Blackmagic Design optimizes KulturMachtPotsdam's streaming broadcast

The cultural festival CulturePowerPotsdam has included the ATEM Mini Extreme and ATEM Streaming Bridge models from Blackmagic Design in your live Internet broadcast stream.

The event, with multiple locations in the German city of Potsdam and lasting 12 hours, was designed to support artists and professionals involved in Potsdam's cultural scene, which had to be paused due to the global pandemic. More than 150 local artists and presenters developed a diverse program with entertainment activities, music and panel discussions that took place in five different locations in the city.

The company specialized in live, We stream, had the responsibility of designing a work dynamic for Internet broadcasts that would capture all the productions in order to broadcast them over YouTube without interruptions. In the words of Robert Klix, part of the production services company: “We needed a system for live productions that was flexible yet robust, capable of managing multiple signals, but without requiring too much space.”

Minimum latency

The main production station was set up in the Hans Otto theatre, where six cameras mounted on platforms and traveling wheels moved around the auditorium capturing the performances taking place. Signals were sent to the device ATEM Mini Extreme, in order to mix the program.

Performances carried out in smaller places around the city were sent by units ATEM Streaming Bridge to the unit ATEM Mini Pro, where they were mixed with visual effects. The program in H.264 format was then shared with the main production unit.

“Mixing signals from other locations into the program location was very simple and required almost no effort, so something that would have been very complex was really easy,” Robert continues. “By basing the entire workflow for live broadcasts on the ATEM Mini we were able to integrate each of the parts with minimal delay or expected skips when switching between different locations.”

A pleasant experience

Similarly, the Wir Streamen team used the ATEM Mini Extreme model to record a clean signal and installed a unit Blackmagic Mini Converter SDI Distribution to divide the signal and transmit it to eight screens located in the theater.

Sebastian Anders, video specialist at Wir Streaming, rates the workflow positively: “The sheer variety of features offered by the ATEM Mini Extreme is incredible, and really was the core of our production. Not only from a content standpoint, but it also served to keep the entire team up to date with what was happening on the live webcast. In Germany, this was one of the first completely digital cultural festivals, and the response from the public who saw it live was fantastic. “It was extraordinary that the event had the opportunity to benefit from a high-quality professional webcasting system that allowed the artists' performances to be perfectly showcased.”

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