A standout of flexibility, Blackmagic Design’s ATEM SDI Extreme ISO brings an impressive feature list to a compact design; it’s ready to land on a tech table in modern live production environments. Eight 3G-SDI inputs are joined by four 3G-SDI outputs as well as 2 possible paths the web for streaming – USB Webcam out or direct stand-alone streaming by RTMP. Oh right…it can record all 8 inputs plus switched program, too.

Each of the inputs has built in sync and conversion for any SD/HD/3G-SDI signal rate to match the switcher’s current settings. If Blackmagic Design Cameras are coming in, camera control is and embedded within each output. Embedded audio may be used from each input and two 1/8” line/mic inputs with plug-in power are also provided with level and mute controls on the panel for each, and a robust set of DSP and EQ are available in software including Compressor, Limiter, Expander.

The four SDI outputs continue to add flexibility. Output 1 has direct controls provided by hardware buttons, and in software each output can be assigned to Multiview, Program, Preview, Clean feed, SuperSource or any available input as needed.

The program feed can leverage 4 upstream keys, 2 downstream keys, and SuperSource (up to 4 PIPs) for extended flexibility of items on screen along with 2 DVEs and 2 media player channels. Up to 6 macros can be recalled directly from buttons, and the select bus provides direct control for managing key and DVE sources.

When you need to add a streaming element, the ATEM SDI Extreme ISO provides the program output in 2 ways. First, you can simply grab the USB-C Output and connect it to any computer with your choice of video conferencing software – the unit appears as a webcam without any driver installation and sends a high quality webcam feed up to 1080p60. Alternately, you can choose to set the unit up to stream directly out to any common CDN or streaming platform that accepts RTMP feeds with H.264 encoded video (that’s pretty much all of them). Once this is set up, the ATEM will stream out using the ”ON AIR” button, without requiring a computer.

Finally, recording. The ATEM SDI Extreme ISO can use the same H.264 streaming encoder to simultaneously record up to all 8 input feeds plus the switched program output to an attached USB-C disk. A Davinci Resolve project file is captured as well – if this recorded project is loaded into Davinci Resolve for editing, the live cut selections are loaded into the timeline and small adjustments or shot substitutions from the live cut are easy to perform.

Blackmagic Design’s ATEM SDI Extreme ISO ticks a lot of boxes and will find itself at home in the middle of many live event productions.