be nice is if at certain points in the final video I could superimpose a few simple large bits of text, to emphasise something such as am important syntax, or important code line or formula part.
I don’t envisage wanting to do anything more advanced or extravagant to the final recording.
(Initially all three recordings would be from the cameras, but as explained, I might want at a later date to use a screen recording in place of one of them. ***Or, possibly I might want to consider including a screenshot recording to support the camera 1. So effectively then I would have 4 recordings to make and to edit later.

I got a few computers and Laptops from XP to windows 10, just one windows 11.
As I don’t want to do anything extravagant , perhaps I could dedicate a spare older computer using some older software that would be adequate for my basic needs?

I collected a few web cams recently . One is a good new one. Another two I got second hand from ebay very cheaply, but they seem fairly new and modern. These three all have the 1920 x 1080 thing. The good one does not have a built in microphone. I was thinking of using that for camera 1. The other two have a built in stereo microphone. I was thinking of using them for the other two cameras and I was further thinking to butcher one of those and get the microphone bits out and extending their cables so that I can hang them around my neck or have them hanging from my hat somehow, so I get a good quality sound. (Many people tell me that the sound and lighting is much more important than the picture quality. ( extra lighting I will have only when I demo something, otherwise the rest of the room being dim will perhaps help to get a good clear recording of the large screen. ) )

_.__

Can anyone suggest some software that would be adequate for my fairly basic requirements, or any other suggestions or advice?


Thanks,
Alan

[Emily Grey]

Alan, VLC media player installed or portable version will help you/

[DocAElstein]

Thanks for the reply.
I have heard often of VLC, and on a few fairly good quality second hand computers I purchased recently it was sometimes included as part of a few free software package. I have never used it but I did just take an initial look and watched or read a few beginner’s tutorials
At first glance it seems that VLC is a popular software primarily to view videos, but also can do some converting, recording and editing.
At first glance it does not look like it can do what I need / want, at last not directly.

I basically want to record 3- 4 cameras at once and then be able to work on those easily to make one final video. In particular I would like to be able to easily make a finale video by viewing somehow all the recordings and then be able to make the final video by effectively going along and switching from one recording to the other, ( after initially cropping all at the same points, etc. as explained )

At first glance it seems that to do what I want in VLC I would have a lot of tedious work to do. I would need to have a computer for each camera, then go through each recording chopping out bits , ending up with a large puzzle of bits to then sort through and stick together one after the other.
Possible, but highly impractical.
I have seen some advanced tutorials that appear to be doing what I want. But so far they all seem to be pitched at too a higher level for me. They seem to assume that you have and are already well clued up on the software. They seem usually to assume you can do already what I want and then they go on to explain some more extravagant stuff. I don’t want that extravagant stuff,
I just want to be able to do the simultaneous multiple recording, cropping, merging into one in some convenient direct way, ( and any final additions would be just a few bits of simple superimposed text on the final video, as explained )

Alan

[stuck]

...I just want to be able to do the simultaneous multiple recording, cropping, merging into one in some convenient direct way...

I know nothing about video editing, even so I can't imagine that what you are asking can be done without expensive software like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve.

Ken

[DocAElstein]

Hi
OK, thanks, - that "DaVinci" word rings a bell, - I think its cropped up a few times in the many blogs and things I have been getting clued up from in the last few weeks. I was not sure what it was, so that is a direction I need to investigate.
Thanks, Ken
Alan
(Edit, P.S. Over the years i have had various problems of one sort or another with Adobe, so my gut feeling is to avoid them, at least initially. But I will investigate that route also)

[DocAElstein]

OK so I think that magic word has got me started. After chasing that DaVinci around a bit, I twigged to a few other magic words like Multicam-Editing, and Bingo, my Google “friend” has suddenly woke up and got the point. I got lots of stuff being force fed on to me now to keep me busy for a few days. :)

[Emily Grey]

You can easily edit any of your videos without damage to the originals. When your satisfied, you can combine them again without damage to the originals.

