Page 2 TriCaster STUDIO, TriCaster BROADCAST, 3Play, SpeedEDIT, DataLink, LiveText, LiveControl, VT, VT[3], VT[4], VT[5], Video Toaster, Toaster, Inspire 3D, 3D Arsenal and Aura are trademarks of NEWTEK. LightWave and LightWave 3D are registered trademarks of NEWTEK. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective...
Page 3: Tricaster™ Tcxd850
TRICASTER™ TCXD850...
Page 5: Table Of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS TriCaster™ TCXD850 ........................3 PART I (Getting Started) ........................1 About This Manual ........................3 Introduction ..........................5 Overview ........................5 Startup Screen ........................5 Live Desktop ........................6 Features .........................7 2.4.1 Physical ........................7 2.4.2 A/V Input and Output .....................8 2.4.3 Monitoring ......................8 2.4.4 Video Processing ....................9 2.4.5 The Switcher ......................9...
Page 6 Input Connections ......................18 3.4.1 Connect A/V Sources ....................18 Genlock Connection......................20 3.5.1 Genlock Connection ....................20 Output Connections .....................21 3.6.1 A/V Output ......................21 3.6.2 HD and SD ......................22 3.6.3 Connecting Devices ....................23 3.6.4 Supplemental Video Outputs ................24 Tally Lights ........................25 3.7.1 External Connections ....................25 Starting a Session ......................26 Configure Video Output ....................29 3.9.1...
Page 7 4.4.3 Talk ........................48 4.4.4 Follow ........................48 Network Sources ......................49 4.5.1 iVGA Clients......................49 4.5.2 LiveText™ ......................51 Live Switching ......................51 4.6.1 Switcher Rows ......................51 4.6.2 Transitions......................55 Record and Grab ......................60 4.7.1 Record ........................61 4.7.2 Grab ........................62 Media Players ......................63 4.8.1 DDR 1 and 2 ......................63 4.8.2 Stills ........................68 4.8.3...
Page 8 5.2.1 New (Session) .......................92 5.2.2 Open (Session) .....................94 5.2.3 Shutdown ......................97 5.2.4 Utilities .........................97 5.2.5 Help ........................99 5.2.6 Add-Ons ......................100 The Session Page ......................101 5.3.1 Live........................102 5.3.2 Graphics ......................104 5.3.3 Edit ........................105 5.3.4 Manage ......................106 Live Desktop: Overview ....................
Page 9 Input Configuration ....................130 7.2.1 Connection Type ....................131 7.2.2 Act as Alpha ....................... 134 7.2.3 Proc Amp......................136 7.2.4 LiveMatte & Crop ....................136 Switcher, Transitions and Overlay ..................139 Switcher Rows ......................139 8.1.1 Utility (and Delegate) ..................140 8.1.2 Program and Preview ..................
Page 10 10.2 Shared Features ......................164 10.2.1 Playlists ......................164 10.2.2 Media Browser ....................167 10.2.3 Controls......................170 10.2.4 Preset Bin ......................172 10.2.5 Speed ......................... 173 10.3 Frame Buffers......................173 10.3.1 Unique Advantages .................... 175 10.3.2 Network Sharing ....................175 10.4 Editing Title Pages ......................
Page 11 12.4 LiveSet ........................195 12.4.1 LiveSet Selection ....................196 12.4.2 Video Sources ..................... 197 12.4.3 Zoom Presets ..................... 197 12.4.4 Zoom T-Bar......................198 12.4.5 Input Position ..................... 198 12.4.6 Animate Zoom ....................199 Audio ..........................201 13.1 External Audio ......................202 13.1.1 Mute ........................
Page 12 15.2.3 Streaming Media Providers ................227 15.2.4 Other Resources ....................228 15.3 Production and Capture Considerations ..............228 15.4 Configuration and Troubleshooting ................229 15.4.1 Testing your stream.................... 230 Record and Grab ......................239 16.1.1 Record ........................ 239 16.2 Grab ........................... 242 SpeedEDIT and LiveTEXT ....................
Page 13 A.1.9 Connect tally lights? ................... 259 A.1.10 Connect to a Network? ..................259 A.1.11 Enable Termination for Video Inputs? ..............260 Sessions ........................260 A.2.1 Start an SD Session? ................... 260 A.2.2 Start an HD Session?................... 261 A.2.3 Work on a Stored Session? ................. 261 A.2.4 Backup a Session? ....................
Page 14 A.4.5 Prepare clips for TriCaster Playback Using Apple® Final Cut Pro? ......273 A.4.6 Add an External File Location to the File Browser? ..........273 A.4.7 Remove a Location From the File Browser? ............274 A.4.8 Export files to an External Drive? ................ 274 A.4.9 Export files from TriCaster for use in Apple®...
Page 15 B.3.1 Relativity and the Speed of Light ................ 288 B.3.2 Latency and Your Audience ................289 B.3.3 Latency and Your TriCaster ................. 289 B.3.4 Other Sources of Latency..................290 Video Calibration ......................293 What (And Where) to Calibrate? ................293 Calibrating Video Sources ...................
Page 16 D.11.2 Misc........................309 Reliability Testing ......................311 Index ............................313 Credits............................319...
Page 17: Part I (Getting Started)
PART I (GETTING STARTED) Introducing TriCaster™ TCXD850 – connections and registration, a top-level overview of primary features, and a hands-on tour to get you started. Page | 1...
Page 19: About This Manual
ABOUT THIS MANUAL Hate reading manuals? If so, you are part of the majority (estimates are that between 60 and 97% of the human race concur). Most prefer to jump right in, maybe asking a friend for occasional help (and who can blame them)? This manual attempts to tell you what you need to know in a friendly, concise way, while also providing a deeper reference section you can turn to when you really need specifics.
Page 21: Introduction
Traditionally, producing live high definition television has been very costly, requiring very expensive equipment and a large crew. TriCaster TCXD850 (like its standard definition siblings) changes all that. In one compact system you have a complete toolset to create, broadcast, web stream and project your HD production.
Page 22: Live Desktop
Figure 1 The Home page of the Startup Screen allows you to define and open sessions, each of which can be customized for various productions or other purposes. Later, when you re-open a session, all of its assets and settings are remembered. After creating a session (or opening an existing one), you are taken to the Sessions page.
Page 23: Features
Monitoring Live Control Tabbed Modules Figure 2 The uppermost area is devoted to monitoring. The Switcher section is centrally located, and is also home to the Transition and Overlay controls. The bottom-most section of the Live Desktop holds side-by-side tabbed panels featuring media players (DDR, Stills and Titles), Virtual Input setup, and the Audio Mixer.
Page 24: A/V Input And Output
Multiple Media Player modules allow you to insert pre-recorded video, music, sounds and imagery into your live presentations.  Select Microsoft Windows™ or Apple Macintosh™ computers on the same network ™ as Switcher inputs for your live productions using NewTek's iVGA client.  Mix internal and external audio sources. ...
Page 25: Video Processing
TriCaster’s Live Desktop includes a large Program output monitor with associated controls. Also, freely toggle between viewing:  All Monitors - onscreen monitors for all sources (Figure 3).  External Monitors – Live video sources supplied to TriCaster’s video inputs. ...
Page 26: Video Layers And Transitions
Use Utility row selections to delegate video and graphics sources to various internal video busses, including the two primary DSK (Overlay) channels, AUX OUT, or to the FX bus (used variously to supply backgrounds for simple chromakey setups, as a secondary source for virtual sets, or for other purposes).
Page 27: Record And Stream
Assign any Switcher source or a dedicated Frame Buffers to either channel. DSK channels can be displayed in tandem or independently, or swapped – again, with independent custom transitions. You might use the Stills, Titles and DDR modules to overlay graphics and text, including scrolls, crawls and motion lower-thirds –...
Page 28: Integrated Media Players
TriCaster provides extensive multi-channel audio control and management in two dedicated tabbed panels. Adjust individual audio sources (internal and external) and introduce them into your program manually or automatically. Control output levels for program, headphones, auxiliary output and stream separately. Presets allow single-click access to prepared mixer setups. 2.4.9 INTEGRATED MEDIA PLAYERS TriCaster’s numerous specialized Media Players and title system serve up graphics, titles, video clips and audio files quickly and easily during your live productions.
Page 29: Keying, Virtual Sets And Virtual Inputs
 Apply independent LiveMatte settings to all video sources.  Achieve the look of a sophisticated studio setting in a very small space with NewTek’s astonishing LiveSet™ virtual set technology.  Zoom in/out on LiveSets during your live productions right from the Live Desktop.
