Blackmagic ATEM Television Studio HD User Manual HyperDeck Control

Introducing HyperDeck Control

You can connect up to 4 Blackmagic HyperDeck disk recorders to your switcher and control them using the system control buttons on the ATEM switcher or using the HyperDecks palette in ATEM Software Control. This is a very powerful feature! With four HyperDecks connected to your switcher, it’s like having a portable videotape department able to record outputs from your switcher, play back graphics, or you can even set your switcher to roll prerecorded segments at the press of a button!

Transport controls are located in the system control menu on an ATEM Television Studio HD8 and in the HyperDecks palette in ATEM Software Control, which lets you play back video, jog and shuttle, skip clips, pause and more. You can also record video.

When you combine this feature with ATEM’s powerful macros feature, it opens up a world of creative possibilities that can really enhance your live production!

HyperDeck Studio HD Plus

Connecting HyperDecks

Connecting Blackmagic HyperDecks to your switcher is very similar to connecting cameras and other video sources via your switcher’s SDI inputs. The only additional connection is Ethernet which lets your ATEM switcher communicate with the HyperDeck disk recorder.

1. Using the Ethernet connector, connect your HyperDeck disk recorder to the same network your ATEM switcher is connected to.

2. Press the remote button marked ‘REM’ on the HyperDeck’s control panel. The ‘REM’ button will illuminate which means the HyperDeck has remote control enabled. If you are using a HyperDeck Studio HD Mini, turn remote on via the settings tab on the LCD menu.

3. Plug the SDI output of your HyperDeck into the SDI inputs of your ATEM switcher.

4. If you want to record your ATEM switcher’s program output with your HyperDeck, plug one of the switcher’s SDI outputs into the SDI input of your HyperDeck.

5. Repeat the process for each HyperDeck you want to connect.

In the first menu page, you’ll see the ‘HyperDeck’ indicator in the bottom left corner and an ‘input’ indicator. Use the control knob under the ‘HyperDeck’ indicator to cycle through the available HyperDecks.

Once you have selected a HyperDeck, rotate the knob under the ‘input’ indicator to select which input that HyperDeck is connected to on your switcher. For example, if HyperDeck 1 is connected to SDI In 4 on your switcher, rotate the knob under the ‘input’ indicator to select ‘camera 4.’ Press the ‘input’ knob to confirm your selection.

Using the second page you can turn enable or disable the auto roll feature and set a value for frame offset. When auto roll is enabled, the HyperDeck disk recorder will automatically roll video when it is switched to the program output. For example, you can cue a HyperDeck to the point you want your source to begin, then roll the source by pressing its input button on the mix effects program row. If you want to cue to a still frame of video or manually trigger video playback on your HyperDeck, you can also deselect the ‘auto roll’ feature.

As HyperDecks must buffer a couple of frames before commencing playback, the actual cut will be delayed a preset number of frames to ensure a clean transition. This is just like setting a preroll on a videotape machine. You can adjust the length of this delay by changing the number in the ‘offset’ box. We’ve found that five frames usually ensures a clean cut.

Once you’ve assigned an input to a HyperDeck, you’ll need to enter its IP address. This allows ATEM Television Studio HD8 to control the HyperDeck via Ethernet.

To enter a HyperDeck’s IP address, navigate to the third HyperDeck settings page with the ‘left’ or ‘right’ arrow buttons, or pressing ‘3’ on the numeric keypad while in the HyperDeck settings menu.

In this page, you’ll see an IP address for the currently selected HyperDeck. Each IP address number corresponds to a rotary knob below it. To change these numbers, you can rotate the corresponding knob, or press the knob once and enter a number using the numeric keypad. Do this for each number in the IP address.

Once you’ve entered the IP address for your HyperDeck, press the soft button corresponding to the ‘save changes’ indicator to confirm the address. To cancel, press ‘undo’.

To enter the IP address for subsequent HyperDecks, you’ll need to select the HyperDeck using the first page of the HyperDeck settings menu.

You can control HyperDecks via the switcher using the ‘media players’ button. For more information, refer to ‘HyperDeck control’ later in this manual.

Plugging the SDI output from Hyperdeck Studio HD Plus into an SDI input on ATEM Television Studio HD8

Now all you have to do is tell your ATEM switcher which input and IP address each HyperDeck is using. You can do this in the HyperDeck tab in ATEM Software Control switcher settings, or using the system control soft buttons on ATEM Televisions Studio HD8.

HyperDeck Settings

HyperDeck connection settings are located in the ‘HyperDeck’ tab of the ATEM Software Control switcher settings. Here you’ll see setup options for up to four HyperDecks.

Entering the necessary details is as easy as typing in your HyperDeck’s IP address in the ‘IP Address’ box and choosing the source it’s plugged into from the ‘input’ menu. Click ‘connect’ and your HyperDeck is ready to be controlled.

