Blackmagic ATEM Television Studio HD User Manual ATEM Software Control

ATEM Software Control is included with your ATEM switcher and allows you to control your switcher in a similar way to the switcher’s built in panel. Instead of menu buttons, the software uses a range of palettes on the right side that shows you all processing features of your production switcher. This allows you to control the switcher from another location, for example when the switcher is rack mounted in a different room to the person operating it.

Before you can get started with ATEM Software Control you will need to install the software.

To install ATEM Software Control:

1. Launch your web browser, navigate to www.blackmagicdesign.com/support and download the latest ATEM switcher drivers.

2. When the file has finished downloading, double click ‘install ATEM’ icon to run the installer. Follow the prompts to the end and press ‘install’ to install the software.

3. Once the software is installed, navigate to ‘Blackmagic ATEM Switchers’ folder in your applications or programs folder and double click ‘ATEM Software Control’.

Now the software is installed you will need to connect the switcher to the computer. This can be done by connecting the devices directly via Ethernet or USB.

Connecting Directly

Connecting via a Network

Lastly, you need to ensure your computer is connected and working on your network. Then when you launch the ATEM Software Control application, you will be prompted to select a switcher. If it can be seen on the network, you can select it from the list, or enter an IP address manually. Use the IP address you just entered for the switcher. Then the ATEM Software Control can find the switcher and communicate.

Switcher Control Panel

The software control panel has four main control windows: Switcher, Media, Audio and Camera. You can open these windows by selecting the buttons at the bottom of the interface or by pressing the Shift and left/right arrow hot keys. A general settings window can be opened by selecting the gear icon at the lower left of the interface. The switcher, media, audio and camera windows all contain unique settings for the switcher, which can only be made from the software control panel.

Switcher Panel

When first launched, the switcher screen is selected, which is the main control interface for the switcher. The software control panel must be connected to a switcher to run.

ATEM Software Control window

Preferences

The preferences settings are arranged as ‘general’ preferences and ‘mapping’ preferences. General preferences contain settings for transition control, language selection and enabling or disabling midi control. Mapping preferences let you assign inputs to specific buttons on the preview and program rows. Go to the menu bar at the top of your screen, select ‘ATEM Software Control’ and open the ‘preferences’.

Open preferences from the ATEM Software Control menu

General Preferences

When you first receive your ATEM switcher, it will be set to program/preview switching which is the current standard for an M/E switcher. You can change this preference to A/B Direct if you wish to use older style A/B switching.

ATEM Software Control can be set to display in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and simplified Chinese languages.

When running ATEM Software Control for the first time after installation, a setup dialog box will prompt you to set the language for the software, but you can change the language of the software at any time.

From the language menu select your preferred language. A warning will appear asking you to confirm the action. Click ‘change’.

ATEM Software Control will now close and restart in your selected language.

To operate your ATEM switcher using a MIDI controller, check the box to enable MIDI control.

Set your general preferences

Button Mapping

In the mapping preferences, you can assign inputs to specific buttons on the preview and program rows. The camera drop down menu lets you select a Blackmagic camera for each input, or you can select ‘generic’ or ‘none’. Selecting the correct camera for the input will ensure that all the parameters for that camera are set correctly.

ATEM software and hardware control panels support button mapping so you can assign your most important sources, especially cameras, to the most accessible buttons in the program and preview rows. Occasional sources can be assigned to less prominent buttons. Button mapping is set independently for each control panel so button mapping set on a software control panel will not affect the button mapping set on a hardware control panel.

Changing Switcher Settings

Clicking on the switcher settings ‘gear’ icon in the bottom left hand corner will open the settings window where you can change general switcher settings, audio, multiview, sources, HyperDeck and remote settings. These settings are divided into tabs.

ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO general settings

General Settings

The general tab contains settings for your video standard, media pool settings as well as choosing the camera control monitoring output.

Video

Setting the Switcher Video Standard

The video setting is used to select the operating video standard of the ATEM switcher. You can set the video standard to suit the region in which you are broadcasting, such as 1080i59.94 or 720p59.94 if you are broadcasting in NTSC based countries. If you are broadcasting in PAL based countries, you can set your video standard to formats such as 1080i50 or 720p50. A good way to work out the video standard you should use is to check cameras and then set the switcher video standard to the same format.

Set your video standard

ATEM Television Studio HD8 switchers support the following video standards.

To set the video standard, select the video standard from the menu and then press the ‘set’ button. Any time the video standard is changed, it will erase any frames you have loaded into the media pool.

Setting the Multiview Video Standard

If your production video standard is set to 1080p25 or higher, you can adjust the multiview output to a lower frame rate. This way you can set the multiview outputs to be down converted for even greater monitor compatibility. For example, if your video standard is set to 1080p60, you can set the multiview output to 1080i60.

Set 3G SDI Output Level

If you’re outputting 1080p50 or higher HD video to equipment with 3G-SDI inputs, you may need to toggle between level A and B 3G-SDI output standards to maintain compatibility with equipment that can only accept level A or B 3G-SDI video. Level B is the default setting that works with most equipment, but you can switch to Level A by clicking the ‘level A’ radio button.

