PTZ control

[ragaszto]

Hi! I would like to buy a PTZ camera and use it during video conferencing, so that the not present participants can control the pam, tilt and zoom functions of the camera. Can you help me in which cameras are compatible with this feature and how to install it into my Zoom client? Thanks, Arpad

[bstrelko · Accepted solution]

I don't believe that Zoom has a published list of compatible PTZ cameras for Client (they do have a Zoom Rooms Certified Hardware list); however, most PTZ cameras that use standard UVC protocol (most that use this include 'UVC' in their marketing) should work.

Guide for enabling far-end PTZ control:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203028599-Using-far-end-camera-control

Note that camera control appears to be far-end only (why no near-end control??), but this seems to fit your use case.

[ragaszto]

Thank you. We are on the fence about ordering this product: https://www.amazon.com/WAAWO-4K-PTZ-Auto-Frame-Streaming%EF%BC%8CWorks/dp/B0BL3LQJZP?th=1

Do you think this would be suitable to play some distant, virtual board games like Terraforming Mars?

Thank you,

Arpad

[bstrelko]

I have never used this camera and cannot recommend it. 

I also would not be personally interested in this product because it only has 3x digital zoom (no optical zoom), is from an off-brand, and isn't a great price for the feature set. '4K' doesn't buy you anything on a cheap tiny sensor being piped into Zoom either.

But again, I've never used this camera and cannot issue a recommendation either for or against it.

[ragaszto]

Hi!

Thanks for the reply. Following up on this issue, we have decided to pass on the PTZ camera project. Instead we have been "teleboardgaming" with Teams (sorry) and my phone (Samsung Fold 3).  The software is very not user friendly and I wouldn't even try to interface with it, so we want to advance the set working with Zoom. The idea is to somehow give access to the remote user/attendee to the phone's zoom and possibly a gimbal stand, which can pam and tilt it as well. As a first step it would just be great if we could locally use the controls on the gimbal stand, naturally the tilting, but more interestingly the zoom if necessary. Then we would try some API or whatever software integration of the gimbal into Zoom, but that would be next step.  So is there a recommended gimbal to integrate to Zoom and some software settings to implement within the Zoom app settings? I saw, that the DJI gimbals are quite advanced, but don't have any specifics yet. Thanks, Arpad

[ragaszto]

As another follow up I am most worried about zooming with the phone with the gimbal controls, so I would try to give direct access to Zoom over the phone's camera's zoom function. Is this possible or is there some API to interface with? How can this be done? The gimbal's controls would be used locally to tilt the phone if and when necessary. 

Thanks for any help in advance. 

[bstrelko]

This would be considered Far-End Camera Control: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0066662

If your phone supports PTZ functionality within Zoom, this should be as easy as ticking the correct settings.

[ClayHerman]

Thank you for the link, you made my day.

[ragaszto]

HI! 

Thanks for all the help. Finally we have ended up using Zoom with a Logitech (PTZ Pro 2) camera, which supported far-end control of the cameras PTZ functions. Now we are planning to step up the setup into 4k level with 15x zoom, possible a laser pointer, that can be controlled from within Zoom. This requires a higher budget, so I am asking for your advice regarding these (best far-end PTZ camera recommendation and best way to remotely, preferably with a hotkey use a laser pointer from the other end of the call, remotely.). This is the Logitech camera we are thinking about: https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/products/video-conferencing/conference-cameras/rally-ultra-hd-ptz-cam...

For the laser pointer I think we are just going to fasten a laser pointer to the camera, but it would be nice to see some already working solutions. This might work, but I don't have the spare time for this and we are not going to be on the same network, so the ftp, central server, etc. thing should be solved, where I have 0 XP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k5WfTTh8-o 

[bstrelko]

The Logtech Rally is a fairly old camera with pretty poor optics and a very noisy motor compared to other cams in this form factor. However, I do believe it comes with a remote, and will be very compatible with UVC applications like Zoom (it's Logitech).

At this price-point, you may wish to look at PTZ offerings from Aver, or low-end offerings from Canon (CR-N100), Panasonic, or Sony - all of these are professional cameras made by companies that know how to make professional cameras.

"Best" PTZ? You're looking at something close to $10,000. I'm going to assume we have a similar budget to that allocated for the Logitech Rally.

Some of the more consumer-friendly cameras (Logitech, Aver) come with remotes.

Almost all of the higher end cameras have remote APIs that will allow hotkeys from generic controllers, remotes, etc with some scripting/software but you'll need to have a bit more technical know-how to get these setup the way you'd like them to function. Almost all have UVC functionality at this point, so there is a good chance of far-end PTZ being supported.

This is a very broad question, please do your research to find what works best for your situation. Read, read, read.

[Frank_TB]

Hello,

Far-end camera control requires the host zoom client to be on a computer and wont work on a mobile (phone) based  meeting.

I do not know of any way to make a phone gimbal work with Zoom.

Regards

If my reply helped, don't forget to click the accept as solution button!

[Julianan3423]

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@ragaszto wrote:

Hi! I would like to buy a PTZ camera and use it during video conferencing, so that the not present participants can control the pam, tilt and zoom functions of the camera. Can you help me in which cameras are compatible with this feature and how to install it into my Zoom client? Thanks, Arpad

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Some reputable brands for PTZ cameras include Logitech, HuddleCamHD, and PTZOptics. Check the specifications and compatibility of specific models.