China’s Shiyan TV Upgraded with ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K

Blackmagic Design today announced that Shiyan TV, a regional broadcaster in the city of Shiyan, Hubei province, installed the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4Ks with ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panels as the main and backup switchers for its main production studio.

Built in 2007, Shiyan TV’s main production studio is tasked with production of “Live Shiyan”, the flagship news program of Shiyan TV. To broadcast the show, Shiyan TV started an analog to digital upgrade of their production studio system, with a goal of bringing in virtual studio and online graphics production to enhance the creativity and improving the reliability of the whole studio system.

At the heart of the new studio system is Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K switcher with ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel, which mixes feeds from cameras, the virtual studio system, online graphics system, media players and editing systems. Shiyan TV is also using Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub routers, HyperDeck Studio Pro broadcast decks, DeckLink cards, Mini Converters and SmartView Duo monitors as part of their system.

“The ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K is a complete solution, which simplifies the system design. For instance, it includes a built in audio mixer, which enables the operator to mix and control video and audio, without the need to install external main and backup audio mixers, reducing the number of components and the possibility of an error occurrence due to the failure of matching audio and video,” said Wang Wei, technical manager of Wuhan based Vijita Technology Co., Ltd., who helped Shiyan TV design and implement the new studio system.

During broadcasts, the chroma keyer on the ATEM switcher is used as a backup for the virtual studio system, while the blue screen feed is distributed to the virtual studio system and ATEM switcher. And in case there is a failure with the virtual studio system, operators can use the chroma key feature for keying and compositing work.

For the safety of the live broadcast, the second ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K is used as the backup switcher. Wang said: “Due to high costs, many broadcasters could not afford to use a real production switcher as backup. Instead, they use a video router in case the main switcher fails, but there could be unwanted flashes in between switches. The ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K has everything needed in live production but is not expensive, so we were able to deploy another ATEM switcher as backup and add a Smart Videohub 16 x 16 for further protection.”

The new studio system was designed for Shiyan TV’s new studio building, which is still under construction, so the new system had to be installed in the tight space of the old studio. “The ATEM switcher is versatile but compact, saving the precious space for equipment,” added Wang.

In the new system, the PGM out of the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K is split into two feeds, with one for a computer equipped with a DeckLink SDI card to capture to the master and the other for a HyperDeck Studio Pro SSD recorder for backup mastering.

A Mini Converter SDI to Analog is used to convert the PGM to analog for the analog monitor in front of the news presenter. A Mini Converter SDI to HDMI converts the virtual studio SDI signal from an aux. port of the ATEM switcher to HDMI, so the news presenter can monitor how he or she looks in the virtual environment. Two SmartView Duo monitors have also been installed for monitoring the key and fill signals for the virtual studio system.

Product photos of ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K, ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel, HyperDeck Studio Pro, SmartView Duo and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD 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 go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.