Atomos Zato Connect 5.2" Network-Connected Video Monitor & Recorder

I want to like this thing but I'm going to send it back for a refund

The biggest reason to buy this thing is connectivity. It's the cheapest way to access the new Atomos Cloud Studio. It's pretty clear that Atomos has big plans for this service, including the ability to stream to multiple destinations, capture to the cloud, remote viewing and a full virtual control room. They plan to start rolling out these premium services in October, 2022 starting at $5/month.For now it's free, and pretty bare bones. Unfortunately at the time of this review, we do not have Facebook Live or RTMP. You can create multiple YouTube destinations, but you can only use one at a time. These limitations will likely change in October with a premium account.It has a 5 inch touchscreen display with 1000 nits of brightness, which is a little brighter than ... MoreThe biggest reason to buy this thing is connectivity. It's the cheapest way to access the new Atomos Cloud Studio. It's pretty clear that Atomos has big plans for this service, including the ability to stream to multiple destinations, capture to the cloud, remote viewing and a full virtual control room. They plan to start rolling out these premium services in October, 2022 starting at $5/month.For now it's free, and pretty bare bones. Unfortunately at the time of this review, we do not have Facebook Live or RTMP. You can create multiple YouTube destinations, but you can only use one at a time. These limitations will likely change in October with a premium account.It has a 5 inch touchscreen display with 1000 nits of brightness, which is a little brighter than most cell phones, but won't be very easy to use in bright daylight. The color looked off to me, it was much too warm, but I didn't expect a color accurate display at this price. The biggest problem is that there is a noticeable lag in the display, I measured it at about of a second with the GH5s and got similar results on Canon C300 Mark III. If you were planning to use this to frame your shots, the latency makes it nearly unusable.Another issue I encountered was with audio sync. With the microphone plugged into the camera, the audio was about 3 frames behind the video. With the mic plugged into the Zato's input, I had the opposite problem - the audio was 3 frames ahead of the video. There's no option to delay the audio further to fix this. And 3 frames is noticeable.Ultimately, I've had more trouble then success with this so far. I'll keep trying, and I'm patiently waiting for Atomos to update Cloud Connect so I can access Facebook and RTMP. My goal with this purchase was to find an easy way to stream a professional camera from remote locations. So far, this has not delivered.

I'm updating my earlier 2-star review. It appears I had some early-adopter pains to work through. I had a lot of issues with A/V sync, screen latency, and limited streaming destinations. Firmware updates fixed most of my original complaints but the audio and video remained out of sync by about 3-5 frames on recordings and live streams.After a lot of back and forth with Atomos support, I finally got in touch with the right person, who mailed me a new unit to try. The new monitor works as it should, no A/V sync issues.It is a somewhat unique and confusing product that can be used several ways, so your experience will depend on your expectations. In short, if you are a professional, you'll want to spring for a higher-end solution. It's just not good enough for a ... MoreI'm updating my earlier 2-star review. It appears I had some early-adopter pains to work through. I had a lot of issues with A/V sync, screen latency, and limited streaming destinations. Firmware updates fixed most of my original complaints but the audio and video remained out of sync by about 3-5 frames on recordings and live streams.After a lot of back and forth with Atomos support, I finally got in touch with the right person, who mailed me a new unit to try. The new monitor works as it should, no A/V sync issues.It is a somewhat unique and confusing product that can be used several ways, so your experience will depend on your expectations. In short, if you are a professional, you'll want to spring for a higher-end solution. It's just not good enough for a real-world video shoot, and there are too many reasons to list.I've abandoned the idea of using this for professional live streams in the field, and it now lives on my desk, a great little tool for adding HDMI webcams, recording tutorials, and not much else. I had to adjust my expectations. After all, it's a sub-$500 monitor/streaming device.