Page 30: Graphics
2.4.12 GRAPHICS Also part of TriCaster’s integrated software suite is LiveText, NewTek’s professional titling and graphics application. LiveText allows you to create your own custom title pages and motion graphics, including scrolls and crawls. 2.4.13 EDIT The full version of NewTek’s popular and versatile non-linear video editing program SpeedEDIT™...
Page 31: Setting Up
 NewTek mouse and keyboard  TriCaster TCXD850 Quick Start Guide  NewTek 3PLAY™ brochure  TriCaster TCXD850 Get Started Training DVD with NewTek 3PLAY Overview  NewTek iVGA™ CD  NewTek TriCaster TCXD850 registration reminder card  Welcome letter COMMAND AND CONTROL 1.
Page 32: Activating & Authorizing Windows
5. Press the Power switch located on TriCaster’s faceplate. At this point, the blue Power LED will illuminate, and the adjacent hard drive activity light should flicker as the device boots up. (If this does not happen, check your connections and retry). Hint: Though not a requirement, we do strongly recommend that you connect TriCaster using an uninterruptable power supply (UPS), as for any ‘mission critical’...
Page 33: Tricaster License And Registration
This will take you to the Registration page (http://register.newtek.com) in the Customer Care section of NewTek’s website where you will find further directions. Hint: More information on connecting TriCaster to a network can be found in Section 3.14 and Chapter 14.
Page 34: Registering By Telephone
3.3.2 REGISTERING BY TELEPHONE NewTek’s Customer Care center can also handle registration requests by telephone, if that is more convenient (when opportunity permits, you should still visit the website as discussed above to gain access to software updates). Please have your Product ID (from the Registration dialog mentioned earlier) handy when you call.
Page 35 Figure 11 1. Connect video sources to the appropriate connectors in the VIDEO IN section (Figure 11), whether SDI, Component, Y/C (S-Video) or Composite (may require RCA to BNC adapter). – Attach the SDI source connectors to BNC connectors marked SDI in the Video In group.
Page 36: Genlock Connection
Figure 12 2. To input analog audio along with the video, connect the external audio sources to the XLR connectors in the Audio In group box (Figure 12). We’ll discuss audio Connection Type options a bit later, in Section 3.12. Digital Audio Note: To connect AES/EBU (a.k.a, AES3) audio source, use the BNC connectors in the Digital Audio (AES) section.
Page 37: Output Connections
Genlocking is commonplace in higher-end production environments, and genlock connections are usually found on professional gear. If your equipment allows you to do so, you should genlock all cameras supplying TriCaster, and TriCaster itself. To genlock TriCaster, supply the reference signal from the ‘house sync generator’ to TriCaster’s Genlock connector. IMPORTANT NOTE: Digital audio is less tolerant in certain respects than analog.
Page 38: Hd And Sd
 Simultaneously send program output to standard and/or high definition devices from HD sessions.  Simultaneously send program output to both analog and digital devices.  Send program output or other layouts to a secondary monitor or projector via the Multiview port. ...
Page 39: Connecting Devices
3.6.3 CONNECTING DEVICES Figure 15 1. Connect downstream video devices to the appropriate output connectors in the VIDEO OUT section, whether SDI, Component, Y/C (BNC) or Composite. Please note that the latter two formats may require RCA (cinch plug) or S-video (4 pin mini-DIN) to BNC adapters, and also that both of these connection options support output at SD resolution only.
Page 40: Supplemental Video Outputs
Figure 16 Analog audio – Connect external audio devices to the XLR connectors in the AUDIO OUT section. Note that there are two rows of four connectors; Connectors 1a-1d provide PGM (Program Output), while 2a-2d are designated AUX (Auxiliary Output). These two output sections are configured and controlled separately in the Live Desktop.
Page 41: Tally Lights
These typically provide a red LED for the video input that is currently selected on the Switcher’s Program row. (For Virtual Inputs, the LED will light up when the source assigned to Input A is selected.) 3.7.1 EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS Here is a pin-out listing for TriCaster TCXD850’s DB15 Tally connector: Page | 25...
Page 42: Starting A Session
 Pin1 – LED1  Pin2 – LED2  Pin3 – LED3  Pin4 – LED4  Pin5 – LED5  Pin6 – LED6  Pin7 – LED7  Pin8 – LED8  Pin9 – GND  Pin10 – GND ...
Page 43 THE HOME PAGE Figure 18 When no previously created sessions exist, the icon ring dominating the Home page defaults to New, inviting you to create a new session. A link labeled Enter Session Name is shown at the top of the right-hand pane when New is selected on the icon ring. Click in this area to modify the name using the keyboard if you like.
Page 44 THE SESSION PAGE Clicking Start Session will take you to the Session Page. As our intention is to configure our connections (done in TriCaster’s Live Desktop), click Live on the icon ring. Figure 19 We’ll discuss the Production Time options presented when you click the Live icon later on, in Section 5.3.1.
Page 45: Configure Video Output
Initially, as you have yet to configure input devices or add content, the Live Desktop will look a bit barren (Figure 20). Take a quick look around, but then let’s continue to configure your devices. We had a brief glimpse at the Live Desktop back in section 2.3, but we’ll examine it more closely in Chapter 4, Live Production –...
Page 46 *Note: Analog connections for SpeedEDIT™ and LiveText™ output are pre-defined, and cannot be user-modified. Please see Chapter 17 for details. Figure 22 1. Move your mouse pointer over the large Program Output monitor on the Live Desktop. 2. Click the Configure button (gear) that appears above its top-right corner (Figure 22) to open the Output Configuration panel.
Page 47: Configure Multiview Output
3.10 CONFIGURE MULTIVIEW OUTPUT The Display Mode section of the next tab in Output Configuration determines what is displayed on TriCaster’s Multiview video output, and the resolution of that display. You might use this output to supply a video projection system or subsidiary monitor.
Page 48 Figure 25 4. Click the Configuration button to open a tabbed settings panel for Camera 1 (Figure 25). 5. Click the Connection Type button to reveal a drop-down menu listing a variety of connection types. Select the correct format, such as 720p (Component), or 1080i (SDI), etc., for the video source you plan to connect to this input.
Page 49: Configure Audio
We’ll look at the other options and settings in the Configuration panel later (see Section 7.2), but at this point you should be able to view the video inputs you have configured on their respective monitors. 3.12 CONFIGURE AUDIO Click the External Audio tab in the lower-left quadrant of the Live Desktop to reveal set up and control features for external audio sources.
Page 50 Options include Mic 1, 2 (with and without phantom power), Line, AES/EBU, SDI Embedded, and Line Quad. (The latter option combines two neighboring input pairs as a one 4 channel source governed by a single Gain slider.) After connecting audio sources to the input connectors (see also Section 3.4.1), the first thing to do is set the correct Type using the drop-down menu: ...
Page 51: Configure Genlock
Note: In digital audio systems, signal levels that exceed allowable values are ‘clipped’ (uniformly assigned the maximum level value), inevitably entailing audible issues. TriCaster will clip at +6dB and above. To be safe, keep signals at or below 0dB, using the 6dB above only as headroom for occasional peaks.
Page 52: Networking
3.14 NETWORKING TriCaster is capable of displaying screens from networked computers running NewTek’s iVGA™ client software, or output from other supported applications (such as NewTek’s own LiveText™). Connecting TriCaster to a local area network (LAN) may require additional steps beyond those mentioned back when we discussed Microsoft Windows ™...
Page 53 4. Right-click on the My Computer icon, and select Properties. 5. Scroll down in the right hand pane of the System panel that opens to find the Computer name, domain and workgroups settings area. 6. Click the Change Settings link at right. 7.
Page 55: Live Production Walkthrough
LIVE PRODUCTION WALKTHROUGH This chapter provides a quick hands-on tour of the major components and functions of your NewTek TriCaster. In a very short time, these basics will be second nature to you. More detailed reference material on all aspects of TriCaster follows in Part II (Reference).
Page 56: Importing Content
2. The Sessions page of the Startup Screen will appear when you click Start Session. 3. Click Manage on the icon ring (Figure 30). Figure 30 IMPORTING CONTENT Click the Import Media button at lower-right. 5. Navigate to C:\TriCaster\Documentation\Walkthrough Content. 6.
