Moving from tricaster to ATEM?????

I am currently using a tricaster to run live internet. I would like to switch to ATEM but have found Black Magic people very un-helpful.

We run an internet tv station and want to duplicate what the tricaster does on ATEM. We also want to move to Mac which is most of our gear anyways. Here is what I am not sure of:

1. How do we run live on the internet with ATEM. We are using IMAC. What gear do we need other than the obvious stuff. BM won't recommend the products that actually make it all work.
2. What do we use for CG's storage, playback (DDR)

THis would be just part of the questions but I am not sure what to ask. Can anyone help?

Thanks
George

Hey Frank,

Can you suggest any other streaming solutions that are software based? Would flash media streaming be an option? Do you know of any "on the Fly" CG options such as Live Text 2.0 by Newtek.

For me, it is moving from SD to HD. BMD cost much less than Tricaster. I would love to stay with the Tricaster, but my budget just wont allow it. I have just about everything I need to move to HD, except the switcher, CG, and media clips player. Over the past year, I have upgraded everything else to HD including cameras. I feel i can do CG with Adobe photoshop, aftereffects, or premier pro and i have that as well. I am really not excited about doing it that way, but I just dont know any other way to do it. Any insight would be appreciated.

We made the move to ATEM in our production trailer to get more inputs. Planning to move to ATEM2 this fall. Here is what we use.
1. Clip store and playback. PlaybackPro running on MAC. Very versatile program and solid as a rock. You can even rearrange the clip store while a clip is playing.
2. Streaming. Teradek is great. If you want a PC based solution then Vaddio has announced a box which takes HDMI or HD-SDI in and provides a USB connection. We are looking forward to that for a Skype connection, but should work with any streaming app that normally uses a usb camera.
3. Titling and lower thirds. The PhotoShop add-in in the ATEM to the media store works great. We let our graphics guy update the scoreboard in Photoshop (on a MAC), publish it to ATEM and then run the ATEM software and take his own effects. We do use the control surface to switch program.
4. We retained our Tricaster XD300 and used it as an instant replay box running RealPlay. We are planning on a Triple Play for this upcoming season.

Why do all this? 1. Cost is always an issue. To compare you would have to look at the 850 from Newtek.
2. It is not a PC and while the HD versions of products are very stable, there is always that nagging thought. More importantly, there is no hard drive except in the laptops that are very ruggedized. Also, we use two MACs that have the same software applications so either can back up the other.
3. The broadcast community more readily accepts the ATEM with a traditional looking surface. I don't believe that is technically legitimate, but nevertheless the bias continues. Same with big box cameras vs cameras like EX1 or 3.

Hope this helps. Contact us anytime if we can help further. We have delivered quite a number of the ATEM ME1.


Jim Brown
M&M ProductionsUSA
Oak Ridge, TN

For CG and video playback and much more, ProPresenter is a great choice. You can step up from luma keying with the basic program to linear keying with the Alpha Keyer Module with additional Blackmagic hardware. I use this setup and and understand that is being used at all 30-plus London 2012 Olympic Games venues.

I use a Decklink HD Extreme 3D in my Mac Pro and an UltraStudio 3D with my MacBook Pro for the ProPresenter 5 linear key setup.

That is great info. I am trying to build this new system without any missing links. So your help is invaluable. We use a tricaster now and for the most part, it takes care of all of our concerns except that it is a PC and the cost is skyrocketing! We want to make a clean switch without any "oops" we didn't know that we would need that piece of gear or that we would need that program. Because we work in a school division we usually have a one time buy in. We can't afford to make any mistakes.

So, we are going from A to Z.

Thanks
George

Hello Bob,

Do you know if this solution (ATEM Television Studio USB to Procaster) will work with Flash Media Live Encoder? If so, do you know anyone who has tried?