Blackmagic Design Production Switcher 4K

[Jesse Pepin]

I hadn't seen a topic launched here for this already, so I figured I'd share what I saw at NAB that is going to be changing the game: the Production Switcher 4K.

Blackmagic took everything I liked about the 1 M/E, the size of the TVS, the controls and display of the Ultra Studio, and combined it with the ability to use 4K technology. In a 1 R/U switcher, you can use 8 inputs, have XLR and RCA audio, a single row of SDI inputs (instead of bunching them together), and it supports either HD or UHD (4K).

This this also has an aux out on the back that can run a completely separate mix controlled by the front-side buttons. And finally, it's cheaper than the 1 M/E: $1,995.

When I got to play with it at the Blackmagic Design meet-up, it was truly stunning: most people won't be able to make use of the 4K multi-view or even prog out yet, but it still does HD as well, and gives a nice piece of gear that can take you through the transition to UHD if/when it becomes necessary.

Doesn't hurt that they're launching the Production 4K Cinema Camera roughly the same time.

On my tech blog, I went ahead and expanded the review including additional information from my hands-on time with this piece of equipment:

Blackmagic Design Production Switcher 4K | jesse's gear

Shoot me any questions you have on here, and I'll answer any that I possibly can.

[Justin Molush]

Thats pretty cool they are offering it at that price point and is a bargain compared to the Sony switchers I've seen in the past. I assume it only works with their own ATEM control panels?

[Jesse Pepin]

So far as I know, yes. But it still has the software control feature, the front controls, and you can use the Strata App (1 of a couple available) to control Blackmagic ATEM switchers via iPhone and iPad, so you still have some options.

The price point and the single-row SDI ports were great additions. The ports also carry 4K over 1 6G/SDI port (as opposed to 3 ports on many other devices), which is pretty revolutionary.

[Peter Mykusz]

Do the HD SDI imports have to be the same type or can you mix 2K with 4K?
Does it have any scalers?

[Charles Papert]

Was considering this unit but there were a couple of issues I noted. It would be fine for a permanent installation but for a situation where input sources would be plugged in and removed on each gig, it wouldn't live well in a standard depth rackmount case, since it is so short front to back--assuming you mount it facing forward so that you can access the front panel buttons, the rear jacks will be quite deep inside the case.

Another issue for me is that while it has expanded input formats compared to previous models, it still doesn't do 23.98psf which is what the Sony cameras spit out. May be addressed in a firmware update, who knows.

Otherwise, impressive.

[Sander Vreuls]

You could make a patch panel at the back for it.. Would probably help with cooling as well since the Atem's like to have everything attached..

The major downside about the whole atem series to me is the lack of macro features (which have been announced and the panel has the space for it, just not working) and the lack of multiviewer layouts..
But for the rest it's a pretty good buy.. I've even considered getting one to feed graphics to another switcher which doesn't have a media pool..

[Shaun Roemich]

Keep in mind that each firmware update breaks as many things as it fixes... WHAT it breaks may or may not apply to you...

My ATEM 1ME (non-4k) has a bad habit of "losing" the SD downconverter (both SDI and analog) when it is powered down...

Read the reports at the BlackMagic Design forum to get a better idea of how frustrating this stuff can be... despite what the fanboys say.