Page 57: Monitoring
Although you might well never even notice, a two minute initialization period begins after you start (or re-start) TriCaster. This ‘warm-up’ period allows the system to stabilize, ensuring consistent performance of various components (for example, video clips playing in the DDR before the end of initialization could skip some frames).
Page 58: All Monitors
Hint: Move your mouse over Program Output, then click the Configure button (gear) that appears above it to open a tabbed panel containing Proc Amp, Multiview and Genlock settings. 4.3.2 ALL MONITORS Click the All Monitors tab at upper left to view dedicated monitors for all camera inputs, along with an array of other sources.
Page 59: Switcher Monitors And Scopes
And, as later discussed in Section 3.11, the Camera 1-8, FX and Preview monitors display a Configuration button allowing input type selection and more, including Proc Amp (see Section 7.2.3) and LiveMatte controls (see Section 4.9). Figure 33 Further, onscreen monitors provide popup contextual controls including things like Play or Stop (Freeze), and Network source selection (see Section 9.3.1).
Page 60: Audio Mixer
You can use these large monitors to sample the video feed from any source by selecting it button on the corresponding Switcher row, but they are handy in other ways too. Among other things, they provide a convenient view for adjusting LiveMatte settings or LiveSet effects. The Scopes tab is particularly useful for calibrating video signals.
Page 61 Figure 35 4. Find the icon named “3tone_quad.WAV” in the file pane. This is a four channel audio file, with a mid-range tone on channel 1, a higher tone on channel 2, while both channels 3 and 4 both carry a lower tone. 5.
Page 62 10. Click the Sound player’s Play button. If you have stereo speakers or headphones connected, you should now hear two distinct tones – a mid-range tone from the left speaker (connected to Output CH1) and a higher pitched tone from the right speaker (connected to Output CH2). Hint: If you happen to have a ‘surround sound’...
Page 63: Pan
Let’s consider the effect of the Mono switch next: 13. Center the Balance control once again, so that you hear the mid-tone exclusively from the left speaker, and higher tone from the right only. 14. Click the Mono switch. Notice that now a blend of the (channel 1) mid-range tone and (channel 2) higher tone issue from both speakers.
Page 64: Talk
For example, when the Pan knob for Mic 2 is at the extreme right, all of the sound from that source is sent to output channel 2. Moving the slider leftward places an increasing amount of the sound from Mic 2 on output channel 1. When the slider reaches the extreme left position, the sound from Mic 2 is now entirely sent to output channel 1.
Page 65: Network Sources
Perhaps you’d like to be able to add Microsoft PowerPoint output, web pages, Skype™ video calls, application displays, titles and graphics from NewTek’s LiveText™ or other exotic content to your productions. TriCaster supports all such displays from computers on the same network as Network (1 and 2) sources on the Switcher, via the supplied iVGA™...
Page 66 3. Double-click the iVGA icon on the second computer. After agreeing to the NewTek license (and a moment or two for the network connection to be established) the name of the remote computer is added (along with “Black” and any other networked systems with iVGA running on them) to the iVGA client list.
Page 67: Livetext
4.5.2 LIVETEXT™ NewTek’s (optional) standalone LiveText™ application offers features that are very similar to TriCaster’s integrated LiveText (see Chapter 17), but installs separately on a compatible Microsoft Windows® computer. A (networked) LiveText workstation effectively constitutes a dedicated CG and title solution for TriCaster presentations. (This is a wonderful addition for those times when you could really use another pair of hands.)
Page 68 Figure 42 Clicking a button in any row selects the active source for that row. Utility row selections serve various special purposes that we’ll come to a bit later. Your Program and Preview row selections determine the content of the Background (BKGD) video layer. VIDEO LAYERS Three of the four primary video layers –...
Page 69 As stated in the previous section, the Program and Preview row selections determine the content of the Background (BKGD) video layer. The Preview row selection is normally cued up for the next Take (cut) or Transition operation. Either operation, once completed, results in the swapping of the original Program and Preview selections.
Page 70 3. Click the Switcher button labeled ‘1’ on the Program row to send Camera 1 to TriCaster’s BKGD layer (the button turns red, denoting its selected state). (For experimental purposes, feel free to use internal sources such as Media Players rather than live cameras if you like –...
Page 71: Transitions
2. Load a different title into the Stills player. 3. Click the button labeled DSK 1 in the Utility Delegate group; this delegates the Utility row to control the DSK 1 source. 4. Click the Titles button in the Utility row – note that “Titles” appears above the DSK 1 delegate button when you do so.
Page 72 LOCAL CONTROLS Let’s begin our exploration of switching with local controls and the Background (BKGD) layer. Figure 48 1. Select Camera 1 (or a Media Player) on the Switcher’s Program row. 2. Select Camera 2 (or a different Media Player) on the Preview row. 3.
Page 73 Figure 49 8. To change the duration of the transition, click the [S], [M], or [F] preset buttons (next to the local Take button. (The set time for the transition is shown below the preset buttons as seconds and frames.) 9.
Page 74 12. Click the button labeled Auto below the T-Bar (again, the main Auto button, not to be confused with the local Auto buttons at right). Figure 51 13. Note that local configuration settings for the BKGD layer do affect transitions performed using the main controls: Click a different transition icon in the BKGD Transition Bin, and click the Auto button again.
Page 75 Your Transition Delegate buttons should resemble Figure 52, with three delegates multi- selected. Note also that the Take button for DSK 1 is illuminated in Figure 52, and the progress gauge beneath the Delegate button likewise shows that DSK 1 is fully displayed. LOOK AHEAD PREVIEW Back in Section 4.3.3 we promised to spend some time on the Look Ahead Preview monitor, and the time has finally arrived for us to do so together.
Page 76: Record And Grab
17. Hold down Ctrl on the keyboard again, and click the futures. BKGD Delegate button (de-selecting it). NewTek takes no position on Note that, when you do this, the Preview monitor no longer parallel universes, and has no shows the Switcher’s Preview row selection. Why is that? comment on plans for a multi- dimensional preview.
Page 77: Record
4.7.1 RECORD 1. Click the Configuration button (gear) next to Record. 2. The Record Configuration panel opens. 3. Click in the Base Name field, and enter a unique name for the captured file(s). Note that recorded clips are always stored in TriCaster’s default Clips folder. Hint: TriCaster stores recordings at D:\ Media\Clips\sessionname\Capture (replace “sessionname”...
Page 78: Grab
Hint: If you choose ‘Audio + Video’, selecting ‘Include Separate mp3 file’ is useful if your editing software doesn’t support the embedded audio in TriCaster’s MPEG2 files. 8. Make sure you have an active source playing on Program output. 9. Press the Record button – it will illuminate, and the neighboring timecode field will begin keeping track of the duration of your recording.
Page 79: Media Players
MEDIA PLAYERS 4.8.1 DDR 1 AND 2 TriCaster’s two DDRs (Digital Disk Recorders) are powerful media players, and can greatly enhance your live productions. DDRs have three siblings that we’ll discuss later – the Stills and Title players, and the Sound player.) 1.
Page 80 3. Click the name for your current TriCaster session (Practice Session, if you’ve been following along) beneath the Clips header in the left-hand column of the Media Browser. 4. The file pane at right displays icons for recordings made in the session. It should list the file you recorded earlier (in Section 4.7.1) under a group header labeled Capture –...
Page 81 9. Click Play again, and observe that playback is now in slow motion. 10. Adjust Speed again – notice that you can even modify Speed during playback. 11. Click Stop. TRIMMING AND SCRUBBING Let’s spend a moment learning how to trim a clip in the DDR. To do this you will use tools in the Scrub Bar immediately beneath the playlist pane (Figure 60).
Page 82 Figure 61 16. Double-click the first clip in the DDR playlist to play it (double-clicking is another way to engage Play). With Single mode engaged, playback automatically stops at the end of the current clip. 17. Select Camera 1 on the Switcher’s Preview row (DDR 1 is already selected on the Program row).
Page 83 24. Click Play. 25. After a few seconds, perform a Take and watch what happens: Naturally, DDR 1 and Camera 1 are swapped on the Switcher. b. DDR playback is stopped at the current frame of the current clip. 26. Perform another Take As expected, DDR 1 is restored to Program output.
Page 84: Stills
28. Click a different preset icon, and use the Add button to populate it. 29. Switch back and forth between presets, noting as you do how various attributes are retained. 30. Try copying and pasting playlist icons between two presets (right-click on an icon to access the context menu containing Cut, Copy and Paste).