[DocAElstein]

Hello
I think have the Video Editing side of it, sussed, or at least have a good start point.
( https://eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php ... 41#p306041 )
Unless I am mistaken, that Video Editing solution I have, starts with pulling some videos in to it, into a project, and that I will have to already have. - Although you can go a long way to modifying, edit, merge, add to etc. , the video or videos with that solution I have, the start point is to have some videos, - the raw stuff to start with. I think it’s not intended to record videos?

I know that simple video making with your smartphone, or a PC in the last 20 years, is something every child can do. Bit its one of the things I mostly missed, ( and I don’t have, or want, a smartphone).
Unfortunately it is a subject area that the Internet fails at getting you clued up on anymore because its over flooded to an insane amount and, whilst I am starting to look now, I will need a few years to go through it all – For example, ask the question for the best PC video making software and you get hundreds of sites recommending you the top dozen or so – and they all seem to have almost their own unique list!!

Perhaps someone here can help me narrow things down a bit


This is what I want and/ or the direction I am currently going in.

I want some basic multi camera shots , using some fairly simple 1920 x 1080 Webcams.
I have a lot of laptops and PCs not doing much, and a few recently purchased 1920 x 1080 Webcams.
The operating systems I have are mostly XP, Vista, Win 7 and win 10
I am thinking maybe there is some very basic software that I can have on a few computers. Then I can have a few computers, each with a camera in some position, and I set them off recording at about the same time. Then I do my stuff. Then I stop them all at about the same time.

I have already spent some time getting clued from Tutorials and Blogs on the Video Editing solution I have. It would appear that merging, synchronising and all the editing and modifying that I am ever likely to need can be done with this Video Editing solution.
So I want a simple solution for the initial simultaneous video recording, as its unlikely that I will want to do any editing with the software that records the videos.
I am thinking that if I have a simple software that works similarly on any of my PCs and computers, then I will have videos in a very similar format, and this will likely make it easier to merge them in the Video Editing solution I have.

One other thing: Although I think that simultaneous multi camera recording is possible, I expect that may need a very good computer and software, etc., and that maybe initially I can get away without, and rather I would make good use of the many spare PC’s and laptops that I have. Having said that, I think I have seen in my initial research into video recording with a PC, that it was mentioned that some software will do a webcam recording and a screenshot recording at the same time. If that does not over complicit the software , then that might be an advantage.

So
Can anyone help point me in a start direction, or any other comments on the best way to do what I want. It’s a simple video recording software without frills, that I am looking for. (If I ask Google it gives me 10 years worth of material to read through, and I am swamped… :( )



Thanks

Alan

[DocAElstein]

Hi
So it’s well over a month now, and even my first assessment was an underestimate of the shear number of software’s out there to make simple videos! Crazy! On top of that a lot of other software things will do a similar job and can be used for making a simple video.
So on and off over the last month I have been trying to go through as many as possible. Well other a hundred I looked at to some degree or other.

I think initially I have decided on OBS, (sometimes referred to as OBS project or OBS Studio). Strangely I initially passed this a few times and it never got on any short list. But I kept looking in all sort of hap hazard directions, as well as looking at what was being used by people doing something like what I am thinking of doing….
The reason why I initially passed by this OBS stuff is that it looked too complicated and I was looking for a simple no frills Software.
But as it came out, in fact I was very surprised how quickly I picked it up. After the initial hour I had made more simple videos with it than I had done so far in my entire life. Also the sound manipulation on it is very extensive. That is a big plus for me as many people have told me that for what I am planning that sound quality is much more important than the picture quality. In the second hour of trying this software out I was chopping up cables from some old microphones from my early Rock Drummer days, and doing stereo sound recording videos.
Stereo seems to have gone a bit out of fashion since my days, so I think a novel touch I will make is having a microphone on each side of the spreadsheet. Also I am a bit deaf in a strange way in one ear- my left ear has a messed up frequency response with strange spiky loss of reception at some frequencies. Over the years I have subconsciously compensated by that by throwing my voice differently in different directions and frequencies. So if I catch that along with my multi angle camera ideas then that could give some interesting novel results.

