My Chroma Keying Video Setup

#equipment sunday, september 02, 2018

In the past, I’ve been asked multiple times how I built my video chroma keying setup. I’ve recorded a video which explains my motivations for building such a setup and the software and components I’m currently using.

I had the following requirements for such a setup:

Chroma keying for a nice picture in picture view without borders
Not affecting the presenter computer’s performance
Usable for both recording and video conferencing
Proper video & audio quality, despite live-coding (typing noise)

The components I’m now using, besides my working (presenter) computer, are:

Recording desktop computer with decent graphics card
Camera: Sony Alpha A7S Affiliate link (with 50mm prime lens)
Video grabber: Elgato Cam Link 4K Affiliate link
Microphone: RØDE NTG-2 Affiliate link
Audio interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Affiliate link
Greenscreen, background stand & video lights
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) with Virtual Webcam plugin

A few more things you might take into account:

Delays between audio and video (adjustable in OBS)
Appropriate video codecs and settings depending on usage (recording or video conferencing)
Proper audio settings (stereo to mono sound, compressor, auto-gain)
A setup that is quick and easy to use
Proper lighting, for the presenter and especially the background

Update 2020-03-05:

I’ve recently upgrade my setup to use a professional camera instead of a webcam. Before, I was using the following: Logitech HD Pro C920 Affiliate link

In general, the C920 does a fantastic job, is much cheaper and easier to connect, so you might want to have a look at it first.

Happy chroma-keying :-)

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