Page 85 4. Add some image files (a dozen or more) to the Still playlist (you can use some of the images from the NewTek Content group under the Still heading for this example). 5. Click on one the icons about halfway through the playlist, highlighting it.
Page 86: Titles
Of course, as its name implies, the Title player is intended for preparing and displaying title pages. Let’s see how it works: 1. Click Add, and select a few of the prepared title pages from the NewTek location listed under the Title heading in the Location List (left column) of the Media Browser.
Page 87 Figure 63 6. Move the mouse over the default text shown in the Title Page Editor’s preview pane, and notice that a white bounding-box appears as you locate editable items. 7. Double-click inside the bounding-box for a line of text to open a text entry field; type something different, then press Enter on the keyboard to accept the changes.
Page 88: Livematte
2. Click the DDR 1 tab, and select DDR 1 as the Program row source on the Switcher. 3. Add the video clip named Kiki 1 Center.mpg from the Green Screen group inside the Clips>NewTek location. 4. Click the Stills tab, and add the image named texas_weathermap.png (from Practice Session, under Stills in the Location list).
Page 89 5. Delegate the Utility row in the Switcher to FX, and assign Stills to the FX sub-layer (this defines what will appear behind our greenscreen shot in the result). 6. If you are not already viewing All Monitors, click that tab at the top of TriCaster’s Live Desktop.
Page 90: Virtual Inputs
We’ll look at the details of LiveMatte in more depth in Part II (the Reference section), but already your result should look very similar to Figure 65. TriCaster doesn’t stop here, though. Let's proceed into an introduction to Virtual Inputs. 4.10 VIRTUAL INPUTS Virtual Input buttons sit innocuously on TriCaster’s Switcher rows just like other video inputs, but in fact they possess very powerful features.
Page 91 6. Click Stills in the Input B row, designating that source as the background for this Virtual Input. At this point, the display on Program Output should be identical to the simple ‘weather map’ setup we created in the previous section (Figure 65). Again, remember that LiveMatte is already enabled for the greenscreen shot from our previous exercise.
Page 92 You can drag the mouse over the top buttons in each group to freely adjust Position, Rotation or Size on multiple axes at once, or use the numeric sliders below to adjust just one property. As currently configured, Program output displays the result of changes you make; of course, during a live production you’d likely use Preview to set this up, instead.
Page 93: Adding An Upstream Overlay
4.10.2 ADDING AN UPSTREAM OVERLAY Figure 70 Just above the Input A row, you’ll see a darker control area labeled Overlay. The Overlay feature in Virtual Input tabs is, of course, upstream of the Switcher. It works very much like the two downstream DSK video layers we used back in Sections 4.6.1 and 4.6.2, but since Virtual Inputs are in the Background layer, content in this overlay channel appears beneath anything you display in those two video layers on Program Output.
Page 94 As you can see, we have replicated on our earlier composition (which relied on the FX channel), with additional benefits:  The title page can be displayed automatically or independently when you select V1 on the Switcher, and both of the primary DSK video layers are left free for other uses. ...
Page 95: Liveset
The name of the current LiveSet is shown above the Zoom Preset thumbnail icons at the top of the Virtual Input tab – in this case, we see “NewTek > Default > A over B”, identifying the specific LiveSet, a member of the “Default” group in the “NewTek” folder - Figure 73.
Page 96 18. Select DDR 2 as the source for Input B. The Zoom Preset icons in the Virtual Input tab and the name above will update, showing that the current LiveSet is now NewTek > World Update > Center. Figure 74 Assuming that you still have LiveMatte enabled for the DDR, V1’s Input A selector set to DDR...
Page 97 Figure 75 20. Now, click the second Zoom Preset icon (Figure 75). Observe that the view on Program output has now zoomed in by 33% - the value shown in the adjustable zoom slider above Zoom Preset 2 (Figure 76). Figure 76 21.
Page 98: Frame Buffers
Media Player is the right one for the moment. TriCaster TCXD850’s Frame Buffers provide an alternative workflow that not prevents selection ‘accidents’, but also offers other benefits.
Page 99 TriCaster TCXD850 provides separate Frame Buffers for each Virtual Input, which can be selected as Input A, Input B or Overlay source (for their respective Virtual Inputs), and another for the main Switcher.
Page 100: Streaming
4.12 STREAMING Sending your output to the world can be nearly as easy as connecting TriCaster to the Internet (or intranet), and pressing the Stream button (located right below the Program output monitor). Figure 79 Caution: A few frames may be dropped on video output the first time you enable Windows Media streaming for a session.
Page 101: Simple Pull Streaming
The Stream Type options allow you to select between Windows Media Pull, Windows Media Push, and Adobe Flash streaming protocols. To the right of these switches is a Streaming Profile selector, which permits you to select from a long list of pre-configured size and bandwidth presets for your Internet broadcast.
Page 102: Capturing The Stream
More detail on these matters, including connecting to a network and numerous useful tips on streaming strategies is found in Chapter 15. 4.12.4 CAPTURING THE STREAM Whenever you are streaming your output, TriCaster archives the live stream as a file. Files are saved to D:\Media\Clips\sessionname\SavedStreams.
Page 103: Part Ii (Reference)
PART II (REFERENCE) A thorough examination of the various aspects of TriCaster; every button, menu item, feature and control is considered in this section, so you can take full advantage of your system. Page | 87...
Page 105: The Startup Screen
We’ll look into each of these in turn, but first let’s consider a fundamental TriCaster TCXD850 concept – the session. What is a session, and why are sessions both important and valuable to...
Page 106: Introduction To Sessions
INTRODUCTION TO SESSIONS Whenever you work with TriCaster, you provide certain information about the production environment:  What broadcast standard is used in your locale? Is it PAL, common in Europe among other places, or perhaps NTSC, standard throughout North American regions? ...
Page 107: The Home Page
When you re-open an existing session, it’s just as if you were continuing an earlier event. Thus, if you return to the same venue another day under more or less similar conditions, simply re-open your prior session and you are virtually ready to go. (Of course, it’s the course of wisdom to test everything before actually beginning the event.) Naturally, you can store multiple sessions and load any session freely.
Page 108: New (Session)
Also, when you choose an icon from the ring the right-hand pane of the Home page updates to provide more options related to your choice. Figure 82 For example, the first thing you will likely do on launching a new TriCaster is create a session. In anticipation of that, the New icon is automatically pre-selected whenever no sessions already exist on TriCaster.
Page 109 SESSION NAME You will see a suggested name for a new session listed above the options pane at right. You can click in this name field to modify the default name provided using your keyboard. VOLUME Figure 83 To the right of the Session name you will see a field labeled Volume. Here you can choose which hard drive the session (and its associated content) will be created and stored on.
Page 110: Open (Session)
 For 16:9 sessions (HD or SD 16:9), Row 1 and 2 outputs are consistently configured as 16:9 too, while for SD 4:3 sessions their output is of course formatted as 4:3. Aux (Row 3) video output is uniquely configurable, within certain limitations for different session formats.
Page 111 Sessions are listed separately under the name of the storage volume they are located on (Figure 85). The listing shows the Session Name and video Format and for each one. Let’s look at a few features of the Sessions List briefly before we open a session. Figure 85 EJECT Figure 86...
Page 112 CONTEXT MENU Right-click a session name to open a context menu with two items listed in it: Rename and Delete. The Delete function should be used thoughtfully, as it cannot be undone. All content stored in the named session’s folders will be deleted, including clips, images and titles, and even title and edit project files created within the session (unless you have deliberately saved the projects and all constituent files to locations outside the session folders).
Page 113: Shutdown
TriCaster can operate for 90 days before registration is mandatory, but we encourage you to register early. Among other reasons, doing so will serve to identify the unit to NewTek as yours in case of theft, and will also allow you to check for software updates that may have been recently released.
Page 114 NewTek. Use the login details you provided when registering your TriCaster to enter your personal product page, click the “my downloads” link at the top of the page, and install any new updates.
Page 115: Help
To make room for new additions, you decide to remove books you have finished with from the shelf. You remove a book here, another there, opening up gaps between the remaining books. This makes some shelf space available, but does so in the form of gaps separated by the remaining books.
Page 116: Add-Ons
Click the About link to lists software version information, credits and acknowledgments. 5.2.6 ADD-ONS As time goes on, NewTek will offer additional software to extend the power of your TriCaster. Figure 91 When such items are installed, an extra icon labeled Add-Ons appears on the ring in the Home page.