Media Pool

Adjusting the Media Pool Clip Length

Each ATEM switcher model has memory for graphics that’s called the media pool. This memory holds images with an alpha channel as well as video clips that can be assigned to a media player for use in the production.

Media pool capacities

By default, each clip receives equal amounts of the available memory which determines the maximum number of frames. If you need a clip to be longer, adjust the balance of frames. It’s worth remembering that lengthening one clip will shorten the other.

Media pool sharing

Camera Control

Camera Control Monitoring Output

You can select any SDI output for camera control monitoring. When controlling your cameras via the camera control panel, you can monitor the adjustments via this output. Choose any output from the menu.

Remote Source Network

ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO model switchers are visible over your local network by default, so if you are planning on streaming directly to the switcher using Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro or URSA Broadcast G2 you can get started straight away. To turn this off, uncheck enable switcher to be discovered on the network.

Audio Settings

The audio tab contains all the audio settings separated into five categories, split audio, split MADI, talkback, mix minus and general.

Audio settings

Split Audio

ATEM Television Studio HD8 switchers can split a stereo input signal into two separate mono channels. This is helpful for mixing a mono input into both channels on the stereo master output. You can also select between splitting all audio into separate channels, or select each input individually.

You can also split MADI channels into separate mono channels.

Use the checkboxes to split MADI into separate mono channels

Talkback

Set your talkback behavior via the talkback tab. Production talkback is embedded into SDI channels 15 and 16 and engineering talkback is embedded into SDI channel 13 and 14. Talkback can be enabled or disabled via the check box.

You may want to loop one of your ATEM’s outputs to an input to achieve a desired effect. In some cases this can cause a feedback loop in SDI talkback channels. If this occurs, you can mute SDI channels talkback by clicking the ‘mute’ checkbox beside each input. If you do want to mute incoming talkback, make sure to check the box for both production and engineering talkback.

Mute incoming production talkback on inputs

Mix Minus

The mix minus settings on aux outputs let you mute the audio from their return program feed. For example, when doing live crosses there can be a delay in the audio which may be distracting when the presenter can hear his or her own voice delayed on the program return feed. Enabling mix minus for an input will output all program audio in the mix, minus that particular input.

General

Use the general audio tab to set the audio follow video settings.

Audio Follow Video Settings

When using AFV, you can select the audio behavior during transitions using the radio buttons. To crossfade the audio when inputs change, check the radio button to add a transition. The audio will only be sent to the program output when the input is on air.

Set the audio follows video behavior

Multiview Settings

The multiview settings allow you to set the multiview orientation. The default view features two large windows at the top and eight smaller windows beneath, however each quadrant of the multiview can be set to either one large view or four smaller views so you can configure 4, 7, 10, 13 or 16 views. Click on each quadrant in the ‘view control’ to toggle between 1 and 4 views.

Configure the multiviews

Audio meters can be turned on or off for all the switcher sources and program view by enabling the ‘All On’ button in the multiview settings, or you can turn them on or off individually by clicking the audio meter icon in each view.

When viewing a preview output on the multiview you can turn on safe area markers to make sure your program will look great on any monitor. In HD, the outer border represents the 16:9 graphics safe area and the inner border represents the 4:3 graphics safe area.

The multiview will also display tally, so if any of the sources in the multiview are used in a layer on the program or preview outputs, the border will be highlighted red or green. A red border indicates the source is used on the program output and a green border indicates a source is selected on the preview output. A white border means your source is not currently on the preview output, or on air on the program output.

The multiview includes additional status views for streaming, recording and audio so you can monitor the space on hard drives or data rate while streaming. For more information on available views, refer to ‘Using the Multiview’ in this manual.

Sources

The sources tab can be used to change labels for the switchers inputs, outputs and media players. Each input and output will have a long name and a short name.

The long name supports up to 20 characters in length and are displayed in various source selection boxes on the software control panel, the multiview windows on screen labels and on the LCD displays on the switcher. The short 4 character name is used to identify the input buttons on software control panel.

To change an input name, click in the text field, enter the text and select set. The input name will be updated on the multiview, software control panel and switcher if one is connected. It’s a very good idea to change both the short and long labels at the same time, so they match. For example Camera 1 would be entered in as a long label and CAM1 as the short label.

Enter the long and short names for the inputs and outputs

On ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO model switchers you can use the sources tab to add remote cameras on your local network or via the internet. For more information refer to ‘additional features on ISO models’ later in this manual.

HyperDeck Settings

Connect up to 4 Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio disk recorders and control them using ATEM Software Control. When connecting HyperDecks, use these settings to configure the IP Address, select the inputs your HyperDecks are connected to, turn the auto roll feature for each deck on or off and set their frame offset settings so they can switch cleanly.

Status indicators appear above and below each deck so you can see if they are successfully connected and if their remote buttons are active.

