Blackmagic Forum

Hi everyone,

I've been experimenting with the ATEM Mini and have found some oddities with the USB-C output. I noticed the USB-C out seemed to have a stronger contrast than the HDMI output, so I set up a feed from a laptop playing a test pattern and the 60 Hz render of Big Buck Bunny into OBS.

I observed some odd delay behaviour and a strong contrast difference between other capture options, so I set up a comparison between the ATEM Mini USB-C output and the HDMI output being split and fed into a three other capture options; a Magewell Pro Capture HDMI 4K Plus LT, an Elgato Cam Link (HD) and an Elgato Cam Link 4K. Here are the results:

Four Captures of BBB


Four Captures of BBB (Flipped)


The inputs are all highest quality input at Rec. 709 and full range.

So, what do people think? I'm not entirely sure what to make of it.

I'm also having an issue with the quality of the ATEM Mini output. I'm going into OBS and the way I have designed all my full screen graphics, big logo at 10% opacity over solid white background, it comes out the other end as just a solid white background. I've got to kick my logo opacity up to around 50% to notice it's even there. All I've been able to find was EposVox's video talking about some stuff that's a little over my head at this point. "Not read as an actual Black Magic API device"...."MJPEG"..."YUY2"..."shouldn't be putting out full RGB range, nothing works well with full RGB range"...etc. My end product is a Facebook live show.

(should skip you ahead to 12:27)


Hoping like he says that this could be fixed with an update of some sort?

Well, I've had more time to play and I've come to the conclusion that the USB-C output from my ATEM Mini definitely needs some work when it comes to range. Monitoring the source and the ATEM Mini on the same display shows there's far too much contrast on the USB-C output; over HDMI it's completely fine.

The latency on the output also appears to vary, which is really odd. I'm going to try with different recording software, as I wouldn't put it past OBS to be responsible on that one.

Bit of a shame given USB-C is touted as the main capture method from the switcher, and the only option if you want to work with a preview.

I also thought sure I could adjust my graphics to compensate but then my HDMI out feed that I record would end up looking terrible.

Keep in mind that the USB output on the ATEM Mini is compressed using MJPEG compression, which may affect the picture quality (unlike the HDMI output which is uncompressed).

This was done in part because the ATEM Mini has a USB 2.0 port. So even though it has a USB Type-C connector, the port has a maximum bandwidth of 480 Mbps for USB 2.0 (rather than 5 Gbps for USB 3.0) which is not sufficient to transmit uncompressed HD video.

Based on the video posted, it sounds like the ATEM Mini may also be sending full/extended range video (0-255 for 8-bit) over its USB port. Most video uses the broadcast legal (also called partial) range of values (16-235 for 8-bit). Some more information on this here:
https://www.provideocoalition.com/luminance_ranges/

The problem is that if a full range (0-255) signal is input into a device or application that expects a legal range (16-235) signal, color values will not correctly be interpreted and colors at the ends of the range will be clipped. This might explain the overly contrasty image output.
There is a bit more information the problems with incorrect range handling here:
https://www.lightillusion.com/data_tv_levels.html

Thanks, Dave, that's a great reply.

I'd noticed the stream being set to MJPEG in OBS for the ATEM Mini and that regardless of port, USB 2.0 or 3.0, it would connect at 480 Mbps (and work fine in either). Completely different to the Cam Link modules which fall over immediately in a USB 2.0 port.

Interestingly, I think the H.264 Pro Recorder is USB 2.0 only as well, though I can't figure from its specs or manual whether it also outputs 1080p60 or suffers the same issues. I'd hope not given its intended market.

I'm going to do the reading you suggest, as though I understand the difference between the full and partial ranges, I'm not up to speed on how the different apps I might want to use deal with it, or how the Mini is handling it.

BMD, fancy taking a look at this in a future firmware update? And perhaps providing an option to use the USB-C output as the Preview, rather than the Programme in M/E mode? Currently the quality of the USB output just isn't cutting the mustard for project use.

