Wait. What? New ATEM Minis?
With SDI?
Hi, I'm Aaron Parecki.
Blackmagic just announced three new ATEM Minis into their lineup: the ATEM SDI, the SDI Pro ISO, and the SDI Extreme ISO.
These are primarily an SDI version of the ATEM Minis, but there are a couple of interesting differences, aside from the obvious differences of the SDI ports.
The ATEM SDI base model priced at $345 is nearly identical to the original ATEM Mini.
It is a switcher with all the same features in the ATEM Mini, like the downstream key, the upstream for chroma keying and picture in picture, as well as the media pool for
graphics. I'm actually not going to go into all the details of the product because I've already got plenty of videos on this channel, all about all the things you can do with the
ATEM Mini. But the big difference with the SDI models is that all of the inputs are SDI instead of HDMI.
SDI is often used for the more professional broadcast grade cameras, and most importantly, the cables can go a lot farther than HDMI cables.
HDMI cables max out at around 30 feet at most if you're lucky.
And it really depends on the cable as well as the camera and the thing you're plugging it into as to whether you can actually get that range.
There are fiber HDMI cables you can get, which can go longer, but really, if you're planning on doing a lot of long cable runs, I would really start investing in an SDI
workflow instead.
SDI also doesn't have the same issue with negotiation like HDMI does.
You know, when you plug in an HDMI thing, it takes a couple of seconds before it syncs up.
That's because HDMI can do so many different things and they both sides have to actually talk to each other to figure out what video to send.
SDI is more just like bashing out video frames one by one really fast.
So as soon as you plug in the cable, it appears on a monitor.
So back to the ATEM Minis.
The base model ATEM SDI now has two SDI outputs.
Those outputs can be assigned to either your main program output or as pass through of any of the inputs.
The SDI Pro ISO at $795 is nearly identical to the ATEM Mini Pro ISO, including the built in streaming encoder and recording all four
inputs to a USB drive.
Of course, instead of the 4 HDMI, it now has 4 SDI inputs, and it also has two SDI outputs.
The SDI Extreme ISO, which is $1495, which is definitely a price tag, but it can also do a lot.
The biggest difference between this and the HDMI extreme ISO is that this new SDI model has 4 SDI outputs.
That is a lot of flexibility, but other than that, all the models appear to have the same features as the corresponding ATEM Mini HDMI models.
Now I do actually think they made the right call by not releasing a non ISO version of the others.
The ISO feature was only a couple hundred dollars more on top of the non-ISO ATEM Mini and it really gives you a lot more value by having that ISO recording.
And there is more good news.
It looks like they are the same physical size as the original ATEM Mini and Mini Extreme, which means yes, you can use the new ATEM SDIs in the PK1 stands.
So I now want to talk about a few of the things I think they actually got wrong with the new models.
I'm really surprised they did not include a headphone jack on the smaller models.
That is one of the big missing features of the original ATEM Minis, which a lot of people complained about.
It's not the end of the world.
It just means you have to connect headphones to your monitor instead.
But it definitely is nicer to be able to connect headphones to the ATEM directly.
The Extreme does have a headphone jack in both the HDMI and SDI, and I'm really surprised they didn't take that feedback and bring it to the smaller models of the SDI as well.
The SuperSource feature is one of my favorite parts of the ATEM Mini Extreme.
SuperSource is what lets you make the nice side by side layouts or put four people on the screen in little boxes.
However, the big missing feature is that while the SuperSource appears as a video source that you can switch to in the software and with the buttons, it's actually not recorded as
one of the ISO channels on the drive.
And that also means it's not included in the DaVinci Resolve Project that's created.
I understand that it's likely a hardware limitation with the original Extremes that they couldn't add it with firmware, but I was really hoping they would have fixed this with any
new hardware.
So it is really disappointing that the new SDI Extreme does not include the SuperSource in the ISO recordings.
But at least now with the extra SDI outputs, you can actually now loop one back with a short SDI cable into one of the inputs if you do need to record it, and you still have
three SDI outputs free.
Now, it also would have been nice to add the SuperSource to the smaller 4-input SDI model, which I do realize is a bit of a stretch, but it would just be so good.
I also think the Extreme should have had one HDMI output for a multiview monitor.
It's pretty common, especially since this is very clearly meant for a portable desk setup, to want to use this with an HDMI monitor.
Since there are only SDI outputs, you'll now need to find a monitor with an SDI input like the Lilliput A11 that I use as my teleprompter,
or you'll need to add an SDI to HDMI converter.
I just think it would have been nice for at least one of the SDI outputs to be an HDMI output instead.
I also actually think there should have been a mix of HDMI and SDI inputs.
It makes sense that the rack versions of these are all SDI but.
Again, since this is a desktop form factor, there are a bunch of times it'll make sense to use some HDMI sources like a laptop or an iPad on your desk, and now you're going to
have to run these through a converter instead.
