Losing Audio During a Stream. Anybody Else? Atem Mini

Hello,

I have had a few jobs where 20 mins into the show the audio from the Atem Mini just disappears. Power cycling brings it back but by that time you have ruined your product. I am hooked up to my laptop via the USB-C port and streaming through OBS.

Has anybody else had this happen? I have read about sync issues but not total dropouts. Losing confidence in the unit... I am considering buying a capture card and running the HDMI out of the Atem into the card. Talked to support and they did not offer any way forward other than sending the unit in. But I have had this happen on more than one mini as my first one had to be replaced due to a power issue.

Thanks for your input.

I have experienced audio drops as well after about 45 - 60 minutes. Sometimes I get no drops at all. It may be a component overheating? At any rate, I attribute this to BMD's poor quality control.

Haven't had any issues like this yet. We've done about a dozen streams, always over an hour, sometimes 3 or 4 hours.

poor quality control.

Our first unit would not stream - period.

Our replacement unit, works great.

So, yeah...

poor quality control.

Our first unit would not stream - period.

Our replacement unit, works great.

So, yeah...

I'm on my third Mini Pro unit. All three had different issues. I am moving on to another platform if this one craps out on me again. It's just not worth the headache. $600 is a lot of money to pay for an unreliable device.

This may or may not be at the root of your problem but here's what I know about OBS.

OBS is prone to audio loss. Typically (on Windows) the meters in OBS show all is well, audio is present on the monitor out (headphones) but the stream and recorded version are silent.

This can happen at any point during a live stream. The first you know is when viewers complain there is no audio.

This has plagued OBS on Windows for years and never been addressed. The solution - don't use OBS.

Thanks for your replies. This is almost impossible to troubleshoot. I spoke to BM yesterday and the first thing the tech told me was to try eliminating the USB port. That does not give me confidence in the unit as thins it the main connection to the laptop as I am using the ethernet port for internet access. He suggested getting a switch for the ethernet so I could test.

This makes me want to run the Mini for switching only with a capture card and not even hook up the software side.

I can't vouch for OBS as it is more geared to gamers, but it does allow me to record ProRes simultaneously. If I were to not use OBS, what other platforms would you recommend? I looked at Wirecast but it seems expensive and the encoding options seem pre-recorded... Suggestions would be appreciated.

As far as the audio dropouts, this last show I seem to remember the Atem audio faders were dead as well. So not just on the OBS side of things. A Power cycle restored everything. This my 2nd unit and I will test with it but the tech said right away I can RMA the thing. So I get the impression that the company sees the things as not worth fixing. Glad they are supporting the product but would prefer a product without issues...

This may or may not be at the root of your problem but here's what I know about OBS.

OBS is prone to audio loss. Typically (on Windows) the meters in OBS show all is well, audio is present on the monitor out (headphones) but the stream and recorded version are silent.

This can happen at any point during a live stream. The first you know is when viewers complain there is no audio.

This has plagued OBS on Windows for years and never been addressed. The solution - don't use OBS.

I've been an OBS user for quite a few years and haven't heard of this issue before. Could you please share some more information or links about it?

This may or may not be at the root of your problem but here's what I know about OBS.

OBS is prone to audio loss. Typically (on Windows) the meters in OBS show all is well, audio is present on the monitor out (headphones) but the stream and recorded version are silent.

This can happen at any point during a live stream. The first you know is when viewers complain there is no audio.

This has plagued OBS on Windows for years and never been addressed. The solution - don't use OBS.

Just for the record, I do not use OBS.

To drill down a little bit more on this topic, I would like to detail my setup. I run the Atem Mini via the USB port as a webcam source in OBS. I run the Atem software on the same laptop as OBS is running with audio and media screens being active. I also have Firefox open to monitor the end stream performance as a viewer.

So, is the USB option in question as a possible problem with audio dropouts?

- During one show, I was adjusting the Atem Mini around a little bit and the thing dropped out. I was not moving it hardly at all, so it seemed quite touchy.

- During another show I did unplug and plug in my headphones from the laptop a few times. Could that be a potential issue since I was using the Atem, OBS and Firefox and audio?

- Would running a separate USB capture card from the HDMI output and not even using the USB port seem like a good thing to do?

- Would moving to Vmix from OBS seem like a good thing to do?

