Vision mixer / switcher recommendations for corporate events

[Martin]

As the title suggests, I'm looking for ideas and suggestions for a vision mixer / presentation switcher for medium size corporate events in ballrooms.

 

Probably something between the Barco E2 and the BlackMagic ATEM Television Studio Pro. Yes, I know that's quite a big range!

 

Budget around £15k, but may split this and get an ATEM plus a larger switcher to allow for independent mixing of web streams.

 

Idealy something with both SDI and HDMI inputs and outputs. 4K would be preferable, although not required at present.

 

Currently looking at Analog Way options, but wondered what else was out there.

[mac.calder]

Tricaster maybe.

 

I have an avid HATE for Analogue Way. When I was first asked to do an actual event using one, I asked a colleague about the experience - he said "be careful... they are French - and they operate like it" - and yeah... the operating experience is just a bit off in a number of ways. Everything just feels slightly off. Most memorable was the 'smartfade' (which we used to call the dumb fade). It had some really poor documentation that left out some really critical stuff... like that the switcher didn't have an internal clock for genlock and instead used input 1 for timing. So if you didn't know that, and plugged your 'just in case' stage input into it for a conference... you spent hours trying to figure out why the switcher was randomly glitching and slow to switch. It's these little idiosyncrasies that I have found throughout all AW products.

 

I love the E2 - and the S3 - but they have a specific application that is very different to an ATEM. Barco - great for multi output where you need to composite multiple inputs - but the cost per input means that quite often it is better fed by a separate camera switcher etc. If you are doing mainly medium sized events and don't need the canvasing - hire it when you need it. TVOne CorioMaster can do similar canvas style work for a lot cheaper... but is less live-engineered - so has a few of the same issues Spyder has with a live workflow. Barco did not fall into those same traps thankfully.

 

The ATEM has much bang for buck. If it will do most of what you want, go for it and the TV studio has a scaler/format converter on each channel, which is essential for corporate.

 

If you are heavy into web streaming and looking at a multi-m/e style workflow - Tricaster is a lot of bang for the buck. And NDI converters are relatively cheap - as are NDI cameras. If you are not heavily invested in inventory already, tricaster as the basis for your inventory can be extremely versatile. If you feel like rolling your own - NDI converters and VMix or OBS can actually produce stunning results for surprisingly little outlay.

 

As above, cannot recommend AW. Nor can I recommend Kramer. Extron and their seamless switchers will always have a place in my heart, but is probably a bit exy for the feature set.

 

So the other options are all more broadcast switchers - like Ross Video and Grass Valley. They do some great switchers, but you need additional equipment like scan converters in a corporate setting to make these work for you.

Edited April 4, 2021 by mac.calder

[empyfree]

What do you want to be able to do with it? Are you happy with sticking to standard resolutions or will you want to do custom sized canvases, blends etc?

 

If it’s just switching standard sources I don’t think you can go far wrong with an Atem TVs 4K. It’s all SDI but you’d have plenty left to build a nice accessory rack with a monitor and some convertors. The TVS 4K has the nice trick of input scalers, so you can mix and match on that side of things.

 

Contrary to Mac’s experiences above we have had generally good times with the analog way stuff we own, we run an Ascender which has done us proud over the last four years. Lots of very different events under its belt.

[sunray]

 

As above, cannot recommend AW. Nor can I recommend Kramer. Extron and their seamless switchers will always have a place in my heart, but is probably a bit exy for the feature set.

 

I to have a perpetual hate for Kramer, We fitted some YC10 converters as spec'd by consultant. The conversion was actually better by simply connecting Y&C directly to the CV input with a tee piece.

The Kramer 8x8 RGBHV matrix wasn't buffered and we replaced it with Extron which just worked, straight out of the excellently packed box., as always. Personally I've never been able to work out how Kramer has managed the following it has.

 

[TomHoward]

... go for it and the TV studio has a scaler/format converter on each channel, which is essential for corporate.

I think this is just the 4K.. not that that would put a dent in a 15K budget but I don't think the rackmount or Pro have it?

[mac.calder]

Both TV studios have them - as do the mini's - the 'traditional' ones don't.

[dosxuk]

No, it's only the TV Studio Pro 4K that has the built in scalers. The TV Studio HD (rack mount) and TV Studio Pro HD (desktop) don't have that feature.

 

The only rack mount version with that feature is the Constellation - the 8K mixer.

[mac.calder]

I stand corrected.

[dosxuk]

There's a definite art to reading through the blackmagic marketing nonsense and finding out exactly what combination of features each product contains. Wouldn't be half as bad of they had sensible names but that would make things too easy.

[pete10uk]

I would highly recommend Roland I have a HD 800mk2 and love it. There are bigger models out there from them but I’m very impressed with it. I too hate analog way.