Review: Magewell Director Mini 3.0
There are so many tools for live streaming that it’s hard to choose one (or six) to get the job done. Are you using a PC-based software solution and relying on video cards, audio interfaces, and external control surfaces, all from different manufacturers? Do you build the offering and manage all software updates yourself? Or do you opt for a hardware-based solution like the Blackmagic Design ATEM video mixer and separate devices for titles, video playback, recording, and more? Do you use a lightweight tablet solution with multiple iPhones where you can? Do everything wirelessly on your iPad? Or do you use the latest integrated solutions that combine hardware inputs and Touch tablet solution?
These direct production AIOs take advantage of the latest mobile CPU, GPU and integrated capabilities, with true hardware connectivity for multiple HDMI ports, Ethernet, headphones, audio input and more – all from a single manufacturer, so there’s only one refresh cycle to follow. Magewell recently came out with update 3.0 for its system Manager Minnie AIO Production Disc (Figure 1), and they are beyond what these small powers can do.
Figure 1. Magewell Mini Manager
What’s in the all-in-one production tool
When I call these devices all-in-one production tools, it means they can handle everything from HDMI input to pushing the stream to a CDN. Switch cameras, mix audio, play still images or video, and create picture-in-picture “scenes” and “multiple views” with backgrounds and titles on top. It also features double encoding so your locally recorded file can be at a higher resolution and bit rate than the encoding you streamed to multiple destinations.
in spite of Manager Minnie It is Magewell’s first AIO device, and the company has been manufacturing video production equipment for many years: I/O cards and devices, streaming devices, and encoders/decoders, as well as the software control center to manage them (Figure 2). They also make Multi-source USB Fusion streaming device Found in corporate and education markets.
Figure 2. Magewell Control Center
If you combine all that, you get the Director Mini: a 5-inch touchscreen with two HDMI inputs, two USB and Ethernet inputs, audio input and output jacks, and an SD card for recording and media playback (Figure 3). It has two battery slots on the back to enable endless battery power, or battery backup, and a fan for active cooling.
Figure 3. Magewell Mini I/O output
The software enables you to accommodate up to 10 different cameras, as well as video playback, web page capture, and more. You can create graphics on the Director Mini itself — sports scoreboards, timers, clocks, lower thirds, full-screen graphics, social media, and more. It has an audio mixer to control and separate any input while adjusting levels using precise metering. Features two channels for instant sports replay, and an on-screen Telestrator for on-screen encoding. It will control PTZ cameras with presets. It will fetch live comments via YouTube and Facebook APIs and let you manage which comment will be placed on the screen.
Control everything
To help you control Director Mini, you can access it via Remote Assistant using the Android and iOS Director Utility app (Figure 4). This app can be run on a phone or tablet and replicates almost all of the Mini’s functions, but on a separate device. This means you can dedicate a device to titles, while switching cameras on the Director Mini screen, or you can delegate this task to someone else. Replays, sound mixing, camera control – you can delegate all these tasks if you have a very complex show with a lot of events.
Figure 4. Assistant app and remote assistant for the Mini Outlet
There are four other ways you can delegate control of Director Mini. You can also log into it over the local network using a web browser to the device’s IP address. You can use a control surface such as: Streamdek And accompanying software to assign the most common functions to custom buttons. You can do the same thing with a Bluetooth keyboard using Mini Director Shortcuts feature. You can also set up Director Mini for remote control via Magewell’s Control Hub cloud software.
It may seem like I’ve made this simple device more complicated than other solutions. In fact, a few people who use external control add just one remote and dedicate it to specific things. This is because the Director Mini’s 5-inch screen can only display one feature at a time. Either you’re switching scenes or you’re switching graphics or mixing sound. There’s a lot you can do on a 5-inch screen. So having a second screen or control surface makes use easier.
