One of the most cost-effective video switchers on the market, the ATEM Production Studio 4k by Black Magic Design has just one downside; it’s seriously bloody noisy. In fact, when I bought this, it became apparent that I just couldn’t use it in my set-up. Technically this is an awesome box which always (ALWAYS) just works but something had to be done about the incessant fan noise.
I took off the lid and discovered what the problem was; three small fans spinning at full whack all the time. I decided to experiment and made a plan of the lid which included cut-outs for a pair of large fans. I then took my drawings to this great little workshop I know in Watford. They basically made a copy of the lid and included the addition of the two large cut-outs.
I installed a couple of quiet fans, put the lid on and ran the system for a couple of hours in my production rack. With an electronic thermometer, I was able to monitor the temperature.
Well the first thing that was blatantly obvious was that I now had a dead quiet ATEM! Yay!!!! After a couple hours, the temperature was stable and if memory serves me correctly, it was actually cooler than when running with the production fans.
The downside is that you’ll need 2U of rack space for this unit but I assure you, it was well worth it.
Apart from that, the ATEM Production Studio 4k is an amazing piece of kit and was at the heart of my live video streaming project. Here, you have the opportunity to buy a seriously quiet Black magic Design ATEM Production Studio 4k!
The user manual (and specifications) are available here: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/atem/techspecs/W-APS-04
PRICE: £850.00 plus £25.00 p&p to UK mainland. Cost of shipping includes insurance.
