Latin America. Blackmagic Design unveiled a new family of portable ATEM SDI mixers with professional 3G SDI connections. In addition to being very easy to use and configure, the devices in this line have been designed for broadcasters that require products of great performance and portability.
Despite their compact size, these models offer format conversion at all inputs, Fairlight audio tools that include a six-band parametric equalizer with compressor and limiter, digital visual effects, chrominance overlays and professional transitions, among other features. On the other hand, they facilitate the realization of live productions with several cameras and are ideal for streaming on YouTube, Facebook and other similar platforms.
The new ATEM SDI models are now available starting at $345 at all Blackmagic Design product distributors.
The ATEM SDI and ATEM SDI Pro ISO versions have four SDI inputs, while the ATEM SDI Extreme ISO model has eight. All of them offer the possibility to resynchronize the fonts and convert formats. In addition, these mixers allow you to create effects with overlapping images. The USB port makes it easy to connect to computer equipment, and the Pro and Extreme models are capable of transmitting signals directly.
ATEM SDI mixers offer a control panel and different connections in a compact size. The front of the devices includes buttons to select fonts, different effects and transitions. These are intuitive and allow the presenter to switch between images. It is also possible to mix the audio. The ATEM Mini Pro and Extreme models include controls for recording and streaming over the Internet, as well as buttons for selecting outputs that allow you to switch between the different cameras, the program signal or the multi-view function. On the back, they have SDI connections for cameras, additional inputs for microphones, a USB port to recognize the mixer as a webcam and several auxiliary SDI outputs for the main signal.
With four or eight SDI inputs depending on the model, it is possible to connect several cameras to obtain different angles. All sources are synchronized with the mixer, even if the formats are different. This makes it easy to set up equipment outdoors without having to worry about potential technical issues.
The ATEM SDI Pro and ATEM SDI Extreme models include an Ethernet connection that allows you to stream live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch with better quality, without skipping frames and through a much simpler configuration. Simply select the desired platform and enter a key to start the broadcast. For its part, the ATEM Software Control program has panels to configure the transmission, whose status is indicated in one of the windows of the simultaneous display mode. This is very simple to interpret, since the data frequency indicator shows the Internet speed required for the selected format.
When performing live productions from outdoors, the ATEM SDI Pro and Extreme models allow you to connect Apple or Android phones to the USB port to use mobile data or as a backup of the main Ethernet connection.
The ATEM SDI Pro and Extreme models also offer the ability to directly record long-lasting H.264 files with ACC audio to USB flash drives for later upload to sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. They also allow you to use several storage media using a USB adapter, so that when one is full, the recording automatically continues to the next unit. The recording settings and the choice of units are configured in the ATEM Software Control program. In turn, the recording status is indicated in the simultaneous display mode.
The ATEM SDI Pro ISO and Extreme ISO models make it easy to edit live streamed events, as they offer the opportunity to simultaneously record the program and the sources connected to the device. Media panel images used in production are also saved along with recordings in files that include metadata such as timecode and camera number. This gives you the ability to make new color adjustments or add effects and graphics. It should be noted that the audio sources are also recorded, which allows a professional mix.
