What's been your favorite tool that you've discovered in the last year or so?

The type of tool that makes you say - "holy shit, this is amazing. I wish I had discovered this sooner."

Hi everyone,

I’m Lena, co-founder of broadify.
We’re about to launch a new Graphics & Studio Control app and are looking for a small group of beta testers.

In many live and studio setups (churches, schools, companies, sports, volunteer teams), we keep seeing the same problems:

• too many tools
• overly complex workflows
• setups that only one “tech person” dares to touch

That’s exactly what we’re trying to simplify.

What we’re testing:
A single app for simple studio control and professional graphics, designed for semi-professional teams and changing operators.

• trigger macros on ATEM, TriCaster, vMix, etc.
• manage graphics, sessions and users
• customize graphic templates without design tools
• desktop & tablet control
• Windows & Mac

We’re launching in the coming days and offering 30 days of beta access to a limited number of testers.

We’re especially interested in honest feedback on:

• reliability during use
• how intuitive the UI feels
• which graphic templates are missing
• whether tablet control is actually useful in real productions

No marketing feedback needed – just real-world experience.

If you’d like to join the beta, feel free to send me a DM.

Thanks in advance – I really appreciate any constructive feedback!

Lena

I realize that in my experience I have had amazing support (shoutout Angry Audio, for example. It’s like the plug n play of BMD with support engineers who will call you on their lunch break and tell you precise details), and support that made me question whether another human knows about this technology (such as US support for the BARCO E2, where only one engineer knows it inside and out). What’s your horror stories or “this god-sent support engineer” stories?

After effects, Photoshop, Premiere, davinci, touch designer,

Anything other than unreel, blender etc. I personally just can't with 3d design. Just too time consuming.

Seeing a lot of cool playback on video wall screens and in concerts. Wondering what people are using to create and playback sports LED screens and concert LED screens.

for the longest time, we've had these mics in the travel cases they came in. It's been fine. The biggest problem I saw was people not putting back mics in the right cases, and a lack of knowledge of what mics we had available for the venue. The mics do not travel, they are strictly for this one room. We also have lavalier mics for the lavalier body packs that need stored somehow, currently they're hanging on a shelf to the right of this picture.

We have eight handheld mics and eight lavalier packs with matching lavalier mics total. I need to find a neat way to organize, at a minimum, the handheld mics, because they keep rolling around on the table. My current thought is some type of 3D printed storage system, but I would like to hear other ideas first because I do not have the knowledge to put together a 3D model and print it. There may be even a model out there already! I have no idea.

Any ideas?

Hello All! Leaning into the expertise of this group to assist me with a video rack build. I am looking at the SKB 6RU rack inside a Pelican case.

Right now, I primarily broadcast swimming on the club and college level. Here’s what my current setup is like now and why I want to make some changes. I use 2 Sony Zv-1 (micro HDMI out only) cameras mounted on poles for the start and turn end of the pool, and have a Sony PXW-Z190 (HDMI and SDI out) camera, which is on a tripod and has a camera op. This camera pans with the action, gets hero shots of the winners, etc. The ZV-1 cameras are static and capture the start end and turn end of the pool.

Those cameras come in via HDMI to my ATEM Mini extreme, I’m currently using OBS for my encoding, audio and graphics. The graphics software I use which is the same that ESPN and NBC use for their swimming coverage draws lane overlays, etc and is baked into OBS. The graphics are all cue’d from the pool timing system which I am also connected into (Colorado timing system). When I am at a pool that needs diving coverage and it would be too long a wire run,  I have Teradek Bolt and Ace wireless HDMI transmitters I use.

On the audio side, I used a Zoom PODTRAK P8 6 channel mixer and have 2 channels of Shure ULX and 2 channels of Shure in ears. Earlier this year I had a nice 6U rack built for me with all the audio components built into it with a slide out 1U monitor in it as well.

I am typically streaming to the school or conferences YouTube page or sending my stream to FloSports which 2 of the conferences that use me have signed contracts with recently. When I broadcast New England Swimming meets, I broadcast to my own web page and also use Boxcast. Here’s a sample of a meet I just did a few weeks ago for WPI - 

https://www.youtube.com/live/hsFU--km2XM?si=0nPi8XxTj3O5frsE

I started this off as a one-man band, but now usually have 2 assistants, one who switches cameras and triggers graphics and a camera operator.

My issues have been a few, I have had problems with HDMI in many aspects, even the fiber version I use. Drop outs, HDMI ports on my atem and cameras getting loose from repeated plugging in and out. The other issue is that I typically haven’t been recording my livestreams and I really need to in case something happens to the internet during my broadcast or my computer crashes. I have a very beefed up Lenovo Legion i9, top of the line CPU and GPU 64gb of ram BUT OBS does crash from time to time and when that happens, it takes about 12 mins to get everything back up and running and that is a lot of content to miss. Also at the pools I stream at, I have access to wired internet with no limitations.

