ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

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TonyThigpen

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ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

PostMon Sep 03, 2012 2:03 pm

I am looking to bring our church out of the dark ages of video production by using the ATEM TVS. (We mixed composite video to VCRs for many years, and now produce DVDs, but the quality is no longer acceptable.)
With the TVS, how many computers do I really need? I believe I need two. A basic computer to control the TVS, and a much more powerful computer to handle the H.264 output. Or, do I just need one powerful computer with two monitors, one for the TVS software and one for the capture software?

Our initial goal is to upload the videos to our web site. At some point, we may want to start streaming.

Tony
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Jeff Hartman

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Re: ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

PostMon Sep 03, 2012 9:40 pm

Theoretically, one reasonably powerful computer should be able to accomplish both the control and recording functions. But as an operational matter, I would probably choose to keep them separate... in fact, for a church environment with a number of volunteers and variable expertise (yes, I live in that world too!) I would make the controller computer an all-in-one PC with a touch screen; set it up without login, and put the shortcut to the control application in the startup folder so that the operator need only turn on the computer, and it will become operational.

I would even go so far as to keep this off any other network -- either use a crossover network cable to go straight from the PC to the ATEM, or use a very small network switch. This keeps people from surfing the web and doing other weird stuff with your control machine, and it means you don't need to worry about the anti-virus / Windows Update hassles. It's actually impressive, how reliable Windows can be if it isn't all gummed up with this other stuff: we have machines at the station doing dedicated control applications that have run for years without needing to be rebooted...

-- Jeff
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Richard Courtney

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Re: ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

PostTue Sep 04, 2012 3:01 am

I setup a 1M/E for a church this past summer. Two are being used currently.
The controller is a dedicated rackmount Atom based computer but an all-in-one mentioned
above is fine too. We are using a 64G SSD for fast Win 7 32 bootup.

The main computer is a dual quad core with a BMD Decklink Duo card for capture to
removable 750G 7500 RPM SATA drives. The included Media Express software is used to capture
720P 8 bit for NLE editing. We are not capturing H.264 at this time so this drive is full for an
hour service. Live events we use Adobe FMLE that behaves well with the Decklink Duo.
MediaShout with PNG files is currently being used and the video card is a GeForce GTX570 w/HDMI.
This card does 720P at 59.97 refresh rate with is important. We are Win 7 64bit.
I have tested playing video using the second channel of the DUO card using the player
demo software included in the Decklink SDK.

We are moderately loading the system and have no plans to make it serve coffee,
but I recommend you remove unnecessary tasks.

I am thinking about replacing the DUO with a QUAD card and moving to CasparCG after we
develop the client software suitable for volunteer operation. This will also allow for IMAG in the
future. At that time we may use a dedicated computer for CasparCG playout server to support
ATEM key w/fill, lyrics with motion background, and IMAG. This computer will need a RAID.
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Dylan Reeve

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Re: ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

PostTue Sep 04, 2012 3:50 am

The H.264 out of the TV Studio isn't demanding. It's encoded in hardware on the switcher, the computer is really only working as storage for the resulting file.

That said, more is always better, right? :)
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Richard Courtney

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Re: ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

PostTue Sep 04, 2012 3:43 pm

Dylan Reeve wrote:The H.264 out of the TV Studio isn't demanding.
It's encoded in hardware on the switcher, the computer is really only working as storage for the resulting file.

That said, more is always better, right? :)


In our case the 1M/E does not offer H.264. If you are editing video, more memory,
more cores (perhaps CUDA if your NLE software supports it) may be better a choice.
Personally, I prefer uncompressed capture for quality rather than editing H.264.
Even with 8 bit instead of 10 bit, it looks better when I make a DVD - IMHO.
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Benjamin Doyle

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Re: ATEM TVS: How many computers? Computer requirements?

PostTue Sep 04, 2012 5:56 pm

The record function is built right into the ATEM software control surface so the person operating the switch can also run the records on the same computer from the control surface.

We use this quite often with our TV Studio switchers. Connect 1 computer to the switcher via both Cat5 (for control) and USB (for h.264). Any moderately powerful computer can run the show and record it simultaneously.

The only thing I'd caution is that the USB connection can get finicky when the computer stays attached all the time (when asleep/suspended, etc.). It's important to reboot the computer and disconnect/reconnect the USB cable after the system has been idle for a while.

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