Here’s our guided tour of the ATEM Television Studio HD - We show your around the device, how to control it via the front panel, and our thoughts on it.
Size
This model of ATEM is considered a 2/3 rack unit size, which means it can be paired nicely with another 1/3 device to fill 1 RU of your rack case.
It’s often paired with the HyperDeck Studio Mini, creating the perfect switching/recording rack case for your next event.
Hardware panel
One of the biggest selling points of this switcher is its front hardware panel - this means you are not tethered to a computer and can operate almost all of the functions of the device from the front buttons.
Ins and Outs
In total, there are 4 HDMI and 4 SDI inputs meaning you can run up to 8 sources in your live production.
The ATEM Television Studio HD also includes one Aux output, allowing you to send a signal to a projector for example.
In addition, there are two audio input channels for connecting directly to an audio mixer.
Front hardware panel
This deserves a section of its own as the front buttons give so much more flexibility than the previous ATEM models.
In the past, we would turn up to an event and need to connect our ATEM to a laptop in order to switch between sources during the setup phase.
The big broadcast buttons now mean we can flick between each of our inputs to see what is live and what isn’t.
Audio buttons above each source allow for quick muting of tracks, and the LCD screen means that you could technically run the whole show without another monitor (although you would really need to see the Multi-View at some point).
Pros
- Buttons on the front
- We’ve already gone on and on about this, but we love them!
- Small design
- Also mentioned above, but the small design means we can pack smart and fit more gear into our rack case.
- 1080p50/60
- We’ve been running 1080i50 for a long time and now we can finally say goodbye to interlaced videos. 👋
Cons
- No large Cut button
- We would love to have seen a larger cut button on the front, but we know space it tight.
- Configurable front buttons
Running all of our cameras over SDI means that we are using buttons 5-8 on the front and it would be nice to configure the front panel so that we can use 1-4 instead. It’s a small tweak but really nice to have.
Price
In order to see the latest price, and to find your local distributor, visit the Blackmagic Design site.