Dave Del Vecchio wrote:Based on the video posted, it sounds like the ATEM Mini may also be sending full/extended range video (0-255 for 8-bit) over its USB port. Most video uses the broadcast legal (also called partial) range of values (16-235 for 8-bit). Some more information on this here:
https://www.provideocoalition.com/luminance_ranges/

Having reviewed this, I'm wondering if it's outputting 16-235 labelled as full range, because consumer apps like Skype are indeed clipping this down even further into something unusably dark. The EpoxVox video shows it at 13:13 (this forum doesn't seem to like adding the time to the URL):


All of my inputs on the demo video were set to full range:


But the ATEM Mini was already looking like a partial signal.

andydvsn wrote:Interestingly, I think the H.264 Pro Recorder is USB 2.0 only as well, though I can't figure from its specs or manual whether it also outputs 1080p60 or suffers the same issues. I'd hope not given its intended market.

The H.264 Pro Recorder hardware is pretty different from the ATEM Mini internally. While both use USB 2.0, the H.264 Pro Recorder uses H.264 for compression, rather than MJPEG.

Also, unlike the ATEM Mini, the H.264 Pro Recorder is not a USB Video Class (UVC) device. This means that the Pro Recorder does not show up like a webcam in most operating systems and as a result, it is not possible to use the H.264 Pro Recorder in most applications that expect a UVC device (like Skype, etc.).

Instead the H.264 Pro Recorder requires installing the Blackmagic Desktop Video drivers and requires software that uses the DeckLink SDK to access the video stream. So in many ways, it is more like using one of the DeckLink cards than a webcam (although the H.264 Pro Recorder uses a relatively unique set of functions within the DeckLink SDK so most software written for regular DeckLink cards won't work with the Pro Recorder without changes). This means that access to the video from the H.264 Pro Recorder is in a more constrained way than USB Video Class devices like the ATEM Mini.

Anyway, from what I remember from using the H.264 Pro Recorder a few years back, it didn't suffer from the same problems as people are finding with the ATEM Mini. But the devices worked so differently, that this likely doesn't have any useful implications.

The USB output from the ATEM Mini is probably most similar to that on the Blackmagic Web Presenter, as both are USB Video Class devices that use MJPEG compression.

Hi!
I am currently testing ATEM mini pro, Ive used it on several occasions and enjoy it despite its limitations.
I have been searching for this topic which I assume relates to colour spaces (?), but Im certainly not sure if it is. I am playing back a video file on a Mackbook pro(1), its plugged into an ATEM mini pro via HDMI and it is streamed to Facebook from there via ethernet cable using wifi on a second Mackbook pro (2).
The output stream is allot darker than what the video file. The colours are also more saturated.

Does this mean the ATEM mini pro converts the colour space? Or what?!

Hope theres a simple answer to this, and that somebody with knowhow replies to this post.

So would there be a work around possible for this?

I attempted to adjust my graphics to find a happy place but as expected there was never a happy place to be found. I'm also amazed how little I've been able to find about this, I expected my Google searches would list endless threads from live streamers complaining about the output quality. But I guess with "pro-sumer" gear most of the people using it aren't as particular as a pro user would be.

I'm here for this (with the ATEM Mini Pro), and I am sad that there is no work-around offered. For me, the contrast is extreme, and your examples posted above are subtle compared to mine. Even when I set my camera to a Wide DR, the contrast is unusable.

I thought maybe this was a Windows 10 question more than a ATEM Mini Pro question, but I can't find any adjustments on either.

Not a perfect work-around but this is what I've done to get better results for my graphics. Can't remember where I read about this but credit due to someone else.

My graphics are fed into my ATEM Mini from an old Macbook laptop. I went to: System Preferences>Displays>Color and "Calibrate..." and using the monitor for my ATEM output I calibrate which gets me much better looking results.

To illustrate the contrast problem I am having, the attached photo shows the same HDMI output from my camera. The left side is captured through a Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2 (which I had to go out and buy after finding no solution to this problem). The right side is captured through the ATEM Mini Pro.

I am using Windows 10. There are no contrast or other controls on the webcam input because the ATEM Mini Pro does not offer any.

Michael Pearce wrote:To illustrate the contrast problem I am having, the attached photo....

