Audio Effetti reports an important news from Blackmagic Design: a new family of ATEM switchers with 3G-SDI connections, designed to be quick to set up and easy to use.
Standard converters on all inputs, an integrated Fairlight audio mixer with six-band parametric equalizer, compressor and limiter on all inputs, internal DVE (Digital Video Editing), chroma keyer, professional transitions and more, such as the USB port that comes read like a webcam when connected to a computer: ATEM live switchers are well known to connoisseurs of the Blackmagic brand. The new SDI switcher family consists of three models: ATEM SDI and ATEM SDI Pro ISO, both with four SDI inputs, and ATEM SDI Extreme ISO, with eight SDI inputs. All inputs are equipped with standard converters and resynchronization.
The all-in-one design, like Blackmagic Design‘s other ATEM switchers, includes a control panel along with the various connections, allowing for mixing, transitioning between inputs and, on some models, recording. In short, these are flexible and easy to use products, in true Blackmagic style, suitable for a variety of applications and productions, whether recording a multi-cam content or broadcasting live is required. Common features of ATEM switchers are: chroma keyer, creative transitions, multimedia archive, DSK keys, audio mixer and multiview monitoring. The more advanced models already included SDI inputs, SuperSource multilevel images, DVE digital special effects, animated transitions, a multimedia archive and auxiliary outputs. The new ATEM series brings SDI inputs to a much more accessible price range and in near pocket format.
The ATEM SDI is practically identical to the “historic” ATEM Mini, even in aesthetics: the difference is all in the inputs, SDI instead of HDMI. As is known, SDI is a 270 Mbps uncompressed and unencrypted digital signal transmission system that is widely used within television production infrastructures; it is typically used to transmit the video signal from professional broadcast cameras, as it has some advantages, such as being able to use much longer cables (up to over 100 meters) than HDMI. In the new ATEM SDI models, each 3G-SDI video input has its own dedicated converter, which converts 1080p, 1080i and 720p sources according to the video standard used.
As for the outputs, we find two SDI ports, which are true AUX outputs so that customers can independently customize the source video routed to each of them. They can be assigned to the main Program output or as a pass-through of any of the inputs. Finally, all outputs can be connected to cameras as they include camera control and tally information.
ATEM SDI Pro ISO is very similar to the ATEM Mini Pro ISO, including the integrated streaming encoder. Not only that: this model is capable of recording five streams in real time. The live production is saved as a DaVinci Resolve project, allowing you to do editing, audio mixing and color correction. ATEM SDI Extreme ISO differs significantly from the other two models because it offers many more possibilities, including connecting up to eight cameras/computers. Also interesting are the Live streaming function via Ethernet and the Tethering function for remote streaming via mobile data, on the ATEM SDI Pro and SDI Extreme ISO models. Finally, the strengths of the new ATEM SDI models are in line with the best known features of Blackmagic products: compact size, maximum portability; SDI inputs/outputs; standard conversion and re-sync on each SDI input; streaming integrated in the ATEM SDI Pro and SDI Extreme ISO models.
