Blackmagic Design Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI

Hi.

Now that i'm done with the presentations, i am able to start posting.

Following my last post, we have been saving some money in order to buy some new equipment.

In order to bring everyone up to speed, we are a team of three friends that perform live broadcasts of events for the comunity (FOR FREE as a HOBBY).

Therefore, all of our money comes from what we can spare from our personal bugets and so far we have about half of what we need in order to buy the new equipment (it will take us about six to eight more months to get the rest of the money we need).

Our goal is set on purchasing an ATEM Television Studio HD and a couple of SDI cables and converters (SDI -> HDMI and HDMI -> SDI).

During this process we've found the Blackmagic Design Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI, which was a great find but, we would have loved to see an SDI Loop Out for the SDI In.

This feature would allow us to have the following setup in all our four cameras (keep this information in mind as it will be important further down).

Route One - Cameras to ATEM Unit:

- Camera -> HDMI In Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI -> SDI Out Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI -> SDI In ATEM Television Studio HD

At this point we will have some diverging routes to accomplish our goals.

Route Two - Live Broadcast:

- PGM SDI ATEM Television Studio HD -> SDI In DeckLink Mini Recorder on PC with Wirecast

Route Three - Recording:

- AUX SDI ATEM Television Studio HD -> SDI In HyperDeck Studio Mini

Route Four - Program Out Preview for Camera Operators (Remember the firs route, this one will use the same converter unit):

- HMDI Out HyperDeck Studio Mini - > HDMI In Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI -> SDI Out Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI -> SDI In Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI (Near the Cameras mentioned above) -> HDMI Out Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI (Near the Cameras mentioned above) -> HDMI In on Cheap HDMI Monitor

This scenario would be so much better if the Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI would have an SDI Loop Out briged with the unit's SDI In. This way i would have the possibility to send the Program Out from one camera operator to another instead of running a separate cable for each camera operator from the control room.

This way i'm probably going to have to replace the Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI with two seperate converters (one Micro Converter HDMI to SDI and one Micro Converter SDI to HDMI) wich will allow me to achieve my goal of looping the program out from one camera operator to the next one since the Micro Converter SDI to HDMI does have the SDI Loop Out.

My final question is, since we are still quite some time away from actually being able to purchase all of the equipment, is there any remote chance of having a revised version of the Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI (V2) that could actually feature the SDI Loop Out?

Best regards,
Paulo Brinca.