Status indicators appear above and below each HyperDeck icon to let you know the connection status. A green tick means your HyperDeck is connected, in remote and ready to go.

If your HyperDeck is connected and recognized, but does not have its remote button enabled, you will see an indicator letting you know remote is not active.

If your HyperDeck is not recognized, you will see a ‘failed to connect’ indicator. If you see this indicator, check the HyperDeck’s Ethernet port is connected to your network and the IP address is entered correctly.

Auto Roll

You can set a HyperDeck disk recorder to automatically roll video when it is switched to the program output. For example, you can cue a HyperDeck to the point you want your source to begin, then roll the source by pressing its input button on the mix effects program row.

As HyperDecks must buffer a couple of frames before commencing playback, the actual cut will be delayed a preset number of frames to ensure a clean transition. This is just like setting a preroll on a videotape machine. You can adjust the length of this delay by changing the number in the ‘offset’ box. We’ve found that five frames usually ensures a clean cut.

If you want to cue to a still frame of video or manually trigger video playback on your HyperDeck, you can also deselect the ‘auto roll’ feature.

Controlling HyperDecks with ATEM Software Control

To control the HyperDecks connected to your switcher, click the ‘media players’ tab in the software control panel and choose the ‘HyperDecks’ palette.

Here you can choose between each of the HyperDecks connected to your system by clicking one of the four buttons along the top of the panel. These are named according to the labels entered in ATEM settings. Available HyperDecks are shown with white text, while the HyperDeck you are currently controlling is shown in orange.

Choose from up to four HyperDecks by clicking their selection buttons in the HyperDecks palette.

In addition to the text color, each HyperDeck’s selection button also has a tally indicator.

When you select a HyperDeck, you’ll see information about the currently selected clip such as the name and length, as well as time elapsed and time remaining. Below this you’ll see the control buttons.

	Record Click on this button to start recording on your HyperDeck. Click again to stop recording.
	Previous Clip Moves to the previous clip in your HyperDeck’s media list.
	Play Clicking ‘play’ once initiates playback, clicking it again stops playback. If you have ‘auto roll’ enabled in your HyperDeck settings, playback will commence automatically when your HyperDeck is switched to the program output.
	Next Clip Moves to the next clip in your HyperDeck’s media list.
	Loop Click ‘loop’ once to loop the currently selected clip and again to loop all of the clips in your HyperDeck’s media list.

To move through a clip use the shuttle/jog slider underneath your HyperDeck’s control buttons. This lets you move quickly, or shuttle through a selected clip, or jog frame by frame. You can switch between these modes with the buttons next to the shuttle/jog slider.

Choose between shuttle and jog transport controls with the buttons to the left of the transport slider. Adjust the slider left and right to move forward or backwards through your clip.

The clip list below the transport control shows all of the clips currently available on the selected HyperDeck. You can expand or collapse the list by pressing the arrow to the right of the clip list.

Playback

Playing media on your HyperDeck is easy. Switch your HyperDeck to the preview output and select the clip you want to show. Use the transport controls to cue to the preferred point in your clip. When you switch your HyperDeck to program output, the ‘auto roll’ feature will automatically start playback from this point.

If you want to manually trigger the playback, for example holding on a still frame then rolling, disable the respective HyperDeck’s auto roll checkbox in the ’HyperDeck’ tab in ATEM software’s ‘settings’ menu.

Recording

To record to a HyperDeck with a formatted disk inserted, press the ‘record’ button in the HyperDeck palette transport controls. The ‘time remaining’ indicator in the HyperDeck palette will let you know the approximate recording time remaining in the SSD.

Controlling HyperDecks with ATEM Television Studio HD8

Once you have connected your HyperDecks to your switcher as described in the ‘connecting HyperDecks’ section, you can use the system control buttons and LED menu on your panel to set up and control each HyperDeck.

Controlling HyperDecks with ATEM Television Studio HD8

HyperDeck controls are available in the ‘media players’ menu in system control. To access this menu, press the ‘media players’ control panel button and press the soft button above the ‘HyperDecks’ indicator to access HyperDeck control. If your switcher has more than two media players, you may need to navigate to the next menu page to access HyperDeck controls.

You can now use the rotating knobs below the ‘hyperdeck,’ ‘clip,’ ‘jog’ and ‘shuttle’ indicators to select HyperDecks, select clips and jog and shuttle these clips.

The text in the center of the HyperDeck control menu will change to reflect the HyperDeck and clip that you have selected.

Use the second and third pages of the ‘media players’ LCD menu for more HyperDeck controls, including play, stop, loop playback and forward and reverse skip for moving between clips.

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TIP To play all clips, hold down the shift button and press the ‘play’ soft button.

In the third menu page, press the ‘record’ button to record the program output of your switcher to your HyperDeck. Use the ‘jog’ and ‘shuttle’ commands to scrub through recorded footage.