So like I said in my original wishlist video, I would have liked to see a mix of SDI and HDMI, maybe three SDI, one HDMI on the smaller ones, and
six SDI and two HDMI on the extreme.
Remember the TV Studio HD?
I used that one for years.
It has four HDMI and four SDI, and even half and half was a great mix.
I used the SDI for the long cable runs to far away cameras in the back of the room, or for the long run to the presenter's laptop on stage.
And I use the HDMI for local video sources, like a laptop with a slide deck of sponsor logos or for an HDMI player with a motion background or an iPad for video playback.
There's just always going to be a mix of HDMI and SDI sources in a production.
So if you have all of one type or the other, you're going to always need some sort of converter.
So maybe if Blackmagic is going to stop making devices with a mix of inputs, they should instead make a new device, which is a multi-SDI/HDMI converter.
Right now, the bidirectional converters can do HDMI-SDI and SDI-HDMI simultaneously.
But how cool would it be to have a device with four parallel converters, all in one box.
That way you could just easily turn your four SDI inputs into for HDMI inputs or the other way around.
It seems doable. The converters are pretty small and a lot of that is just the case.
And frankly, I would also like to see a rack mounted version of a multi converter device since mounting these converters in a rack is really a challenge.
My last complaint -- I swear we're going to get into some positive things in a second -- is that the base model ATEM SDI also doesn't store the media pool when it's shut down.
Originally, that was true for all of the ATEMs, but they actually published a firmware update for the Pro and Pro ISO a while back, which made the images stay in the media pool
when it's powered off.
But for whatever reason, they weren't able to add that feature to the original ATEM Mini.
And while that was unfortunate, I can't really blame them because the hardware already shipped and there just wasn't the hardware inside to add the feature.
But now launching a new base model ATEM SDI, it really feels like they missed out on adding that memory to the base model too.
I'm guessing the reason it's not there is something like they are actually reusing a bunch of the internal components of the actual base model ATEM Mini, and just like
swapping out the ports on the back.
But it's still really feels like a major oversight.
But it's not all bad news.
I do want to talk about a few things I'm really excited about on the new SDI models.
The ISO models, either the four or eight input would pair really well with the new Constellation HDs.
Basically adding the streaming encoder and ISO recording feature to the larger ATEMs.
The Constellation 2M/E has 12 SDI outputs, so you could easily run four of those into the ATEM SDI Pro ISO and record four of your Constellation sources in parallel.
And at $795, it's still the cheapest way to get a four channel h264 recorder, not to mention all the other things they can do too.
And the Constellation 4M/E has 24 SDI outputs, so you could easily dedicate eight of those to run into the SDI Extreme ISO.
And that way you get a dedicated eight channel SDI recorder.
Personally, I'm probably going to add one of these to my studio since I am in the process of switching everything over to the new Constellation 4M/E.
And while the 4M/E is a massively powerful switcher, the big thing I'm losing there with that instead of the Extreme ISO like I've been using, is the ability to record multiple
sources at the same time.
So the new SDI Pro ISO or Extreme ISO seems like a really great way to add that back without adding a whole mess of HDMI converters.
Again, another really nice addition is the extra SDI outputs.
The additional outputs are going to be super useful for a bunch of things.
And now even with the base ATEM SDI, you get two SDI outputs, so you can use one for the program output running into a streaming encoder or recorder, and you can use the other to
output to a secondary recorder for backup, or for just one of the cameras as a dedicated recorder.
Or you can actually use it to feed a projector in the room showing a pass through of one of the inputs that might have a computer screen showing slides or a sponsor logo.
I really like doing that when I'm recording events.
That way I can change the projector to show a graphic between presenters.
Otherwise you have the whole awkward projector thing where they unplug the computer and the screen turns blue and it just looks messy.
So adding that extra SDI output means you can really add a lot of polish to that.
And that was one of the first things in the wishlist I made before the ATEM Mini Extreme came out.
So I'm really glad to see the two SDI outputs on even the base model.
And one quick note about the new base model ATEM SDI, I did ask Blackmagic to confirm that both SDI outputs are assignable, and it turns out the answer is yes.
So both SDI outputs can be set to either one of the camera inputs or your program output.
And of course with the SDI Pro ISO, that can also be a multiview.
All right. That is it.
These are my initial thoughts on the new ATEM SDIs.
Will I be buying one?
Possibly. Right now I'm leaning towards the smaller SDI Pro ISO to use it as a four channel ISO recorder along with my Constellation 4M/E.
I think four channels is probably enough for me since I usually don't actually need to record more than that very often.
And I can always throw in a hyperdeck for an extra channel if I really need to.
So give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, and subscribe and join my weekly livestreams on Sundays and I will be sure to share an update when I inevitably buy one of
these and start testing it out.
Thanks so much for watching and I will see you in the next one.