ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP Plus Blackmagic Design

Designed for uncompromising IP production

The ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP model differs significantly from other models because it is designed for top-tier broadcasters. The new design features front-to-rear cooling via four fans that are exceptionally quiet. All connections are fully redundant, with SMPTE-2022-7 support on all video ports, plus additional redundancy on the control and PTP Ethernet ports. The built-in LCD display shows all standard ATEM Constellation status information and provides access to setup menus. The front panel even includes a headphone jack and a built-in speaker for local program monitoring! The USB-C port on the front panel allows you to update the software or even connect the ATEM Software Control app!

The Plus model offers 64 SMPTE-2110 inputs and 64 outputs, 16 ATEM Advanced Keyers, 4 multi-views, and 2 SuperSources—for a total of 12 DVEs.

The ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP offers multiple SMPTE-2110 connections using 100G Ethernet, supporting 8 video input and 8 video output channels on each connection! The switcher then maps inputs and outputs across its multiple 100G Ethernet connections. Each 100G Ethernet connection has two separate ports that support SMPTE-2110 redundancy, so you can connect each port to a separate network switch. SMPTE 2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching sends two identical copies of video and audio over the connection, then on the receiving end, it compares incoming RTP packets by sequence number and reconstructs a perfect video frame from the first arriving pixel packet. The switcher is completely seamless!

ATEM Constellation utilizes professional “program/preview” style operation, which is exactly the same way major broadcasters use live production switchers. This means you’re using the same type of switcher as the television industry. Both the free ATEM Software Control software and the optional ATEM Advanced Panels enable program/preview-style switching. This means you can select a source on the preview bus to make sure it’s correct before pressing the CUT or AUTO button to switch it to air. This two-step program/preview process means far fewer mistakes! Program/preview-style operation makes the ATEM Constellation the best solution for teaching students preparing for careers in television broadcasting!

One of the advantages of SMPTE-2110 video is typically that all network video sources use the same video standard. However, live production isn’t always as straightforward as the theory suggests, because the real world is often chaotic! Sometimes you need to process video sources that don’t operate in the same video standard as your ATEM switcher is set to. The ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP solves this problem because each video input channel has a dedicated format converter. This means that all video sources will be automatically converted to the switcher’s standard. You can simply route any video source to the ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP to get a stable video feed. It all just works!

For live streaming, the USB-C port on the rear panel of the ATEM Constellation IP can function as a webcam source. This means you can connect it to a computer and use it with any video software! The software is tricked into thinking the ATEM Constellation is a regular webcam, but in reality, it’s a live production switcher! This ensures full compatibility with any video software at full 1080HD resolution. Choose any software you like—such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams—and discover a new way to present with professional, TV-quality multi-camera shots! The ATEM Constellation webcam output also works with streaming software like Open Broadcaster, XSplit Broadcaster, and more!