Aesthetics is a common concern in many houses of worship when they decide to add video cameras into their sanctuaries or auditoriums. Especially in more traditional spaces, the sight of a large video camera on a tripod with a cameraman standing behind it throughout the service is both unappealing and distracting.
Frequently these churches turn to what are known as pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras: frequently quite small, on a motorized yoke, that can be operated from a remote location. These cameras can be mounted on a wall, hung from a ceiling or a piece of truss, and are quite unobtrusive.
The Sony SRG-3000SE is just such a camera, and offers some interesting features that bring a new level of cost-effective control to the PTZ camera market.
Overview
The SRG-300SE fits into a cube about 6.5 inches per side, and comes in both white and black. It can be mounted from the bottom or overhead, and can be controlled via an RS422 connection with a Sony camera controller or over Ethernet using Sony's SNC Toolbox software and a web browser. It utilizes a 1/2.8-inch CMOS sensor, and the camera provides a 30X zoom.
For video capture resolutions, the camera can be set to 1920x1080, 1280x720, 1024x576, 720x576, 720x480, 704x576, 640x480, and 640x360.
Video output can be obtained two ways: through the 3G-SDI output on the back of the camera, suitable for use with today's modern HD video switchers, or through the network video streaming capability over Ethernet. For streaming, the two codecs available are H.264 and motion JPEG.
Getting Started
Setup is pretty trivial. There are only four connections on the back of the camera: power, SDI, audio input, and Ethernet. A mounting bracket is included for installation situations that require it. There is also a screw hole directly under the center of gravity point in order to mount the camera on a PTZ camera tripod, which is handy for placing a camera on stage without being limited to a fixed position.
Applications
This camera can be used in two primary ways. For a broadcast/IMAG setting, it can be controlled with a camera controller, such as the Sony RM-IP10 joystick remote control panel. A controller was not shipped with the camera so this was not tested.
The second use is for Internet and Intranet streaming. The camera is compatible with the Wowza streaming engine, and thus can be used as a Wowza source for Internet streaming. One can access the camera's web server via a Web browser to change camera settings, SDI output settings, streaming settings, create pan-tilt-zoom-focus (PTZF) presets, and operate the PTZ functions of the camera. While one could stream their worship services using just one of these cameras, for reasons I'll get into later I think the better use for this camera is by itself for smaller functions in the church.
Operation
To operate the camera, you really only need a web browser. The interface presents a Live tab with a video window and controls for pan, tilt, zoom, focus, audio volume, and a list of presets you can activate. The settings tab gives you access to low-level camera settings, such as network information codecs, setting up video streams, SDI output resolution, presets, etc. You can also set up different resolution and quality video streams; anything from high-quality HD to low-resolution 640x360. Three stream settings can be active at one time.