Page 117: The Session Page
THE SESSION PAGE Figure 92 Opening a session from the Home page (whether using Open or New) takes you to the Session Page, providing a new set of selections on the icon ring. Figure 93 The name of the current session is shown in the top-left corner of the screen. The current session is displayed in the form “Home/session name”.
Page 118: Live
Figure 94 The icon ring in the Sessions page offers four selections. These are discussed next. 5.3.1 LIVE The icon labeled Live represents the Live Desktop, TriCaster’s live production center. Selecting it (by clicking the icon or using the left/right arrow keys to bring it to the front), presents a Start Live Production link in the Session page’s right-hand pane –...
Page 119 Hint: You can set system time just as for any computer, by first exiting to the Windows™ desktop. OPTIONS As indicated by the label above, this time value is also used to embed timecode in video files captured during the session using TriCaster’s Record function. For this reason, a switch labeled Subtract 12 Hours From Time is provided.
Page 120: Graphics
5.3.2 GRAPHICS Figure 97 TriCaster TCXD850 includes an integrated version of LiveText, NewTek’s standalone titling and CG application. Selecting the Graphics icon displays a number of related items on the right-hand side of the Sessions page. Figure 98 When you first enter a new session, no LiveText projects are listed in the area under Project Name.
Page 121: Edit
Session Page. 5.3.3 EDIT Figure 99 TriCaster includes an integrated version of SpeedEDIT, NewTek’s popular standalone non-linear video editor. Selecting the Edit icon displays a number of related items on the right-hand side of the Sessions screen.
Page 122: Manage
Just as for LiveText, it is possible to use File>SaveAs to store an edit project in another location outside the session structure. Be aware that projects stored outside the session structure are not shown in the project list on the Sessions screen. To re-open them, you’ll need to navigate to the project file using File>Open in SpeedEDIT.
Page 123 BROWSE Figure 101 Under the label Browse, you will see direct links to the Clips, Stills, and other content associated with the current session. Clicking one of these links (or selecting it with the up/down arrow keys and pressing Enter) opens a system file explorer. You can use the familiar features and shortcut keystrokes in these windows (Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete and so-on) to manage the session content.
Page 124 IMPORT MEDIA Click the Import Media link to open a system file explorer, then select (or multi-select) suitable media files for import. Selected files will be copied (unchanged) into the current session on clicking Open. Imported files are automatically copied individually to the appropriate folder according to their file format (Stills, Clips, Titles, and so on).
Page 125 Figure 104 The file pane is much like a spreadsheet table, listing all files in the current export batch in its first column, then the current settings for each file in other columns. A Status column shows the current export status or progress for each file in the list. TOOLS Note that the Export file list pane supports multi-selection.
Page 126 TARGET, PRESET & DESTINATION Having prepared the file list, click the triangle button in the Target field to open a drop-down menu listing broad categories of export format presets you can choose. A similar Destination button opens a system file browser to let you designate (or create) a location for file output. Hint: It is possible to selected mapped network locations (with a Drive letter assigned) as the Destination, saving time later.
Page 127 Apple Final Cur Pro® (.mov) – very high quality M-JPEG encoding, full raster, 4:2:2 sub-sampling, high compatibility.  DV (*.avi) – moderate quality, SD only (NTSC 720x480, PAL 720x576), 25Mbit/s, 4:1:1 (NTSC) or 4:1:0 (PAL) sub-sampling, very broad compatibility. DVCPro 50 – high quality SD encoding (double-DV bitrate), 4:2:2 sub-sampling, NTSC 720x480 (PAL 720x576), high compatibility.
Page 128 Next, use the Destination field drop-down to designate a target folder for exported files to be sent. A progress gauge is shown during file processing. Click the Export button at the bottom of the dialogue to begin batch export processing. Hint: The time an export takes is affected by numerous factors –...
Page 129: Live Desktop: Overview
LIVE DESKTOP: OVERVIEW TriCaster’s Live Desktop is the control center for your live production. It provides control over switching, transitions and overlays, title, audio mixing, playback of digitized content, and so As well, streaming and recording features are located here, along with keying and virtual set tools.
Page 130: Overview
This has no bearing on recording or video output, of course. It is simply that the desktop video monitors look better without the letterboxing or pillar-boxing otherwise applied when aspect mismatches occur. OVERVIEW TriCaster’s Live Desktop provides visual feedback for operations, including monitoring, live switching, and so on.
Page 131: Customizing The Live Desktop
Control Type Type Examples Usage Slider (vertical Gain, Balance Drag in line with the control’s or horizontal, orientation to raise or lower the single-value) current value. Radial slider Position, Size Drag up-down to adjust one value, (two-value) left-right to adjust the other value, or diagonally to adjust two values simultaneously.
Page 132: Rename
Virtual Input on Preview. (These options are mutually exclusive).  The Tabs Follow Virtual Input Delegate option is useful when TriCaster TCXD850 CS (Control Surface) is connected.  Enable Link Audio Mixer Tabs to show both External and Internal Audio tabs whenever you click the tab for either of these.
Page 133: Dual Displays And Monitoring
Figure 110 To do so, simply right-click on any of the following items to open the Rename Input dialog (Figure 64):  Any monitor in the All Monitors pane (except Preview)  Any Switcher source button  Any Virtual Input tab The dialog has two editable text fields, Input Name and Button Label.
Page 134: Titlebar Tips
TITLEBAR TIPS An information display in the Live Desktop titlebar provides useful data. Displayed info includes:  (Session Name)  (Session format)  Time of Day (from the system clock)  Eject  [x] (Exit button) 6.5.1 STATUS BAR An information display is conveniently located below the titlebar, just above the main Program monitor.
Page 135: O Configuration
I/O CONFIGURATION TriCaster provides extensive control over your video signal at both input and output stages. Every video source has its own realtime Proc Amp and keyer (via LiveMatte). As well, TriCaster supports independent Proc Amp settings for its Program and Multiview outputs It is very useful to be able to adjust each source and also the output stream independently.
Page 136: Output Controls
Figure 115 NOTE: The format for TriCaster’s primary video outputs (including HDMI) is dictated by the session format. At the time of writing, certain less common session formats are not supported by typical downstream monitors and devices. The Aux video output provides more configuration options, and may provide an alternative in such situations.
Page 137: Proc Amp
 Multiview Proc Amp controls for Multiview output Multiview output display options  Genlock Genlock calibration controls Center Frequency setting This panel closes when you click the Close button or click outside the panel. 7.1.2 PROC AMP Proc Amp adjustments can be toggled on and off using the Enable Proc Amp switch at upper left in the Main and Multiview panes (note that the Multiview output Proc Amp affects only Program and Preview displays), or reset by clicking the Restore Defaults button.
Page 138 Figure 116 To serve as a visual reminder, small indicator lights appear at right above the Program monitor when either output has Proc Amp settings enabled (Figure 116). Click these to enable/disable the associated Proc Amps. Note: TriCaster’s input and output Proc Amps are very useful. However, please keep this important thought in mind: Whenever possible, it is best to perform color adjustments at the source or target device.
Page 139: Sd Analog Connections
Figure 117  To automatically white balance – click and hold the mouse button over the Color (eyedropper) button, and then slide the pointer on the monitor for the corresponding source. Release the mouse button over a part of the image that should be white. 7.1.3 SD ANALOG CONNECTION S Figure 118 As discussed back in Section 3.6.2, TriCaster’s three VIDEO OUT connector rows can variously...
Page 140: Aux Output
 The sole analog video connection supporting HD is Component. Consequently, the analog Connection Type for Rows 1 and 2 for HD sessions is always Component (SD Analog Connection options are ghosted).  This means that the four BNC connectors for output Rows 1 and 2 will be automatically configured as HD-SDI and HD Component (three connectors –...
Page 141 SOURCE The Aux video output is uniquely flexible as respects which sources can be displayed. While some of these mirror those presented as options for the Multiview output, others are not. Notably, the Input and Frame Buffer sub-menus support several exclusive displays. Here is the complete list of possibilities: ...
Page 142: Multiview Output
 1080i (SDI, Component)  1080/30p (SDI, Component)  720p (SDI, Component)  720/30p (SDI, Component)  480i, 16:9 (SDI, Component)  480i, 16:9 (SDI, Y/C + Composite)  480i, 4:3 (SDI, Component)  480i, 4:3 (SDI, Y/C + Composite) 7.1.5 MULTIVIEW OUTPUT TriCaster’s Multiview output fills several valuable purposes.
