Reliable broadcasting for Stake Conference - how to

[Mikerowaved]

Take a look at the new Blackmagic Design Atem Mini. $300 gives you 4 hdmi inputs and a host of great features such as lower thirds. It converts all input resolutions for you. Used it for our Conference in Feb 2020 and worked flawlessly.

The ATEM Mini is indeed a nice product at a very reasonable price, but there are a few negatives that folks should be aware of before spending stake money. Take a look at this in-depth review published last September at StreamingMedia.com:

https://www.streamingmedia.com/Producer/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/The-Blackmagic-Design-ATEM-Mini--Is-It-for-You-134104.aspx

[jeremywillden]

A huge +1 for the ATEM Mini from Blackmagic Design. I own one of the (much larger $3000) 8-input ATEM 4k switchers and have used it with excellent results for several stake conferences, but I just purchased an ATEM Mini for smaller/simpler shoots and in fact, for most stake conferences it is perfect. While the front panel is straightforward and easy to use, once you connect a computer with the (free) ATEM control software, many hidden features become available.
Want to overlay the words for the Hymns over live video? The built-in keyer does a very good luminance key (light text on a black background, and keying makes the black background disappear so your live camera feed has the text overlaid).
Our stake center was just updated with HDMI distribution and a new sound system, and this switcher would work beautifully for conference. Though the new stake center video rack includes a ($1000+) "video switcher" it is definitely *not* designed for switching feeds live. When switching inputs, the video freezes for about a second, then changes to the new source. At $300 the ATEM mini provides far superior fades and (instant) cuts. Highly recommended!

[jeremywillden]

They just released a new "ATEM Mini Pro" that includes a stack of new features for $600, including direct hardware streaming from the switcher itself and direct-to-USB disk recording. For less than the cost of a VidiU box, you get a nice 4-input video switcher and the streaming converter, and have a low-latency HDMI output for overflow projectors and such. I've got one on order and plan to provide an update once I've tested it.

Along those lines, for the past several weeks I've done a "virtual singing time" for our primary (I'm also the primary chorister) using the ATEM Mini ($300 model) and it works very well as a webcam input, supporting a DVE picture-in-picture so the "Sing-Along" app takes up most of the screen while I'm in a corner leading the music.

[Mikerowaved]

They just released a new "ATEM Mini Pro" that includes a stack of new features for $600, including direct hardware streaming from the switcher itself and direct-to-USB disk recording. For less than the cost of a VidiU box, you get a nice 4-input video switcher and the streaming converter, and have a low-latency HDMI output for overflow projectors and such.

Nice that it includes multiview - that was a deal-breaker for me with the original ATEM Mini. Not being able to preview any camera(s) to setup the next shot meant you're always switching blind. The original didn't have any audio VU indicator, hope this one does.

Unfortunately, it appears the Pro version can only stream via hardware at 1080p. The optional bitrates range from High 6 to 9 Mb/s, Medium 4.5 to 7 Mb/s, or Low 3 to 4.5 Mb/s, which are all well above the maximum bitrate allowed for streaming to the church's portal. Might be able to pass the HDMI output to the VidiU to further reduce the bitrate, but then you lose the multiview capability since the one HDMI output jack can only be set for program output or multiview. The more expensive ATEM's have 2 HDMI jacks to support both at the same time.

In any case, looking forward to your hands-on review!

[robyoungberg]

Hi All,
Has anyone used the Atem Mini Pro to stream to the Church's system? I found a video that shows how to edit the xml file. I'd love to have an auto configuration setup like the Teradek Vidiu has, but I'm not sure it's possible yet.

[richardjmarlatt]

Hi All,
Has anyone used the Atem Mini Pro to stream to the Church's system? I found a video that shows how to edit the xml file. I'd love to have an auto-configuration setup like the Teradek Vidiu has, but I'm not sure it's possible yet.

