Using Blackmagic Media Express
Using Blackmagic Media Express
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What is Media Express?
Blackmagic Media Express 3 software is included with ATEM switchers to perform video and audio capture
to files. Blackmagic Media Express 3 is a great tool when you don't need the complexity of NLE software but
simply want to capture the live video of your switcher's USB output.
ATEM 1 M/E and 2 M/E production switchers with USB 3.0 can perform uncompressed video capture to
DPX, uncompressed YUV and MJPEG files in the AVI file format. USB 3.0 capture is supported on compatible
Windows computers with USB 3.0.
ATEM Television Studio with USB 2.0 can perform compressed video capture to H.264 files in the MP4 file
format on Mac OS X and Windows computers. Media Express automatically detects whether the switcher's
Program Output is HD1080i, HD720p, NTSC or PAL. Captured files are stored in a progressive format for
maximum compatibility with media player software on Mac OS X, Windows and portable video players.
ATEM Production Studio 4K models do not output video via USB but video and audio can still be captured
by using external video capture hardware such as DeckLink 4K Extreme or UltraStudio 4K.
The User Interface
Media Express can easily be scaled for different sizes of monitors or even small notebook screens. When
you open Media Express, you'll notice the log and capture, playback and edit to tape views are color-coded
so you will know at a glance which mode is being used. The edit to tape view is not used by ATEM Television
Studio but may be used with other Blackmagic Design capture and playback products.
Media List
The left "media list" always displays the scratch, any bins you have created and also any media you have
imported or captured. Media can be displayed in Timecode List view or Thumbnail view and you can even
filter media by favorites. The Search field makes it easy to find media by name or by attributes captured in
the media metadata. The project name and format are shown in the bottom-left corner of the Media Express
window. The top-right pane always displays the video preview. Timecode is displayed at the top of the video
preview pane.
Log and Capture
Click on the red Log and Capture tab. The video preview pane shows the source video from your ATEM
switcher. Here you can enter metadata for the clips you will capture including name, description, favorite
and more. Double-clicking a captured clip in the media list will automatically switch Media Express to
Playback view.
Playback
In the green Playback view, the video preview pane shows the video of the clip being played. Click the
favorites button to add to your favorites in the media list.