So Close to the Perfect 4K ATEM

It's been a while... around 7 and a bit months to be nowhere near exact. If you read my last post you can probably guess why. For those who haven't, we welcomed Scarlett into our lives on the 13th of August and it has been a whirlwind of no sleep and screaming ever since—only about half was the baby!

But it's that time of year again when I just have to say something about Blackmagic's NAB offerings. I'm not sure what to make of this year's lineup. Unlike other years, they showed us a few things they have in development rather than hardware we could actually go out and buy right away.

This year they told us about the upcoming:

• ATEM Television Studio 4K8
• ATEM 4 M/E Constellation 4K
• DaVinci Resolve 18.5
• DeckLink IP HD Cards
• 2110 IP Converters
• URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF variant

Now, I don't use the DeckLink cards, 2110 IP, or any URSAs (not through lack of wanting, as you've probably seen in my previous shopping lists) so I won't focus on them too much. I also have to admit I've not used DaVinci in quite a while. So, I'm going to focus on the switchers for now and maybe revisit the rest at a later date.

The Television Studio 4K8

First things first: IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!

I know I'm not the only one who has been after a 4K version of the Television Studio since it got a built-in control panel. Unfortunately, while it's been a long time coming, I still think it's missing a few key features or that the wrong technologies have been implemented.

1. The Missing ISO Option

Let's start with the big omission from the 4K8: there is no ISO option on this model. While this can be worked around somewhat with the 8 extra aux outputs and sending the feeds of each input out to a video recorder, you still don't get the DaVinci Resolve project file automatically generated. For me, that project file was one of the absolute best selling points of the ISO models.

From what I can tell, you also lose the ability to have remote camera feeds come in directly over the network. I know that on some of my previous projects that have been spread across locations—where running massive physical cables was not an option—this would have been a killer feature, and I'm really disappointed that it's not available.

2. The Lack of Dante Support

Another major gripe: the lack of native Dante Support. I get that Blackmagic Design seems to have gone all-in on MADI, but to me, that just doesn't make sense for a large chunk of their market (schools, churches, community TV stations). Most of these groups will likely be using an audio mixer that supports Dante. It just adds an unnecessary layer of expensive conversion for those who want to use the ATEM's built-in Fairlight Audio Mixer.

From what I have read online and from the people I've talked to, even with Blackmagic's ATEM microphone converter, most productions will still be processing their audio externally. Fairlight just doesn't have the full feature set they expect from a live audio mixer, let alone a dedicated physical control surface.

The Dream Live Event Ecosystem

Just imagine being able to plug your Dante stage box directly into your ATEM, with all the processing power of something like an Allen & Heath SQ7, alongside a dedicated physical control surface. The only thing missing then would be lighting control, and you'd have a complete Blackmagic Ecosystem for your live events.

Imagine the automation you could put in place if there was a unified platform. Slap a Cue Stack on the ATEM and you could technically run the lighting, live sound, and video switching all linked together.

For example, if you were working a live show that covers F1, a car crashes, and the safety car comes out: with the push of one single button on the ATEM, you could simultaneously fire an audio sting, trigger the on-screen replay graphic, and change the entire set's physical lighting rig via DMX or Art-Net.

3. Thermal Constraints & Media Playback

During the webcast, Grant Petty mentioned that the reason for the lack of an ISO model was due to thermal constraints. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the ATEM chassis was a bit bigger and had a couple of extra fans in it if it meant getting the features an ISO model brings.

My last gripe is regarding the built-in internal storage: why can't we store video files and play them back directly from the media player? It's not just me, is it? This just makes sense. You've already got high-speed access to the internal storage via the network to pull recordings off. Why not let us upload pre-rendered videos and play them back via the media players? Limit it to H.264, H.265, and ProRes if you must, but please just add it.

I'm also hoping that with the new naming scheme, we are going to see larger models of the ATEM TVS 4K in the future—maybe 12, 16, or 20 input variants. By the time you have added the key and fill inputs for your graphics as well as a couple of HyperDecks, you are quickly down to just 4 camera inputs (or a measly 2 if you use key and fill on your playback videos too!).

The 4 M/E Constellation 4K

Again, it's about time. But again, I have a slight issue with it: where is the 2 M/E model?

For most of the productions I've been involved with, 40 inputs are far too many. I'd basically end up paying a metric boatload extra for high-end functionality that is simply never going to get used. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to include it in one of my dream gear shopping lists, but realistically it's just too big for a standard rig.

It would have been nice to see the Remote Camera Stream feature built into the Constellation line too. This is an amazing piece of tech that really should be pushed into every device they make if at all possible. If we get ISO multi-cam recording as an added bonus, even better!

There's really not a lot else to say about the Constellation in my opinion. It's the baby brother of the 8K model and carries all the same underlying features. The only other thing I could mention would be the lack of native Dante audio, but I've had that rant already.

Final Thoughts

Well, that's my take on the new ATEM switchers. I'm really happy there is finally a 4K TVS panel, but otherwise, I felt the broadcast was a bit underwhelming and they didn't push the internal features quite as far as they could have.

I'm hoping this means we have some truly spectacular hardware releases coming down the line. Maybe Grant is waiting on my post about my ideal Blackmagic Ecosystem to introduce a few of those products that I'm really after (probably not!).

What do you think? How would you like to see Blackmagic expand its live production ecosystem? Was there anything from the NAB stream you think I missed? Would you like to fund my LED wall? Let me know in the comments below!