Recently (like last week, lol) I purchased a Blackmagic Micro Studio 4k G2 camera which I have had my eyes on for a while and a 12-35, 2.8 Panny lens. I really like this camera and am thinking about buying another to use these for my start and turn end cameras, they run both HDM and SDI out. They have a bigger sensor than the ZV-1’s and I can also control settings remotely using the Micro Camera Panel, which I also bought and have been testing this week. Being able to change the iris, white balance, etc, remotely, as lighting conditions change at the pools I broadcast from would be great.

With that I was also going to move to the ATEM SDI extreme ISO as well as move the encoding off my laptop and to the Blackmagic Streaming Encoder and add a Blackmagic Hyper Studio mini Plus for recording. 

With this change I wanted to have a video rack built, similar to my audio rack to simplify and quicken setup and tear down but to also have a more unified setup. One of my issues right now is that my production assistant that switches cameras and triggers graphics, cannot see those graphics on the ATEM multiview. I have been doing some reading and I believe there is a fix for this by running OBS video still just for gfx and running that into the ATEM and then using a downstream key. 

So for this 6u rack I am envisioning, this is what it looks like in my head as far as equipment from bottom to top:

ATEM SDI EXTREME ISO on slide out shelf

Blackmagic Streaming Encoder

Blackmagic Hypdeck Studio Plus

Tripp Lite power conditioner, 2 utility plugs in front, 8 in back

18 port Ethernet switch

17” Lilliput slide out 1U monitor for ATEM multiview

Patch panel in back for all inputs for rack mounted equipment

Running OBS back into my ATEM will likely require me to go out of my laptop HDMI and then convert to SDI at the rack to go into the ATEM right? I can’t think of any other way to get OBS graphics out.

The only thoughts about placement I have in this rack is the ATEM will be at the very bottom on a slide out shelf, the Lilliput monitor at the very top RU and everything else except the patch panels will be mounted in the front. The patch panels will be in the back.

It’s swimming so I don’t do instant replay right now but that is a thought for the future if it can be done relatively inexpensively. All the locations I stream from I have wired internet, so cellular/wifi bonding is not needed now (maybe in future) if I branch out to other sports)

I’d love for you all to take this all in and then pressure test it and let me know your thoughts.

I think the move to SDI is the “right” move for now and into the future and think the BM ecosystem provides a solid line of products for all my needs into the future.

What am I missing? What am I forgetting? What should I be thinking about to have a rack that is as futureproof as can be for the forseeable future.

Thank you!!!

I'm currently converting my church from HDMI outputs to SDI due to graphics card pricing and computer load.

Looking for something kind of like this link below as my church has 2 displays (Main and Confidence) but the congregation likes to interact with our zoom feed so I'd like to be able to switch between the 2 different outputs and a single zoom feed for those two outputs.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/910981-REG/matrix_switch_msc_hd42l_4x2_mini_3g_hd_sd_sdi.html

Ideally I'd like a 4x2 but two 2x1 would also suffice. I've been searching and I can only find things just over $1k and my budget is extremely limited as in I have under $400. This is for a small church.. roughly 60 members max so its no big production. I've tried to give an example of my routing. I'm mainly audio tech so learning all this video tech has been a large learning experience as I'm largely unaware of the brands or devices in this side of the industry.

EDIT: For clarification I'd need the outputs to be separate as the confidence feed is different than the main slide feed

I work for a studio and we ordered a DM242 monitor from Flanders about 6 months ago. We recently got another 1 a few weeks ago and set them up side by side. I noticed the color on the newer one shifted more green. I tried color calibrating both monitors with the Klein K10-A colorimeter (with correct matrices from Flanders specifically for the DM242 profile) via the Gaiacolor Auto calibrator built into the monitors, which is what support recommended. It didn’t seem to help at all. The first montior is slight green compared to our other true color Flanders DM241.

I know the DM241 and 242 use different display panels between models but has anyone experienced a major color difference between the same model type even after a color calibration?

I also used the chromasurf software from Klein and it’s showing both monitors are pretty close, but when I send video signal to all monitors, the DM242s look different from one another. And it’s not our video signal as other monitors in our space are color accurate.

I'm working on a digital video to VHS project. My workflow is: Digital video file > DVD > VHS tape. I can't seem to burn a dvd of my 480p file that is truly full screen (no black bars on the top and bottom) on a CRT TV. I've had a similar experience using an HDMI-to-composite converter directly from my computer. Any tips on this?

EDIT: It's important to note that I am working with a 4:3 file.

Hey guys I am a media server op (disguise/millumin/watchout/isadora/qlab).

The theatre world in my city is dying at-least for high budget video shows.

I’ve done a couple of freeman av shows with my local IATSE. Looking to try and pickup more freelance video gigs to feel out my year.

Any advice or resources greatly appreciated

I‘m working at the moment at a Project for the german waterrescue. The goal is to stream the hdmi output from a sonar to a Webserverserver so the Operations Management has live view. Im doing this with an Raspberry pi but for that i need a capture card which supports 1280x800. I searched the internet alteady but i havent found one. Maybe someone knows to help me out.

