Blackmagic Forum

This App controls Blackmagic Design ATEM™ switchers from Android and iOS devcies:







This App controls Blackmagic Design ATEM™ switchers from your Android device.

Supported switchers: ATEM Television Studio, ATEM 1 M/E, ATEM 2 M/E and Production Studio 4K.

Requirements: Minimum software version 4.0 (Firmware 2.9)

Features:

• All buttons are now fully configurable with a long press (phones: 14 buttons, tablets smaller than 10": 21 buttons, tablets with 10" and more: 40 buttons)
• inputs: Every input can be mapped to a button showing its current state (preview, program or not used).
• auxiliary outputs: Every available input can be assigned to an auxiliary output.
• transition control: Transition styles MIX, DIP, WIPE, STING and DVE can be selected.
• upstream key control: Selection of upstream on air and on next transition.
• downstream key control: Selection of downstream on air, tie and auto transition.

Some of these features are available only in the pro version available for Android that can be purchased through the App. The iOS version currently only supports basic operation.

Please make sure to load the latest official software on the ATEM device (current version is 4.0) as previous versions could lead to serious stability issues of your ATEM device!

Android version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... temcontrol
iOS version: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/metacon ... &ls=1&mt=8

Deti

Hi, I really like the look of this app but is there a way to stop the connection from dropping out over Wifi?

Am trying to use this on an Android phone and would be great for troubleshooting connections.

Tim

timgregory wrote:Hi, I really like the look of this app but is there a way to stop the connection from dropping out over Wifi?

If there is a connection loss via WiFi it's not the fault of the App. Wireless connections are in general more lossy than wired ones and all you can do is to
- reduce the distance between access point and wireless device
- reduce the number of wireless devices connected to one access point
- reduce the bandwidth used by all wireless devices

Deti

Hi Deti,

I am not blaming your App! I have just found that it doesn't stay connected for long despite having full WiFi signal, I just wonder what others are doing to get a reliable connection both with your App and others.

I will try and connect this to a dedicated access point and see if that works any better.

Tim

timgregory wrote:I just wonder what others are doing to get a reliable connection both with your App and others

The ATEM protocol requires to answer every request from the switcher within 100ms. Every packet is sent twice and at least one has to be received and answered by the App. If not the connection is considered as dead by the switch and the App has to reconnect. The same happens to the official ATEM Control Software when used on a lossy link.

It could be even your device - if the processor or the WiFi chipset goes to sleep while it should receive and answer on the network.

Deti

With the latest version 0.92 METAControl now can speak out an audio tally. The configuration option can be enabled for an input in the settings. Your device will say something like "Cam1 on preview", "Cam1 on air" or "Cam1 off", depending on the tally state.

What do you think about this feature? Is it usable?

Deti

With the latest version of METAControl for Android you are able to fully control the media player or to select stills and clips for playback from the media pool. Try it out: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... temcontrol

Deti

do you need the internet to control the software? or can you use a wireless network without internet?

nicpal wrote:do you need the internet to control the software? or can you use a wireless network without internet?

No internet connection needed. Just needs a wireless network.

Just downloaded and purchased this app, and after a painfully slow download it works just fine on my GalaxyTab. There is one thing i really miss though. That is the ability to both add buttons the do immediate switching (PGM), and buttons that do preview switching at the same time. Would prefer to see it under separate menus under Button mapping, for instance, instead of "Inputs and Outputs" you would use Program bus and Preview bus. This would allow for setting up a traditional Program and Preview row with buttons. Any chance of seeing this feature anytime soon?

/Johan

Lundberg wrote:That is the ability to both add buttons the do immediate switching (PGM), and buttons that do preview switching at the same time.

Thank you for your feedback. I will add this feature with the next version. In the meantime you could join our brand new METAControl community at Google Plus: There is a link where you can enable beta testing for your account.

Deti

Thanks for the quick reply!
I'm now a beta tester!

Any ideas on how far away in time this feature will be? (days/weeks/months)?

/Johan

Lundberg wrote:Any ideas on how far away in time this feature will be? (days/weeks/months)?

For beta testers in a couple of hours (app. 3h).

Deti

Wonderful, I already love you!

What do you think about the new features of the latest version? We added 'immediate' buttons that can be used for direct switching of the program bus. Additionally when the option "Immediate switching on single tap" has been enabled you will only see a red button when it's an immediate button and a green preview button when it's a preview button. This should behave exactly like the original software by Blackmagic Design for Windows or Mac OS X.

