The Video Source Switcher

How to use the video source switcher to select multiple sources and picture-in-picture.

Updated over a week ago

The video source switcher allows you to switch video sources, or to broadcast more than one video source. The switcher will show up automatically when in Camera source mode, when more than one video source is detected.

Split Screen (Selecting Multiple Sources)

If you would like to display more than one video source at the same time, click the tiny + button in the top-right corner of that source in the switcher, or hold down the shift key on your keyboard, and click to select the video sources you wish to display. 

Ecamm Live will automatically split the screen to evenly display the sources. The video sources will automatically be cropped equally on their sides to fit the space if necessary, centering the video. Before going live, if you plan to use a two- or three-source split screen layout, you’ll want to ensure all participants are in the center of their camera view.

Video Source Switcher Options

To the left of the video sources in the switcher, you’ll see a few options:

  • Click the picture-in-picture button to use a picture-in-picture layout instead of a split screen. Click it again to return to split-screen mode.

  • Pick Select All from the gear menu to select all video sources.

  • Pick Swap Cameras from the gear menu to swap the position of your split screen or picture-in-picture layout.

  • Pick Crop Splitscreen from the gear menu to turn on and off cropping mode. When not cropping, 2 and 3 camera splitscreen mode will be presented with letterboxing.

The video switcher bar can be dragged anywhere within the Main Window. When you’re not moving your cursor over the Main Window, this bar will fade away. Move your cursor over the Main Window, and it will reappear.

If you have video sources connected to your Mac that you do not want available to you during a broadcast, you may hide (or unhide) sources in Camera ➝ Include In Switcher ➝ un/check sources listed here. Remember, if you remove all but one source, the video switcher will be hidden. All detected sources will always be displayed within the Camera menu at the top of the screen.

Picture in Picture

Picture-in-Picture can be summoned or dismissed by clicking the leftmost icon  in the onscreen controls, or using the Options menu ➝ Show Picture-in-Picture. The PiP box can be moved anywhere within the Main Window. Note that when in Camera Mode, the PiP box will only show up when two or more video sources are selected in the Video Source Switcher.

You can change the size of the PiP by dragging the bottom right corner of it. You can change the shape of the PiP window Options ➝ Picture-in-Picture Shape, or by right-clicking or control-clicking on the PiP window. Shape options include a rectangle, square or circle.

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