University of Washington and Visions’11 Set Sail with Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Production Switcher

Milpitas, CA - Blackmagic Design today announced that the University of Washington’s School of Oceanography used Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher, Micro Videohub and OpenGear Converter Audio to SDI products as part of the ocean going VISIONS’11 Expedition. The University relied on the Blackmagic Design products to capture, route and stream footage from the ocean floor, 400 kilometers offshore, back to the University and online at www.ooi.washington.edu/visions11/live.

VISIONS’11, a cooperative effort between the University of Washington and the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), commenced on August 11 in Seattle, Washington, aboard the 274 foot Research Vessel Thomas G. Thompson. The purpose of the expedition was to continue to prepare for, survey and assess the ongoing installation of the OOI’s high power and high bandwidth cabled ocean observatory. For the expedition, the University of Washington provided technical support for video operations and management of a number of cameras on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher served a significant role for VISIONS’11, as the one and only video switcher on the expedition. Its ability to feed multiple sources of footage from the numerous cameras located on the ocean floor was an incredibly important feature instrumental in streaming video out over satellite.

On VISIONS’11, the University also used the Blackmagic Design Micro Videohub to handle all routing needs for the network, which included routing footage from HD underwater and Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras on the Thompson. Also included in the workflow were Blackmagic Design’s OpenGear Converters, which were used to embed audio for both scientific recording and satellite streaming.

Ed McNichol, the University of Washington’s Technical Video Project Manager, said, “We were a day and a half from land at maximum speed, so the equipment had to work. The Blackmagic Design products have proven to be incredibly reliable, and we were able to trust the ATEM Switcher, which fit seamlessly into our workflow and budget, to handle anything we needed it to.”
About ATEM Production Switchers

Empower live creativity with the new ATEM product switchers! For the first time extremely powerful broadcast grade features, incredibly small size and low cost have been designed in a live production switcher! ATEM production switchers include 4 upstream keyers each with independent chroma, shaped and linear keying, 2 downstream keyers, stinger effects, graphic wipes, media players for stills and clips and a built in DVE for amazing DVE transitions or key repositioning. For portable use, the built in Multi View showing all cameras, preview and program can be viewed on a single SDI or HDMI monitor.

ATEM also includes loads of HDMI and SDI inputs allowing both professional SDI cameras as well as consumer HDMI cameras and computers to be connected. Only ATEM allows low cost HDMI consumer cameras in a professional switcher so it’s easy for customers starting out in live production! ATEM includes a free software control panel and media pool management software for Mac OS X and Windows XP. ATEM is sold independently of the hardware control panel allowing lower initial cost and greater customization. ATEM retails for only US$2,495.
Press Photography

Product photos of ATEM Production Switcher Models, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagic-design.com/press/images
About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s DaVinci Emmy™ award winning color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagic-design.com