On the last weekend we have been using the App for almost everything on a live event. It has been working flawlessly and with only useful buttons mapped it was idiot safe - you can see me in this picture as operator
More pictures are here: https://plus.google.com/photos/11468541 ... 5978493425

Deti

Looks good is the new beta available via the App Store for the ipad yet.

just used this app on my phone ... used our 1me to feed projectors in the venue, switch a few cams, ppt, and video playback

nothing complicated but the app worked great i used all over the ball room ... the camera guys were amazed when i was having issues with one camera sending gridlines down to the switcher so i switched to bars on pgm video walked over made the adjustments on the camera, whipped out my phone and threw up his feed live so we could see on the projectors

it was great to be talking with the client on stage had her the "cue" remote and walk through the show with her on stage while switching the sources i needed to

never had a wifi drop out or loss of connection and we were in a large convention space with lots of wifi ...

thanks ... fyi i also used in conjunction with ipod touch and a different control app they all worked in peace and harmony with my pc ...

Hi I have been using strata pro for IOS and had a lot of trouble with dropouts ( iahve a very short distane between router and ipad and perfect wifi signal no other neworks full power on the ipad and no other apps running, little not no thoer wifi or nework traffic other than ATEM control and I can run the BM ATEM control software over wifi no problems. Strata guy gave some explanation of the wifi router being too close to the ATEM (this I dont really understand).

I wanted to get some more detailed reviews and user experience of META Control pro for IOS and android tablets- specifically on dropouts and latency.

Also if anyone (META Control developers especially) has an opinion on this "Wifi router should be far from the ATEM unit" witchery it would be great to know.

Cheer

Fred

Fred,

This is a "shot in dark" but you might want to try this:

Direct Network connect PC->ATEM (NO Switch)
Establish your own WiFi Network from the controlling PC, you'll need to run a DHCP server or your PC or give your WiFi devices static IPs in the address range of your WiFi Adpater.
Bridge the network connections on the controller PC

This is not an easy bit of PC admin, but it's not too difficult.

Why?

My experience of ATEM disconnections (using Official SDK) is that the network switch is the most important thing to get right. We've done quite a lot of testing with this, not yet complete, but if I use a "some" cheap 8 port network switches, and connect 2 RAIDed servers (i.e. much higher hard drive access than network speed), 1 ATEM, and 1 Controlling PC.

ATEM connected to controlling PC using BMD software (not special API/UDP app). Then transfer a huge file from one file server to the other, the ATEM loses connection with the Controlling PC, even though nothing was happening at the time on ATEM or controller. Reason? Kind of unknown, but suspect network switch made a decision to prioritize the sever transfer and UDP packets were delayed. Same test: expensive Cisco switch, no problems. This is in an entirely wired world, and I should also say other cheap 8 port switches and routers have passed this test on occasions and failed on others. The only 100% reliable switch has been our core network switch.

Any WiFi system; has extra complexity: in terms of routing packets from one sort of network to another, even when your WiFi and LAN are appear to be on the same subnet. Hence my advice for your problem is to simplify and relay your WiFi traffic through a computer, which is directly linked to the ATEM. Safest way - although guessing slightly as this iPad/iPhone app problem you are reporting may be client software related, but if it's a derivative of the UDP packet timing disconnections, then this solution should be significantly more reliable than a consumer WiFi Access point or router solution.

I'm far from a network expert (it's a true black art), but I do know there is a difference between a Cisco4948 for $10K, and a TPLink 48 Port Gig switch for $500. I'm just not qualified to explain what it is. I've said on another topic we are going to try to investigate this more scientifically later this year, as it is crazy to be forced to use a state or the art switch designed for far more than sending a few UDP packets on time to a peripheral device to guarantee 100% reliability, but I've never managed to get an ATEM to disconnect when linked directly with a cross-over network cable, and I find it highly unlikely you'll get any latency problems bridging WiFi and LAN on your PC with the iPad app or METAControl.

Good Luck

John

What you are speaking of is a 'non-blocking' Ethernet switch. Your normal 'run of the mill' Ethernet switches do have a maximum bandwidth in how much data they can handle at once. Hit the maximum and additional traffic is dropped because the switch can't take the extra information. Add that with that most switches do have a buffer and you can lock out another system from commination when other system are performing high bandwidth tasks. The systems that are sending out lots of packets are filling the buffer and still trying to push more information, while your other task is sending out one or two packets that get dropped and the app says, 'Sorry no one is there!'.

As you can guess, Non-blocking Ethernet switches are more expensive. If looking to get one, the switch manufacture should give you to total bandwidth of the switch, if they aren't sharing this information, then they probably aren't non-blocking (this would be something they would want to share if they had the bandwidth).

I cannot really run a DHCP for wifi from my computer, I specifically work with the wifi off on all machines as I need a wired connection for other purposes and got a lot of trouble with 2 connections per machine (they can all see each other and need to).

I am trying to find out exactly where the problem is. I am still pointing to the client app at the moment but will do more test when my gear gets back. As I said I can run the ATEM software reliably over wifi with no trouble, this is the part I find confusing. I dont have a non blocking switch or super industrial wifi.

