In the age of COVID-19, as work slowly trickles back into the industry, remote monitoring of a camera’s feed is becoming increasingly important. There are several options to achieve this, but if you have the right Teradek model lying around, you can take advantage of their built-in capability to be seen as a webcam on a computer:
Here are the compatible Teradek models:
- 2nd generation Bolt 300
- 2nd generation Bolt 600 / 2000
- 3rd generation Bolt 500
- 3rd generation Bolt 1000 / 3000
Or, more simply, any of the models that have a USB 3.0 output on their receivers.
To set it up, you simply plug your Bolt receiver into a computer via the USB 3.0 port and it should show up as a webcam option in popular software like Zoom or VLC.
Here are more specific instructions.
I recently did this on a shoot last week to allow the director in Los Angeles and the agency at their homes on the East Coast to all monitor our on-set feed and collaborate via Zoom.
One note: I ran into issues getting my Mac to recognize the Teradek when using a USB 3.0 to USB-C converter, so if you can go directly into a regular old square USB 3.0 port or get the proper USB-C cable, you can avoid those problems.