There’s a new ATEM Mini

There’s a New ATEM Mini!

Guess who’s made a new kit list? A few weeks back, Blackmagic Design released a couple of interesting products, and one of them is now firmly attached to the top of my AV wishlist: the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO.

This little beauty not only gives you the ability to record each of the inputs and the program feed, but it also creates a DaVinci Resolve project file so you can edit your production with little to no effort. They have also added an extra four channels compared to the original, more downstream keys, and SUPER SOURCE—a feature you usually only see in their higher-end switchers.

Naturally, I did what I usually do: I went and made a new kit list. I took it a bit further this time after watching some amazing videos from Aaron Parecki, Doug Johnson, and Here To Record. I’ve added a few extras that should make life easier should I eventually get the funds together to buy this gear.

It’s largely the same as my previous lists, but with additions such as the Smart Videohub 20×20, a boatload of Micro SDI-to-HDMI (and HDMI-to-SDI) converters, and two M1 Mac minis. Once I’m a bit more comfortable playing with APIs, I may even add a Stream Deck to create a custom interface for patching feeds on the fly using the Smart Videohub.

The Kit List

Key Changes

There are a couple of big changes from my previous kit lists. The first is the form factor. I’ve gone for a workstation flight case rather than a small flight case. The main reason for this is that I wanted an all-in-one solution. While I didn't quite manage it—the tripods and cable reels don't fit—everything else will fit into the flight case, making moving from place to place a hell of a lot easier.

Next up is the camera. I chose the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro paired with the Camera Grip Pro, boosted storage with the Samsung T7 Touch, and 100m optical HDMI cables. The main reason for the upgrade is so that I can crop further in the edit after events and still export in 4K.

My Dante setup is still here and will stay until Blackmagic hopefully adds Dante directly into the switchers. Pretty much everything else in the rack is the same, except for the two Mac minis: one is to provide live lower thirds, while the other is for video playback. Each can also act as a backup to the other, so if one goes down during an event, the show can still go on.

While £42,000+ is a lot of money, I think this is a really good price for what you're getting. This setup also leaves room for expansion; for example, if you find you need to upgrade to one of the larger rack-mounted ATEM units, you can just pop it in the rack and away you go.

Now, if only I had the money to put all this together… One day it might happen… One day.