Need advice on hooking up a presentation computer to a Blackmagic Design ATEM Television Studio switcher

[Leonard Teo]

Hi all,

Just posting this for the benefit of those who happen to stumble across it and are trying to solve issues with the ATEM:

1. Mixing a signal from a computer/presentation computer
PC/Mac to ATEM is very finicky because not all graphics cards will allow you to output at the exact resolution and frame rate as the ATEM (1920x1080i). We bought a scaler to do this:
https://www.atlona.com/Atlona-PC-Laptop-to-HDMI-Converter-with-built-in-Scaler-up-to-1080p.html
The above one we got is $287 from TigerDirect.ca

You can probably get a similar one that takes DVI input, but a scaler is extremely useful.

We split our computer VGA. One goes to the projector, the other goes to the scaler, then to the ATEM.

2. Analog Audio to ATEM
Hooking up analog audio to the ATEM is also challenging as audio needs to be input as AES EBU digital signal. If your mixer doesn’t already do this, you need to get the
Behringer ULTRAMATCH PRO SRC2496 High-Resolution Sample Rate/Format Converter

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/264903-REG/Behringer_ULTRAMATCH_PRO_SRC2496_ULTRAMATCH_PRO_SRC2496_High_Resolution.html

$163.99

This will output the audio as AES EBU. Just get an RCA to BNC connector, hook it up. We found that the audio was out of sync by about 3 frames – the audio was coming in quicker than the video. We decided that this is negligible. Our editor fixes it quickly in Final Cut Pro by just moving the audio over 3 frames.

Another poster on Creative Cow had mentioned that they had issues with the resulting file, that audio would go out of sync. We did not find this issue. We bring our video into Final Cut Pro, export, post to Vimeo and it’s great.

Overall, this is a very good setup.

Good luck,

Leonard

[Claudius Cazan]

We upgraded our sanctuary as well with he ATEM TVS. My solution for the Powerpoint laptop into projector/monitor TV/input into ATEM is a VGA splitter/amplifier (from Shinybow):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/872156-REG/Shinybow_SB_1104G_1x4_VGA_Splitter_Amplifier.html

I connect the Powerpoint laptop into the input of the splitter and send the output three ways: 1. to a Kramer presentation switcher/scaler (older model no longer sold), which in turn sends the signal to the ceiling-mounted projector. Into the presentation swicher/scaler we also connect a DVD/BluRay player. 2. via a 50′ VGA cable to a 32″ TV to the front of the church (where the speakers present and where they can see the TV up-close for monitoring). I convert the VGA signal at the TV with this:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/842267-REG/Comprehensive_CCN_VH101_VGA_Audio_to.html

The TV image is crystal-clear, detailed and everyone who sees the image on the TV is amazed. 3. I just purchased a Kramer VGA to HD-SDI converter/scaler:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/904959-REG/Kramer_vp_483_Computer_Graphics_Video.html

This unit will set you back a few bills. HD-SDI is not cheap, but I hope is the answer to getting a high-quality laptop VGA image into the ATEM switch.

If you are interested to see how it works, I can post my comments back here after I have a chance to test it this weekend in a live streaming scenario.

[Robert Broussard]

Hi there, I have a need to connect any Presenter laptop to my ATM. At the moment we have some older Lenix the computers that I’ll put 1028×768 and that don’t work, even with a Decimator. I know that modern desktop computers are easy to deal with but with older computers or the odd ball here and there, is there a certain scaler that covers all the cases??

Thanks,

Robert

[Kevin Copeland]

The BMD UpDownCross should do it. It says it supports various DVI resolutions including 1024×768.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1401679-REG/blackmagic_design_convmudcstd_hd_mini_converter_updowncross_hd.html

Very affordable. I use one with our Church’s iMac and ProPresenter to feed into our ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4k. It has worked flawlessly and it’s a great price. $155.

I’ve also used this converter with my Windows laptop to get a 3rd display out using a USB – HDMI Display adapter (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/937268-REG/j5create_jua_350_usb_3_0_hdmi_dvi.html)

That allows me to use PowerPoint on Windows as a character generator with the SimpleSupers.com app. Gives me key and fill by generating an alpha channel. I put this in my Downstream keyer in the ATEM and use it for animated lower thirds, sermon notes, worship lyrics with shimmers, etc.