PTZ ComposerVISCA joystick panels
Keep the panel on your desk. A preset key becomes a cue; a stick axis becomes a virtual rail.
Hardware panels that speak VISCA over IP drive the console directly. The panel dials the software the way it dials a camera, so nothing on the desk changes and nobody buys a new surface. A preset key becomes a cue for a prepared flight — an authored camera move, with a planned route, framing and pace from departure through landing. A stick axis becomes a virtual rail, so the operator rides the timing of that move along the route you composed. The panel your team already knows keeps its habits; what it can ask for grows.
How it connects
Point the panel at the computer running the software instead of at a camera, using VISCA over IP on your production network. The software answers the panel and drives the cameras itself, so the wiring on the desk stays as it is.
What it does
- It turns a preset key you choose into the cue for a prepared flight, so one press runs a composed move instead of a snap to a stored position.
- It keeps every preset key you have not mapped doing what it did before, so nothing your operators rely on is quietly taken over.
- It lets the stick ride a prepared flight along its route, so the operator sets the timing while the framing stays where you composed it.
What it does not do
- It does not carry video. The panel sends control, the software drives the cameras, and the pictures keep their own path to your switcher.
- It does not let a stick steer a prepared flight off the route you composed. A hand on the stick supplies timing, not a new framing.
Setting it up
Point the panel at the software
Give the panel the address of the computer running the software instead of a camera's address. The panel finds it the way it would find a camera, and nothing on the desk is rewired.
Choose the keys that become cues
Decide which preset keys should run a prepared flight and which should keep recalling a position. The keys you leave alone keep working exactly as your operators expect.
Rehearse with the people who use it
Run each cue from the panel in an empty room with the operator who will press it on the night. Adjust the moves, not the habits of the person at the desk.
Questions
Do we need to buy a new controller?
Usually not. A panel that speaks VISCA over IP dials the software the way it dials a camera, so it is designed to work as it is. Name your panel when you check your setup, and we confirm it before your team relies on it. The panel sends its presses to the computer running the software, and the software drives the cameras. Your team keeps the surface they already know.
What happens to the presets we already use?
They keep working. A preset key you do not map to a prepared flight recalls its position the way it always has.
Can the operator still move a camera by hand?
Yes. The stick still drives a camera live. On a part of the flight your team set up for jog, the stick rides its timing forward or backward along the route you composed, so the shot stays on the framing your team approved.
Does the panel need to be on the same network as the cameras?
The panel needs to reach the computer running the software, and that computer needs to reach the cameras. On most production networks that is one network.
Where it comes up
Houses of worship
Prepare the camerawork before Sunday. Perform it with the moment.
TheatrePerforming-arts venues
Tech week, then opening night.
Music venuesMusic venues and concert halls
The reveal on the downbeat. The slow push through the solo.
CorporateCorporate events and town halls
Compose the room's camerawork once. Run it at every all-hands.
BroadcastLive production and broadcast
Preset punches become moves the director can take.