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Studio Setup with ATEM Television Studio Switcher and GHx
  • craicheadcraichead

    Just joined here and wanted to share my experience setting up a 3 camera setup with 2 GH2s, 1 GH3 and an ATEM Television Studio switcher.

    I'm a musical educator online and this will be my first time going to a live switched 3 camera setup.

    Should have my first wave of gear arriving in the next few days - looking forward to getting it all setup.

    I just spoke with tech support at BMD and they confirmed that the GH2s and GH3 should work together even if the GH3 is at 59.94fps (is it?) and the GH2s are 60fps - as long as one is running the latest software on the ATEM (3.4 I think).

    I understand that the GH2s don't send audio via hdmi but I'm hopeful that the GH3 will as I've read a spec sheet that confirmed this (anyone know for sure?).

    Cameras will be very close together. I'll be teaching guitar so I'm looking for a wide shot and a left hand closeup and right hand closeup. Hoping the Ex Tele mode works as well as reported - would save me a bundle not purchasing more lenses.

    Went with the GH2/3s for their bang/buck ratio & clean hdmi. Also, I'm dslr shooter otherwise (Canon 5Diii/60d) and like the format with all it's endearing quirks ;)

    Some of my work can be seen on www.tekoa.tv

    Also hoping that Metabones will release their Speedbooster for M43 quickly!

    A penny for your thoughts?

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • RRRRRRRR

    Why not use a sound card / mic for the sound? IMO it would seem easier / a more useful live setup with 3 cheap camcorders.. Not as pretty, but more functional. But I´m guessing you want to do other stuff with the cameras, too?

  • craicheadcraichead

    Ah, should have mentioned. I have mics/audio sources going through a mixer that feeds into my camera currently. (a Canon 60d with internal preamp set to 1 - works a treat) I'm hoping I can do the same thing with the GH3, run the mixer into the GH3 and then have the audio delivered to the ATEM via HDMI... Fingers crossed that the GH3 sends audio via HDMI in record mode. If not, will have to have some sort of A to D converter going into the ATEM's audio in.

  • kavadnikavadni

    @craichead

    I use ATEM Switchers. I record live events. If the GH3 transmits audio over HDMI, you will be fine.
    What you are doing is a good method, excepting it's an unbalanced run. (I feed into a Sony EX1 when configuring like this - balanced XLR) The ATEM software takes care of the audio delay.

    If the GH3 does not send audio, then consider Behringer products.
    Bang for buck would be 2 x Shark FBQ100 for delay, and an SRC2496 for A->D.

  • craicheadcraichead

    @kavadni Can happily say that the GH3 does send audio via hdmi and I'm getting great audio going direct into the camera. One change is that I'm returning the GH2s as the color profiles / white balance, etc... are so different than the the GH3 that matching the cameras together is a real issue - at least in a studio enviroment. I have a couple more GH3s coming this week for a total of 3 - yikes! Thanks for the response - I hope to have a test flick to show soon.

  • craicheadcraichead

    Just did my first quick test and things are looking/sounding great. Had to purchase an audio delay unit. Even though the ATEM is receiving the audio via hdmi, it is still out of sync about 3 frames / 100ms.

    Going to test this unit:

    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/760361-REG/AV_Toolbox_AP_411_AP_411_Lip_Sync_Corrector.html should do the trick going inline from my mixer to camera minijack as per this recording:

    vimeo.com/58803637 password: test

  • xnialaxniala

    Hello, I'm setting up a particular workflow for recording an audio-video HD stream via HDMI on a computer via a capture card. I'm planning to buy a GH3, but someone on a french website warned me that when the LCD or the EVF shuts down, the stream stops. The only setting is the LCD/EVF "wake" time : max 5 minutes. So after 5 minutes no more HDMI stream !

    I need the camera to be on 6 or 7 hours per day, sending HDMI stream continuously. Someone could confirm the 5 min issue ? If it's true, could it be fixed via hack or something ?

    Thanks Regards Alain

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @xniala

    It is wrong topic, as it is specifically about ATEM product usage.

    Search for "hdmi gh2 capture" .

    but someone on a french website warned me that when the LCD or the EVF shuts down, the stream stops. The only setting is the LCD/EVF "wake" time : max 5 minutes. So after 5 minutes no more HDMI stream !

    This guy is idiot and need to turn off power economy off modes first, I think.

  • xnialaxniala

    Excuse me for having post here... I'm starting a new thread.

  • fotosiamofotosiamo

    Great test craichead! I'm looking at the ATEM + 2 GH3 combo, too. Are there any other pros and cons with this setup?

  • mrtttmrttt

    I would love to hear more about the gh3 and blackmagic setup. I'm on the edge of selling my gh2s to get the gh3 for this purpose

  • pet_phychiatpet_phychiat

    This has been INCREDIBLY helpful!

    Do you have any portfolio work on your website that was actually recorded live? Would love to see what the final product looks like!

  • kavadnikavadni

    @craichead

    Just did my first quick test and things are looking/sounding great. Had to purchase an audio delay unit. Even though the ATEM is receiving the audio via hdmi, it is still out of sync about 3 frames / 100ms.

    Did you record and playback, or are you observing the delay while watching program out, or multi view, while listening to real (live) audio?

    The multi view has a delay of about 6 frames and the program out is about 2. (Mine is 82ms in PAL land)

    In a live situation with both multi view and program connected, you observe the program changing before the multi view updates.

    My experience is that the if the input is via a camera that the TVS delays the audio correctly for the program out.

    If you haven't recorded, try it ... hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised.

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