We have two buildings running ATEM Mini Pros throuh the church's Webcast portal. Below is our XML file we are using. The challenge is that the church's webcast system creates a new RTMP URL and key for each event so you have to edit and reload the XML file prior to each event to go live. After you load the XML file you then need to select "Church Webcast" from the dropdown menu and paste the "Stream Name" in the "Key" field in the ATEM software.

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<streaming>

	<service>
		<name>Church Webcast</name>
		<servers>
			<server>
				<name>Default</name>
				<url>rtmp://MHW-20-93670.westus.cloudapp.azure.com/23lk</url>
				
			</server>
		</servers>
		<profiles>
			<profile>
				<name>Streaming Medium</name >
				<config resolution="1080p" fps="30">
					<bitrate>750000</bitrate>
					<audio-bitrate>48000</audio-bitrate>
				</config>
			</profile>
			<profile>
				<name>Streaming Low</name>
				<config resolution="1080p" fps="30">
					<bitrate>500000</bitrate>
					<audio-bitrate>48000</audio-bitrate>
				</config>
			</profile>
		</profiles>
	</service>

</streaming>

[quintonrhq]

The ATEM mini does not have a multi-view screen making a two camera setup sub-optimal for us. The ATEM mini pro has this feature allowing us to frame the preview PTZ camera and then switch it into the program stream. Good little boxes but both lack the easy ability to use the church streaming directly. OBS gets to do that.

[big2thumbs]

The ATEM Mni Pro works perfectly!
* It has multiview HDMI output with a nice audio VU meter
* 4 HDMI inputs
* 2 mic inputs plus great audio processing
* easy webcast capability that works well with the Church's webcast system (after you figure out a few pain points)
Thanks to those that figured out most of the pain points. The above in richardjmarlatt's post xml file works great. What is missing in the post is where to put that snippet of xml. So you need to add it to the 'setup.xml' file after the other 'service' listings. You can find the setup.xml in C:\Program Files (x86)\Blackmagic Design\Blackmagic ATEM Switchers\ATEM Software Control.
This file gets uploaded to the ATEM Mini Pro when you start the "ATEM Software Control" software, so change the file before you start the SW.
As noted by richardjmarlatt the URL needs to be updated in the xml file after you set up the meeting on the church's webcast config page.

[big2thumbs]

So you need to add it to the 'setup.xml' file after the other 'service' listings. You can find the setup.xml in C:\Program Files (x86)\Blackmagic Design\Blackmagic ATEM Switchers\ATEM Software Control.
This file gets uploaded to the ATEM Mini Pro when you start the "ATEM Software Control" software, so change the file before you start the SW.
As noted by richardjmarlatt the URL needs to be updated in the xml file after you set up the meeting on the church's webcast config page.

(I don't see a way to edit my last post so I'll make corrections here)
I said "setup.xml" file, I meant "Streaming.xml" file. (Don't change the name of the file but it might be a good idea to make a backup copy )
I said that you need to update the URL for every event BUT If you add you ATEM Mini Pro as a new encoder, then the RTMP URL will stay static as well as the 'Stream Name' or 'key". So you WON'T need to edit the streaming.xml file for every event - just once. You do need to add the 'key' before starting the stream. There is probably a way to include that with the URL in the xml file but I don't know the syntax.

I failed to mention that one very useful feature that I use is the keying video effects for displaying hymn text and speaker names. You can do this with chroma-key or luma-key or pattern-key. I like chroma key for speaker names and pattern key for hymn text. Hymn text is easy to set up by copying hymn text from the church's website and then pasting in Word with a custom page size of 6.21” tall x11” wide with a 4.8” top margin and 0.1” bottom margin. If you do chroma-key, make green your page background color and highlight some other color like dark blue and light text like yellow. You can put the new church logo in a corner using luma key. But you can pretty much use any of them for any of these uses.

So for less than the cost of a Teradek Vidiu, you get an encoder and a very powerful mixer with video effects.