Black Magic ATEM Television Studio HD Switcher - Everything You Need to Know

Hey everyone,

Zach here!

Today I want to talk about the Black Magic Design ATEM Television Studio HD..

Man, that’s a mouthful. 

A lot of what I’ll be talking about in this video actually covers topics that most people haven’t mentioned when talking about this switcher. Now I assume that the main reason being is that their audiences may be more familiar with streaming in general so they don’t have to go into as much detail. But as a church just getting into live streaming, there are some key points missing that I think are worth discussing so you have all the facts and can make the best decision for your church.

Also, if you stick around to the end of the article, I’ll end with giving some pros and cons to this switcher as well as suggestions for alternatives that may be worth looking into.

With that being said, let’s dive in.

Everything You Need in Order to Use the Switcher

First off I want to go over EVERYTHING you actually need in order to use this switcher., And if you want more info on any of these items, I will link to everything for you to check out. 

These first couple of items are obvious, but I’ll mention them anyway. You need the

1. Switcher
2. Cameras that have HDMI or SDI outputs on them.
   • Here are a few we recommend:
     • Sony a6400
     • Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
     • Panasonic G7
3. A Computer for Running Pro-Presenter or something similar.
   • What computer we recommend for Pro7
     • iMac M1
     • MacBook Air M1
4. A monitor for Multiview
   • You’ll need an HDMI monitor for the Multiview
5. You’ll also need some HDMI cables. 1 for the Multiview out, and up to four more if you use all four HDMI video inputs
6. A Cat 5 or Ethernet cable for using the Remote Control Software.
7. You’ll need a USB 2.0 cable in order to update the software on the switcher
8. SDI cables. I’d pick up 3 or more cables depending on your needs. You’ll at least need one for an SDI out as well as one for an input. Of course maybe more if you’re running more cameras into the switcher. However, in total, there are 12 SDI ports on the back.
9. If you don't have a video out device like a DeckLink Duo or Ultra Studio Monitor.. You'll need an HDMI/SDI Cross Converter if you want to run something like Pro-presenter to the switcher in order to match frame rates/resolution sizes (more on this later)
10. An SDI Capture Card (If streaming from a software encoder) - From what I’ve seen, not many people really mention this if you’re just watching YouTube videos about this switcher. You need a capture card for this switcher but you DON’T need a capture card for it’s cheaper alternative the ATEM Mini or ATEM Mini Pro. Just want to clarify that.
    • It needs to be an SDI to USB capture card.. an HDMI to USB capture card won’t work. Because there is no HDMI out available.
    • If you go with a Hardware Encoder then you won't need a capture card. The Web Presenter HD is a good option for this.
    • So also, If you do use Software Encoders like OBS or Ecamm Live to stream then you need a computer that can handle streaming. It could be the same one that you run Pro-Presenter off of, but if you have another machine laying around I would go ahead and put that one to use too. Better to spread out the work among multiple machines than to bog down one too much.
11. Depending on how you want to handle audio, there are a few different things you may need
    • One option is to use a bus mix to go Left and Right out of our soundboard with XLR cables into a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 audio interface which then plugs into your computer. There you can sync up the audio with a mic delay in Ecamm Live.
    • You could also run those XLR cables into the actual switcher as well, but you might still need a mic delay.
12. One other thing that you may need at some point is an SDI to HDMI converter. If you have more than four HDMI inputs you will then need to convert those HDMI inputs into SDI to take advantage of all 8 video inputs on the back of the switcher. And of course, that is assuming that you will have more HDMI video sources than SDI sources. So if you have more SDI sources than HDMI then you’ll need the opposite converter. But I found this handy converter that can convert either direction

Setup and Troubleshooting

(In this section, I could get into the more technical aspects of Networking, but for simplicities sake I'm describing this whole thing in lamens terms)

Now I want to talk a little bit about the Setup and troubleshooting process. In order for this switcher to work properly, there are a few things you need to do. Hopefully, this will save you some headaches and also save you from actually having to read the manual.

Cause who wants to do that, right?

The first thing you need to do is set up the remote software. Black Magic gives you an application that you can use to control every aspect of this switcher from a computer.

You can connect your computer to the switcher two ways, either by the switcher’s name or manually using an IP address. I’ve tried this on three different machines and connecting via switcher name hasn’t worked on any of them. But connecting via IP address hasn’t worked as easily as you’d think either.

