We now live in a time of Live Streaming Video, Zoom calls, and social distancing. Blackmagic just so happened to have a handful of products landing at just the right time to help all of us stream from home better. 
With our ATEM Mini Pros and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras at the ready Bob Caniglia from Blackmagic Design and myself zoomed into a zoom call.
Bob and I talked about the new ATEM Mini Pro, the brand new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k/6K firmware, and the news about the Hyperdeck Studio Mini. Essentially, just about everything needed for your live streaming new work-from-home life.
ATEM Mini Pro
The ATEM Mini Pro is a $595 four HDMI input camera switcher capable of live streaming without the use of a third party program like OSB. One may also choose to record to a USB device straight from the ATEM Mini Pro. With the ATEM Mini Pro, you can control everything needed for live streaming in the ATEM switcher app. This includes a YouTube stream key, recording, and selecting live on-air.
- ATEM Mini Pro includes a new hardware streaming engine to allow direct streaming via its Ethernet connection to YouTube Live, Facebook and Twitch. That means customers can live stream to YouTube, Facebook and Twitch in better quality, without dropped frames and with much simpler settings.
- There is also support for recording the stream directly to USB flash disks in H.264, plus support for recording to multiple disks for continuous recording. That means customers get very long recordings in the same H.264 video files with AAC audio that customers streamed, so customers can directly upload to any online video site, such as YouTube and Vimeo.
- ATEM Mini Pro also includes a multiview on the HDMI video output that allows all inputs to be monitored on a single monitor, as well as live status of recording, streaming, and the audio mixer.
Camera control is a new feature in the ATEM Mini Pro. Now, users can control the lift, gamma, gain, color, iris, and iso in connected Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras 4K and 6K. Camera control gives a lot of flexibility and ease of use to ATEM Mini Pro users who are using Pocket Cinema Cameras, which were not initially designed for multiple camera productions. An important new feature? The ATEM Mini Pro can send TC to all four cameras allowing one to use DaVinci Resolve’s Cut page to sync up the four separate in-camera recordings.
We have witnessed a tremendous change in our world and what we need to continue to be media professionals. Before Coronavirus, the ATEM Mini was great. Now, Blackmagic gives us a product better suited for working from home, conducting interviews from home, and multi-camera shoots from home.
ATEM Mini Pro Features
- Features miniaturized control panel based design.
- Supports connecting up to 4 cameras or computers.
- USB output operates as a webcam and supports all video software.
- Live streaming via Ethernet supported on ATEM Mini Pro.
- Recording to USB flash disks in H.264 supported on ATEM Mini Pro.
- Two stereo audio inputs for connecting desktop or lapel microphones.
- Automatically standards converts and re-syncs all HDMI inputs.
- Includes free ATEM Software Control for Mac and Windows.
- Internal media for 20 RGBA graphics for titles, opening plates and logos.
- Includes ATEM Advanced Chroma Key for green/blue screen work.
- Multiview allows monitoring of all cameras on ATEM Mini Pro.
- Audio mixer supports limiter, compressor, 6 band EQ and more!
- Supports remote HDMI control with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras.
The Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K/6K firmware
Studio camera features added to the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Cameras 4K and 6K. Users can now connect these cameras to an ATEM Mini switcher, or ATEM Mini Pro, and control of the camera’s setting like, lens, Iris, ISO, and tally light. The ATEM Mini, and brand new ATEM Mini Pro, can control up to 4 cameras via the HDMI video connection and ensure all cameras color-matched for a more professional and polished look.
Blackmagic Camera Update 6.9 is available for download now from the Blackmagic Design web site.
Video and control are via the HDMI connection, which is available as soon as customers plug the cameras into an ATEM Mini or ATEM Mini Pro. The record light becomes a tally light, so camera operators or on-air talent can see which camera is on air. The ATEM Software Control camera page has a camera control unit (CCU) style interface for adjusting and matching their cameras. Move the CCU control vertically for iris and left to right to change the black level. It’s the same as a broadcast CCU. There are also controls for color tint to balance the camera as well as focus, gain, and shutter speed. Customers can even record Blackmagic RAW in the camera for editing later.
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and 6K is a powerful little camera with a bunch of great features like a complete color pipeline from production through delivery. The large 5-inch LCD makes it possible for camera operators to work off the back screen while hunting for a new angle. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K model features a 4/3 image sensor with 4096 x 2160 resolution and an MFT lens mount. The MFT mount lets operators use small, lightweight, and reasonably affordable lenses.
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K features a larger 6144 x 3456 Super 35 sensor and EF lens mount. The Pocket Camera 6K means that customers can shoot in 6K BlackmagicRAW in the camera while an ATEM Mini Pro can record an mp4 to a USB drive. This gives users the ability to use the full image quality out of the cameras.
The new ATEM Mini makes it easy to create professional multi-camera productions for live streaming to YouTube and presentations using Skype. Connect a Pocket Cinema Camera to ATEM Mini for better quality images. Plus, connect a computer for PowerPoint slides or gaming consoles.
There’s even a DVE that allows picture in picture effects plus lots of video effects and transitions. All ATEM Mini models have USB that works like a webcam so customers can use any streaming software while the ATEM Mini Pro model adds live streaming via Ethernet and recording to USB disks. ATEM Mini also has advanced broadcast features for high-end work.
Blackmagic Camera Update 6.9 Features
- Works as a studio camera when connected to ATEM Mini.
- Designed from carbon fiber polycarbonate composite.
- Wide 13 stops of dynamic range for film looks.
- Up to 25600 ISO for incredible low light performance.
- Features incredible quality Blackmagic RAW recording.
- Built-in 5″ touchscreen allows accurate focus when shooting 6K.
- Blackmagic OS as used in URSA Mini and URSA Broadcast cameras.
- Supports remote tally, lens and color corrector with ATEM Mini.
HyperDeck Studio Mini and HyperDeck Extreme Control.
- Adds AAC codec to H.264 for HyperDeck Studio Mini
- Adds interlaced support to H.264 for HyperDeck Studio Mini
- Adds multi deck control to the HyperDeck Extreme Control
- Improves connectivity between the HyperDeck Extreme Control and the HyperDeck Studio Mini
- Increases clip length before spilling to a new clip on the HyperDeck Studio Mini
- Improves network and FTP performance on the HyperDeck Studio Mini