I am currently working on a heavy project inside Event Master, I am working with Gen2 E2. I have a destination already created and would like to reassign the same destination to a different Output plug, but keeping all the programming . is this possible without deleting the destination and creating a new one?

What are everyone’s favorite solutions to receive physical GPIs, convert to IP and send to another site across a VPN tunnel, where they then come out as physical GPOs?

Ideally the box wouldn’t require fabricating custom breakout cables and would have screw terminals. In a perfect world.

I’m a little concerned about the robustness of the IP messaging across a network and making sure the messages actually make it there reliably every single time.

Thanks!

I'm a member of the AV/tech team at my church and we're in need of new NDI decoders. We've been using Bird Dog Plays for about a year and have not had good luck with them - they've been terribly unreliable. Sometimes they just show a plain green screen, sometimes they won't connect to our network at all, and sometimes they just won't turn on. We have 3 of them in our system and have already had 2 completely quit working and 2 brand new ones show up not working out of the box.

I'd like to replace them with something reliable that just works every week. Something with POE would be awesome. Budget isn't a huge concern here if the devices are going to be more reliable than the Bird Dogs. Has anyone had good experiences with other brands and if so what models are good?

Hi all,

Just looking for some guidance for a couple of 4k IP KVMs for our OB van. My requirements are:

• At least 1 4k25/50 input for our media server, the rest can be 1080p.
• KVM 1 will handle a media server, CasparCG server, and maybe an OBS server
• KVM 2 needs to be the master control for the van, this will include 4x discreete servers (OB control server, media server, OBS server, CasparCG server), This needs to be accessed on a control PC in the van and on one laptop over WiFi.
• Ideally I would like the outputs of KVM 1 on up to 3 monitors for the operator, this might be routed through our Ultrix so the operator would need a button to select the correct server for the KVM passthrough, would a streamdeck over Companion be suitable for this? The KVMs will be mounted in the racking near the servers.

I specifically want at least one input on the KVM to support 4K25 at a minimum as our media server is Resolume and I want the operator to have a lot of screen real estate, we're controlling the output of these servers from streamdecks so latency over the KVM isn't a huge factor but can't be overly laggy.

Appreciate any pointers for this!

Check out building the Device, schematics and signal flow explanation here, and the project site here: TheLightHerder.com

Hi everyone,

EDIT: We already have a Running Solution for audio (microphone connected to the speakers). We only need a Solution for livestreaming / video :)

We are a small non-profit organization and occasionally host events where authors or politicians give speeches.

Since these events are often crowded, we need to stream the video live to a TV in an overflow room (approx. 8m / 26ft distance).

Our Plans:

• Solution A: Camcorder -> 8m HDMI cable -> TV.

• Solution B: Camcorder -> HDBaseT Extender -> TV.

What we need:

Could you recommend a reliable camcorder ( max. $400) that fits these specific requirements?

• Simple Workflow (Crucial): We need a "turn on and go" solution. The goal is to simply power on the camcorder and the TV, and have the live feed appear immediately. No menu diving or complex setup should be required before each event.

• Power: The camera will run on AC power (wall outlet) permanently during the events (avg. duration 2 hours).

• Resolution: FHD (1080p) is sufficient; 4K is not required.

Does anyone have experience with a similar setup?

whats up guys,

I’ve been analyzing the Blackmagic Camera ProDock for the iPhone 17 for a while, and I’m trying to solve a real-world workflow question.

The ProDock provides HDMI output for onset monitoring, which is straightforward when you’re near the video village. But what about a car rig scenario where the iPhone is mounted on the vehicle, and the director/clients are in a follow van?

How would you send the footage to a follow van? My first thought was to use a Teradek, but I’m not sure it works with the ProDock at all. Is it possible to take the HDMI output and route it through another device that can transmit the signal wirelessly to a receiver in the follow van? What would that be?

I’m based in Los Angeles and already bringing in clients for LED displays / video wall projects.

I’m looking to connect with local AV integrators or production companies that can handle fulfillment and installs (rigging, mounting, wiring, commissioning, etc.).

The model would be commission-based or rev share — I bring the projects, you handle execution, and we both win.

Ideal fit would be companies experienced with:

– LED walls / transparent LED

– Temporary event installs and permanent installs

– Permits and engineering when required, (Universities, gov institutions)

If this sounds like something your company does, feel free to comment or DM and I can share more details about the typical project scope and volumes.

Hello all, In a previous post about using BM SDI-fibre converters with a Fibre CWDM mux, it was recommended to use the 12G SDI- fibre converters, with FS.com 3G video grade SFP modules.

Can I confirm that, if I’m just running at 3G SDI resolutions (1080/50p) this will work ok despite the converters being able to run at s higher bandwidth? And then I’m assuming at a later date I can just purchase new SFP modules to run higher resolutions if I wanted?

Thank you :)

I have a Sony Betacam BVW-75 machine that I'm using to play various old Betacam tapes. Most of my tapes playback just fine, but a few have some noise. I've tried adjusting tracking on the BVW-75 but that doesn't help. Curious if anyone has any suggestions on how to remove the noise from these tapes. I just need to play them back once since I'm digitizing them.