ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K - Keyed outputs

I was in green screen studio situation yesterday where I had 3 x Ursa Broadcasts running into my ATEM TV Studio 4K, with and ATEM CCU contoller. Pre-mixer, I split the 3 camera feeds into a NewTek Tricaster, which keyed each camera to drop into it's LiveSet. My Blackmagic control kit was just there to remote monitor and control the cameras, not to provide a vision mix.

The keying in the Tricaster as not as good as that which I can achieve with the keyer in my ATEM TVS 4K, so given I need up to 4 independent keyers, were I to use an ATEM 4 M/E BS 4k, can I send independent keyed feeds to the Tricaster via the multiple aux outputs? And would the Tricaster see a black or transparent backround? Anyone done anything similar?

Good question, I would be interested in an answer to this one also.
Cheers

in a nutshell, yes the 4ME can do this. since the 4ME has 6 aux outs, PVW, PGM and ME2 you could actually pull off 9 CK shots to feed your TriCaster if you needed. there are 16 keyers that all support advanced CK, so you could do some composite layering as well-but only 9 physical outputs to send from.

The TriCaster will see whatever you send from the ATEM. If you key the green screen camera over a background, and send that to the aux, then that is what will be seen on the TriCaster.

I suppose you COULD send the key output from the ATEM and use that with your camera feed direct into the TC for a cleaner key signal-assuming the timing lines up (that's a good experiment). This is the only way you will get a transparent background INSIDE the TC. guess this just depends on what your final composite goal is.

in a nutshell, yes the 4ME can do this. since the 4ME has 6 aux outs, PVW, PGM and ME2 you could actually pull off 9 CK shots to feed your TriCaster if you needed. there are 16 keyers that all support advanced CK, so you could do some composite layering as well-but only 9 physical outputs to send from.

The TriCaster will see whatever you send from the ATEM. If you key the green screen camera over a background, and send that to the aux, then that is what will be seen on the TriCaster.

I suppose you COULD send the key output from the ATEM and use that with your camera feed direct into the TC for a cleaner key signal-assuming the timing lines up (that's a good experiment). This is the only way you will get a transparent background INSIDE the TC. guess this just depends on what your final composite goal is.

Thank you. I'm going to have a go at sending a keyed camera image from ATEM TVS 4K into the Tricaster LiveSet and if that drops seamlessly into their 3D set (and presuming I can send several independently-keyed feeds out via the 4 M/E's auxilliaries etc), I'll invest in a 4 M/E. I just need to know that it'll work before spending over £5k on one.

well go one step further with your test. you should be able to do 2 keyed cameras with the TVS4k, one on PGM, set the other one up on PVW. if that works, and you don't mind shading cameras across 2 switchers, just get another TVS4k instead of the 4ME. you can send me a check for the money I saved you

Thank you. I'm going to have a go at sending a keyed camera image from ATEM TVS 4K into the Tricaster LiveSet and if that drops seamlessly into their 3D set (and presuming I can send several independently-keyed feeds out via the 4 M/E's auxilliaries etc), I'll invest in a 4 M/E. I just need to know that it'll work before spending over £5k on one.

You need to export a mask with the TVS, the IO does not support an imbedded alpha channel. The mattes require picture sync necessitating two outputs per input. Seamless? I don't know that a 4 ME subswitch could ever be described as a seamless solution. If the key is that much better in the Atem why not flip the script and use the Tricaster for media playout and the Atem for compositing and swtiching?

Good Luck

Thank you. I'm going to have a go at sending a keyed camera image from ATEM TVS 4K into the Tricaster LiveSet and if that drops seamlessly into their 3D set (and presuming I can send several independently-keyed feeds out via the 4 M/E's auxilliaries etc), I'll invest in a 4 M/E. I just need to know that it'll work before spending over £5k on one.

You need to export a mask with the TVS, the IO does not support an imbedded alpha channel. The mattes require picture sync necessitating two outputs per input. Seamless? I don't know that a 4 ME subswitch could ever be described as a seamless solution. If the key is that much better in the Atem why not flip the script and use the Tricaster for media playout and the Atem for compositing and swtiching?

Good Luck

Ah, got you regards two outputs per camera source. Unfortunately, we can't "flip script" as you suggest, as we're putting the three cameras into NewTek's LiveSet 3D virtual studio, a feature not offered as far as I'm aware by Blackmagic.