It's been my pleasure this month to play with the latest version of a product line I've not had the opportunity to work with before: the NewTek TriCaster video production system. The TriCaster starts with being a live video switcher, but it doesn't end there—it provides built-in digital video players, a graphics store, video recording system, streaming output, and a virtual set system. It's packed with features that should place it high on the list of products any church with video production needs would want to explore.
We'll hit on the highlights in this review, due to space limitations and the huge feature set of the TriCaster 455, so let's dive in.
Overview
The core of the product is a rack-mountable chassis with all AV connectors on the back, and a bay in the front for a hot-swappable disk drive. Video connectors are all BNC, and audio inputs are balanced TRS jacks. Audio outputs are via XLR jacks. An eSATA connector allows you to add even more storage options.?As a switcher, the TriCaster 455 supports four external video inputs, any of which can be SDI, component, composite or S-Video (Y/C) (the 855 version has eight inputs). Two network inputs are available that can accept Apple AirPlay signals as well as NewTek's own system that enables any PC or Mac to broadcast its video displays via a network connection.
Two digital video playback devices (DDRs) are built into the interface, enabling you to load up virtually limitless video clips for playback at the push of a button. These can be configured to also start playback as soon as that DDR is switched, making professional and seamless switches to B-roll trivial.?A built-in graphics store lets you line up graphics for use in the production—both full-frame graphics as well as graphics to be used as lower-thirds.
Each input, including the network and DDR inputs, can have both a Chroma Key and a garbage matte applied independently, making keying a breeze. And all inputs have frame synchronizers built-in, so genlocked inputs are not needed (but are supported).
In addition, the TriCaster has a built-in video recording system, enabling you to not only record the program output, but also record ISO feeds from your camera inputs, your aux buss output, etc., all built in to the system.
The system supports two video monitors and includes multi-viewer functionality so that all inputs to the system have their own monitor window, making it easy to see what your options are for input selection. The second monitor can also be a multi-viewer, or can be set to be “Program Out” full-screen (among other options).
The hardware control surface provides access to most functions of the TriCaster, and simplifies its operation. It is solidly built, and feels like it would last a lifetime. Most of the buttons are illuminated, providing quick and obvious feedback as to what functions are in effect at any given time.?Switching can be controlled through the T-bar, or fades and transitions can be executed through the “Take” or “Auto” buttons. Switching is very fast—I saw no detectible latency, and when switching between program sources as fast as I could push the buttons, the switcher had no problem keeping up.
But what's really cool is the Virtual Set capability. Virtual sets are exactly what they sound like—a system that lets you shoot your talent green-screen and place them within a set using compositing. The virtual set can contain foreground and background elements, as well as placeholders for your “talent” video input and a second input for B roll-type footage. This can be used to simulate a monitor screen on the set, or could be used to animate a view out a window to give the set an even more realistic setting. The TriCaster comes with a number of virtual sets, but also comes with software to let you design your own virtual sets.
How could virtual sets be of use to a church? Well, let's say your pastor wants to start doing a weekly “newscast” or video blog, with very professional-looking video (i.e., better than the webcam built into his laptop). He'd like to shoot these in a variety of locations around the church facility—his office, in front of the church, the lobby, the café, the children's ministry area…. However, setting up and tearing down the needed lighting every week is time-consuming and disruptive to the use of those spaces for ministry.
Instead, take high-quality photos of these spaces and, using Photoshop, separate it into layers representing the foreground, background, and placeholders for where your pastor would be in the set, and where you might like a second video B-roll option to be placed. Set up a permanent Green Screen space (which you may already have), and the pastor merely needs to walk into the studio, have the video tech bring up the needed virtual set and load up any needed B-roll, hit the record button on the TriCaster, and off you go. When the pastor's done, you have the end result already recorded and ready for upload to your video server—no editing needed.
Performance
So, how'd the TriCaster live up to its claims? Is short, I am incredibly impressed.
Switching was fast and solid—the TriCaster kept up no matter how fast I tried to switch between inputs. Video playback using the two built-in DDRs was solid and easy to use, and I love the auto-play feature when you switch to a DDR input.
The built-in keyer is outstanding, too—for a quick test I threw up a small canvas [that was] painted a splotchy chroma-green behind a small figurine, and even with this pathetic excuse for a green-screen background, the keying was solid. Easy to use, and excellent results.
The virtual set function is also pretty amazing. I made my own set from a photograph and it looked great. It's [fairly easy] to position the talent within the set to create highly realistic results. For any church wanting to do “on location” videos, for example for announcements, a video blog, etc., this could be a huge help and greatly speed up the production cycle. You could literally record an announcement video in minutes without the overhead of setting up cameras and lights in locations around the church.
Issues?
The only two issues I had were being unable to get the Apple AirPlay interface to work with the Network inputs. With the assistance of NewTek's engineering staff, it turns out that the DLink router I use prevents AirPlay from working. When I switched routers, everything worked fine. So, not a NewTek problem at all.?The other issue was when playing back programs using the TriCaster DDR that were recorded via the TriCaster, hard diagonal lines appear jagged, as if the video was recorded at a lower resolution and then played back at a higher resolution. However, when playing that recorded file outside of the TriCaster, it looked just fine.
The TriCaster is an incredible system, and has been a pleasure to use. With its $19,995 MSRP for the configuration tested, it's a great value for the functionality included.
