Controlling Multiple PTZ Cameras With OBS at the Same Time

Controlling multiple cameras at the same time used to take a crew of camera operators. Today there are a variety of ways to control multiple robotic (PTZ) cameras with a single click of a button. Controlling multiple PTZ cameras at the same time is ideal for “scene changes” where you would like some or all of your PTZ cameras to move to a new location at the same time.

How to control multiple PTZ cameras in OBS at the same time

Using OBS you can control PTZOptics cameras in a couple of different ways. The most popular way is to install the free PTZOptics OBS plugin which adds some great robotic camera control features to OBS. Once installed, you can open up the plugin and control up to 8 cameras. The plugin even create specific hotkeys for calling PTZ presets and it adds the ability to control cameras with an XBox joystick. There is another way to control PTZOptics cameras with OBS called a “Dockable” interface using HTML codes available from PTZOptics. The HTML files can be used with the “Docks” feature of OBS to dock a PTZ camera controller directly into the OBS interface. You can learn more about that here.

The third way to control PTZOptics cameras with OBS involves using HTTP commands. A document reviewing all of the HTTP commands for PTZOptics cameras can be found at the PTZOptics downloads page. These commands can be entered into OBS using the “Browser Source” input and they can be used to call a PTZ camera preset for example. In this way, you can enter multiple HTTP commands into OBS using multiple browser sources in the same scene to control various cameras.

Pro Tip: Set up each camera in your network with sequential static IP addresses. In this way, you can easily input HTTP commands into OBS for this purpose.

Using OBS to control multiple cameras at the same time simple involves a scene that is setup with multiple browser sources with HTTP commands. Remember to select “Refresh when active” to ensure OBS issues the HTTP commands everytime that you select the scene in OBS.

Pro Tip: You can issue other HTTP commands besides camera presets as well. Check out the full list of HTTP commands in the PTZOptics documentation to learn more.