I just don't think anyone that could do anything about this actually cares. Do all ATEM switchers do this? I come from a world of SDI and the days of chipping cameras so I'm leaning towards the conclusion that you get what you pay for. The good news is, with all the webcams and home studios and horrible looking ring lights on tv during this pandemic, the general public will be used to horrible looking video. Maybe the next ATEM will only do vertical video

The Pocket cameras normally output a rather flat looking image, compared to a broadcast type camera, like the Ursa Broadcast or Micro Studio Camera, which are Rec 709 output. The ATEM Mini was designed primarily for live streaming, where you want a punchy looking fully saturated Rec 709 type image.

So with the new FW update for the Pocket cameras, when you connect the camera to the ATEM, contrast
and saturation are increased and sharpening applied (which is normally off when the camera is used for internal recording. You can go back into the ATEM CCU Control program and Change the camera Contrast, Saturation, and Detail (sharpening) settings to what you want to use. When connected, the ATEM controls the camera. Once disconnected from the ATEM, and power cycled, the Pocket Camera will reset to its previous settings, except some have reported detail sharpening did not reset, and had to be manually reset in the camera menus.

This is normal behavior, and the bigger SDI switchers, when connected to the SDI return on the BMD Studio/Broadcast cameras have the same level of camera control via the ATEM.
Cheers

I'm also experiencing increased contrast on the ATEM mini's USB-C output. The HDMI output looks fine.

I've updated to ATEM Switchers 8.4 and still seeing the contrast.

Has anyone in this thread come up with a solution?

Thansk,
Dennis

Hopefully the right thread for this ...

I purchased the ATEM Mini for better presentations on Zoom (one of the main use cases BMG highlight) - but when hooking up a MacBook Pro running PowerPoint as one of the sources and then outputting via USB-C to another MBP to use as a webcam in Zoom - the slides are so washed out that it's basically unusable. Anything that is light gray or even medium grey is totally invisible.

My camera (Sony ZV-1) looks fine (or at least within my tolerances as a non-videophile) - but the PowerPoint is really rough.

I've tried playing with color profiles on the BMD HDMI the display settings of the MBP but to no avail. And twiddling the color controls for the camera in the ATEM software appears to have no impact on the image at all.

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated ....

I've been investigating the contrast problem for Chromium (see crbug.com/1116922).

From what I've found so far, all the USB devices I have output MJPEG with full-range color. This is a reasonable thing to do from a JPEG perspective (since most JPEG files use full-range color).

However, most of the software I have seen (including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Zoom) treat the USB input as limited-range color, which is a reasonable thing to do according to the USB UVC specification.

So we are in a bizarre situation where most of the hardware is functioning in one way (full-range) but the software is functioning in the other (limited-range). This has probably been true for years with standard webcams, but no one really has noticed since the quality of a webcam isn't high enough for people to notice or complain about.

Now we have the ATEM Mini, which has good enough quality that people can notice when something is wrong. It is MJPEG-only, which is unusual for USB devices. It is also matching the other hardware and using full-range. But now people can see the issue, and the hardware/software mismatch is clear.

Probably the ATEM should either switch to match the USB specification (limited-range), or provide an option in the configuration software to allow people to set the range.

Note that OBS does allow an override for range, unlike most of the software I have used.

danejensen wrote:Hopefully the right thread for this ...

I purchased the ATEM Mini for better presentations on Zoom (one of the main use cases BMG highlight) - but when hooking up a MacBook Pro running PowerPoint as one of the sources and then outputting via USB-C to another MBP to use as a webcam in Zoom - the slides are so washed out that it's basically unusable. Anything that is light gray or even medium grey is totally invisible.

My camera (Sony ZV-1) looks fine (or at least within my tolerances as a non-videophile) - but the PowerPoint is really rough.

I've tried playing with color profiles on the BMD HDMI the display settings of the MBP but to no avail. And twiddling the color controls for the camera in the ATEM software appears to have no impact on the image at all.

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated ....

Dane,

I'm in the same boat as you.. Seems like this is something that can't be sorted as when in Zoom, any camera device is downgraded in video quality compared to when you use the "sharing screen" option. I read this somewhere in the Zoom help files somewhere..

I too wanted to use multiple inputs into Zoom (Camera, PPT, Video Playback and a Lower 3rds input) but the quality is terrible and as you say the PPT slides are very blurry and almost not viewable..

Would love to find a solution..!!

BBBWOT wrote:

danejensen wrote:Hopefully the right thread for this ...

I purchased the ATEM Mini for better presentations on Zoom (one of the main use cases BMG highlight) - but when hooking up a MacBook Pro running PowerPoint as one of the sources and then outputting via USB-C to another MBP to use as a webcam in Zoom - the slides are so washed out that it's basically unusable. Anything that is light gray or even medium grey is totally invisible.

My camera (Sony ZV-1) looks fine (or at least within my tolerances as a non-videophile) - but the PowerPoint is really rough.

I've tried playing with color profiles on the BMD HDMI the display settings of the MBP but to no avail. And twiddling the color controls for the camera in the ATEM software appears to have no impact on the image at all.

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated ....

Dane,

I'm in the same boat as you.. Seems like this is something that can't be sorted as when in Zoom, any camera device is downgraded in video quality compared to when you use the "sharing screen" option. I read this somewhere in the Zoom help files somewhere..

I too wanted to use multiple inputs into Zoom (Camera, PPT, Video Playback and a Lower 3rds input) but the quality is terrible and as you say the PPT slides are very blurry and almost not viewable..

Would love to find a solution..!!

Turning on Group HD video may help with the downgraded video quality caused by zoom.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articl ... 6-Group-HD

This thread makes me feel so much less crazy. I was beginning to think it was just me after I couldn't find anything about this and tested all possibilities?

Has anyone reached out to support to see if they have suggestions?

Would exporting this video via HDMI and then using a different converter from HDMI to USB handle this more gracefully? I wouldn't even know what to search for to find something like this.

FYI, I emailed Blackmagic tech support about this and got this reply on 10/9/20.

I reached out to our Specialist for additional insight and clarification.
The USB output is set to legal frame and there is no way to adjust/disable legal frame through the software.
Our Specialist confirmed that this is actually currently under investigation by our Development team as it has been reported.

Our Development team is working to address this issue and when an update is available, our team will offer an update via firmware.
Unfortunately we do not have a timeframe to offer but our team confirms this issue is being addressed.

Curious whether there has been any update on this. I don't think the latest update fixed the color range issue on the USB output.

I'd really love to be able to go back to using my HDMI output for preview and free up the HDMI capture device I'm currently using for full-color USB input!

Thanks all!

TL;DR IF I create source files with reduced contrast or a broadcast safe filter added will it help the issues discussed in this thread

So im looking for urgent help on this, thanks in advance. I am putting videos from MBP to ATEM mini pro via hdmi,(ive adjusted display settings on the hdmi output of MBP but none seem to be 'flat ' or reduce contrast - let me know if there is something I should be doing here?)

This then goes to my imac via usbc connection. this signal is picked up as a webcam and streamed over streamyard. Client has just complained about the contrast especially blown whites.

If I create low contrast source files will this come out of the ATEM without the blown whites and crushed blacks?

Hi,

What is the current status on this nasty situation?
I don't see any Blackmagic enployes responding to this problem.
Is there a fundamental problem to repair or patch this video levels issue in combination with USB-C?

There is no real solution yet to compensate for this because if you lift the blacks up it will stil be chopped/clipped same as with the white levels.

With this you'll find a still with a ramp test frame 0-100% with in the center narrow ramp 0-7%.
Left the ATEM, right the Original.

Cheers.

There's not much to be done without strict color management. This isn't even four different captures, simply the same QT file viewed in 4 different environments on the same machine. In this first grab you can see the MBP default ICC color space "Color LCD" sends both the Resolve viewer and QT window off into space. This didn't and shouldn't be happening with the Resolve viewer.

In the second grab with the Mac display ICC set to "BT.709-5" the QT viewer WF displays incorrect gamma per ususal, however Resolve's viewer is displaying the proper graph. Mac Color Sync is intelligent enough to leave the Resolve viewer alone, the gamma curve is correct.


Good Luck

Since the ATEM USB output looks like a $30 USB webcam, I'm currently looking for a good quality capture solution to get my camera, via HDMI, to show up as a Windows 10 webcam.

The market is flooded with stuff at the moment, ranging from $20 to ATEM prices. I don't mind paying for quality (that's why I bought the ATEM, after all), but I have no snobbery in terms of price as long as it's a good solution.

Would be grateful for any recommendations based on what's given you good results.

I found some sort of a solution for now by using a BM Micro HDMI to SDI 3G adapter and an old UltraStudio Express.
Finally I get the right video levels within Zoom, OBS, and also BM Media Express.
If I go straight from Atem's HDMI out to UltraStudio HDMI in I get also the clipped blacks.
Disadvantage, you will loose the preview out this way, hopefully BM will find a solution for a proper USB-C camera out.

John Thorborg wrote:I found some sort of a solution for now by using a BM Micro HDMI to SDI 3G adapter and an old UltraStudio Express.
Finally I get the right video levels within Zoom, OBS, and also BM Media Express.
If I go straight from Atem's HDMI out to UltraStudio HDMI in I get also the clipped blacks.
Disadvantage, you will loose the preview out this way, hopefully BM will find a solution for a proper USB-C camera out.

Hey, John.

Appreciate the info.

That's strange about the clipped blacks. I'm sitting in the studio as we speak testing with the ATEM HDMI out plugged directly into a dedicated computer monitor (i.e. not attached to anything but the ATEM), and the USB-C output coming up on my computer's main monitor in Windows' Camera app. The contrast problem is displayed in the USB-C output but the direct HDMI out shows a normal image, the same as I see on my Sony's viewfinder.

I don't have any experience with industry standard levels, so I can't speak intelligently about the legal safe limit stuff that the ATEM is putting out via the USB-C as mentioned by others, but I wonder if your UltraStudio in is also somehow at odds with the standard that the ATEM is putting out, hence the crushed blacks?

The ATEM's primary mission is to get my Sony into the computer as a webcam, a task at which it fails in embarrassing magnitude given the normal pro quality of BMD gear. It makes me wonder if the engineers are so immersed in pro video standards that they just don't take something like the consumer level nature of computer webcams seriously enough to implement properly, i.e. "if it isn't pro, it's not important enough to worry about."

I'm trying very hard to keep the ATEM as there's so much to like, so I'm considering piping the HDMI out of the ATEM into a capture card if that'll get the camera quality into the webcam. In fact, I was in the process of ordering an ATEM Mini Pro to get the four up preview before I discovered the webcam output problem.

If I use the HDMI out instead of the USB-C on the Pro, do I lose the preview?

This has probably something to do with the differences between sRGB and REC709 Video levels, one works with levels from 0 to 255 and the other from 16 to 235 for black to white.
Also with HDMI you can have this kind of problems if the two connected devices don't recognise each other where one is set to normal the other to extended or full range and that is why in some monitors one can force this by selecting HDMI levels in a input set up menu.
In the Atem's case the HDMI out works good and the internal USB-C cam is wrong, period!

You can set up the Atem in a way that the HDMI is your Preview and the USB-C cam is your Program (On Air).
This is done in the preferences of the Atem control software (A/B Program).
Handy for online transmission/webcast to see what is going on before hitting the switch or dissolve to it.

Cheers.

Ah, so you have to use two outputs, one for preview, one for program. Duh. Sorry, makes sense now.

If that's the case there's no point buying the Pro as the USB output is unusable and I wouldn't trust it for preview, either.

I ordered one of those $20 HDMI capture cards from Amazon that everyone's talking about, which should be here in a day or two. If it gives me normal webcam quality direct from the camera, I might try piping HDMI out into the capture card, then into the computer.

With the the other models you get extra possibilities where you can record the isolated sources (ISO) for later editing and/or archiving, you can also have more keyers with more frame storage (moving animations) and direct streaming over ethernet.
But the USB-C camera out option is probably on all models wrong.

This is the graphical representation of a waveform monitor.

It's used among other things to monitor signals for out of range levels or clipping.

The luma ramps from the four captures are represented as the peaks ideally from 100-0.

This is grabbed from the Youtubes.

There is no clipping of the signal, and the AMP clearly has the most correct gamma, the others are all waaaay off, probably because...

The inputs are all highest quality input at Rec. 709 and full range.

This is incorrect, this setting will result in compressed highs and lifted blacks which is exactly what the waveform shows. Some may "heart" this look, make no mistake that it's incorrect.

Good Luck

Today I received the cheap $20 HDMI capture card that's been going around on Amazon. There are lots of different listings for it but it's clearly the same generic device from China.

TL;DR
If your use case is to access your HDMI camera output as a webcam, the ATEM USB-C output is not usable. Instead, spend $20 on the generic capture card and use the ATEM HDMI out into the card to get proper webcam quality.


I tested three different scenarios, and took screen shots of each so I could compare afterwards instead of relying on subjective memory.

Unplugging the ATEM Mini and plugging the HDMI cable into the capture card, the improvement in quality was obvious, i.e. the whites were no longer blown out, etc. There's the expected difference in quality between native HDMI and a webcam, but now it looks like a proper, decent quality webcam.

Next I took HDMI from the ATEM into the capture card. The quality was largely the same as it was camera direct into the capture card. I was wearing a white t-shirt and it seemed like it might be a bit yellow in this scenario, but it was a very quick and dirty test so I can't say for sure. My guess is that there's no difference whether going directly into the card or via the ATEM HDMI out into the card, as HDMI from the ATEM direct to a monitor looks fine.

Lastly was the USB-C output from the ATEM, which exhibits the contrast problems discussed here.

While I'm tempted to editorialize, I think I'll just leave it at that. If you need webcam input from the ATEM and you care about the quality, you'll need to purchase a capture card of some type in addition to the ATEM.

Post a grab that the reader may be spared the deficits of your subjective memory or analytic method.

Good Luck

Howard Roll wrote:that the reader may be spared the deficits of your subjective memory or analytic method.

Fair enough.

Having found and tested a $20 solution to a problem that BMD has known about and ignored since February, I'll leave any further analysis to the professionals.

agoode wrote:I've been investigating the contrast problem for Chromium (see crbug.com/1116922).

From what I've found so far, all the USB devices I have output MJPEG with full-range color. This is a reasonable thing to do from a JPEG perspective (since most JPEG files use full-range color).

However, most of the software I have seen (including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Zoom) treat the USB input as limited-range color, which is a reasonable thing to do according to the USB UVC specification.

So we are in a bizarre situation where most of the hardware is functioning in one way (full-range) but the software is functioning in the other (limited-range). This has probably been true for years with standard webcams, but no one really has noticed since the quality of a webcam isn't high enough for people to notice or complain about.

Now we have the ATEM Mini, which has good enough quality that people can notice when something is wrong. It is MJPEG-only, which is unusual for USB devices. It is also matching the other hardware and using full-range. But now people can see the issue, and the hardware/software mismatch is clear.

Probably the ATEM should either switch to match the USB specification (limited-range), or provide an option in the configuration software to allow people to set the range.

Note that OBS does allow an override for range, unlike most of the software I have used.

I follow and add info that under Mac I tried to record from QuickTime that see full range video signal.
Most of software for meeting/conference etc destroy video signal.
Initially I thought to use use completely video input to manage my teaching, be cause zoom not support Os zoom (very useful tool when you teach and you want to show on an interface a parameters), but immediately I saw that if I send a computer input the quality of picture are worst on every zoom/Skype/meet/hangout/teams etc

But atem send good quality signal, I record from QuickTime and is clean. The main problem is that most of that software are born to show talking heads and try to stretch all possible data to ridiculous band witch without doing effort (I came from the past, I saw excellent video codec from one third of that bandwidth and with low cpu using be cause years ago not exist actual cpu power), and go around problems using different sharing strategies for computer signal.