Most people online will tell you to type in the IP address that shows up in the switcher’s settings menu on the front console, but that hasn’t worked for me. Then they say if that doesn’t work then go to “Network” in System Settings (for Mac) and select Ethernet. Then change the configure setting to manual. Then type in the switcher’s IP address.

Now, this still didn’t work for me. When you hit apply an error pops up saying that “Another device on the Network is using your computer’s IP Address.”

Eventually, I figured out what did work for me, and since then I’ve seen the fix in one other YouTube video on the topic, out of the 10-20 videos that watched about the switcher.

What actually works, is not the exact same IP Address, but an IP that is close to the IP address of the switcher. So I change the IP address slightly with the last two digits, it then connects instantly. And this has been the case on 3 different machines that I’ve tested.

This is an easy fix, but if unaware about it, it could definitely trip some people up, so I wanted to highlight that.

Frame Rates and Resolution

So the way this switcher works is that it needs all camera inputs to be at the same frame rate and resolution size in order for it to work correctly.

If the camera's frame rate for example doesn’t match the frame rate set on the switcher, then you won’t see the input from the camera. This isn’t that big of a deal, you just need to set all your cameras and the switcher to the same settings.

But where this gets tricky is when you begin to add in your Pro-Presenter computer. It isn’t very easy to set your computer output to 24fps at 1920x1080 for example.

Now you can work around this if you match your cameras and switcher frame rate to the refresh rate on your computer's display settings, but the video then can look unnatural being at a higher frame rate.

But with something like this Cross Converter that allows you to take an image and scale it and/or convert the frame rate, you can take your computer's output and convert it exactly to the settings you want.

We picked up this converter from Decimator Design and once we set up the conversion it worked perfectly.

Ports on the Back of the Switcher

I also want to cover what each output on the back of the switcher actually does, because each port does something different than the other, and if you don’t dig too deeply into what each one does, you may end up assuming that you can do all these functions from one port or that they can be mixed and matched.

The Ethernet or Cat 5 port is used for the ATEM software control panel. This allows you to configure and control the setting and functions of the switcher from a desktop application.

The USB 2.0 port is used for updating the software on the switcher, which you should ahead and do once you pull it out of the box. However, this port doesn’t send a Program out signal to your computer. SDI out is the only option for a Program signal.

Speaking of SDI Outputs, you can have many different outputs if needed, but one of these will be used to go Program out into a Capture Card then into a computer for streaming (if that’s how you choose to configure your setup).

Alright, so now with all that out of the way, is this ATEM still worth picking up?

Obviously, the main thing is figuring out what best fits your needs. That should be the number one factor when deciding to purchase any piece of gear, but especially live-streaming equipment.

I think this would be good for churches who:

1. Were already looking to build up their live stream setup before this pandemic even started
2. Want the option to add 4+ video inputs to your streams
3. Want to take advantage of all the other features that I’m not even covering like using the talkback mic to communicate between the switcher and camera operator for example. That’s something that at this point we don’t really need, but it may be something that we can use down the line. So if you think you may be needed features like that, then that’s something to keep in mind.

I think this may not be good for churches who:

1. Didn’t have plans for live streaming before the pandemic
2. Don’t need 4+ camera options
3. Have a very tight budget
4. Are new to live-streaming and the tech associated with it

Now, what would I suggest as alternatives to the Atem Television Studio HD?

There may be other options worth looking into that aren’t Black Magic products, however, I haven’t spent much time looking into these so I won’t comment on any at the moment.

The obvious choice is the Atem Mini.

The pros the ATEM mini has over the television studio is that:

1. Its MUCH cheaper
2. It has Four HDMI inputs
3. It has Access to the same remote control software
4. And NO Capture CARD is NEEDED to make it work.

Another option is the Atem Mini Pro. This one is a bit more expensive than the Atem Mini but it also comes with a few more features.

Conclusion

So that about does it. I’ve gone over everything I wanted to cover regarding the Black Magic ATEM Television Studio HD. I hope that you found this helpful if you’re trying to decide on a switcher to buy, or if you already have this switcher and you’re struggling to get it up and running. If you did find this useful or entertaining, share this with someone who might get some value from it!

Also, if you're looking for more personal and in-depth training and guidance, you can schedule a call with me personally

 You can also check out our courses like Church Video Made Simple where you can learn to shoot high-quality video for your church.. whether that's for shooting B-roll, testimony videos, or live streams.

Talk soon,

Zach

Most churches have a difficult time implementing media into their ministries effectively. At Church Media Training, we give church leaders the tools and resources to be good at digital media.

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