Blackmagic have just announced the ATEM SDI range. 3 new versions of their hugely
popular ATEM Mini products, but this time with SDI ports rather than HDMI ports.
There are 3 models, the ATEM SDI, ATEM SDI Pro ISO and ATEM SDI Extreme ISO. So its a
slightly more streamlined lineup than the HDMI models which is nice to see.
The base line ATEM SDI is the simple and affordable switching only model,
4 sdi inputs, 2 sdi outputs plus the picture in picture and graphics features we are used to
from the HDMI model. Theres no encoding here, so you cant stream directly from
the unit but you can connect it as USB webcam which is nice. Its a great product,
but I think most people that would be interested in these SDI versions rather than the HDMI
versions that already exist, would be more interested in the Pro ISO and Extreme ISO.
These are just like the ATEM SDI but with the built in encoding capability. This means you
can stream directly from the unit which is of course hugely important but it also means you
can record a clean feed of each camera input alongside the program output onto a connected
USB drive. So then you can take those recordings into post production really easily,
plus if you are editing in resolve it is even easier as it gives you a project file ready to
go with the media already loaded in and the edits made to echo your live mixing on the switcher.
That is really efficient and saves an incredible amount of time if that is your workflow.
Its becoming a really popular way of using these ATEM products.
The Pro ISO has 4 SDI inputs and 2 outputs, and the Extreme ISO has 8 inputs and 4 outputs.
They also have all the other features we have come to expect from ATEM products
like a built in fairlight audio mixer, Supersource feeds and mix effects, chroma key support,
standards conversion. These are all really feature packed products just like the HDMI versions.
So on the surface, these are ATEM Mini products with SDI rather than HDMI. And I can absolutely
see lots of customers changing over from their current ATEM Mini setup to one of
these SDI versions as SDI has some significant advantages over HDMI. Especially if your cameras
are further than 15 meters away from your mixing desk. In fact a lot of people were
actually taking SDI cameras and running SDI back to their ATEM Mini’s but then having to
use a load of SDI convertors to make it work. So these will simplify that setup massively.
But I think this is actually a much more important move from blackmagic than it would first appear.
Their ATEM Mini lineup has been hugely popular because they are a great price with loads of
features and everything you need built into one small unit. But the SDI models above that
have been a bit strange over the last few years. There was the Television studio pro
models which were a bit like a larger version of these, but they had no encoders built in.
Theres the fantastic new ATEM Constellation HD range, but they are a rack mount solution where
you have to add a panel control, a web presenter and probably a few more bits to make a full setup.
These appear at first glance like a simple update… but I think will actually be the
perfect middle ground for a lot of customers between a simple HDMI setup and a larger
rack mount studio setup. I think these will be very popular and if you want to order one for
yourself they are available straight away so head over to proav.co.uk with the link
down below. Thanks for watching and ill see you in the next one.