ATEM Mini Extreme Review - Versus the Mini and Mini Pro - Robust but Complex

[@PoeLemic]

Glad you are covering equipment like this. No one else seems to be doing reviews on video tools like this, or, at least, as good as you cover them. Thanks.

[@IMDABROWN]

Lon does a phenomenal job at reviewing stuff like this. But the majority of the people reviewing video switchers are streaming channels. Lon happens do a better job breaking down gear like this for entry to midlevel streams/content creators.

[@avantgardenovelist]

Boy do i love how you constantly say "like all the minis" or "like the mini pro" whenever there's overlap between the different models. Thanks to your three Atem demos I've decided on the pro with confidence I made the right decision, in a way no one else has done, so I thank you. Curious about one thing though: with the pro, although 4-screen output is through usb rather than htmi, I'm not clear what one could do if it were thru htmi that it can't do with usb?

[@jasonhowe1697]

my question is: what does it support in the realms of 4k 30 and 4k 60 and what is the passthru like to current and last gen capture cards

[@BlackAesop]

Wow. This was so helpful! I have both the pro and extreme and I must say this video helped me understand what I have way more than any other! Great content brother! G is g

[@cjc363636]

Lon, your very comprehensive take on this, and getting into the nitty-gritty of the pro/prosumer user needs, is just awesome!

[@mrheng562]

Solid review my friend. Thank you! I’ll stick to my ATEM Mini Pro and its limitations. Maybe the second ATEM Mini Pro will have a second USB-C and headphone jack.

[@AD2024JAM]

Great review 👏🏽 Do we have any options from other brands with streaming encoder and alpha key capabilities?

[@enzopulido2579]

Can I connect camera or Laptops with different resolution/frame rates with the Extreme? The Television HD does not have the feature.

[@markuskreissl7416]

Great video, t u for that. I absolutely share your opinion you mentioned in your conclusion section about the complexity of the software and the access to it for live streaming beginners like me! I am curious to see if BMD actually will come up with a more "prosumer" version of its software to support their Atem Minis.

[@NeenjaProdux]

So I actually have a question: why would i choose this over software base solution in your opinion? I ran a 5 cameras live concert (1h30m) with digitally zoomed scenes for different looks, up to 3 cameras split screen, overlay graphics, pre recorded video ads... i used obs and a 2012 macmini i7 quad wirh 16GB of ram, 2 internal drives (256GB ssd + 1TB hdd). For the video inputs i used inexpensive hdmi to usb chinese cards (about 18$ each on amazon) and a usb3 hub for a couple of extra usbs. The mini was definitely too hot but didn’t flinch... now i replaced the thermal paste and added an external fan (ran a few tests and with this little mod i went from 104C to 70C with 98% constant cpu usage) I basically spent only 150$ ish... 100ish for the hdmi cards 30ish for the fan and 10ish for the thermal paste. It is definitely loud now with the fans on.. but other than noise... what’s the advantage of the atem mini? Why not buy an elgato streamdeck for example if i just wanna add physical buttons? There’s literally NOBODY talking about this on the internet... i can’t be the only one confused about this can i?

[@LonSeidman]

I have been struggling with this question myself. The other mini models make more sense given how inexpensive they are vs. a PC software solution. I would say that the value proposition here are the 8 inputs, built in DVE effects, keyers, etc for the price point. Many people are actually using the ATEMs with their existing software solution as a means of getting more inputs in without additional capture hardware.

[@NeenjaProdux]

@@LonSeidman true. But especially in my case (one director/operator/light guy) when i do concerts split screens that show more musicians in the same frame is a must... the inexpensive minis would be great for normal interviews (and in fact I’m planning to rent one for a gig...) but other than that 1000+$ for something i can do spending a tenth... I’d love to have all the gear i like, the mini extreme included... but i just can’t decide if I should consider it a priority or if it’s my geekiness wanting it...

[@LonSeidman]

@@NeenjaProdux More than likely it's the geekiness! :)

[@GamersPlayerUnion]

Since you do professional work I’ll defer to you but to try to give you my answer is that normally in the pass you would need a nice spec’d out PC to do what the mini pro/extreme can do internally. 1) To be able to live stream directly from the switch frees up computer hardware to other resources. 2) Software while may being able to offer more flexible may be more prone to software crashes and random updates that may effect reliability. 3) To buy individual capture cards would cost at least a $100 so in the case of the mini extreme you would have to spend $800 alone since there are 8 HDMI outputs 4) It probably doesn’t apply to you based upon what you said but if you own Blackmagic cameras you can control the camera focus and color correction for those type of cameras directly from the switcher so you can make changes on the fly so that would be a matter of convenience 5) Again it may not apply to all situations but if you own a ISO version to record the individual HDMI Outputs and create a Divinci file already synced ready for edit is timesaver in editing time. 6) The ability to create Marcos to automate task is huge feature as well. This is from what I understand. Again I’ll defer to you since you are a working professional in the field and I am not but these are some of the things to consider.

[@RetroReloaded]

Does this introduce any discernible frame delay?

[@LonSeidman]

Not that I’ve seen

[@FeldwebelWolfenstool]

..in the ancient days, 1970's, there was an aircraft throttle-like lever on the panel, to manually control the speed of wipes, dissolves, fades, etc...

[@LonSeidman]

Loved those T-Bars! They have some control services that work with this that integrate it.

[@pathiggins9288]

Complex, is putting it mildly, got a headache just watching your excellent review of what that rig can do. I'll be opting for Lever-B, and leave video production to smarter people, like you!👍

[@stevensenlacere1619]

at this price point sorry to see it topping out at 1080P

[@crosswks]

ATEM Mini, ATEM Mini Pro, ATEM Mini Pro ISO, ATEM mini extreme, ATEM mini extreme ISO

[@pleaseleavesrs]

wtf why is this on my recommendation