Does ATEM Television Studio HD Upscale Inputs?

The ATEM Television Studio HD does not inherently upscale inputs. It works with a variety of input resolutions, including 1080p, 720p, and even standard definition signals. However, it primarily functions as a switcher and processes signals at their native resolution. If you input a 1080p signal, it will be output as 1080p. Similarly, a 720p input will remain 720p throughout the workflow. This means you’ll need to ensure your sources match the desired output resolution for optimal quality.

While the ATEM Television Studio HD doesn’t upscale, it does offer high-quality scaling on its aux outputs. This allows you to send a transformed version of your program output to a different display with a potentially different resolution. For example, you can have a 1080p program output and send a downscaled 720p version to a monitor. This is particularly useful for driving confidence monitors or displays that don’t support the native program resolution. It’s important to differentiate between upscaling inputs and scaling outputs. The ATEM’s strength lies in its flexible output scaling, not input upscaling.

For scenarios requiring upscaling of input sources, an external scaler would be necessary. This device would take the lower resolution signal and upscale it to 1080p before sending it to the ATEM. While this adds an extra component to your setup, it ensures all sources meet the desired resolution for a consistent and professional look. Choosing the right scaler depends on factors like budget, desired quality, and input signal types.

When working with mixed resolutions, understanding the ATEM’s behavior is crucial. Connecting a 720p source to a 1080p workflow will result in the 720p signal being processed and output at its native resolution. The ATEM might add black borders (letterboxing or pillarboxing) to fit the 720p image into a 1080p frame, but the image itself won’t be upscaled. For optimal quality, always aim to match input resolutions to your desired output whenever possible. This eliminates the need for scaling and preserves the original source quality. However, the flexibility of the aux output scaling provides valuable options for driving displays with differing resolution needs.