Page 143 NOTE: Changing Output options (Layout or Resolution) can cause frames to be dropped briefly. Changing these settings during live production is not recommended. Figure 121 Screen Layout offers a diverse list including numerous optional displays as follows:  All: this useful display is the default, and combines monitors for all Switcher sources plus Program and Preview and handy digital clocks.
Page 144: Genlock
7.1.6 GENLOCK TriCaster’s Genlock feature allows it to ‘lock’ its video output to a reference video signal (house sync, such as ‘black burst’) supplied to its Genlock input connector. This synchronizes TriCaster output to other external equipment locked to the same reference. Genlocking is not an absolute requirement, but it is very beneficial, and you should definitely use it if you have the capability.
Page 145 VERTICAL POSITION, HORIZONTAL POSITION AND PHASE Locking all devices to house sync is important, but this alone does not actually ensure a perfect downstream match. Consider an army marching along: each step the soldiers take occurs at precisely the same moment, so we could say their timing is synchronized.
Page 146: Center Frequency
(A discussion of these adjustments goes beyond the scope of this manual, but a quick online search for the keywords “genlock” and “adjust” turns up a number of excellent references). REFERENCE TYPE The ‘bi-level’ reference signal long used for standard definition television is often used for genlocking both SD and HD installations.
Page 147: Connection Type
Figure 125 7.2.1 CONNECTION TYPE The Configuration panel for the Camera 1-8 inputs features a Connection Type menu at the top of its Input Settings tab. Connection Type menu options vary depending on the Video Standard for the session. TriCaster Multi-standard provides PAL and NTSC-J session options, in addition to NTSC.
Page 148 The standard options are: 1080i (Component) • Analog source, high definition, interlaced • 1080/60i or 1080/50i • 1920x1080 pixels, 16:9 picture aspect • Connected to TriCaster by Y, Pr and Pb input connectors 1080i (SDI) • Digital source, standard definition, interlaced •...
Page 149 The standard definition options listed below are provided in both 4:3 and 16:9 versions: 480/30i (Component) • NTSC analog format, standard definition, interlaced • 720x480 pixels, 4:3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16:9 picture aspect • Connected to TriCaster by Y, Pr and Pb input connectors 480/30i (SDI) •...
Page 150: Act As Alpha
• 720x576 pixels, 4:3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16:9 picture aspect • Connected to TriCaster by Y input connector Multi-standard TriCaster TCXD850 PAL connection type. 7.2.2 ACT AS ALPHA TriCaster optionally allows one or more neighboring pairs of video inputs to be combined as a single ‘video + alpha’...
Page 151 Figure 126 To use this feature, select Act as Alpha Channel for Input (#) as the Connection Type in the Input Configuration panel for an even-numbered input. Note: The input configuration (video format and connection type) for the alpha input is automatically configured to match the fill source it is paired with.
Page 152: Proc Amp
7.2.3 PROC AMP Figure 127 The main portion of the Input Settings tab contains Proc Amp settings. These settings are identical to those discussed in Section 7.1.2. Of course, Proc Amp settings are applied to the individual video inputs, thus before output Proc Amp settings (which affect all sources equally). When the Proc Amp is enabled for a specific source, a small yellow indicator is displayed in the upper-right corner, just above the corresponding monitor in any of the three main monitor tabs.
Page 153 Figure 128 LiveMatte’s controls are deceptively simple, making a great deal of complex digital manipulations easy to use. Even so, much can be said about getting the best results. For that reason we’ve devoted a whole chapter in this manual to discussing it (and Crop - please see Chapter 11).
Page 155: Switcher, Transitions And Overlay
SWITCHER, TRANSITIONS AND OV ERLAY TriCaster’s Live Desktop replicates traditional video switcher controls in easy to comprehend and use fashion. It provides numerous transitions that you can use to add interest when changing scenes, two independent downstream overlay channels, and some very useful automation. This chapter reviews these vital components of your live productions.
Page 156: Utility (And Delegate)
8.1.1 UTILITY (AND DELEGAT E) The function of the Utility row is governed by the nearby Utility Delegate button selection(s). Click a single delegate button, or press the Ctrl key while clicking to dedicate the Utility row to selecting the source for the corresponding item(s) –FX, AUX OUT, DSK 1 or 2.
Page 157: Program And Preview
 For a new multi-delegate selection whose current sources are different, no buttons are initially lit.)  At all times, the source currently assigned to a delegate is listed above its button in the Utility Delegate group. 8.1.2 PROGRAM AND PREVIEW The Program row selection determines the dominant video stream of the Background (BKGD) video layer –...
Page 158: Video Layers
The concept of video layers is central to understanding how TriCaster’s Switcher and Transition controls relate to one another, and how they combine to form the video seen on Program Out. TriCaster TCXD850 clarifies the relationship of the video layers, and introduces the concept of the Background layer (often shortened to simply ‘BKGD’).
Page 159: Transitions
• Program Program BKGD • Preview •FX Recall that the BKGD layer is often itself a composite of sub-layers:  Sub-layers may include video from the Program or Preview rows, or FX.  Selecting a Virtual Input on Program or Preview can bring more sub-layers into the BKGD composite –...
Page 160: Local Controls
8.3.1 LOCAL CONTROLS  Pressing the local Take button for the BKGD layer will swap the current Preview row selection to the Program row, and vice versa, BKGD Transitions and Overlay (DSK) just as you would expect. Transitions are slightly different. BKGD Transitions have Reverse and ...
Page 161 You can halt an Auto partway, by clicking the button again during the transition. For BKGD, the transition will be completed the next time you click the button. A slightly different result occurs when re-initiating a partially complete DSK transition. If a transition was more than halfway complete when halted, clicking Auto again completes it.
Page 162 Hint: The frequently-used Fade transition is always available at left. As it has no options and cannot be replaced, the Configure button is ghosted when Fade is selected in the Transition Bin. By the way, note that the direction of the Overlay Transitions automatically alternates. That is, if the first click displays the layer using an effect, the next click removes it using the reverse transition, and so on (this behavior mimics the Background Transition option call Ping Pong, discussed momentarily).
Page 163 DSK POSITIONING Each DSK layer has its own Pos (Position) button and settings. Click the neighboring Pos button to open the Overlay Position panel for a given layer. Position panel settings are organized into two groups named Crop Edges and Position. The current settings can be toggled on/off using the Enable switch at upper left or Reset (for either group) with a single click.
Page 164 In similar fashion, drag the pointer over the Rotation button with the left mouse button pressed to turn the overlay source in 3D space, as follows:  Drag left/right to rotate the source about layers automatically appear the Y (vertical) axis. (temporarily) on Preview when the ...
Page 165 DSK TRANSPARENCY Remember that the source for a DSK layer is selected using the Switcher’s Utility row. Some DSK sources may be partially transparent. This might be because they are drawn from a Media Player (DDR, Stills or Titles) file that includes an embedded alpha channel, because LiveMatte or Cropping are enabled for the source, or even all of the above Regardless, DSK layers will automatically respect transparency when the source supplies it.
Page 166: Main Controls
BKGD layer Auto button at right instead. 5. Now, hold down the Ctrl key and click the delegate button for DSK 1 (if you have TriCaster TCXD850 CS, press both the BKGD and DSK 1 buttons in its Transition Delegate group at the same time instead).
Page 167 The BKGD layer is updated, DSK 1 is removed, and DSK 2 is displayed. Hint: The Look Ahead Preview monitor (Section 9.2) reflects your Transition Delegate selections, and allows toy to configure video layers for upcoming switcher operations with great confidence. A progress bar beneath the each of the Delegate buttons tracks transition progress.
Page 168: T-Bar
8.3.3 T-BAR The T-Bar mimics the similar control on a traditional video switcher, and allows you to manually perform a transition between delegated video layers (see Section 8.2, Video Layers):  FTB delegated – show or hide the FTB video layer. ...
Page 169: Desktop Monitors
DESKTOP MONITORS The word “monitor” comes from the Latin “monēre” – meaning ‘to warn’. The word has taken on additional meaning since Roman times. As a verb, these include such connotations as ‘keeping an eye’ on something, and ‘checking continually’, as when monitoring a process.
Page 170: Configuration Indicators
LOOK AHEAD PREVIEW Figure 142 TriCaster TCXD850 furnishes the Live Desktop with a true Look Ahead Preview monitor (labeled simply Preview), usually found only on very expensive high-end switchers. The Look Ahead Preview is versatile and powerful. Instead of showing just one video source (the Preview row sub-layer), it displays the composite result of a Take applied to all currently delegated video layers (see the sub-heading Transition Delegates in Section 8.3.2).
