PCIe capture cards for mac?

In this blog, we will discuss two easy ways to bring multiple cameras into your Mac computer for live streaming and video production using your favorite software including OBS, Wirecast, Livestream Studio, MimoLive, and eCamm.

First, we will discuss the tried and true hardware method where we will connect up to 4 SDI cameras to our Mac Mini using the PTZOptics Producer Plus Expansion Box. The PTZOptics Producer Plus External PCIe expansion box can connect to any Mac computer with a Thunderbolt port. This box then provides 4 plug and play SDI connectors you can use to capture multiple SDI video feeds.

A secondary way of connecting multiple cameras to your Mac that we will review will be using a software solution called the Newtek NDI. NDI stands for Network Device Interface and it is a low-latency, high quality, IP video connection method used in many video production software solutions including OBS, Wirecast, Livestream Studio and more.

Let’s start with method number one, by connecting our PTZOptics Producer Plus External PCIe expansion box to the Thunderbolt port of our Mac Mini. If you plan to use four cameras in your video production, we highly suggest using an i7 processor with at least 16 Gigabytes of RAM (32 Gigabytes of Ram is recommended). Inside this external SDI expansion box, we have a 4-Port Magewell Pro Capture SDI PCIe card. This is an easy way to connect a PCIe card to your Mac computer. Before we can use these video inputs, we need to download and install the Magewell capture card drivers. Once you have done so, each SDI input will show up as an available video source in your favorite live streaming or video production application. You can now start to connect multiple PTZOptics cameras to the SDI ports of your expansion box.

The benefits of SDI include uncompressed video quality at resolutions up to 1080p at 60fps. SDI cabling is preferred by professionals because it has locking connectors, durable quality and it can be run long distances. Uncompressed video is ideal for the highest quality video productions and 3G-SDI cabling can produce video at up to 3 Gigabits per second.

The next method we will review is the NewTek NDI. The benefit of this method is that it leverages your local area network. Using PTZOptics NDI-HX cameras, we can connect to multiple cameras using a Local Area Network which can be spread out throughout your space. The NewTek NDI does require a gigabit network and each NDI-HX source will use roughly 12 megabits per second. Therefore four NDI-HX cameras will use only 48 Mbps on your local area network and leave plenty of bandwidth for other important connectivity options.

To get started, you need to plug your PTZOptics NDI cameras into your network using an ethernet cable. This single cable can be used to provide power using a PoE network switch, PTZ control of your camera and a low latency/high quality video and audio stream. To connect to these cameras inside your video production software make sure that you have the latest NDI HX drivers installed (Which is included with the NDI 4.0 tool pack). Also, make sure that your video production software supports NDI. For example, using OBS on your Mac with NDI sources will require the NDI plugin to be installed before you can use NDI sources.

Let’s go ahead and pull in a couple of NDI sources into OBS. You can see that NDI sources are automatically discovered on your local area network. If you do not see your NDI camera you can use the PTZOptics JSON editor tool to statically assign an NDI entry. You can learn more about statically assigning IP addresses at ptzoptics.com/IP. So that’s it. There are two easy ways to bring in multiple cameras into your Mac computer for live streaming.

Mac Based Live Streaming Content

• PCIe cards for Mac Computer? Yes, learn more here
• New PTZ camera control software for Mac OS here
• Tips for building a Mac-Based Live Streaming System here.
• See how MimoLive handles PTZ camera control for Mac Livestreamers here.
• New PC & Mac Pan Tilt Zoom Camera Control Software from PTZOptics here.
• Interview with MimoLive CEO of Mac based live streaming software company here.