Roland Professional A/V VR-1HD AV Streaming Mixer

If space is a problem and you need a video switcher with audio capabilities, this product is for you. I've used it for a month and after a tad bit of a learning curve, I can attest that this product delivers on it's advertised capabilities. Multiple HDMI inputs and outputs. Dataports and USB drive input. I connected 1 DSLR, 1 Camcorder as well as my laptop as input devices. I also added a 32GB storage device to upload still images and wave files. That's the only negative; the device doesn't have internal storage and the images and audio are stored on the stick. Also the use of Windows Bitmap File (.bmp), 24-bit color, uncompressed can be a bit of a pain. Convert the file to bmp using paint and resave file in new format. I ran into problems using 128GB stick and also I found that converting BMP to smaller than maximum recommendation 1920 x 1200 pixels worked seamlessly. Also recommend using Audacity or ITunes to convert MP3 or MP4 to wave files. Who uses wave files? LOL! Overall, I'm still happy with the product, its performance and capbilities. I'll be creating some great products thanks to this switcher.

I purchased this switcher for a 2 mic (XLR), 2 HDMI setup. A 3rd camera will be added in the future.Now that I've got it dialed in, it serviceably does what it's supposed to do. But it's still not great, especially at this price point.The first thing to know if you need a USB Type B cable to connect it to a laptop. The documentation recommends a handful of products, all of which are USB Type B- Type C cables. So I purchased 2.I own 4 laptops. And of the 4, I could only get this device to work on one of them, which happened to be the oldest laptop I own - an 8 year old Dell with a Core i5 processor. This laptop is inadequate for recording video so I can't use it for my podcast but it was the only one that would recognize the switcher.I messed with EVERYTHING to get this to work on my modern PCs. I spent hours changing settings, rebooting the device and the PC... nothing worked. Despite consulting ChatGPT and Google and Forums... nothing worked. And this was with two different cables.So I ordered 2 more cables... thinking they were bad. They arrived and I plugged them in. No change.Finally, I ran across a 4-year-old Reddit thread by accident where a guy described the exact same problem. The post indicated Roland support suggest he try a USB Type B - Type A cable. So I ordered a couple.The cables arrived and I plugged one in. It worked... on the other 3 laptops I own! But not on the oldest one... which I guess is OK.But now I've traded one problem for another. The Type A connection isn't fast enough to process audio AND video from the same device. So now the recorded videos have a latency issue.After once again messing with settings for what seemed like days, I gave up on trying to use the same device for audio and video. I added a Rodecaster Pro 2 to my setup and now the A/V mix is flawless.A few other shortcomings:The device doesn't connect to wifi, and updating the firmware is a clunky process.The settings menu is a little archaic... but it isn't bad once you wrap your mind around how it's set up.I chose this product for it's auto switching ability... it works alright once you get it dialed in but I ended up hiring a producer to operate the switcher manually. I think it's probably more suitable for a podcast setup where the speakers are several feet away, reducing the likelihood of one mic picking up the audio of the other. My setup is rather narrow, so it was more difficult to keep the picture from constantly bouncing back and forth. But I'd suggest that is more of an environmental issue than a problem with the switcher.Overall, it's a solid product but it's probably not for everyone. With enough effort it will do everything it's supposed to do so I can't judge it too harshly. And with my current setup, it will get me by for awhile. But I will probably move on from this device at some point.

I use for higher ed to spice up my Zoom meetings. It's so easy to use. I run pro gear into it but you could use any HDMI input and audio source. The results will be great.Learning curve is worth considering. Not a dealbreaker, but don't expect to turn it on for the first time and shoot something mission-critical that day. Give it a little time to practice.Kudos to Roland for coming up with this design. It's a much easier upgrade to my Blackmagic Design HD TV Switcher.

It worked fine till we updated the software. Now the mixer crashes 3-5 times while trying to livestream, and we know it's not the Mac. We decided to use the HDMI it to Vidiu encoder.

Well I haven’t tested it streaming yet because Roland does not give you the usb A to B 3.0 cable you need to stream! So make sure you buy a cable so your not like me wanting to test the streaming but can’t.

We've been using this for months now at our church. Very well made. Easy to use. We stream video from our camera and sound from our soundboard. Highly recommended.

Great setup, had a few issues with connectivity to my iMac, contacted product support and they helped me get everything working!

Great product, enjoying it a lot.