ATEM Television Studio: AES/EBU BNC Input from Analog Sound Board?

[Bob Zelin]

If you choose the ATEM 1 M/E ($2499), it has analog audio inputs. Blackmagic is trying to give you the most “bang for the buck”, and $995 is unheard of for a professional video switcher. It’s amazing that they are giving you audio input for embedding at all ! But it’s cheap to convert analog to AES. You will need TWO pieces –
an Analog to Digital converter, and an XLR to BNC impediance transformer –

BNC is the industry standard for broadcast video, but not for pro audio. Blackmagic is in the VIDEO biz, not the audio biz. So being in the video biz, you have to know the correct pieces to make this happen. Now, Blackmagic does make an Audio to SDI converter, but I know that you want to spend the LEAST AMOUNT POSSIBLE to make this happen – so this is what you need –

1) you need an audio analog to digital converter –
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/264903-REG/Behringer_ULTRAMATCH_PRO_SRC2496_ULTRAMATCH_PRO_SRC2496_High_Resolution.html

this is the Behringer SRC-2496 A/D converter. It’s $163. This will give you an XLR AES/EBU output with channel 1 and channel 2 on it.
OK, now you need to convert this to BNC –

2)
https://www.markertek.com/Audio-Equipment/Audio-Interface/Impedance-Matching-Transformer/Connectronics/AESEBU1.xhtml?AESEBU1

This is an XLR to BNC impedance transformer, which will plug into the Blackmagic. It’s $17 bucks.

Now you are saying – why couldn’t they just put two analog inputs on this damn thing. They do – on the 1ME and 2ME models. Come on, they are charging $995 for this – isn’t this cheap enough ?

ALSO – there is a Balckamgic solution – you can buy the Blackamgic Audio to SDI converter (more money $495) and take the output of the switcher, send it into the Audio to SDI converter, and take the analog audio of your mixer and go into the 1/4″ inputs of this converter, and your final output will have SDI with embedded audio on it – but I know you – you want to spend the LEASE AMOUNT OF MONEY possible – so the solution I have just given you for under $200 will do exactly what you want.

Now, stop your whining and get back to work.

Bob Zelin

[Doug Fish]

Thank you very much for the very detailed response. We don’t plan to internet stream the output anytime soon, so I will just send the program output to the intensity pro card and mate the audio with the video there in media express. If we want to down the line, I have a solution, thanks to you.

[Doug Fish]

Bob, I think my budget will allow this, so I’ve been doing my due diligence. Since the Behringer SCR2496 can send an AES/EBU signal out of any of the digital outs, wouldn’t the best (and cheapest, of course) route be to send the AES/EBU signal out of the RCA digital out (75 ohms, and unbalanced–just what the ATEM calls for) via a RCA to BNC cable like this one?

Monoprice 3′ RCA male to BNC male cable

Or am I missing some part of the equation?

[Doug Fish]

After finally receiving my ATEM Television Studio, I can happily report that the above cable from monoprice works fine to deliver the sound from the RCA digital out on the SRC2496 to the BNC in on the ATEM Television Studio in the AES/EBU format.

[Ratu Ratu]

Hi Doug

I’m interested in getting the ATEM Tele Studio but I have a couple of questions about the audio side.

1.Do you have any problems with audio delay when coming into the video switcher (Via SRC2496/cable connector)? If yes, how are you dealing with this? I watched studiotechtv on youtube and Mark was using a
Behringer FBQ 100 Shark Feed Back to solve audio delay problems.

2. With the RCA to AES/EBU connector, is this coming into the video switcher as mono or stereo?
Cheers
Ratu

[Doug Fish]

1. The question is not whether you will have audio delay and video delay; you will. The right question is how much delay, and how well they match up. In most circumstances, video delay will be greater than audio delay, since the data that needs to be processed is much, much greater.

I am currently feeding the ATEM TVS with 2 cameras and 1 computer, all via HDMI. The video *might* lag slightly behind the audio feed, but unless you are looking hard for it it is unnoticeable.

Delay is added whenever you have to convert/process an audio or video signal. Since people are using ATEM mini-converters and the built-in analog to digital converters of the 1 M/E, they are creating more lag in the video. That’s why I’m keeping all my inputs as HDMI. I imagine the guys over at studiotechtv were mixing their inputs, which caused video delay. I thought I might need to correct video delay in my setup, but it hasn’t been a problem.

My problem of late has been that the mp4 that the ATEM TVS produces will create a file that is synced; I can create a smaller file to upload to vimeo via Adobe Premiere Elements that is synced; but when I upload it, when it is transcoded by vimeo the audio and video are no longer in time. The reason it does this is a little beyond my understanding, but I think I’ve resolved this by splicing the file using avidemux, which caused the audio and video de-sync to manifest itself, then adding a half-second delay to the audio to get it back in sync. I’ll link the uploaded file in a little bit.

2. Stereo.

[Doug Fish]

Here’s our latest sermon. Keep in mind, we are learning, and I didn’t have a cameraman for the first 15 minutes or so, so it’s a wide shot. Also, this doesn’t demonstrate the sync since I had to manipulate the source file with avidemux to keep it from getting unsynced when it is transcoded by vimeo. But I promise you the source video was in sync, or darn close to it!

Sermon Video

[Mikhail Cherchenko]

I came across this “Unbalanced XLR Male to BNC Male Cable XLRM-BNC-XX” wondering if it will work with the Behringer ULTRAMATCH PRO SRC2496 setup, thanks!

[Doug Fish]

No expert here, just a guy who has had to learn a little. But I think the Digital XLR output is 110 ohms, and the ATEM expects 75 ohms.

I have no idea how that impedance mismatch or the “unbalanced” characteristic of the XLR cable will affect the transmission of the digital signal or the resulting sound. Can you experiment for us and find out?

[Leonard Teo]

Hey Doug,

We’re doing a very similar setup (you responded to another one of my threads) at Peoples Church in Montreal (https://www.peoplesmontreal.org). We’re having a lot of issues with the audio with this exact same problem.

We’re very strongly considering getting the Behringer to do the A/D conversion. Our concern is in the audio delay and if we would need to invest in additional equipment to synchronize the audio and video. Or if it’s all too hard, to just get the ATEM M1/E and get it over and done with (though that’s a whole other issue with getting additional budget, etc).

What has your experience been with using the ATEM TVS with the Behringer SRC2496 — are you experiencing really noticeable synchronization issues with the video and audio?

Thanks in advance,

Leo