Blackmagic Atem Mini Pro - with MS Teams

[Ajay66]

MS Teams sharing is too clunky when using it to switch between documents when running a training sessions and sharing different documents, PowerPoints  and you can't link it to other devices like iPhone / iPad to screens for training on these devices.

I use MS Teams for training (lecture style), connected to a Blackmagic Atem Mini Pro to control up to (4) HDMI input feeds to MS Teams.  This allows me to switch between video inputs like using my go-pro as a wide angle input, to my iPad running PowerPoint or Adobe file, which  or my iPhone running an App on training on etc.   I can setup all the camera feeds and switch between then using the Atem Mini Pro - giving a clean switch over instead of MS Teams clunky sharing.   The Atem Mini Pro is then using a USB-C output to the computer running MS TEAMS; this shows up as a WEBCAM to use in MS Teams.   *This all works well EXCEPT....

When having a number of people in the training session the output from Atem Mini Pro is; and looks like a normal webcam user - a tile on the screen with all other connected users.   I would like MS Teams to provide a "Lecture" option, which then show the Main User (who turns on the feature) as the Main screen and all other users along the bottom in small tiles - bring the focus on the lecture and showing a larger display space to the pupils ( basically the same as when you share your screen) - a true webcast option.

This would then make MS Teams must more useful for a training online tool.

[#2]

Hi @Ajay66,

You can try the options below:

1. Ask the students/attendees to pin your video so your video appears large on their screen while other videos appear as small tiles.

2. Disable "IP Video" via Teams Admin center to disable the webcam of all the students/attendees. Only your video will be visible on everyone's screen.

3. Try using Teams Live Events which is a webinar platform on Teams.

Regards,

Adil Yoosuf 

[#3]

Hi @adilyoosuf ,
I have the same setup with the ATEM Mini Pro. I face the problem that the output resolution (the output from the ATEM Mini Pro into the MacBook and than into Teams) is Fine on my MS Teams view but nearly very bad on the attendees view. The picture is always a bit blurry. When i share a PPT Presentation via the ATEM Mini Pro i to MS Teams the picture is blurry and changes the Resolution from Time to Time.
Hence the output experience for the viewer is very bad. I already checked bandwith of my Internet. The upload and Download stream is Fine.
Is MS Teams reducing the Resolution of the ATEM Mini Pro Input?
What is the recommended solution by Microsoft for this problem?

[#4]

@Dschwieder We are having the same exact issue. Our Atem output is clear 1080p on Windows camera app and Teams preview, but Teams attendees are getting 720p at best. We had a lot of complaints at last night's hybrid meeting about blurry slides, however I think some of the problems were on the attendee's side.

Does Teams process "web cam" inputs and document sharing differently? Shared slides are crystal clear, whereas Atem input is blurred. Our network is 1gbps up 800 down measured.

Are there any alternatives or fixes to this problem? A lot of our clients want a camera or two and the desktop view to Teams, and since our events are large it's not practical for us to use document sharing and webcams etc.

[#5]

How are you outputting your signal? USB (as a webcam) or HDMI?

If you’re outputting via USB then you’ll be doubly compressing the image. Once out of the USB (as MJPEG) and then again as it’s encoded for transmission.

I noticed the quality improved a lot when I output over HDMI into the computer. You will require a HDMI input solution however.

Also, I don’t think you can expect the quality to match that of sharing your screen. I assume Teams will treat any primary video input as though it’s a webcam and always prioritise the quality of screen sharing over that. 

I also noticed in my tests last night that audio from my HDMI inputs was horrendous. The audio over the line in/mic sounded great however.

Teams really isn’t setup to accommodate live switches. Which is a shame. 

[#6]

@JayfieldHi, thanks for checking and the interesting input.

We're using notebooks, so HDMI unfortunately is not an option. In particular, with the audio issue you mentioned. It's quite convenient to to mix audio and have one channel for video and audio to the notebook. I think I'll have to find alternatives for one-to-many webcasts for paying participants.

Appreciate your contribution!

[#7]

@robert_rudolphI am trying to solve the very same problem. I believe there will be solutions as the market for online lectures grows, but all tips and tricks at the moment are welcome.

[#8 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Dschwieder 

It is recommended to use your Blackmagic device only for mixing audio and video. You can share your slides on a Teams Meeting or Live Event from your computer. Microsoft is continuously improving Teams with new features and performance improvements.

Regards,

Adil Yoosuf

[#9]

@adilyoosuf  While waiting for MS Team to offer a real solution to this problem, I use the following workaround when I need to share Atem Mini's output in fullscreen and high resolution:

• You use the Atem Mini as an input source to a streaming software like OBS Studio.
• You use OBS Studio's "full screen projector" feature to output this content to one of your screens. 
• In MS Teams, you share this screen.

With this method, you get the high resolution that Teams does allow provide for screen sharing, but also the low frame rate it uses for screen sharing. This is definitely not ideal, but in my view much better than the high framerate at the cost of poor to very poor resolution and random cropping and scaling that Teams applies to webcam signals.

[#10]

@MatHaldimann

Agree. Your workaround is better than injecting Blackmagic content to the Teams webcam.

Regards,
Adil Yoosuf

[#11]

@MatHaldimann Thank you for the idea, we must try that next time we have to share other pc to Teams.

[#12]

This is what we are doing as well since we share a lot of PPT - I am looking at getting the Extreme version and moving all the graphics to the atem - and keep the GPU/CPU tax as low as possible - In OBS its just a single video capture and then all the magic happens in the ATEM (Using external cameras)