Drive your PTZ cameras from one controller.
Headroom puts VISCA, Panasonic AW and NDI® PTZ cameras on an Xbox pad, with low-latency NDI video beside every move.
Available for Windows · free during early access. Sign in to download. Tested on BirdDog cameras.
HEADROOMXbox controllerNDI · 3 cameras
A working recreation of the Focus layout. Unlock it, then recall a preset, drag the joystick or pick another camera. Stock pictures stand in for the camera feeds.
The pad you already own is the control surface.
Sticks and triggers drive pan, tilt, zoom and focus with a curve you tune. Face buttons recall presets. Plug a controller into this computer and press anything to see the map light up.
Move
Presets and cameras
Exposure and safety
No controller here? Click the map and press ABXY, QE for the bumpers, ZC for the triggers or the arrow keys for the D-pad, or hold a row with the mouse.
One camera up close, or all of them at once.
HEADROOMXbox controllerNDI · 3 camerasFocus gives the camera you are driving the whole screen, with a heads-up bar for zoom, focus, exposure and bank. Ctrl+1.
Columns puts every camera side by side with its own presets and lens controls underneath. Ctrl+2.
Frame it right before you cut to it.
Overlays live per camera, right under the picture. Zebra, false colour and peaking run on the video threads, so the live view stays smooth. Try them here.
Drag the mask and safe area on the picture to move and resize them. Each camera remembers its own.
Match three cameras without leaving the switcher.
Exposure, white balance, picture and colour matrix for BirdDog cameras, live, with exact steps on every slider. Other cameras keep their own web page.
- Looks. Save a camera's colour under a name and apply it to any other camera.
- Copy one value. Every setting carries numbered chips in each camera's colour. Click 2 to take that value from camera 2.
- Presets keep up. Re-save the presets you pick with the current look. It warns you first: the camera moves.
Nothing moves while it's locked.
One switch blocks every move, preset and image change. Lock from the button, Ctrl+L or Start on the pad, or start Headroom with --safe so nothing moves until you say so.
Fits the rest of the rack.
Control API
JSON over HTTP plus a live event stream. Off by default and listening on this PC only; other computers need the API token. Drive it from scripts, Tally Studio, or Companion's generic HTTP module.
# recall preset 3 on camera 2 POST /api/cmd { "cmd": "recall", "camera": 2, "preset": 3 } # hold a slow pan right, then stop { "cmd": "move", "pan": 0.3, "tilt": 0 } { "cmd": "stop" } # everything, as one document GET /api/state
Tally from vMix or Tally Studio
vMix TCP tally on port 8099. Tiles, the big view and Columns show red for program and green for preview.
Build your own controller
An Arduino, ESP32 or Pi Pico works as a USB HID controller. Over the network, plain-text UDP to port 9100 does the rest, with a token for other computers.
ptz 0.4 0 0cam 2preset 3homestopReady for the next show.
Headroom 1.2.0 is available for Windows 11 (Windows 10 hasn't been tested yet), free during early access. Sign in with your Mantaglow account to download.
- Requires
- Windows 10 x64. VISCA, Panasonic AW or NDI PTZ cameras; an Xbox controller, joystick or mouse.
- Download
- Zip, 65.2 MB · version 1.2.0 · 2026-10-04
- Windows warning
- The app isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may stop it the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
- SHA-256
- b042e96a3a94e956314b3658def67eadc3ae821ca84e509e10878b2b1de41614
NDI® is a registered trademark of Vizrt NDI AB. ndi.video
BirdDog, Sony, PTZOptics, Marshall, Panasonic, vMix, Xbox and Companion are trademarks of their respective owners. Headroom is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Camera pictures are stock photos from Unsplash.