What the Magewell 3.0 update adds
New Director Mini 3.0 firmware update It’s not a complete revamp of the interface, like changing the Mac or Windows version. Instead, version 3.0 is based on user requests for specific features and capabilities. Although the update includes more than 50 features, improvements, and fixes, I wanted to highlight several that can significantly enhance the way people use Director Mini.
This update shows that Magewell has been listening to user feedback and requests. For example, users have asked the Mini to support RTSP as an input source so that the Mini action camera can “broadcast” to the Director Mini as a source. It’s not really a major feature, but a lot of people who play sports could really benefit from something specific like this.
Magewell has implemented several graphics updates as well. Web pages can now be imported as sources without having to use an external computer and screen capture, which would consume one of the video inputs. Furthermore, when those web pages are brought into the software, the producer can use the Mini to scroll those pages as if they were using a computer, or even zoom in on them.
Those who brought in NDI graphics requested alpha channel support. This arrived with update 3.0 as well. While you can create graphics in Director Mini, and the new animated lower thirds were added in Update 3.0, with a dedicated graphics package for sports, and other situations, video takes production to a whole other level. This is why dedicated graphics software exists, often requiring powerful computers to render complex graphics with lighting, shading, and more.
Another interesting user request is to add the option to choose multi-display preview as NDI output, and choose audio as well. This is especially useful as many people may want to see the sources in addition to the preview and program. Now, without having to run a cable and split the signal, NDI makes it possible for anything on the local network.
In addition to the lower thirds of animation – a first for an all-in-one device – Director Mini now has other animation titles, and has expanded the number of sports scoreboards available to end users. The ability to hand over control of a sports scoreboard to an assistant using a phone or tablet running Remote Assistant makes this easier than ever before. Assistants using the web interface now also have access to the Replay tab to easily control replay separately from Director Mini.
While the new scoreboards for baseball and football are welcome (Figure 5), one only needs to look at the popularity of sports to see that football, cricket, hockey, basketball and other sports still need some attention.
Figure 5. Director Minnie’s new baseball scoreboard
One of the most requested features is the ability to control the Director Mini using the Elgato Stream Deck. Magewell has published “Magewell Director,” a free Stream Deck plugin that enables everything from switching, graphics, video playback, audio mixing, PTZ control, and more, to be assigned to buttons and knobs on the control surfaces of the Stream Deck connected to computers on the same network.
One of the more interesting end-user focused requests was to enable the internal encoder to select the PIP “scene” as the ISO video source option, rather than just the source camera input. But when you think about corporate training or educational work, it makes sense. While you’re in the room, you may want to switch to full screen mode with drawing because people in the room can see the presenter, but those watching online, or from a recording, don’t have that ability. So being able to record an ISO for a PIP that always includes the presenter makes a lot of sense.
The shortcuts themselves—essentially programmable macros from action menus—have been improved so that each shortcut can include more actions. You can now drag and rearrange these actions. There’s also the addition of a wait command with a time variable, so a shortcut that brings a source to the screen can also show a title a few seconds later, making it easier to have a consistent look and feel for your program.
Other small tweaks include some presets for PIP scenes, making it easier for new users to get started. It also features framing guides to make it easier to arrange items across the top and center, as well as adding undo and redo buttons.
Other improvements under the hood include the ability to authenticate a “captive gate” Wi-Fi network like in a conference, as well as tethering a cellular data connection and improved driver compatibility with 4G USB modems.
I can see many of these updates being the first steps of continued evolution: more sports scoreboards, more control over the colors and fonts of internal titles – including viewer comment titles – and perhaps the ability to “nest” shortcuts, essentially making them modular. Macro. We can also expect to see continued major overhauls and improvements to existing features, such as access to PTZ presets.
It’s refreshing to see updates responding to end-user needs and requests, and I hope other manufacturers take note. It’s not just about the flashy features that don’t quite work sometimes. As any event producer will tell you, a bulletproof machine that you can reliably rely on in every production is the one you want to have.
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