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Hands-on guide · Plain English

RØDECaster Video — how to actually operate it

The full-size flagship, in plain steps. This is the bigger sibling of the Video S — same idea, but with four HDMI cameras and a larger control surface. Follow each task one line at a time.

Got the smaller one? Switch to the RØDECaster Video S guide → Full reference Official RØDE guide (compiled) →

What do you want to do?

  1. Turn it on
  2. Plug in your cameras
  3. Plug in a microphone
  4. Set the frame rate (once)
  5. Switch between cameras
  6. Record your show
  7. Fix your voice / turn bass down
  8. Go live (stream)
  9. Record each camera separately
  10. If something's wrong
The two ways to drive it. Everything is done either on the unit's touchscreen (with the knob — the encoder — for fine changes) or from the free RØDECaster app on a computer on the same Wi-Fi. The encoder's ring glows white when you can use it to move through menus, and green when you can use it to change a setting.

Start here

The first five minutes

Do these three things in order the first time. After that it remembers your settings.

  1. Power on — plug the supplied lead into the USB-C power port and press the red button next to it.
  2. Plug in one camera — an HDMI cable from your camera into HDMI 1.
  3. Set your frame rate once — see "Set the frame rate" below, before recording anything.

1 · Turn it on

  1. Plug the included power supply into the USB-C power port on the back.
  2. Press the red button right next to it.
  3. It starts up and shows a QR code — that's normal. Tap Home to reach the main screen.
To turn off: press and hold that same red button and confirm on screen. Don't pull the power mid-recording.

2 · Plug in your cameras (up to four)

  1. Connect each camera with HDMI to HDMI 1, 2, 3 or 4 on the back.
  2. By default those four assign to Input Buttons 1–4 along the bottom.
  3. Each camera should output a 1920×1080 picture.
Button colors: white = connected · red = live · green = cued next.
Want to reassign a button? Press Inspect, select the Input Button, tap the input-selection box, turn the encoder to the source you want, and click to confirm.

3 · Plug in a microphone

  1. Plug your mic into one of the two combo jacks on the back — they take XLR or ¼-inch.
  2. If your mic needs phantom power, turn it on in the Audio Mixer (tap the bottom-right icon on the home screen or click the encoder to open it, pick your input, switch phantom power on).
  3. Plug headphones into one of the two ¼-inch headphone outputs. To set volume, press the audio encoder until that headphone light comes on, then turn it.

4 · Set the frame rate — do this once

  1. Using the encoder, open Settings → Video → Frame Rate.
  2. Choose one: 30 or 29.97 are common in the US.
  3. Set every camera to that same rate. Then leave it alone.

5 · Switch between cameras while live

  1. The camera on air glows red.
  2. Press any other Input Button (1–4) to cut straight to that camera.
  3. To line a shot up first, cue it — it glows green before going live.

6 · Record your show to a drive

  1. Plug an external drive into the USB 3 port — an SSD is strongly recommended.
  2. Not formatted right? Format it on the unit: Settings → Storage → USB Storage → Format (this makes it ExFAT). Formatting erases the drive.
  3. Check the record button: green means ready.
  4. Press it to start — it turns red while recording. Press again to stop.

7 · Fix your voice — turn the bass down

Too boomy? The quickest fix is the high-pass filter; for finer control use the EQ in the app.

Quick way — on the unit

  1. Tap the bottom-right icon on the home screen (or click the encoder) to open the Audio Mixer.
  2. Turn the encoder to your microphone input.
  3. Tap the top-right icon on that input's page to open VoxLab voice processing, and ease the tone toward less bass / more clarity.

Fine control — in the RØDECaster app

  1. Open the RØDECaster app, open the Audio Mixer, click your mic input's icon.
  2. Click Processing, then Advanced.
  3. Turn on the High-Pass Filter and set it around 75–100 Hz — removes most rumble and boom.
  4. Still bassy? In the three-band parametric EQ, pull the Low (bass) band down a few dB.
Careful with "Big Bottom." That effect adds low-end — leave it off if you want less bass.

8 · Go live (stream)

One-time setup (in the app)

  1. Open the RØDECaster app with the unit on the same network and select your device.
  2. Open Stream Profiles → Add Profile and name it.
  3. Paste in the server and stream key from your platform, then Save.
Treat the stream key like a password — don't share it or show it on screen.

Going live (on the unit)

  1. Tap the strip just below the audio level meters on the home screen.
  2. Select your profile with the encoder.
  3. Tap Go Live and confirm with the green tick. The network indicator LED lights green when the stream is up.
  4. To end, tap the elapsed-time button and confirm.

9 · Record each camera separately (ISO)

Optional. Saves each source as its own file so you can re-edit later.

  1. On the unit: Settings → Multitrack → REC Video → choose ISO (records each video input separately — up to six sources).
  2. (Or in the app: Device Configuration → Video → Recording → turn ISO on.)
  3. To also split the audio per input: Settings → Multitrack → REC Audio → on.
Needs a fast drive. ISO writes several videos at once — use a good SSD with plenty of room.

When it won't cooperate

If something's wrong

Want every detail? For the full official reference — every menu, port and setting — see the Official RØDE Guide, compiled here, which links straight to RØDE's own documentation.
← Compare RØDECaster Video S guide Next → Official RØDE guide (full reference)