Does anyone here have any experience or comments on OBS?,
and
does anyone have any comments on this current choice of mine of Davinci Resolve for the editing paired with OBS for the recording?

Thanks,
Alan

( P.S. By the way, my new computer with the good GPU graphic card did not last long. – Luck of ebay I suppose, :-( , it stopped working and is at a local shop waiting to be repaired , :( , - The graphic card is dead, maybe it got too hot.
I told the guy to take his time and see if he can get me a good offer on a replacement GPU graphic card for me, ( while I am getting clued up on OBS – that runs on a lot of my lower quality computers ).
Someone came in the shop and offered a second hand GTX 1080 for 250 Euros. I was not too keen on that.
Just now I am trying to get clued up on the price and availabilities of a replacement GPU graphic card. Oh well, it’s all good experience on the way to get there.
My initial looking into this reveals a lot of GTX 1070s going cheap. Maybe an idea could be to get two of those, get the guy in the shop to put one in, and show me how he does it, then I can replace it with the second one when it melts. At the same time I am thinking of putting an old fridge I have (with a broken thermostat that just gets colder and colder) in my computer room, rip the door off, and then stick the high performance graphic computer in that when it comes back from repair ….

[RonH]

...I just want to be able to do the simultaneous multiple recording, cropping, merging into one in some convenient direct way...

I know nothing about video editing, even so I can't imagine that what you are asking can be done without expensive software like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve.

Ken

I now use Adobe Premiere for video editing and previously edited with the Cyberlink Power Director. Both are very capable programmes ... I only changed to Adobe just for a different experience. Of the two, I consider Cyberlink to have an easier work flow with a very active, useful, forum.
Like Ken, I think your needs requires some investment in semi professional editing software.

[DocAElstein]

Thanks Ron,
I am still quite new to all this so it’s good to get any advice.
I actually followed Ken’s suggestion for Davinci Resolve and looked into that and have pretty well decided on that Davinci Resolve now for the video editing side of things. I have spent about a month now getting clued up on it now.
Currently Davinci Resolve has a free version, that according to most people is very close to as good as the paid version. Only the very top end film makers see any advantage of the paid version.
But I did not get away without a large investment: Unfortunately no computers I have had ever had an extra powerful graphic card/ GPU stuff. That was all new ground for me as well.
So I bought a PC with a graphic card GPU thing in it, second hand on ebay. It worked well initially, but then the GPU died, :( Just bad luck of ebay I suppose.
So now I am getting clued up on graphic cards. Oh well, it’s all good learning experience.
This is the sort of stuff I am looking at currently as a replacement, the better and most expensive ones from the top
NVIDIA RTX 2080
NVIDIA RTX 2070
NVIDIA RTX 2060
NVIDIA GTX 1080
NVIDIA GTX 1070
AMD 590
AMD 580 ( This I had in a pc I recently bought on ebay but it died )
NVIDIA GTX 1060

In the meantime I am also looking at software to compliment Davinci Resolve to use to make the videos, since Davinci Resolve is primarily for the video editing and final film making
I have hit on OBS. That looks good. It runs on my normal computers, without an extra GPU graphic card thing. So I can get on with that in the meantime while I am getting my new PC fixed.
However I have seen some blogs and tutorials suggesting that starting with the RTX, the NVidia GPU graphic cards have some interesting features that can be used in video making, so I have a tendency to aim at from the RTX 2060 for my replacement. That was also Ken’s initial recommendation, in my related thread that was looking at the GPU issue

I am slowly getting there.
My main goal is to get a YouTube Tutorial channel up and running to make my small contribution to save the world from the ugly and evil artificial intelligence and chat GPT that is taking over us, by revealing my beauty to the world

Alan