Live video out

[loops]

Hi all.

Getting quite stressed here and would like to pick the brains of the camera fan community.
For a charity I've been tasked to setup a 4 way live online 'broadcast'. To do this we need a tripod mounted camera at each site uploading live standard def video to an internet broadcast site.

I've been looking at camcorders of course but the only ones with live AV output are the prosumer cameras £1000+ I have a budget of just £450 per camera.

It suddenly occurred to me a compact or cheap DSLR might facilitate this. The criteria is simple:


Less than £ 500 with VAT
Live AV composite out (Live HDMI out will be a problem as hardware to re-sample it is £200+ )
Has an external mic socket. (Really really would like this as participants are saying a piece to camera and there's a fair bit of ambient noise.


I have a Lumix LX5 and this doesnt do live output, or Mic in.

Any make/model suggestions that fit these?

Cheers
Paul.

[daft_biker]

Hi Paul, have you considered using webcams? Might take some research to find good ones but I would hope they would be of good enough quality for live broadcasts over the internet.

Perhaps it could be as easy as plugging in some USB webcams and setting up a 4 way video call on something like Skype? Not that I've ever used it myself but might be worth looking into.

Cheers,
Andy