Friday, December 20, 2019

Blackmagic ATEM Mini Chroma Key

I've been using the ATEM series of switchers since the first ATEM Television studio first came out. We have been using them as hardware keyers in the Reflecmedia booth at NAB. Years ago, there was a product for $1800 called the "Ultimatte DV". It was a pretty decent keyer back in 2008. Times have sure changed since then. HD. Then 4K. I was floored at the Advanced Keyer when I bought our ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K - here is a live stream in 4K utilizing the keyer:

You'll want to use a Browser like Chrome to actually have the ability to view in 4K.

Ultimatte was purchased by Blackmagic and I speculated that some of that technology was rolled into the Advanced Keyer. I was told it was not. However, the difference in the Advanced Keyer is rather profound. Keep in mind that an Ultimatte Keyer is still a $9999 device! These are pretty standard in local affiliate stations for the "Weather" segments.

Now we have the advanced keyer in a $295 product with the Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini. Unbelievable!
Spill suppression. Preview of color. Ability to enlarge the bounding box to pickup a better range of the gamut. Better threshold. It all amounts to a cleaner key. Especially in 4K!

Here is a quick video on how to use the chroma keyer along with the "Flying Key" to do PiP. So if you've been wondering how to get that gamer set-up with the Picture In Picture right where you want it, here's how to do it: