Blackmagic Forum

So far the Atem Mini Pro has been a great upgrade for our church live feeds. Here is my current issue: Our projectors are driven by a Datapath x4. I was able to configure the x4 to send a 720p signal to the ATEM and it worked while the cable was plugged into any HDMI port other than HDMI1. When I moved the cable to HDMI1, nothing. I read somewhere that HDMI1 only supports YUV where ports 2-4 support both YUV and RGB. Is that true? Is it possible to assign picture in picture to a different HDMI input? If I could do that, my problem would be solved. Thanks.

Your suspicions about input 1 are correct, it only supports YUV, and this is why it doesn't work with your DatapathX4 a RGB device.

As you are finding out, the front panel features of the Mini series are very limiting, and only support THE MOST BASIC needs of utilizing this switcher. I can see that most users are going to want to do more, or re-assign current key functions to things more useful. Alas, only BMD can ever address this need of more front panel functionality, if they ever do so at all...

So the good news, controlling this switcher from a computer with the ATEM Control Software totally unlocks everything this switcher can do. You can connect via USB cable, or by networking depending on your needs and tech savy-ness. Once it's up, it is very easy to put whatever input you want into the PIP box, and you can program the box to be anywhere at all on the screen, not just the 4 lame preset positions available on the panel keys.

I already use the software for several things like loading media, setting the facebook live stream key, and several other options. Can you point me in the right direction on how to make one of the other hdmi inputs the picture in picture input?

MambaFiber.com wrote:Your suspicions about input 1 are correct, it only supports YUV, and this is why it doesn't work with your DatapathX4 a RGB device.

As you are finding out, the front panel features of the Mini series are very limiting, and only support THE MOST BASIC needs of utilizing this switcher. I can see that most users are going to want to do more, or re-assign current key functions to things more useful. Alas, only BMD can ever address this need of more front panel functionality, if they ever do so at all...

So the good news, controlling this switcher from a computer with the ATEM Control Software totally unlocks everything this switcher can do. You can connect via USB cable, or by networking depending on your needs and tech savy-ness. Once it's up, it is very easy to put whatever input you want into the PIP box, and you can program the box to be anywhere at all on the screen, not just the 4 lame preset positions available on the panel keys.

The PIP function is simply a DVE key using the Upstream Keyer, or USK. DVE is old slang for "Digital Video Efx" but for our discussion it is the box everyone calls PIP, Picture in Picture.

In the attached picture, the green arrow points to the button that turns this key on/off. The yellow arrow points to a portion of the palette where you configure how the USK functions. After selecting the DVE tab, the keyer produces a box over your background video selected on the PGM buss. Here you can see the Fill Source determines what is IN the box. Settings below that adjust the size of box, where it is on screen, if it has a border around it, etc. If you scroll further down, you will see the Keyframe buttons. Here you can set where the box starts, and where it will move to, so you can make it slide in from the edge of the screen instead of just popping on in place.