We’ve been experimenting with ways to bring content into video conferences in a more interactive way. Using television production equipment gives us the ability to superimpose and position content in more interesting ways than traditional picture in picture.
We took a look at the Blackmagic ATEM Television Production Switcher. It’s a $2500 piece of hardware with HDMI and SDI inputs that is completely software controlled. While there is a hardware interface as well, using the software interface would allow us to remotely control the switcher from any location since it lives on the network.
At this price, there could be some cool applications for mini-remote setups for webcasting as well.