Blackmagic Design has announced a version 4.1 software update for its ATEM production switchers. This lets customers save and restore full or partial switcher states on all models, and also adds 1080p 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 50 and 59.94 frame rates for the ATEM Production Studio 4K model (pictured).
These new frame rates allow customers to work in 1080p progressive video formats, which means the Studio 4K now connects to a wider range of HD devices including low-cost consumer HDMI and professional SDI cameras, routers and media playout servers.
The new save and restore switcher state functionality can be used in three ways: saving and restoring the entire switcher state, saving only a piece to restore, or loading just a piece of an entire saved state. For example, it is possible to recall a complicated chromakey set-up without affecting the rest of the switcher state during a live production.
Switcher states can be saved to a laptop, hard disk or USB and loaded at the next session using any ATEM production switcher, in any location. Each new saved state is conveniently saved as a new file with time and date stamp, which means that users can confidently save multiple states without worrying about accidentally saving over the top of another.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be able to give our customers powerful macro-like control of their ATEM switchers!” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “Now they can save entire switcher states or just part of a switcher state for keyers, audio mixer and even SuperSource on the ATEM 2 M/E to XML files. Customers can save as many settings files as they like and recall them as they want, just like macros.”
The software update is available free of charge from www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/.
