My Home Studio for Early-2024 - ATEM Constellation, Ultimatte, and Virtual Backgrounds

At the beginning of 2024, I upgraded my home studio with the following products:
- ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD
- Videohub 20x20 12G
- HyperDeck Studio HD Plus
- Ultimatte 12 HD
- Web Presenter 4K
- Neewer Teleprompter
- Elgato Green Screen XL
- And More!
In this video, I go through how all the hardware is organized in my mobile rack and desk.
Next, I demonstrate how the Ultimatte 12 HD can generate a great key for creating photorealistic composites with my green screen and video backgrounds. I compare the Ultimatte's performance with the Advanced Chroma Keyer built-into every modern ATEM switcher.
Correction: The ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD has 12 outputs, not 20 as I stated in the video. Combined with the Videohub 20x20, this gives me 32 total outputs instead of 40.

[@PeaceLoveAndGuns]

Wow, super clean, Adam. Great work.

[@QuikTechSolutions]

Enjoyed the tour of your studio. Love the upgrades you’ve made. I’m super impressed with the keying of the Ultimatte, so clean! Thanks for sharing.

[@AdamTow]

Thanks! Ultimatte is really good. Have to film some more background plates.

[@bobwhitewo3b]

Looking good Adam.

[@alistairduff6820]

Excited for what 2024 will bring. Thanks for your hard work!

[@WaltervanDusen]

Great behind the scenes new home studio overview. 🥳🔥

[@carpetbomberz]

So happy to see everything fit (as designed of course!) below the desk. 👍Kudos! And Green screen is looking extra-seamless too. A great blend on that Ultimatte. And I like that 2-tier approach of using ATEM Mini Pro for one set of things, and the big Unit for other things. Great idea to segregate the functions that way.

[@AdamTow]

Thanks! Still making tweaks to the setup; for instance, the Web Presenter gets its input from the Constellation, but someone mentioned putting the Mini (or Videohub) in the middle in case something crashes on the Constellation, you could still switch to a holding slide. There's certainly a lot that I have yet to learn about AV production. My year will not be a boring one, that's for sure!

[@stopandthinknow]

Adam: Always impressed with what you have created. Keep up the great work. Hank in Bluffton, SC

[@Sharif_FUNCOLOGY]

Looks like new surprises are coming out from Adam! Nice and organised setup 👌

[@AdamTow]

Thanks. Yes, I’m hoping to accomplish some good stuff this year. Stay tuned!

[@nickhoulton]

looks a wonderful setup with all the devices mixeffect interacts so well with and the ultimatt is super impressive. I have a similar small rack but found I needed to put it outside my small home studio as the fan noise was a little intrusive. Thanks so much for sharing Adam

[@AdamTow]

I do hear the fan from the Constellation, but it is lower in frequency and less objectionable than the Extreme. The Extreme used to be quieter, but now its fans come on often and loudly.

[@BlakeKrone]

Glad I'm not the only one that still has Newton's and eMates laying around!!

[@AdamTow]

And now they will be one-click away from showing off to people in my videos!

[@femialiu]

Nice setup you have there Adam.

[@FluidPrompter]

Your equipment rack is looking pretty well kitted out! 😎 The iPad Mini is a nice size for that teleprompter too. I'll be happy to receive some FluidPrompter app feedback or feature requests from you as you play around with this setup more!

[@AdamTow]

Yes, sounds like a plan! I wish the screen was a tad bit larger, maybe an 11-inch iPad Pro or Air would work better, but it's sufficient for now.

[@robertlinkroum5964]

Wow, such a clean key. I thought Adam really had a double bookcase in back of him IRL. Nice...! Recently purchased MixEffect Pro ($ 50 Full-On Pro Version) Will be using soon with my ATEM Mini Extreme ISO on the iPad.

[@AdamTow]

Let me know if you have any questions (email is faster than YT reply). Happy switching with MixEffect!