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

I bought this "wonder" yesterday and it is disappointing that my old capture card has more quality. I put full range color in obs but i still see that ugly contrast

I've been looking for users with the same issue for months! I'm so happy to have found this thread. Today I had another major production, where we used 4 BlackMagic Studio Cameras. With a already fully lit studio, I had to rent an additional 12 wall-washes to pull the decor and presenters a little from the dark background. In the meantime, all of the camera's couldn't operate properly under +12 gain (steps of 6 unfortunately).

I am about to sell the ATEM Mini Pro because it's almost unusable. I also find it very strange that BlackMagic encourages to use their camera's with the ATEM Mini series because of control functionality, and in the meantime can't get the output right. Don't get me wrong, the ATEM Mini, and especially the multivew enabled Pro is an amazing product. But how much is it worth when it can't output it's colors correctly.

What do you all think about this person's workaround?


I don't have a Mac and wasn't able to find a color profile that made a difference on Windows 10.

I was about to pull the trigger on an Atem Mini, for recording multicam screencast tutorials straight to my mac, and also doing high quality streams and Hangouts/Zooms...

But this is concerning. Are there any updates or fixes yet?

unbelievable. I hope this is getting fixed soon.
all my blacks are crushed and I was struggling to understand why – then I found this thread.

I sold my ATEM Mini Pro last week and purchased the ATEM Television Studio HD with the UltraStudio HD Mini. It's unbelievable how amazing it is to see great a high quality output again

I do understand that compromises had to be made during the development of the ATEM Mini series. It's a wonderful device with a lot of capabilities. But if after all your hard work, everything you end up with is completely being smushed out, it's just not worth using it in the first place.

Good luck to you all and I hope BlackMagic will soon come with a solution! They usually do

Hindrik wrote:I sold my ATEM Mini Pro last week and purchased the ATEM Television Studio HD with the UltraStudio HD Mini. It's unbelievable how amazing it is to see great a high quality output again

I do understand that compromises had to be made during the development of the ATEM Mini series. It's a wonderful device with a lot of capabilities. But if after all your hard work, everything you end up with is completely being smushed out, it's just not worth using it in the first place.

Good luck to you all and I hope BlackMagic will soon come with a solution! They usually do

Yep, I too am really kicking myself for not going this direction, looking for a solution I needed to solve in a hurry really bit me. I mean the ATEM tv studio is $100 more than I spent on an ATEM mini pro iso... and I just bought a streaming bridge in hopes of fixing the clean program out, I feel I just made another poor decision. Woo’d by the adverts. Reading this thread, plus the current issues I am having, I think it is a stretch hoping that it all gets fixed. Fingers crossed.

Hindrik wrote:I sold my ATEM Mini Pro last week and purchased the ATEM Television Studio HD with the UltraStudio HD Mini.

does the Television Studio HD has two outputs?
one for the multiview and one for the clean pgm output?

Raffaele Mariotti wrote:

Hindrik wrote:I sold my ATEM Mini Pro last week and purchased the ATEM Television Studio HD with the UltraStudio HD Mini.

does the Television Studio HD has two outputs?
one for the multiview and one for the clean pgm output?

Yes, it does, the furthest right SDI's. The top is multiview and the bottom is program. It also has an HDMI multiview output.

I've been considering getting a mini pro iso, primarily for capturing multi-cam sessions. Does the USB-C contrast issue apply to the iso capture as well, or is that a separate situation? I suppose that relinking original footage from the on-camera media would be the workaround, but I'm just curious what if any issues people have had with this particular situation.

We use the HDMI-Out of the ATEM Mini and route it to the Elgato HD60S which has a much better quality.
For us this is a good workaround until the new firmware will be released (we hope so - never give up )

Kunstflieger wrote:We use the HDMI-Out of the ATEM Mini and route it to the Elgato HD60S which has a much better quality.

Same here except I use a Magewell converter that has an SDI input.

In your setup you could also use the Blackmagic Design Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI 3G instead of the HDMI to SDI converter and that would eliminate the need for the separate HDMI splitter and additional HDMI cable.

I have noticed this issue too.
I've tried the HDMI output as well and using another encoder get a better quality output.
However this should be fixed by BlackMagic as the contrast between the Atem Mini and other encoding devices is definitely obvious with the Atem Mini showing a noticeably lower quality.