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[Maximilian Lozano]

Todaythe Director Mini enters a growing field of all-in-one live-streaming solutions. What does it offer to make it stand out in this increasingly crowded field? After using the Director Mini for a couple of weeks, I can tell you that it has a lot going for it.

The Director Mini combines multiple-input switching, internal graphics, multi-destination streaming, internal recording, and monitoring in a tiny tablet. It has two physical HDMI inputs with support for ingest up to 4K and two physical USB-A ports. With both wired and wireless networking, it can receive three live IP sources, including an SRT stream, an RTMP stream from a device like a GoPro, and NDIHX2 or HX3 sources (see Figure 2). It does not do full NDI. Full specs are available at magewell.com/tech-specs/director-mini.

The Director Mini can encode up to 1080p60 at bitrates up to 30Mbps. It has built-in APIs for YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook as well as standard RTMP to the streaming destination of your choice. It can also send NDI or SRT output.

With each layer, you can change its position or its size, you can crop it, or you can put a frame or border around it. Applying a frame or border includes the ability to choose the thickness of the line, the color, the roundness of the corners, or the position of the edges. The levels of customization get really deep, really fast. You can flip the layer horizontally or vertically, rotate it freely, or add transition effects when the item is brought in or goes out. Lastly, you can copy the formatting and paste it in other places.

I found the picture-in-picture controls particularly powerful. I was able to achieve the spacing I wanted between my headshot on the left and the video on the right side of the screen. But one aspect of building the Scene left me wanting more: the ability to work on layers in the background.

The GFX button brings up a row of graphics you can use in the show, which replaces your camera inputs and Scenes on the display. This switch-out occurs because of the limited screen real estate on a 5.5" tablet. At the right of the graphics is a + (plus) button that you tap to create new graphics in the Director Mini.

Another GFX choice is Animated Text, which is a scrolling banner. Also available are Digital Clock with five designs (see Figure 8), Analog Clock with eight designs, Bullet List with eight designs, Timer with seven designs, Stopwatch with eight designs, Social Media banners, logo import, a Scoreboard, and a Custom option that lets you create something else.

Next up is the little pencil icon that brings up the Telestrator. You can draw right on the screen, and it becomes part of your program (see Figure 9). You can adjust Telestrator settings by pressing and holding on the pencil icon, including color, size, and Auto Clear after a specified number of seconds.

Lastly, if you tap the center of the Program window, the operational overlays will all go away, and you can see the program. Only a tiny, shaded bar across the top for audio meters and a few other icons remain.

Below these indicators, the Director Mini tells me what devices I have connected and the format of those connections. In Figure 11, HDMI1 is 1080p60. HDMI2 is 1080p30, Webcam1 is 1080p30, and Webcam2 is disconnected.

When you have an output plugged into the USB-C port, the Monitor icon in the upper-right corner gives you additional controls: the ability to output the Program feed, This last option is probably a low-latency pass-through, which is especially useful for gaming. You can also rotate the output. The Gear icon in the top-right corner takes you to the general Settings panel.

In a further extension of the capabilities the app adds to the Director Mini, comprehensive computer control is not limited to users only on the same local area network. Full user access is possible through the Magewell Control Hub. A remote administrator can see and manage the Director Mini as if they were on the local area network.

Control Hub pricing starts at $199 for a perpetual license and increases depending on the number of devices or simultaneous streaming transcodes you need. Hosting is available starting at $9 a month with unmetered bandwidth.

Magewell has also announced a partnership with Central Control software that enables users to use any number of control surfaces or do any sort of custom task from any location. This lets you see the Director Mini screens via the Control Hub and have the speed and ease of use of a hardware control surface from anywhere in the world.

By design, every all-in-one streaming device is packed with features. In the beginning, I asked the question: Will the Magewell Director Mini have enough features to stand out in an ever-growing crowd of all-in-one solutions?

It does have some unique, standout features. It has good integration of its capabilities, powerful scene-building abilities, and very nicely executed audio controls. More than that, being able to access and control all of those same capabilities on a separate phone, tablet, or computer is a great standout feature.

Add to that its easily replaceable batteries and the ability to use a phone as a remote camera into this device, and the compelling features continue. Magewell has resolutely jumped into this all-in-one pool of solutions, and even though the company calls it Mini, it has made quite a big splash. I look forward to a larger model in the future that will make accessing these features on the tablet and connecting more sources even easier.

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