Odd Multi-camera recording setup

[polerin]

So, I've been looking, but most multi-camera setups are aimed at security applications, and what I need is a bit ... different.  I've done a bit of searching, and LinuxMCE looks to be the most promising avenue, but I'm not sure that it'd work, and if so, what kind of hardware requirements would be necessary.

I skate for a roller derby team, and I'm investigating the possibility of recording our scrimmages for individual review at a later date.  I can work out the streaming/distribution issues myself, that's the type of thing I know, but the recording and/or automated compositing has me sort of at a loss.

Ideally, I would have 4 cameras recording at a decent resolution, and end up with 5 different recordings, one from each camera, then a combined feed.  I am fine with recording the 4 feeds first, then doing some kind of automation later to create the 5th... but I'm not sure what tools would work for it, or how to make it easy for someone non-technical to walk up and start the recording... if that is even possible.

Thank you for your time, and even if LinuxMCE can't do what I need, this seems like an awesome project.

[Marie.O]

Four IP web cams, four VLC instances,  each recording one camera feed, at the end of the day ffmpeg might be the one to mix the four vids together.

EDIT: Just checked. Doesn't work quite as easy. But look at displaying all the four streams on a computer screen, and use ffmpeg -f x11grab to grab the output.