[@ketofm]

cool looking great

[@benthorn6445]

Glad I found your channel this is everything that I’m into! I’ve always wanted to use sidecar for my teleprompter setup but never could find a way to flip the signal. You mentioned a virtual display? I’d love to catch your advice on how this works! Thanks in advance 😊

[@AdamTow]

The app is called BetterDisplay, which you can find here: github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay You have to create a virtual display and assign it to the sidecar display. In the virtual display settings, you can flip the video so it looks correct when viewed on the teleprompter.

[@keithbennett5179]

Very cool!

[@AntonioGaletta]

Great studio Adam, I have a question: at 3:31 you talk about the ipad connected as a monitor, what app and cable are you using?

[@AdamTow]

HDMI Monitor - Orion: apps.apple.com/us/app/hdmi-monitor-orion/id6459355072 I bought a cheapo HDMI-to-USB adapter (less than $20) from Amazon. Sometimes I have to plug it in several times before the app recognizes it. There are several brands to choose from; they are all probably from the same manufacturer just with a slightly different case. I'm using these for monitoring, so color reproduction is not important to me. The more expensive HDMI-to-USB adapters offer better performance in that regard (i.e. Elgato CamLink, Magewell, etc.). You could also use a spare ATEM too. The dongle is connected to a Uni USB-C hub, which is plugged into the iPad. The USB-C provides power to the iPad, as well as HDMI out, extra USB ports, etc.: www.amazon.com/uni-Detachable-Connector-Ethernet-Compatible/dp/B07Q6YS7W2

[@AntonioGaletta]

@@AdamTow Thank you so much Adam. I will follow your advices.

[@ericg.43]

Can you share where you got or how you made the 1U rack shelf holding all of the Blackmagic Microconverters? I could use something like that!

[@AdamTow]

It's from Markertek: www.markertek.com/product/ctx-bmicro-1rm/my-custom-shop-ctx-bmicro-1rm-1ru-rackmount-for-blackmagic-micro-converters Note: This panel can hold 8 micro-converters. It cannot hold the Bidirectional converters because they are too wide and the USB-C power port is on the same side as the SDI plugs. There are sites that you can use to create a custom panel too: rack247.com/custom-rack-panel

[@ColinMulcahy]

Hi Adam, at 5:54 you talk about connecting your iPad to your mac using sidecar to use as a teleprompter screen etc. What do you use to create a virtual display and how do you flip it so it looks correct in the reflection?

[@AdamTow]

BetterDisplay - github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay#readme

[@ColinMulcahy]

Hi Adam, In regard to the Ultimatte, is there any processing delay? Do you have to delay audio?

[@AdamTow]

Yes, there are several additional frames of delay. I have to add the delay to the TRS audio channel in the ATEM or from the Rodecaster Duo (which is what I currently do).

[@theperfectkingcake4374]

Looks like a great setup but I'm not sure what you do for a living to require all this firepower? Are you justifying purchasing these items because you develop software for these devices?

[@AdamTow]

@@theperfectkingcake4374 I write software that controls products from Blackmagic Design, so this setup is very relevant.

[@samgonza1975]

Great content. Question. When you switched to the space ship view, can’t you just keep the lighting the same? And tweak settings in the ultimatte to change the way you look in the scene?

[@AdamTow]

Possibly. I haven't looked into automating the Ultimatte settings using Companion or via the Ethernet protocol yet. It was easier to adjust the fill light on me to match the background plate. Since the light changed, it could have affected how the Ultimatte calculated the matte. Something to explore in the future!

[@ketofm]

@@AdamTow i have ultimatte mini two but i still dont know how to use it

[@AdamTow]

@@ketofm It's complicated! But start with the Auto Screen Sample button in the Matte section. That gets you set up 80-90% of the way and its tweaking from there.

[@ketofm]

@@AdamTow Thank you, We both have a same setup :) I real need help to setup my Ultimatte 12 so i can use your MixEffect Pro

[@ketofm]

@AdamTow how did you set up the virtual set? How did you load the pictures? What I meant the background