New(ish) to ATEM TVS HD + live broadcast set up, need help!

Hello everyone!

I'm fairly new to the ATEM realm but I have a decent understanding of broadcast and have been learning as much as I can. At my job, we do some training that we broadcast out to our retail stores. We've done this a couple times now and have not had an issue but we just upgraded from the ATEM TVS to the ATEM TVS HD and we lost the local recording function. The old ATEM TVS didn't need a capture device and could record via the USB 2.0 (that's what google searches came up with).

Our set up at the moment only consists of the ATEM TVS HD and from there we go SDI Program out to BMD SDI to HDMI micro-converter, then to an HDMI to USB 3.0 converter that is recognized as a camera input for our live broadcast. We use GoTo Webinar for our live broadcasting and we've tested that already with the new switcher and that works.

Now we have a Hyperdeck Shuttle (I think it's the 1 and not the 2) that's been collecting dust, but we don't have an SSD. If I were to get the SSD and go SDI program out to the Hyperdeck Shuttle, could I go HDMI out from the Hyperdeck Shuttle and still live broadcast that feed or do I need to use the Auxillary port on the switcher and set it to output program. We were hoping to utilize the Auxillary to a monitor so the talent can see what we're broadcasting.

If we were to get the Hyperdeck Studio Mini, would that be an easier route? And then would I be able to go through the Hyperdeck Studio Mini and record but also broadcast that out still or use the Auxillary port?

Hopefully, someone can assist me and point me in the right direction for our needs. Started this job in April and the person before me didn't document any setup instructions so I've been learning this all by myself, so sorry if this is there are easy answers.

Also, would the BMD Up Down Cross Converter convert a GoPro Hero 4 to 1080i? Our Canon XF100 and 300 cameras only output HDMI in 1080i 59.94 fps but the GoPro doesn't.

Thanks everyone!

All of the video outputs on the HyperDeck Shuttle (both HDMI to SDI) should be live with a copy of the input signal. The original HyperDeck Shuttle only recorded uncompressed video, so the file sizes could get rather large. The HyperDeck Shuttle 2 can record in ProRes 422 HQ or DNxHD 220.

The HyperDeck Studio Mini is capable of recording more compressed versions of the ProRes and DNxHD codecs including ProRes 422, ProRes LT, ProRes Proxy and DNxHD 145 and 45. The HyperDeck Studio Mini also has H.264 recording modes, but currently only for progressive signals, so this may not be much use for you if you are working in 1080i.

If you do want H.264 recording over USB to a computer similar to what the original ATEM Television Studio provided, the H.264 Pro Recorder would provide this (I think the H.264 Pro Recorder essentially includes the same H.264 hardware encoder as was built into the original ATEM TVS unit).

One final note is that the ATEM Television Studio HD actually has 5 SDI program outputs. There is the main SDI program output next to the HDMI Multiview port, as well as the 4 SDI talkback program outputs above the 4 SDI inputs. So unless you are using all 5 of these program outputs for other things, you could connect one of them to an external recorder, without needing to use the Aux output for this.

All of the video outputs on the HyperDeck Shuttle (both HDMI to SDI) should be live with a copy of the input signal. The original HyperDeck Shuttle only recorded uncompressed video, so the file sizes could get rather large. The HyperDeck Shuttle 2 can record in ProRes 422 HQ or DNxHD 220.

The HyperDeck Studio Mini is capable of recording more compressed versions of the ProRes and DNxHD codecs including ProRes 422, ProRes LT, ProRes Proxy and DNxHD 145 and 45. The HyperDeck Studio Mini also has H.264 recording modes, but currently only for progressive signals, so this may not be much use for you if you are working in 1080i.

If you do want H.264 recording over USB to a computer similar to what the original ATEM Television Studio provided, the H.264 Pro Recorder would provide this (I think the H.264 Pro Recorder essentially includes the same H.264 hardware encoder as was built into the original ATEM TVS unit).

One final note is that the ATEM Television Studio HD actually has 5 SDI program outputs. There is the main SDI program output next to the HDMI Multiview port, as well as the 4 SDI talkback program outputs above the 4 SDI inputs. So unless you are using all 5 of these program outputs for other things, you could connect one of them to an external recorder, without needing to use the Aux output for this.

All this information was really helpful! One, I didn't know the SDI Talkbacks also are program outputs. Probably should read a little more of the manual.

So I shared all this info with my supervisor and we have a few questions. The cost of an SSD that can handle hours of uncompressed 1080 video seems really high. We don't need uncompressed and we're not even sure why we have the Hyperdeck Shuttle 1 in the first place. (Purchased before my time here)

The Hyperdeck Studio Mini seems like a great option with the SD cards. 128 gig SD card isn't terribly expensive. The option of using it as a playback device while on air seems great but our current set up includes extending our desktop into the switcher so we can just play any video from our computer on air. Can you record on one slot and use the second slot as a playback device in the Studio Mini?

And lastly the most cost-effective would probably be the H.264 encoder. Our computer has a good amount of space for storage and we would almost immediately after recording move the files to a server/backup hard drive tower. Is the USB 2.0 a good standard for recording? Would we run into any slow recording speeds? For example, an SD card has like 100mb/s. I'm not exactly sure what the transfer rate is for USB 2.0.

We really don't need multiple codecs as far as I know. I'm not really too familiar with much besides H.264 or MP4 formats. Would it just make sense to get the H.264 encoder and record to the computer?

Again, thanks for answering my questions!

The HyperDeck Studio Mini is either in record mode or playback mode, it can't do both simultaneously.

The maximum bitrate of the H.264 ProRecorder is 20 Mb/s (2.5 MB/s) when using Media Express. This is well within the 480 Mb/s transfer speed of USB 2.0. You can record to pretty much any internal or external hard drive at this data rate as even mechanical hard drives have sustained write speeds far higher than this.

The HyperDeck Studio Mini is either in record mode or playback mode, it can't do both simultaneously.

The maximum bitrate of the H.264 ProRecorder is 20 Mb/s (2.5 MB/s) when using Media Express. This is well within the 480 Mb/s transfer speed of USB 2.0. You can record to pretty much any internal or external hard drive at this data rate as even mechanical hard drives have sustained write speeds far higher than this.

Dave, you've been a huge help so far. You've been providing great information about all my needs.

One more question (hopefully the last), I've come across the UltraStudio Mini Recorder. The price point at 145 is pretty great. Also capturing into Premiere instead of Media Express would be preferred. I was told we had issues with capturing into Media Express into the past.

Is it true all I need is a thunderbolt from that box to our computer and then I could record into premiere? We're on schedule to get a new studio computer in 2019 so I'd make sure it would have the thunderbolt port. It would be TB3 right?

I feel confident that this little box would solve our recording issues pretty easily but wanted to ask anyway. It supports 1080i 59.94 and I would be taking most of the projects to premiere to add some graphics then export at 1080p/720p anyway.

Do you have any experience or advice on this device?

The UltraStudio Mini Recorder is a Thunderbolt 2 device, so you would need a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter to be able to use it with a computer that has a Thunderbolt 3 port. You'll have to make sure it's really a Thunderbolt 3 port (not USB type C) even though they both share the same connector, a USB type C port won't work.

Other than that, you should be able to use an UltraStudio Mini Recorder to capture directly into Premiere, just keep in mind that Premiere doesn't support that many codecs for live video capture (I don't think H.264 is supported, for example), so you would likely need a faster hard drive for capturing than with something like the H.264 Pro Recorder.

If your existing or new computer has a free PCIe slot, you can buy a BM decklink mini recorder for 150 eur