Disable recording of unused/specific channels ATEM Mini ISO

Hi!

We are building up a small recording/streaming studio using currently 3 BMCC4K and ATEM Mini/Extreme ISO.

While recording all the input channels works nice so far, we wonder if there is an option to disable recording of specific or unused channels to reduce total project data amaount?

Depending on setup we have between 3 to 6 sources and will usually revert back to the Resolve project and relink the 4K footage, while using other sources in their recorded format (such as a SAMSUNG Flip2 etc.). However, having all the empty recording tracks from unused channels is a bit bulky. It would be nice if we can control which channels are recorded or - which would be even better - if only active channels are being recorded.

It would be nice if this feature can be added, as it would save significant project overhead.

Cheers
Axel

This has been covered here many times before. You can't disable inputs, but the files created on the inactive inputs are very small and can just be deleted when session is done.

Hopefully they'll include better control over this in a future update, but for now you just have to deal with the excess files. Obviously, nobody wants to be recording a bunch of empty files and having to delete them manually when a simple "record enable" switch on a per-channel basis would make everything much easier.

Yep, they should detect if no signal is connected and then simply don't record or delete afterwards automatically, if no devices was ever active on the input port during recording.

It's weird to me that we have the "on/off" buttons for audio on each channel, but not for HDMI inputs in general. Seems like it would be a pretty obvious thing to include, but who knows... Maybe it's just because I'm coming from the audio world where every multitrack recorder for about the past half century has included record arm switches on a per-channel basis, but I can't understand a reason why one wouldn't want this.

Are BMD going to get more complaints from people who forgot to arm an HDMI input for recording than those from people who've got a number of small files with no content on their drive where it's recorded extraneous channels?

Very true. Probably the former.

Are BMD going to get more complaints from people who forgot to arm an HDMI input for recording than those from people who've got a number of small files with no content on their drive where it's recorded extraneous channels?

That is why I suggested detecting active signals and only removing tracks when no signal is detected - during the entire recording session. That should be possible. So it would not be up to human error, which was not my question.

That is why I suggested detecting active signals and only removing tracks when no signal is detected - during the entire recording session.

Great idea.. So when the input flickers 1 time due to a bad connection the recording will stop.. Sorry but not a good solution either.. Just deal with it that it records all channels and just use the channels needed..

I mean you can attach 2 USB drives and 4Terabyte of drives.. I mean what are you thinking to record? A week marathon in 1 take???

I totally agree with Xtreemtec, also you really don’t want to disable a video input. Be happy it can record 8 ISO’s and don’t worry about the few MB’s on the empty video-channels.

That is why I suggested detecting active signals and only removing tracks when no signal is detected - during the entire recording session.

Great idea.. So when the input flickers 1 time due to a bad connection the recording will stop.. Sorry but not a good solution either.. Just deal with it that it records all channels and just use the channels needed..

I mean you can attach 2 USB drives and 4Terabyte of drives.. I mean what are you thinking to record? A week marathon in 1 take???

You misunderstood me here. It could detect if the was a signal ever (even for a few frames only during record) an a specific port, then it could leave the file there. If no signal was ever detected, it could simply delete the file.

Its less about me, more about confused editors who have to deal with a lot of unused files. Its not so much about disk space, more about confusion of isers.

And with the explained approach, recording should not fail/stop at all. Its just kind of sanity check after recording. You set 8 bits to 0 (no frames detected) and as soon as an input is detected on the port you can set and flag the bit to 1 (frames detected). Thats all needed. After recording, you can safely remove all files that are still flag bit 0.

I will look into it if I can write a script to solve this, by ideally analyzing the input files for size over time (black frames should compress small and identical). Maybe I can solve it on my end.

I understand your point, but it is also annoying if you have to manually clean up each project first to have a better overview in multicam etc. (3/4 vs 9 channels makes a difference).