A Constellation at the Core

Summit Video System

​The biggest piece we did at Summit Church was designing their video system. It’s a large system, comprised of many different pieces, but in the end, they all work together to give Summit Church the ability to accomplish their vision and goals for the church. So, what are the different pieces of this system?

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​First, let’s take a look at one of the most important pieces to the video system! The Blackmagic ATEM Constellation 8k could be described as the key piece of the entire video system. It gives you 4M/E’s, 4DVEs, 16 Keyers, 4 media players, 4 multi viewers, 2 SuperSorces and features 24 independently routable 12G‑SDI outputs. It may not seem or look like a very exciting piece of gear, but this little black box it is what allows all the other parts in the video system to work. It’s the glue that holds everything together!

The Constellation receives all the different sources of video, whether it is cameras or graphics, and gives us the control to route those feeds wherever we need them. For example, lyrics or graphics from the ProPresenter computer can be sent straight to the LED walls on stage. It also automatically scales all the inputs to the output settings of the Constellation. This feature eliminates a large portion of the need for additional signal converters and greatly simplifies the process.

The Constellation has four separate M/Es. Often, we get asked what a 4M/E Switcher or even what a 1 M/E is. M/E stands for Mix Effects and is a style of operation that has been developed over the past decade of live productions and broadcasting. A M/E consists of a Program feed (what is currently live for the M/E) and a Preview Feed (useful for previewing what you want to send live or test a key or transition on the lower third). This Preview program process helps eliminate mistakes as you can always check the preview window to confirm before cutting the shot to live stream. A M/E also includes its own set of effects and keyers. Even though the Constellation has 4 separate M/E’s, they can all pull from the same inputs. The benefit of having 4 separate M/E’s is that you can have a M/E dedicated for mixing and switching for a live stream, a M/E for controlling content on your main screens, a M/E for controlling environmental screens and M/E for whatever else you need.

Using a Constellation from Blackmagic for Summit Church was perfect! It not only collects the feed from the cameras, but also acts as the director’s switcher to send content directly to the new LED walls, screens, and even their new livestream setup (which we will touch on later!). The Constellation gives professional features for the tech team to use, but also made the entire system less complicated for future additions or changes.