Add up to 4 HyperDecks

Customizing the labels for your HyperDeck inputs can make it easier to pick from the list.

For detailed information on setting up Blackmagic HyperDecks with your ATEM switcher and setting the ‘HyperDeck’ configuration settings, refer to the ‘HyperDeck control’ section of this manual.

Remote Settings

ATEM Television Studio HD8 switchers feature a RJ12 remote port on the rear for RS-422 control. you can select how it is used with the ‘remote’ checkbox. The options are ‘disabled’, VISCA and GVG, where GVG sets it to use GVG100, a common legacy interface for communicating with equipment such as linear editing suites.

Remote settings

Auxiliary Outputs

The two separate SDI auxiliary outputs on your ATEM switcher can have various inputs and internal sources routed to them. They are very similar to router outputs and all video inputs, color generators, media players, program, preview and even color bars can be output.

SDI outputs on ATEM Television Studio HD8

Routing Auxiliary Outputs

Each aux output has a menu for selecting the source to output on the aux video output. Simply select the menu, then scroll the list for the source you want to output. When selected, the output on the selected aux will change immediately. You can see the current source with a tick in the menu item. There is a range of sources available, including black, all video inputs, color bars, media players fill and media player key outputs, program, preview and clean feeds.

Outputs menu on ATEM Television Studio HD8

Aux outputs are extremely powerful and allow many exciting possibilities like alternative switcher outputs, or they are very commonly used for driving video projectors and video walls on stage during concerts and live performances. Most modern live performances have complex multi media aspects to them and the aux outputs are designed to allow you to control all these displays from your ATEM!

Audio Output Channel Mapping

Map your program output audio channels via the audio menu.

Your ATEM switcher can route the program out audio channels individually using the audio menu.

Audio routing options in ATEM Software Control

Program mix will always be assigned to channels 1 and 2, engineering talkback to 13 and 14 and production talkback to channels 15 & 16, but all other channels can be mapped separately using any of the SDI, MADI, XLR, RCA or microphone inputs.

Routing program audio using ATEM Software Control

1. Click on the audio menu in the upper toolbar.

2. Select a pair of program audio out channels and from the menu on the right hand side select the SDI input audio you want to route. For example, to route channels 3 and 4 from SDI input 2 to channels 3 and 4 on the program out, select ‘audio out 3/4’ in the first list menu and ‘SDI input 2 audio 3/4’ from the second list.

Saving and Restoring Switcher Settings

After setting up your ATEM switcher, you can save your settings using two different options.

Save Startup State

If your switcher uses the same settings for all your productions you can save the default startup state. Once saved, each time you open ATEM Software Control all your presets and preferences will load. These settings can be cleared using the ‘clear startup state’.

Save Settings as an XML

For workflows where you may have multiple productions each with their own setup, you can use the ‘save as’ feature. This powerful feature is incredibly time saving on live productions where regular settings are used. For example, you can immediately restore saved camera settings, lower third graphics and detailed key setups from a laptop or USB drive.

To save settings:

1. Go to the menu bar in ATEM Software Control and select File>Save As.

2. A window will open asking for a file name and destination folder. After you have made your selection, click Save.

3. The Save Switcher State panel containing checkboxes for all the available settings on each block of your ATEM switcher will open. The Select All checkbox is enabled by default. If you save with Select All enabled, ATEM Software Control saves your entire switcher settings. If you want to choose specific settings to save, you can deselect settings individually, or to remove all settings click Select All once to deselect them. Now you can select specific settings you want to save.

4. Click Save. A saving status will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the panel to confirm the save is complete.

ATEM Software Control saves your settings as an XML file together with a folder for ATEM Media Pool contents.

After you have saved your settings you can quick save at any time by selecting File>Save, or by pressing Command S for Mac, or Ctrl S for Windows. Doing so will not overwrite your previous save, but will add a new XML file to your destination folder which is clearly identified with a time and date stamp. This means you can always restore a previous save if necessary.

With ATEM Software Control you can save and restore all your switcher settings for your live production, including key settings, transition styles, media pool contents and more

If your switcher settings are saved on a laptop, it’s easy to take all your settings with you on location. Connect your laptop to any ATEM switcher and quickly restore your switcher settings.

Live production can be a busy and exciting time and you’re always working in the moment, which means you can easily forget to back up your saved files when the production is over.

If you have settings you want to keep, save them to your computer and an external drive, such as a USB drive. This means you can carry your settings with you and have a back up in case your settings are accidentally deleted on your computer.

To restore settings:

1. Go to the menu bar in ATEM Software Control and select File>Restore.

2. A window will ask for the file you want to open. Select your save file and click Open.

3. You’ll now see a window containing active checkboxes for your saved settings on each block of your ATEM switcher. Leave Select All enabled to restore all your saved settings, or select only the checkboxes for the settings you want to restore.

4. Click Restore.

Factory Reset

To reset your ATEM switcher to factory settings open the ATEM Setup utility and click ‘factory reset’. Switcher settings saved before a factory reset will remain.