NAB 2023: Blackmagic Design introduces ATEM 4 M/E Constellation 4K
Blackmagic Design has unveiled the ATEM 4 M/E Constellation 4K, a new Ultra HD model of the ATEM Constellation family.
Featuring the same features as the ATEM four M/E Constellation HD, this new 4K model has 24 12G-SDI aux outputs, 16 upstream ATEM advanced chroma keyers, four downstream keyers, four Ultra HD media players, two SuperSource processors and more. It will be available in June from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for $8,995.
ATEM Constellation switchers feature a compact rack mount design with a built-in control panel. This allows operation of the switcher, critical during setup or for emergency use. Also included is a large LCD so customers can see program output and change switcher settings via on screen menus.
The compact design is suitable for portable live production, with the rear of the switcher including connections for 3G-SDI or 12G-SDI inputs, aux outputs, balanced audio and Ethernet for control. The top 4 M/E models even include RS-422 for serial control and MADI digital audio connections.
ATEM Constellation switchers are ideal for concerts and music festivals because customers can place cameras on all areas of the stage for amazing coverage. Live sports also benefit from the huge number of inputs and DVEs that let customers build multi-layer compositions to cover the action.
With a control panel built into the front panel, users can simply walk up and operate the ATEM Constellation at any time. Plus, the front panel control buttons are the same premium type used on full sized panels so they are extremely reliable. Customers can even control keyers, media and fade to black from the front panel, while the front panel LCD and menu buttons also allow almost every operational feature of the switcher to be accessed.
The ATEM Constellation family has a massive number of fully independent outputs, enabling customers to independently route any SDI input or any internal source to each SDI output. That’s perfect for running independent feeds to stage screens, master recorders and streaming processors. The SDI outputs can also be used for ISO recorders, where each deck will get a resynchronised switcher input with matching timecode. All SDI outputs contain program audio, RP-188 timecode, SDI camera control, tally and talkback.
For live streaming, the USB-C connection on ATEM Constellation operates as a webcam source. The software is tricked into thinking the ATEM Constellation is a common webcam, but it’s really a live production switcher. That guarantees full compatibility with any video software in full resolution 1080HD quality.
The built-in multiview lets customers monitor multiple sources on a single monitor. The ATEM 4 M/E Constellation models have four independent multiviews. All external SDI inputs, plus all internal video sources can be routed to any view. All multiviews are fully customisable and can be independently set to 4, 7, 10, 13 or 16 simultaneous views. Customers can add the tally border plus source label and VU meters as an overlay on each view. Plus, a red and green border will show tally on each view, so customers know what sources are on air.
ATEM Constellation features up to four independent DVEs, depending on the model, that let users reposition graphics and create picture-in-picture compositions. The DVE supports position, resize and scale, all in real time. The DVE lets customers create professional picture-in-picture effects with customisable 3D borders, shadows and lighting. DVEs can also be used to create amazing DVE transitions with squeeze and swoosh effects for adding excitement to their programming. Customers can even combine DVE transitions with custom graphics to create their own graphic wipe transitions. The ATEM 4 M/E Constellation 4K includes 2 SuperSource processors for even more DVEs.
To keep crews working as a single creative team, ATEM Constellation features built in talkback. Talkback supports a 5-pin XLR headset connector, plus a rear-mounted RJ12 connector for interfacing with industry standard talkback systems such as ClearCom or RTS. Customers get full talkback control including program and engineering loops, sidetone control for hearing the headset mic into the headphones and program mix. ATEM Constellation also supports SDI talkback that uses SDI channels 15 and 16 for 2-way communication with Blackmagic Design cameras. Customers can even use channels 13 and 14 for engineering talkback.
The built-in media pool stores broadcast-quality RGBA graphics and animations that can be played back instantly by the four media players. It holds graphics for use with the media players and the 4 M/E models can hold 60 stills and up to 400 frame animations.
For news or virtual set work, ATEM Constellation is perfect as it features lots of ATEM advanced keyers for high-quality chroma or luminance keying. The chroma keyer features a colour picker to sample background colours for automatic generation of the key parameters. Customers benefit from precise controls for edge and flare, and there is even a foreground colour corrector so customers can match the look of the foreground layer to the background layer making seamless compositions possible. The keyer can also be used for pattern and DVE keying.
With four upstream chroma keyers per M/E row, customers get the perfect solution for building virtual sets. With so many ATEM advanced chroma keyers, customers can use a keyer per camera to create a seamless composition of the camera over the custom background. Customers can use external image processors for virtual sets, or even build a fixed camera virtual set by loading pre-rendered still image backgrounds from the media players and media pool. Customers can setup macros to change cameras and load the correct background into the media players.
In addition to the DVEs in the M/E rows, the 4 M/E models include two SuperSource multi layer processors with four extra DVE layers plus a background layer, that all appear to ATEM Constellation as an additional input source. Any switcher video input can be used for each SuperSource DVE, then it’s all layered together over a media pool custom background.
The SDI inputs will also handle embedded audio and mix audio from all video inputs. The program outputs include talkback, tally and camera control information, so customers can connect any of the switcher SDI outputs back to the camera for program return, camera control and talkback.
With a built in Fairlight audio mixer, the ATEM Constellation can handle complex live sound mixing. The internal mixer has up to 156 input channels, for the biggest audio mixer in a live production switcher. Audio is de-embedded from all the SDI video inputs and passed to the audio mixer. Then the 4 M/E models have extra audio mixer input channels for the MADI audio inputs. Each input channel features the highest quality 6-band parametric EQ and compressor, limiter, expander and noise gate as well as full panning. Customers get extra channels for the analogue input, talkback microphone and media players. All this audio power can be controlled via the ATEM Software Control or a Mackie compatible panel.
“We are excited to introduce the massive 4K model of the ATEM Constellation family,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “The ATEM Constellation HD models have been incredibly popular since they were released at NAB last year. Since then customers have been asking us for a 12G-SDI Ultra HD model which they can use in HD live production now as well as Ultra HD in the future.”