Not sure if this has been posted, as a search did not find this one. I wanted to share what I had looked for a couple years back and did not find. For along time I wanted to turn my high end cam on my Samsung S23 Ultra into a webcam that could interface with my computer. I just ran into this app that does exactly what I want. There are 2 versions. One version interfaces your phone cam into the PC generically. The one I have worked with a little bit turns your phone came into a direct feed into OBS! The video quality to me is outstanding. In my case I would have to spend a great deal of money to obtain a cam of this quality.
The app is free. It has a watermark that can be removed by watching a 20-30 second ad and you get 2 hours of use per ad. There is a pro version that removes the watermark and turns on more features. I think sound is one and you can also control the cam from within OBS. That would take in things like zoom and what not I believe. The cost of the Pro version is going to set you back a whopping $15 USD.
You can interface your phone via WiFi and also USB cable. The app is on your phone and a OBS plugin brings your cam into OBS.
The name of the app DroidCam. I think there might be an iPhone version as well. The latest Android phone OS is supposed to allow you to turn your phone cam into PC compatible cam, but my phone did not work. This sure did. Here is the link to the site where you can get this little goodie.
Let me know what you think if you give this a try.
LBro
Let us know what you think if you try it. I think I will go Pro and see what all it lights up. I should have mentioned that in OBS the cam shows up as "DroidCam OBS under [Sources]. I want the sound capability as it would help sync up to other cams, Reaper and what not.
I think so on recording sound. But I am not sure as that greyed out in the free version. I am hoping it lights up with the pro version. Also I am not seeing where it can do USB. It might be WiFi only. But that seems to provide a pretty good picture. They talk about it be able to do 4k recording too. So this thing is not a toy. It looks well programed from what I have seen so far.
Thanks again. I’m just starting with all that recording stuff and it’s not as enjoyable as just playing guitar, but I have to figure it out eventually.
The task can be daunting. Yet it is very similar to playing guitar and learning it, in a way. If it were me I would start with Reaper. Next, I would look at the videos for justinguitar like lessons on how to setup and record. You should be up and running after a bit.
I have a limited amount of time now and I try to spend it practicing as much as possible. For now I only figured out how to record and export tracks in Audacity and it’s enough. Better than a voice recorder.
It is a program you run on you computer that can record cams, screens and more. It can also streams video. It is free and many on here use it. Do a search on it here and it will show up in various places. Many use it for the open mic sessions. OBS stands for Open Broadcaster Software.
Great share @LBro. Not sure if its something I’d use as I have 3 webcams set up on the PC and plugged into OBS for various scenes (seated, standing etc) but hey could always us a 4th input Bookmarked for later perusal.
Think this looks similar to something @DavidP shared a couple of years back, maybe at the old place. Can’t find it on my current phone but I am sure I had this or something similar on the previous one. Dusting down the old A10 to see if it was on that !
Hi Toby,
Yes, I have been talking to @DavidP on the side on this one. However, Videoninga is a web based app. While DroidCam is a true phone and OBS plugin based app. To me, they are completely different. Though at the end of the day it would seem they may end up in the same place. I am not sure how good of quality Nija produces and what sort of latency, if there is any it has. But I do know the DroidCam has good video quality and as of yet I am not sure on any latency.
Sounds like you are flush on cams over that way. But many may not be. I have a pretty good webcam, but it is not quite as good on the picture quality as the DroidCam.
I am going to drop you a PM on OBS, with a specific issue I am having. - See you there mate…
LB
I never had any latency issues, as far as I can recall, and quality was good. I think that is dependent on the quality of the phone camera. You can see for yourself here: https://youtu.be/8WxZIyE4smA?t=345 The close-up inset picture was the one filmed with the phone. Better quality than the webcam I was using back then (I think I subsequently got a slightly better cheap webcam).
Thanks DP… was not sure on the latency as traveling from your box up to the net and back seemed like it might induce some latency. I guess it would depend on ones connection bandwidth. I did take a look at your video and it was good. Maybe not as crisp as I would like to see it. But maybe your phone cam is not top shelf. Is it older? It was certainly good enough for what you were doing. I guess I was looking to see more detail, like the hairs on your arms showing up more. I would also think that both solutions would produce the same quality of picture possibly…
I never have the highest spec phone and couldn’t tell you how old the phone that I used at the end of 2020 was.
You can clearly see the improved resolution in the close-up vs the full shot. Could be that a better camera would show more detail. Could also be better lighting is needed. Also make sure you watch the video on 1080, by default I don’t.
That is a real gem thanks LB! I have S23 now so would be great to use this camera instead of all the low budget ones I have from work. You mentioned about wifi connection to cast - what about latency then, did you try it? I wouldnt mind USB but wifi sounds really cool!
I know there is no latency when using sonos wifi soundbar with my tv so wouldnt surprise me if it was the same with camera.
Bookmarked for later perusal.