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Consider what happens if you gradually raise the brightness control on your
television. Beyond a certain point (and unlike claims made for laundry detergent)
your whites do not become whiter. They can't – the upper limit (white) is firmly fixed.
Instead, parts of the image that are nearly white are boosted, eventually also
becoming white. Meanwhile, black portions of the picture are tending towards gray.
Since white cannot become whiter, and black has become gray, we could say that the
dynamic range of the image has been narrowed. The net result is a less vibrant image.
The same thing is true for video from your cameras. If the black and white levels from
the camera are incorrect, you are effectively losing either shadow or highlight detail.
For this reason, the first thing many do is calibrate their camera for correct levels.
W
M
AVEFORM
ONITOR
From days of old, for video engineering purposes the scale between black and white
was defined in IRE units (IRE being an acronym for "Institute of Radio Engineers").
White was pegged at 100 IRE. For PAL (and NTSC-J) countries, black was defined as
0 IRE. For NTSC lands, black properly sat at 7.5 IRE.
Thankfully, the day of strict adherence to these analog video concepts has virtually
disappeared. Today, confirming that the black and white levels your camera is
sending TriCaster are correct is as simple as sending first black, and then white (or
the brightest past of your scene, and reading values from the scale alongside
TriCaster's Waveform scope.
Hint: TriCaster automatically compensates for the traditional 7.5 IRE black (also known as
"setup" and "pedestal") in SD format NTSC sessions.
Connect your camera to the correct TriCaster input, block the lens so it receives no
illumination, and check the level shown in the Waveform monitor. Generally, it
should be 16 on the 8bit scale.
To check white, use either the brightest part of your scene or a white card, ensuring
that it is evenly illuminated with the same lighting your main subject will receive.
Move in or zoom to fill the viewfinder with this, and confirm that the Waveform
monitor is showing 235 on the same scale. Otherwise, you might try using your
camera's Auto White Balance feature with the white card – your camera manual will
provide instructions. Afterwards, check the black level again.
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Need help?
Do you have a question about the TriCaster Mini and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers
Can the switcher have a background still with PPT slides over top rightside of frame, and then have live camera feed on left?
Yes, the NewTek TriCaster Mini can display a background still with PowerPoint slides on the right side of the frame and a live camera feed on the left. It supports compositing live and video-on-demand inputs, including PowerPoint slides from a connected computer. The system allows for chroma key operations and mixing multiple video sources, enabling such a layout.
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my tricaster only has one KEY option and two DSK options and 4 Mix Effect options. is there a way to add more of these items into my tricaster layout?
The TriCaster Mini includes Key layers in M/Es, which function similarly to Downstream Key (DSK) layers but are embedded upstream in the Mix Effect (M/E) output. However, the provided context does not mention the ability to add more KEY, DSK, or Mix Effect options beyond what is already available in the system.
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Thank you for answering my question. There is a buzz on the output of our Tricaster410. Not sure why this is happening now.
A possible cause of a buzz or distortion on the output of a NewTek TriCaster Mini could be incorrect audio gain settings in the Output Configuration. Specifically, the gain controls for STREAM 1 and STREAM 2 may need to be adjusted. Setting the gain to -20 can eliminate distortion and align the output level with the TriCaster MASTER.
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