Blackmagic Forum

I love the Atem and have cameras and Raspberry Pi's connected without problems. But when I connect my MacBook Pro (via a VITAMO 8-in-1 USB-C Hub Adapter), the HDMI seems to get lost the whole time. It shows the output for a few seconds, turns black again and the MacBook doesn't see the extra screen anymore for a few seconds, and this repeats continuously...

Any ideas?

I have the same issue. My Macbook Pro (2019 ; 16 inch) running Catalina will display the monitor for a few seconds then go to black and not come back until I disconnect the cable and reconnect it. After the reconnect it again only lasts a few seconds.

What should I do?

I spoke with support and they suggested it was an HDCP issue on Mac since it appeared for a few seconds before disappearing. I also read some forum threads / reddit posts suggesting it could be a frequency problem, HDCP, or the chipset on the adapter I used. I had actually used a few cables, including a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and they all produced the same results.

I suspected that a chipset issue made sense, and was also the cheapest way to solve the problem without a total rework of my plans. I bought a new cheap USB-C to HDMI adapter and this one works flawlessly. I can't post links but if you look on amazon.ae you will find something with the title "USB C to HDMI Cable 3FT, CableCreation USB Type C to 4K HDMI Cable Adapter for Home Office, for MacBook Pro/iPad Pro 2020 2019, Surface Book 2, Dell Xps 15, Samsung S10, S9 Plus, 0.9M, Black"

Based on this I think it was an incompatibility issue on chipset used by the adapter.

Received this reply from support:

I believe your Mac output has High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) on the HDMI out.
You may need to Contact Apple to see if there is a way to disable that or look into other HDMI Adaptors.

As the MacBook only has USB-C I'm using a "docking station" VITAMO 8-in-1 USB-C Hub Adapter. Anyone has experience with other USB-C to HDMI converters that work OK with the Atem Mini?

@cabaniel what converter are you using?

Thanks @cabaniel for the info, I order a similar cable, hopefully a good one this time

No luck, other USB-C to HMDI converter, same problem.
As the ATEM Mini only has this issue with Macs, it seems something should be fixed in the firmware of the ATEM itself...

It's a HDCP problem with newer mac books. Which is enabled by default in the MAC.
It's not something BMD can solve because it needs to be disabled on the Mac side..

It's almost certainly an HDCP issue. Macs love to turn it on at the slightest hint of content that might need protecting and none of the Atem range can decrypt HDCP protected content.

If it is HDCP, it's also something that won't be fixed by a firmware update on the Atem - it's a problem with the Mac, that needs Apple to fix by not turning HDCP on unless there's an HDCP compliant receiver, and they appear to have zero interest in doing that (there have been complaints about this behaviour for years).

Has there been a fix for this? Very disppointing we basically cant use macbook with ATEM Mini

justabrowser01 wrote:Has there been a fix for this? Very disppointing we basically cant use macbook with ATEM Mini

I got it working with a very cheap HDMI splitter cable, but can't find the link back, sorry.

justabrowser01 wrote:Has there been a fix for this? Very disppointing we basically cant use macbook with ATEM Mini

Reddit thread that discusses this very topic.
https://www.reddit.com/r/VIDEOENGINEERING/comments/xme482/hdmi_1x2_splitter_to_bypass_hdcp/

Personally, I've used the OREI products with no problem for years. Whatever you find, make sure it claims to work with HDCP 2.0 at least, if not HDCP 2.2.

An interesting read if you're interested in understanding HDCP a little better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection