Blackmagic Forum

Our church is currently using a windows computer with an 8k Decklink card in it. We run a Sony FX3 and Sony A7III hardwired SDI to the card and a Teradek Spark attached to a Sony A7SIII for wireless. We are streaming to youtube via OBS. I just purchased a Constellation 1 M/E 4k as a new switcher so we can have a more realiable system and easier system to use for volunteers. We also want to purchase a Mac studio to run with instead of the windows system. My question is should I go this route or stick with what we have an improve on that? I know we would need a hardware encoder to stream with the constellation 4k or to use OBS as a passthrough but I would like to avoid OBS. We also dont currently have SDI monitors so we would need to use the SDI to HDMI adapters for our multiview so there are defintely some more components than the current setup. So if anyone has some thoughts and opinions on this setup that would be great to hear! Thank you.

I'm not sure how far your cameras are from the switcher, but if you're already converting HDMI to SDI just for the video input, would maybe an ATEM Mini Pro be a "closer" next step? You could just run the cameras HDMI in directly, use an HDMI monitor for multiview, and stream straight to YouTube?

Some thoughts for you:

1) You can also look at an Elgato CamLink 4K to process the HDMI signal to webcam. This of course would require and HDMI to SDI but you can repurpose one from a camera since you can connect them directly to the switcher now. This would allow you to bypass the OBS route and boot up YouTube Studio directly.

2) An SDI to HDMI adapter is far cheaper than a new SDI Monitor, so adding that to your equipment list should be a priority.

3) Depending on your budget, you could also look at the Streaming Encoder or WebPresenter from Blackmagic to help you connect to YouTube.

Todd