Page 171: All Monitors Tab
IN OTHER WORDS, ‘WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU WILL GET’ – AFTER A TAKE OR AUTO. This allows you to set up the next shot, When BKGD is delegated alone, Take, Auto check its composition (including titles and Preview work just as in other TriCaster and overlay positioning), and switch to it models.
Page 172: Contextual Tools
Click the All Monitors tab at upper-left to reveal a group of preview windows. These previews, often referred to as ISO (Isolation) monitors, display all primary video sources currently available for selection in the Switcher rows below. Monitors for all live Camera inputs are provided, along with previews of the Media Player content.
Page 173 This menu might list displays from other computers transmitted across the network via iVGA™, or perhaps the output from a companion NewTek LiveText™ workstation. (LiveText and iVGA are considered in more depth in Chapter 14.) Slide the mouse down the menu to the entry you wish to select and click the source you wish to assign as the current Network source.
Page 174: Interactive Control
9.3.2 INTERACTIVE CONTROL The onscreen monitors (with the exception of Preview) are actually interactive live production controls. You can click them to perform many Switcher operations. Here’s a list of things to try:  Click on an unselected monitor to place it on the Preview row. ...
Page 175: External Monitors Tab
EXTERNAL MONITORS TAB This tabbed pane supplies individual monitors for all eight camera inputs. 9.4.1 CONTEXTUAL TOOLS Just as we noted earlier (Section 9.3.1) when discussing the All Monitors view, rolling the mouse pointer over the preview panes in the Camera Monitors tab presents a context sensitive row of buttons to appear above.
Page 176: Switcher Monitors Tab
SWITCHER MONITORS TAB Figure 149 The next tab in the upper-left corner of the Live Desktop is labeled Switcher Monitors. This view is dominated by two large preview panes, showing respectively the video source currently assigned to FX along with the Look Ahead Preview. Hint: These monitors do not feature interactive switching functions.
Page 177 These displays permit the user to judge the effect of Proc Amp and LiveMatte adjustments while making them. (See Appendix C, Video Calibration for help on using TriCaster’s scopes.) Note: The Preview option in Scopes is affected by the BKGD selection in the Transition Delegate controls.
Page 179: Media Players (Ddrs, Still, Title And Audio)
Switcher operations. 10.1 SPECIALIZED MEDIA PLAYERS TriCaster TCXD850 sports five Media Players, located in tabbed panes found in the bottom third of the Live Desktop. These are the DDR 1, DDR 2, Still, Title and Sounds players.
Page 180: Shared Features
third party applications). That said, if you found a reason to, you could use it as a ‘secondary’ media player for a playlist consisting of photographs (for example). Similarly, the Still player is meant for still images – photos, graphics, and the like; but you are not prevented from adding title pages to its playlist if you like (you can even edit a title page in Stills, just as you can in Titles).
Page 181 The playlist can even be altered during playback (of course, if the currently playing item is removed, playback stops immediately). The filename (with extension) of each item in the current playlist is displayed above the thumbnails, and its duration is shown below. Hint: The duration shown is the play time after any trimming operations, and thus may at times be less than the file length on disk for video clips or audio files.
Page 182 FILE OPERATIONS  Click the Add button beneath the playlist pane to open a custom Media Browser (see Section 10.2.2).  Newly-added files become selected items in the Playlist pane.  Drag (appropriate type) file(s) from one module’s playlist to another module. ...
Page 183: Media Browser
Figure 153 Initially, In and Out Point handles at opposite ends of the Scrub-Bar are at their extreme positions, marking the actual limits of the file on disk. Dragging these handles adjusts timing for the selected item (multi-selections are ignored for Scrub-Bar trimming). The duration (taking into account trimming operations) is displayed in a timecode field just to the right.
Page 184 The custom Media Browser is available anywhere in the Live Desktop interface that you might wish to select content, transitions or effects for use in your project (such as the media players, LiveSet and Transitions sections). Its layout is comprised of left and right panes we’ll refer to as the Location List and File Pane respectively.
Page 185 FILE PANE Icons appearing in the File Pane represent content located inside the sub-heading selected at left in the Locations List. These are grouped under horizontal dividers named for sub-folders, which allows related content to be organized conveniently. Figure 156 FILE FILTERS The File Pane view is filtered to show only relevant content.
Page 186: Controls
Right-click on a file icon in the right-hand pane to show a menu providing Rename and Delete options. Be aware that Delete really does remove content from your hard drive. This menu is not shown if the item clicked is write-protected. 10.2.3 CONTROLS Transport controls and playback settings are located directly below the Playlist and Scrub-Bar.
Page 187 SINGLE Figure 159 Media Player playback normally conforms to typical playlist practice – each item in the playlist playing back in orderly succession. When Single mode is enabled, playback stops when the Out Point of the current playlist item is reached (unless Loop is also enabled, in which case playback of the current item repeats until manually interrupted).
Page 188: Preset Bin
Secondly, the reverse Switcher transition occurs automatically as the end of play approaches (whether the Out Point of the current item for Single play, or the end of the playlist). In similar fashion, for a media player with Autoplay enabled, performing an Overlay Effect automatically begins playback.
Page 189: Speed
Hint: Press Shift while double-clicking Speed to quickly reset to the 100% default. 10.3 FRAME BUFFERS TriCaster TCXD850’s Frame Buffer system provides a very convenient and important alternative source system for Virtual Inputs (including their associated Overlay channels) and the Switcher’s two primary Overlay channels.
Page 190 Figure 163 Any still image or title page in the playlist of one of TriCaster’s Media Players can be assigned to any one (or more) of the nine Frame Buffers.  Right-click a playlist icon, and choose Send to Frame Buffer from the playlist context menu.
Page 191: Unique Advantages
10.3.1 UNIQUE ADVANTAGES Several characteristics differentiate Frame Buffer content from other sources (such as Media Player content): First, any possibility of accidentally displaying the wrong image or title (as might happen if the current playlist item was not the correct one) is eliminated. In fact, even when the original source file no longer exists on the system, the Frame Buffer copy can still be referenced on demand.
Page 192: Editing Title
Hint: Frame buffer files are stored using the popular 32 bit PNG (Portable network Graphics) image format. The specific file associated with any Frame Buffer is easily identified by its unique name – overlay_1.png, virtual_input_1.png, etc This allows Frame Buffer files to be individually updated across a network using any suitable graphics application or method.
Page 193 Figure 165 A number of keystroke shortcuts are available to help you edit text quickly. Typing keystrokes as listed below will produce the result shown:  Any character(s) – text input box opens with the current string cleared and (only) the new character(s) entered.
Page 194 Hint: A red line under a character or word indicates the spell-checker is questioning its spelling. Right-click the word to open a menu showing various suggested alternatives. Click one of these if you wish to update the original. Figure 166 The titlebar of the Title Page Editor holds an assortment of text attribute controls.
Page 195 You can find out which, if any images are unlocked (stand-ins) and which are locked, and toggle the status of any image. Hold down the Shift key while rolling around inside the Title Page. With Shift depressed, a red border is shown around any locked image under the cursor. Stand-in (unlocked) images display a green border on roll-over when Shift is depressed.
Page 197: Livematte & Crop
11 LIVEMATTE & CROP Although its controls are deceptively simple, LiveMatte represents NewTek’s newest and most powerful chromakeying technology, and is capable of very high quality results. Whether you use it alone or in conjunction with TriCaster’s Overlay or LiveSet features, you will find LiveMatte can play an important role in your live productions.
Page 198: Chromakeying
Hint: Clicking Configure for a monitor in the Switcher Monitors tab likewise opens the Input Configuration panel for the corresponding Switcher row source. 11.1 CHROMAKEYING The method by which part of the image is defined as transparent is generically referred to as chromakeying, for its dependence on the color values (chrominance) of the video stream.
Page 199: Matte
11.2 MATTE Figure 170 The term Matte refers to a black and white representation defining transparent (background) and opaque (foreground) parts of the image during compositing. Portions of the matte that are grey are treated as semi-transparent, which is very useful in progressively smoothing edges between foreground source material and inserted background imagery.
Page 200: Tolerance
11.2.2 TOLERANCE No physical greenscreen is perfectly comprised of one color. Wrinkles, folds and shadows along with the seemingly inevitable uneven lighting result in difference. For this reason, TriCaster provides a numeric slider labeled Tolerance just beneath the Color picker. The Tolerance setting allows you to broaden the range considered as the key color, including more ‘near-neighbor’...
