ATEM Mini Pro is the Best Intro Switcher for Educators
In February, I brought you a review of the BlackMagic Design ATEM Mini. It was GREAT (the ATEM, not the article).
The ATEM Mini is the gateway to simple, effective, multicam productions. It has 4 HDMI inputs, so pretty much any camera on the market would work. It can also scale those cameras for you. The simple, tactile switching panel allows for easy, one-man-band productions. The ATEM Mini had all I ever wanted in a sub-$300 video switcher and then some.
Fast forward to April, I wrote about a new ATEM Mini. This time the ATEM Mini Pro! When BMD CEO Grant Petty presented the details about the ATEM Mini Pro, I was enthralled. How could they turn a new product in such a small window that will make that big of a difference. It can’t be that big of a deal. Then Grant pulled out the plug on the USB flash drive he was using to record the program and plugged it into a computer and the video worked. No stopping, no encoding - he literally pulled the plug and the video worked! I was hooked. I had to know more!
In my best Veruca Salt voice I thought, “I need one of those and I need it now.” Then I got the call... “We have one for you to review.” In the time of quarantine, this was something that kept a smile on my face for at least 48 hours.
Before we go any further, let me say that in the ATEM Mini and the ATEM Mini Pro, BlackMagic Design did some things that I think really make these devices a more viable option for educators. No longer do you have to know and input the IP address for the computer and/or the BMD device. Using the USB C cable or the ethernet connection into a computer allows the software control to recognize the unit and make the connection for you. I can not tell you how much time I spent in the first days of ATEM units learning how to find IP addresses. No longer… The ATEM Mini Pro is as close to plug-n-play as you can get. (It does take 30-60 seconds for the software control to recognize the unit sometimes.)
When I received the ATEM Mini Pro, my initial thought was that it looks exactly like the ATEM Mini but has a few more buttons. Those buttons are EXTREMELY powerful though. The ATEM Mini Pro has two buttons to get the video content you create out of the switcher. The ATEM Mini Pro is the first hardware switcher that I know of that has both recording and streaming capabilities built into the unit.
The on-air button located on the face of the unit allows you to stream directly from the ATEM Mini Pro to any variety of streaming services, including Facebook and Youtube. A simple tweak of the provided XML file means you can stream to pretty much anywhere. I tested it with several streaming services and they all worked magically. The ATEM Mini Pro has an ethernet port on the back panel that allows for connectivity to either your network directly or you can “share” internet with the attached computer that is using a WiFi.
This is different from other streaming tools in that it is not software based. The encoding actually happens within the ATEM Mini to allow your computer resources to be opened up for other things. I tried this with both my titling software and Photoshop. I used Photoshop to create graphics and send them directly to the graphics pool - WHILE STREAMING LIVE from the same computer. No need to export to your computer then upload to the ATEM Software Control. You can export directly to one of 20 media banks in the ATEM Mini Pro.
The USB-C out from the ATEM Mini Pro can be used to set the ATEM up as a webcam, which is just what it sounds like: the program feeds from the ATEM Mini Pro into a computer to be used with any variety of online services. I used my ATEM Mini Pro to host an online professional development through Google Meet. The USB-C worked great. During my testing of the ATEM Mini Pro, I used the USB C on Zoom, Facebook, and the NFHS Network as an input. It worked great on all of them.
The ATEM Mini Pro also stepped up over the Mini in the addition of multiview as an option for the HDMI out. The ATEM Mini did not have the multiview option so all angles, graphics, etc could not be seen readily. On the ATEM Mini Pro, the HDMI has selectable buttons to let you determine what you would like as your output. The multiview out has the traditional BMD look with a couple of additions. Since there are only 4 inputs, the bottom row of the multiview has a couple of features that other BMD multiview screens don’t. The ATEM Mini Pro multiview allows you to not only monitor your inputs but your outputs. You can know for sure that your stream is up and running. You can also know for certain that your recording is being captured.
While the recording and the streaming are great and honestly should be expected at this time, I believe that the real power in the ATEM Mini Pro is the ability to run a one-man show that is more than just switching cameras and monitoring audio but to also be able to shade your cameras. If you pair the ATEM Mini Pro with a BlackMagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K or 6K, you can adjust the camera exposure, iris, color temperature, and more inside the ATEM Control Software. Shaders aren’t something that most educators think about, but in ALL professional live productions there is someone who shades the cameras in order to make certain they all look the same regardless of the angle.
The most best - yes, MOST BEST - part of the ATEM Mini Pro is the price. Let’s recap before dropping the number on you. The ATEM Mini Pro is a 4-channel HDMI switcher that has a built-in shader on each channel. The ATEM Mini Pro also has an insanely robust audio mixing program using Fairlight. The ATEM Mini Pro has hardware-based encoding and streaming. The ATEM Mini Pro has USB-C out to record compressed H.264 to a portable hard drive or a thumbdrive. You have the ability to import Photoshop files directly into the ATEM Mini Pro. You don’t have to know IP programming, etc. All of that for less than $600! Yes, less than $600. That’s not a typo.
One of the issues some people were having with the ATEM Mini and the ATEM Mini Pro was an audio sync issue. On June 10th, BMD pushed an update that adds adjustable audio delay on the analog inputs, allows the DVE to scale more than 100%, and some additional performance and stability updates.
I will go ahead and tell you that if you want to have an ATEM Mini Pro by the time school begins, ORDER IT NOW! This device is earthshaking and anyone who live streams is scrambling to get their hands on one. I submitted the paperwork for mine last week!
Meet the Author, Tom White
Tom White is the digital media instructor at Morgan County High School in Madison, GA. Currently teaching TV production and animation pathways, Tom's programs have received state and national honors including the 2016 NFHS Network School Broadcast Program Of The Year. Prior to teaching, Tom was a marketing, promotions, and online content director for a major radio corporation in Atlanta. Tom studied exercise science at High Point University prior to his radio career. Despite his winding career path, his mother still thinks he is special.