On that note can anyone suggest a semi industrial wifi access point/ router they are using. I am using high end consumer stuff and am looking for something better. I have found a lot of cisco stuff but am not sure what to get. I use a 24 port switch (netgear) that has always handled what I need to do (we do a lot of large file transfers in our shows and send a lot of UDP control packets between machines for synchronising, apart from that I only need to run the ATEM, but we are looking at the possibility of adding wifi based interactivity for our audiences so up to 500 wifi connections at time but only sending tiny udp packets (but yes a lot of them and a lot of connections).

Cheers

Fred

suggestion

beside the control app, you can also create an app for cameraman, with limited display info, like which cam is on air. The cameraman can also setup which camera input, so when his camera on air, it shows a special tally signal.

Also you can make a chat box, it may not be very useful if there is ClearCom. But sometimes it is very useful, for example, they didn't wear the Comm, the control can show a message.

beside the control app, you can also create an app for cameraman, with limited display info, like which cam is on air. The cameraman can also setup which camera input, so when his camera on air, it shows a special tally signal.

Allready exists for iPad/iPhone: strata view.

But: ATEM-Mixers only supports up to 5 (7 2ME) IP-connections. You'll need 1-2 for controlling the ATEM, so you have 3 (5) free connections for the tally app.

Warning: If a WiFi connection fails, e.g. because of a bad signal, a new connection will be started. So you can reach the maximum amount of connections with less active connections.... Maybe the ATEM becomes uncontrolable.

fred_dev wrote:On that note can anyone suggest a semi industrial wifi access point/ router they are using. I am using high end consumer stuff and am looking for something better. I have found a lot of cisco stuff but am not sure what to get. I use a 24 port switch (netgear) that has always handled what I need to do (we do a lot of large file transfers in our shows and send a lot of UDP control packets between machines for synchronising, apart from that I only need to run the ATEM, but we are looking at the possibility of adding wifi based interactivity for our audiences so up to 500 wifi connections at time but only sending tiny udp packets (but yes a lot of them and a lot of connections).

Fred, I reckon you want to search for Enterprise Wireless Arrays, when you are serving WiFi to so many clients, it can get really complicated (don't know enough about it myself), but I do know there are some companies that specialize in setting up complex WiFi zones with multiple access points. I've, come across a couple of companies, but not "used anyone" in a way I could make recommendations. I guess this is a very specialist requirement.

Theoretically; two normal WiFi routers would do the job, but I seriously doubt it.

500 simultaneous active clients "sounds immense!", good luck, and please share your experiences, and successes (hopefully) if you get it all working.

Cheers

JOhn

I think I will end up having a lot of help on this, it will begin as a showcase in a venue that has a team that setup a large temporary wifi network for all the participants. I guess I will ask a lot of questions when it happens.

For my own on stage network I will look into something more robust and report back.

Cheers

If I connected a tablet to the atem with a usb to eathernet connection could it work without the wifi? I just figure that could eliminate the chance of the network dropping out

No, not directly but apparently there are usb to ethernet adaptors that will work with some android tabs such as samsungs stuff. I have not tested it though.

Fred

Hi Deti,

I recently upgraded my ATEM TV Studio from 4.1 to 5.0 today (primary reason for the upgrade, the ATEM would hang after about an hour of use with iOS version of MetaControl and I wanted to see if a firmware upgrade woudl fix it). The Android version of MetaControl works fine with this firmware revision. However, the iOS version doesn't properly detect the available sources (the names have control characters in them). Switching between sources works though.

Is this a known issue? I noticed the iOS version is quite a bit older than the Android version. Is an update planned to bring the two to functional equivalence (or at least compatibility with the latest BlackMagic firmware)?

yes I also get weird characters on my buttons and I can't reroute them so it's unusable at this point, but a very intriguing app.

yes I also get weird characters on my buttons and I can't reroute them so it's unusable at this point, but a very intriguing app.

It was quite functional prior to the firmware update. Haven't been able to contact the author either here or in the Google+ support group.

Same here. Works fine on my Android but does not function well on my iPad.

Hello,

I recently purchased Blackmagic ATEM TV Studio and installed METAControl. Works very well at my end. Is there a way to control the audio source from this app, instead of working from a PC? Every time ATEM is powered down and started again for next use, the default audio source is AES/EBU. I would like to know if your PRO app allows audio source selection.

Thank you.

Hi!

I just wanted to let ppl know, I tried this today with my ATEM Mini Pro and it worked great!

Only problem I'm having is the "Buy" button is not doing anything, and I'd like to pay for the advanced features

--Rob

5 yrs ago when this thread was first started metacontrol was an activly developed app. I dont think that is the case today and prob. why the "buy me" isn't working.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Yes, button is dead, but if you try to program a button with something else (a PRO function) than a CAMx, it will trigger the PRO purchase screen.