The ATEM Television Studio is an affordable, broadcast-quality, production switcher for creating live SD and HD television programs, aimed at 'schools, weddings and event videographers, houses of worship, government and corporate meetings, seminars, sports, concerts, theatrical events and more'. With six-channel vision mixing, chroma keying, a multiviewer and H.264 encoder, it offers live, multi-camera production and encoding files for the internet, all in one unit. Any HDMI or SDI camera, including low-cost, consumer HDMI HD cameras, can be used, and all video inputs feature automatic frame re-synchronizers. The switcher consists of a 1U rack-mounting panel which is controlled by a software control panel.
This is a 'fully 10-bit digital design', providing high quality from cameras, servers and character generators, with 'true, 10-bit video quality maintained throughout the entire signal path'. All transitions 'are instantly available and include the same cut, mix and wipe found on traditional mixers'. Graphics can be loaded into the two, built in, media-player frame-stores, for custom titles and logos. When using green-screen shoots, the ATEM keyer includes 'full chroma keying'. Two downstream keyers are also included to add graphics such as 'live' and 'replay'. The upstream keyer has 'chroma, pattern, shaped and linear keying'. 'Independent fade to black' is also available. The multi-view output shows up to ten channels of video on a single HDMI television or SDI monitor. An audio mixer is sourced from audio embedded on all SDI/HDMI inputs and the AES/EBU input. Multiple users can connect via the network connection, and work simultaneously.
The ATEM Software Control for Mac or Windows, included, has the facilities to 'switch video sources on the fly, load the media pool with graphics, use transitions and keys, remotely control and color balance Blackmagic Studio Cameras, change switcher settings and mix audio'. For larger live productions, multiple copies of the software can be run, so more than one person can work simultaneously. The interface has separate tabs to make finding controls simpler. A 'switcher' tab offers the tools to make live cuts, adjust keys, apply transitions, overlay graphics and more. The 'media' tab is for working with and managing graphic files. A dedicated tab for the audio mixer includes faders and meters for every input, along with a master level control. When working with Blackmagic Studio Cameras, the 'camera control' tab can be used to remotely control focus, iris, and for full colour correction for each camera.
Up to twenty broadcast-quality, RGBA graphic files can be stored in the media pool. The two media players appear as input sources to the switcher. The user can transition to graphics as full-frame video or feed them to the keyers for overlaying video. Popular image formats such as PNG, TGA, BMP, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF are supported. The included Photoshop plug-in can be used to create broadcast graphics and add them to the media pool.
The hardware panel is extremely shallow, less than 25mm deep, so is easily portable. On the rear there are connectors for a total of six video inputs. HDMI connectors are provided for inputs one to two. Inputs three and four have the choice of HDMI or SDI connectors. Inputs five and six are SDI only. All are 10-bit capable and switchable between SD and HD. A reference input is provided for trisync or black-burst. A BNC connector provides an input for AES/EBU audio.
BNC output connectors are provided for two 10-bit SD/HD SDI switchable outputs, SDI one, SDI two, and the multi-view SDI output. HDMI connectors are used for HDMI Multiview 1 output and Programme output (HDMI 1.4a 10-bit, SD/HD switchable). A USB 2.0 connection is provided for USB programme output, H.264 encoded, from the program output. An RJ45 connector provides an Ethernet port for control and a co-axial inlet carried the 12V DC power
SDI audio output: Two channels, embedded into SDI output. Multi-view outputs: 1x HD-SDI and 1x HDMI. SD format support: 625/25 PAL 4:3, 525/29.97 NTSC 4:3. HD format support: 1080i50, 1080i59.94, 720p50, 720p59.94. SDI Compliance: SMPTE 259M, 292M. Video sampling: 4:2:2, 10-bit. Colour precision: 4:2:2, 10-bit. Colour space: 4:2:2, YUV. HDMI input resolutions for computers: 720 x 480 59.94Hz, 720 x 576 50Hz, 1280 x 720 59.94Hz 50Hz and 1920 x 1080 59.94Hz 50Hz.
ATEM Software Control Panel support: Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later and Windows 7 64-bit or Windows 8 64-bit. Software updates: Using USB connection directly connected to Mac OS X or Windows computers. Includes ATEM Switcher Utility. Configuration: Set via ATEM Software Control Panel, excluding ATEM chassis IP address which is set via the ATEM Switcher Utility connected via USB to chassis.
Included accessories: Blackmagic Media Express software. ATEM software control panel. AC adapter with international adapters.