ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recognized

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zetrick

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ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recognized

PostSat Apr 16, 2022 12:50 pm

Hi.
Since some months we have a strange behavior with recording to an SSD with our ATEM mini pro.

- I plug in the SSD to the ATEM and I see no remaining recording time in the multi-view screen
- But recording can be started and SSD LED shows that there is ongoing access
- If I unplug the SSD and plug it in to the ATEM again, it is not recognized anymore
- If I attach it to a PC and start the recording, I see very poor audio and video quality (like recorded with 320x240 pixels and extremely bad audio). But the file properties (e. g. from gspot or some other tool that reads the MPEG header) tell me that it is a 1080p50 video. And the file size is very small.

If I plug in another SSD on the ATEM, it is not recognized as well.
If I remove the power of the ATEM for some seconds and let it start again, it still does not recognize any USB drive.
To make it work again, I have to restore a config backup of the ATEM via the PC software

This issue happens unregularly. It can work for weeks, but then suddenly goes into this state.
The last time it happened during a recording. I saw later in the video that resolution and audio is fine until the remaining recording time disappeared on the multi-view screen.

I already checked the SSD which we use now for 1,5 years (with usage of approx. 1-2 hours per week) and did some intensive writing and reading tests. No issues there.

My current idea is that one of the last firmware updates (we use the latest 8.6.4) has a bug or that something is broken in the ATEM. Because if the SSD would have a defect, it would just stop working completely. But as there is still something written to the disk...

Any idea?

I will try with another SSD, but as this happens very unregularly, it can take some time to see any change.
In parallel I will also contact the support, if here no one states that this is a known issue.

Thanks & cheers
Patrick
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zetrick

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Re: ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recogni

PostThu May 26, 2022 4:28 pm

I found out what is the reason and will tell the support about this.

For unknown reason the ATEM "forgets" some streaming settings und sets the bitrate to zero.
Whe I export the settings (save the config via the Atem Software Control), the respective part looks like this:

Code: Select all
<Output>
        <LiveStream serviceName="YouTube" url="rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2" key="<anonymized>" lowLatency="False">
            <Credentials username="" password=""/>
            <bitrate low="0" high="0"/>
            <audioBitrate low="0" high="0"/>
        </LiveStream>
        <Record filename="Aufnahme" recordInAllCameras="False"/>
</Output>

But it should look like this:
Code: Select all
<Output>
        <LiveStream serviceName="YouTube" url="rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2" key="<anonymized>" lowLatency="False">
            <Credentials username="" password=""/>
            <bitrate low="6000000" high="9000000"/>
            <audioBitrate low="128000" high="128000"/>
        </LiveStream>
        <Record filename="Aufnahme" recordInAllCameras="False"/>
</Output>
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randyd

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Re: ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recogni

PostFri May 27, 2022 5:12 am

Aaron Pareki did a video (YouTube) about what causes this and how to not cause it to occur. It I remember correctly, it is caused by connecting to the ATEM with different computers.
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zetrick

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Re: ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recogni

PostFri May 27, 2022 6:04 am

Ah, thanks for this hint! Found it. But this also happens when I do not use the PC software at all. But what I do is that I use Companion as central control system. Maybe there is some communication that also triggers this bug.

I will try to find out what goes over the network and maybe I can code a small script that sets this setting correctly as I do not want to start the software every time. But this would be only a workaround.

Anyway I filed a ticket at Blackmagics yesterday.
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rhino.fog

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Re: ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recogni

PostMon Oct 17, 2022 10:41 pm

Hi,

We have also experienced low recording and streaming quality although the USB is being recognised.
The bitrate changed dramatically when we installed version 8.6.4 to the ATEM Mini Pro.
I am off to check on thoes xml settings to see if they are wrong so hoping it will resolve the issue.
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zetrick

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Re: ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recogni

PostWed Oct 19, 2022 7:08 pm

Hey.

Sorry, I just forgot about my post here.
In the meantime the support answered and their suggestion with resetting the device did the trick, at least until now.

From the ATEM software, chose "Clear Startup state" from the file menu. This resets the operational parameters of the switcher to factory settings.

The following instructions will activate the firmware recovery mode on your device:
- Please install the latest version of ATEM Setup and open the application on your computer.
- Please ensure your device is powered off.
- Next you will need to connect the device via USB to the computer.
- Once the device is connected via USB, please power the unit on whilst holding the ON button for Mic Input 1.
- The device will enter recovery mode and you will be able to update the firmware of the unit.
- If you are not prompted to update the unit, please click the circular settings button within the software and then click update.
- Please wait for the update to finish. Once completed the unit should be operational again.
- If this does not work the first time please try again.
- If the firmware recovery does not restore your unit to working order, please let us know and we would be happy to assist you further.


Hope this helps you too.

BR
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rhino.fog

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Re: ATEM mini pro - poor recording quality + SSD not recogni

PostWed Oct 19, 2022 7:23 pm

Thank you @zertick for posting that.

I did do a check and found the <bitrate low="0" high="0"/> and <audioBitrate low="0" high="0"/> so I did a reset and that lost all the settings for streaming but reset the bitrate values.

Not sure if I managed to work out just when it was setting it to zero but now have an xml with everything set correctly.

For us it was certainly associated with the upgrade so lets hope next time it is tested a bit better.

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