Blackmagic Design ATEM Television Studio HD8 2TB

The ATEM Television Studio HD8 2TB from Blackmagic Design is a compact, redesigned all-in-one live streaming switcher that is ideal for television studios, remote production, or live venues. It provides eight 3G-SDI inputs that support up to 1080p60 video, built-in live streaming, USB webcam support, a 58-channel audio mixer, chroma keyers, DVE, transitions, media players, internal recording with an integrated 2TB M.2 NVMe drive, and talkback support. The switcher is also compatible with the Blackmagic Cloud, so your program recordings can be available immediately from anywhere in the world.

With a built-in hardware streaming engine, you can live stream your event to a global audience. Recording to H.264 files with AAC audio ensures you get the correct format for uploading to YouTube. Plus, you can share live broadcasts with your audience using the aux outputs and large screens and projectors.

You get an advanced broadcast-grade switcher, with built-in ATEM Advanced Chroma Keyers, Fairlight audio mixer, DVE, still store for graphics, and more. Most of the features can be operated from the front panel, or you can use the free ATEM Software Control on macOS or Windows to access even more features.

The front panel includes buttons for selecting sources, triggering transitions, and setting up video effects. Plus, the buttons are the same high-end type used on expensive broadcast switchers. You also get a built-in T-bar for manual transition control. The front panel even has an innovative audio mixer-control area with live metering on a dedicated LCD. There are also buttons for recording and streaming control, plus live aux switching that lets you change aux outputs among all eight cameras, program, preview, or the multiview.

One of the benefits of ATEM Television Studio is the range of professional built-in video effects. The cut button ensures an instant cut when switching between sources. The T-bar fader can be used to transition video effects, or you can do the transition automatically by pressing the auto button. Auto uses the transition duration set in the system control. You can also select the type of effect you want, including mix, which does a smooth transition between sources, or dip, which transitions via a third video source, such as a color generator. There is a wide range of SMPTE wipes included, plus DVE effects that slide or squeeze the image offscreen when transitioning between video sources.

ATEM Television Studio includes the same kind of transitions found on expensive broadcast switchers. This means the effects and transitions can be customized in many different ways, so they are surprisingly powerful. You’ll never stop finding new ways of using them. That’s because all transitions can be customized by adjusting parameters such as duration, border color, border width, position, and direction. You can even use the DVE with a wipe transition, where the DVE moves a graphic over the wipe edge. That’s called a graphic wipe, and it’s often used in sports broadcasting. The preview transition button can be used to set up effects offline, which is great for eliminating mistakes.

The built-in media pool stores broadcast-quality graphics and animations that can be played back using the built-in media players. Media players appear as independent sources, so you don’t need to waste any of the SDI inputs for graphics. For the highest quality, all media supports RGB colorspace with an alpha channel, allowing transparency and layering. The media pool can hold 20 HD resolution stills. Motion graphics clips for animations and stingers can be up to 400 frames in 720p and 200 frames in 1080p. The ATEM Software Control allows you to upload and manage media. You can even prepare graphics in Adobe Photoshop and then download them to the media pool using the free ATEM Photoshop plug-in.

In addition to the DVE in the ATEM Television Studio, there is also a powerful SuperSource multi-layer processor. SuperSource gives you four extra DVE layers plus a background layer, all layered together as an additional input source. Any video input can be used as a source for each DVE, then it’s all layered together over a media pool custom background or live video. SuperSource is perfect for doing multiple picture-in-picture displays with people being interviewed because you can set up the effect, so the viewer can see each person being interviewed, all within a stylish graphic. SuperSource is just like having a completely independent multi-layer VFX switcher built in.

The ATEM Television Studio HD features eight independent 3G-SDI inputs, with each input featuring its own dedicated standards converter. That means it’s possible to convert any 1080p or 720p input source to the video standard of the switcher, so you can have each switcher SDI input running a different television standard, and all the inputs would just work.

SDI input audio channels 1, 2, 3, and 4 can also be manually routed to various embedded audio channels in the program and aux outputs. Plus, you can even route out audio channels 1 and 2 from the SDI inputs to the MADI digital audio output, so you can hand off the switcher input audio to an external audio engineer for mixing.

If you’re building a podcasting studio or you need more microphones, then the ATEM Microphone Converter allows audio input expansion. It connects to the ATEM Television Studio using the MADI port, so there’s no complex setup, and you can daisy-chain units to add more inputs. Each converter has four analog inputs that are mic/line selectable and have phantom power.

The design features amazing quality with an extremely low noise floor of -129 dBV, a dynamic range of 131 dB(A), low distortion of 0.002%, and uniform tolerances across all channels. It even uses eight separate ADCs on each input to collectively extend the dynamic range. Plus, it has a fun HDMI monitoring output with scrolling audio waveforms.

You can use any video software with ATEM Television Studio HD because the USB connection will emulate a webcam. That means you can plug into a computer and use any video software that works with a webcam. The software is tricked into thinking the ATEM Television Studio HD is a common webcam, but it’s really a live production switcher. That guarantees full compatibility with any video software and in full-resolution 1080p quality.

Imagine doing a presentation from a professional broadcast studio to software such as Zoom, Teams, or Skype. For streaming, the webcam output also works with streaming software such as Open Broadcaster, XSplit Broadcaster, and more.

ATEM Television Studio HD supports multiple languages in the menus and the ATEM Software Control, so you can customize it to the language you prefer. You get support for English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, and Ukrainian languages.

Simply go into the setup menu to change the language, or you can always switch to another language at any time in the future. Once a language is selected, the menus on all the LCDs will change to the selected language. Multiple language support means ATEM Television Studio HD is perfect for doing live production work anywhere in the world and with any crew.

With so many features built in, it’s vital that the ATEM Television Studio can be easily repaired. Plus, there is already a lot of built-in redundancy, with four Ethernet connections, nine program SDI outputs, two USB ports, and two power connections. However, if someone trips on a cable and breaks a connector, then you need to be able to repair the connector at low cost.

All the internal electronic PCBs are modular, so any qualified technician can buy a replacement and easily swap the board. This includes the connector PCBs, which can be purchased separately. All the technician needs to do is remove the bottom cover and replace the PCB. A large broadcaster could even buy the boards as a spare parts kit.