I know a lot of these questions are open ended but I need to start somewhere. I will try to test and reproduce the problem. Hopefully I can. Thanks.

Tim : Maybe its problem with USB connection of ATEM Software Control .. Try stream without it .. If audio U get dropout too ..

BTW : Vmix is nice software .. If U neeed it for streaming , then $60 version is enough for you .. U can order Trial version .. its TOTAL FULL version , for 2 months of free testing .. no limitation ..

I think I have discovered the problem - the interaction between Windows audio, OSB and the addition of browser monitoring.

1) I noticed when I plug and unplug my headphones, Windows will switch sound back to the internal speakers which is listed as a different device. After a time or two, this kills the monitoring in OBS, but the meters are still working. If I go into the advanced audio settings and turn off monitoring then turn it back on it returns to normal.

2) since I was monitoring my livestream via Firefox on the same laptop, this caused the audio to crash. Why? Well there is such a lag that when I unplugged the headphones the audio from the website was still playing when the sound device was switching. When I plug the headphones back in there is no monitoring and no meters. Basically the OBS program is confused as to where the sound is coming from. I know now that to get the sound to return, I do not have to power cycle the Atem but only go into the Capture Device settings in OBS and toggle the "use custom audio device" off and on and the sound will return.

So, the big takeaway for me is to monitor your stream on a SEPARATE device and try not to unplug your headphones from your laptop once they are plugged in. Especially during a stream.

I still will download Vmix and give it a shot as when my cameras are set to 1080p60 I detect some stutter in the OBS live and recorded feed. So something is still not 100%.

I cannot contribute anything to the discussion except for what happened last Saturday:

We were streaming via Zoom on a Windows 10 laptop, and suddenly the audio was gone. Also the backup audio that I immediately started did not play through the speakers. After a few seconds of shock I probably did the right thing and un-plugged/re-plugged the audio interface (Apogee Duet 2). Then the audio was audible and transmitted in Zoom again. It was the first time something like this happened during a stream. And the first time ever for any audio interface.

Because the backup audio from a media player wasn't audible either, and the Maestro driver level meters did not indicate any signal, I assume that it was a Windows 10/laptop problem, not a Zoom problem. But this extraordinary failure happened during this Zoom session, so maybe it still has something to do with the streaming software.

Since that day I decided to restrict my streaming activity to the ATEM Mini Pro. Only streaming directly from the Mini Pro, no software, no computer. One client is not happy about my decision, because she sometimes wants to stream via Zoom. I won't do that again, at least not in the coming months. I need 100% certainty. 99% is not enough.

Yes, it seems streaming is dangerous territory for your company's reputation. I have had a few things go sideways and it hurts. But I think we are roped in going forward. One has to have a solid streaming setup if you want to do event work. Sorry to hear you had a job failure.

I am working to make a reliable setup. It was suggested to me to look at Voice meter as a virtual sound device which should eliminate my headphone/sound issue in OBS. I am trying out Vmix as well but have to say, OBS is showing to have cleaner ProRes recordings via StreamFX. So I will probably be staying with OBS after getting used to it.

i see the same problem (losing audio over OBS) on mac with big shure (11.2.1)
on the ATEM mini pro with firmware 8.5.2 (software 8.5.3) and also with 8.6

unplug and replug the USB plug brings audio back

edit:
so, I have the same behavior with my ATEM mini.
will test this tomorrow under mojave (10.14.6) again with the version 8.6,
because this behavior with the verson 8.5.3 under mojave has not occurred
so far with my last streams.

so, the losing audio problem is only bug shure

all my macs does not have this problem under mojave

I've had success using audio capture input as it's own source instead of using the custom audio source drop-down on the video source.

To update this, I purchased a $20 Creative Labs USB sound card that has a headphone port on the little device. Now I can unplug the headphones if needed as the device is "old school" and does not trigger anything with a plug in or un plug.

Bottom line - modern laptops want to offer so many options that it confuses mission critical software work tasks. I will see how things go moving forward but it seems all of the issues centered around the laptop changing the sound device based upon what gets plugged in, which trips up OBS. Not an Atem issue.

I have had the "ATEM Mini Audio Drift" problem since the beginning and with every ATEM Mini so far. Reliable cooperation with OBS and other applications is absolutely impossible. This makes one really angry...and Blackmagic does absolutely nothing.