Page 201: Spill Suppression
the background color. In simplest terms, problem areas of this type can be decisively ‘pulled’ back into the foreground by pre-filtering the chromakey effect around a luminance threshold. Generally, try to set up the best key you can before raising the Luma Limit from its default value of zero (no effect).
Page 202: Compositing
Figure 172 Common examples include microphones or lighting fixtures dangling from above, or perhaps a harsh crease, blemish or tear in the background screen. Or, as is frequently the case, the source video itself may have a few pixels of black or video ‘noise’ along one or more of its edges. Cropping can be used to remove such unwanted ‘garbage’...
Page 203: Fine Tuning
11.6 FINE TUNING You’ll find LiveMatte easy to configure with a little experimentation – but a few handy workflow tips follow below. You may find it useful initially to turn Smoothness off or nearly so. Likewise begin with a low value for Tolerance –...
Page 204: Practical Staging For Livematte
11.7 PRACTICAL STAGING FOR LIVEMATTE We’d like to offer a few suggestions here to guide you in preparing, so you get the most out of LiveMatte. 11.7.1 LIGHTING The single most important aspect of ‘pulling a clean key’ is lighting. The lighting should be even and diffuse.
Page 205 according to the quality of video signal they provide (and as things go, in the reverse order of their cost, and the likelihood that you will have access to them): Composite – a two conductor design using the classic RCA connector (also referred to as a phono connector or CINCH/AV connector) Y/C –...
Page 207: Virtual Inputs
Switcher source. Virtual Inputs also provide TriCaster’s connection to LiveSet, NewTek’s astonishing realtime virtual set technology, investing it with great new capabilities. We illustrated the value of Virtual Inputs back in Section 4.10 of the Live Production Walkthrough chapter.
Page 208: Primary Video Sources
As you would expect, selecting one of the Virtual Input buttons on the Program row displays the output of the corresponding Virtual Input output to Program Output. Likewise, clicking V1-V5 on the Preview row cues up that Virtual Input’s output for an upcoming Take/Transition operation (and also displays the corresponding control panel in the tabbed area below).
Page 209: Position
12.2 POSITION Figure 175 Pos (Position) controls for both Input A and Input B appear to the right of their respective selector button rows (Figure 175). Click the neighboring Configure button (gear) to open the Position panel (Figure 176) for a given channel. Enable or disable all settings using the switch provided at upper left.
Page 210: Overlay
Hint: If you click a numeric field a second time (or right-click it), you can type a value into the gadget using the keyboard – press Enter to complete the editing action, or Esc to cancel it). In similar fashion, drag the pointer over the Rotation button with the left mouse button pressed to turn the source in 3D space, as follows: ...
Page 211: Liveset
This brings us to the LiveSet section of the Virtual Input tab. LiveSet allows you to achieve the look of a large, sophisticated studio setting (Figure 179) within a very small studio space (Figure 178) without the need for external equipment. TriCaster TCXD850 brings important new capabilities to NewTek’s revolutionary virtual set technology. Figure 178...
Page 212: Liveset Selection
12.4.1 LIVESET SELECTION An information line (Figure 182) at the top of the Virtual Input tab lists the current LiveSet (if any) for this Virtual Input. The default LiveSet simply composites Input A over Input B (if any part of the image assigned to Input A is transparent, Input B will show through). Hint: Many virtual sets require LiveMatte settings to be applied to Input A.
Page 213: Video Sources
12.4.2 VIDEO SOURCES Virtual Inputs provide LiveSet with a new standard of flexibility, allowing you to easily and flexibly assign inputs from the Virtual Input tab(s), without Switcher involvement*. *Hint: One special case is when you select FX as a LiveSet input. Conveniently, this allows you to use the Switcher to change the input without either interfering with other common Switcher operations or accessing the corresponding Virtual Input tab.
Page 214: Zoom T-Bar
Initially, these four presets represent default stops between the maximum and minimum distance for the specific set - the ‘closest’ view is 100%. Click a preset thumbnail to jump to the camera view it represents. An active Zoom Preset is shown with a gold border (a white border tracks your cursor when selecting presets).
Page 215: Animate Zoom
You will find that you can often use Position controls to ensure a ‘good fit’ and natural appearance of talent or other source appearing in your virtual sets (greatly reducing the need to fuss with physical camera positions to do so). 12.4.6 ANIMATE ZOOM Figure 184 As noted earlier, you can use the Zoom T-Bar to manually zoom in on most LiveSets, even when...
Page 217: Audio
13 AUDIO Less than 100 years ago, movies were silent. We’ve come a very long way since “The Jazz Singer” (1927, Warner Bros.) High quality audio and audio management tools are almost certainly a requirement for your live productions. When it comes to audio, TriCaster provides professional quality and convenience, which we’ll explore in this chapter.
Page 218: External Audio
Compact sub-panels in each tabbed pane provide configuration and control for one audio source or output stream. Figure 186 13.1 EXTERNAL AUDIO The sub-panels in the External tab are labeled for Input rows 1-8 on TriCaster’s backplate. You may choose to think of these audio sources as being associated with video inputs 1-8 in the nearby rows (see the sub-heading Follow, below) but you are completely free to use them in various other configurations.
Page 219: Connection Type
It’s important to note that the Solo switch setting (discussed shortly) affects Mute operation. When Solo is check-marked for a source, clicking Mute for the same source mutes the output for that source on Master output only. Otherwise (i.e., when Solo is un-checked for a source), clicking Mute for a source mutes it on all outputs.
Page 220 TALK It is often useful to reduce all other audio source levels so that an important announcement can be clearly understood by the audience. The Talk switch (also known as “Talk Over”) makes this a simple matter. Enabling Talk for a source (typically a microphone) reduces the output level of all other audio sources by 20dB.
Page 221: More Audio Controls
TRIM When the Connection Type is set to one of the Mic options, input controls also include Trim knobs for each microphone input. This is a variable gain setting, Figure 189 enabling you to adjust input gain to suit the level of a variety of audio sources.
Page 222 When Follow causes an audio source to be added to TriCaster’s output, the audio from this input is ramped up (or down, on removal) over 1 second. MONO Figure 192 A Mono switch appears in the control panel for sources set to any Connection Type other than Mic.
Page 223 Note that Aux output mimics Phones whenever Solo is selected in its Source option menu. Let’s consider some practical applications using these options. AUDITIONING AN AUDIO SOURCE It can be very useful to be able to preview one or more audio sources, doing so without allowing the test sound to be audible on Program output.
Page 224 that clean signal to your remote caller (and control its level), eliminating annoying echoing, feedback and the like. Meanwhile, both participants can be heard on the main Program output. BALANCE A Balance slider is likewise shown for all source types other than Mic. In a conventional stereo environment, centering the Balance knob will result in Gain being applied equally to the left and right channels.
Page 225: Internal Audio
Two VU Meters are displayed when an analog Connection Type is set to a Mic option, with individual knobs to control the Gain for each input channel (see Figure 193). When the Connection Type is Line, the VU meter displays the levels for the two analog input channels, controlled by a single Gain knob.
Page 226: Media Players
Figure 195 13.2.1 MEDIA PLAYERS Video and audio-only files in DDR 1 and 2 playlists, along with audio files in the Sounds player, may contain one or more audio channels. At most, Media Players output the first four audio channels of multiple channels – additional embedded streams are ignored. The options and controls in these sub-panels are similar to those in the input control panels, with the obvious exception that a Connection Type menu is unnecessary.
Page 227 Remember that both Aux and Phones outputs are affected by source Solo switches. When Solo is on for one or more sources, only those sources will be sent to Aux and Phones. Hint: Shift + double click Gain knobs to restore their default values (0dB). Figure 196 AUX AND STREAM The Stream sub-panel provides a method of independently adjusting (stereo) audio levels sent to...
Page 228: Preset Bin
 DDR 2 - The meters show the levels for audio (the first 4 channels) from DDR 2 output, which are individually sent to AUX output connectors (2a-2d).  Sounds – The meters show the levels for audio (the first 4 channels) from the Sounds player output, which are individually sent to AUX output connectors (2a-2d).
Page 229: Network Sources
14 NETWORK SOURCES The network source features of your TriCaster are very useful. TriCaster TCXD850 supports two simultaneous network sources, so you can live switch displays from networked computers as part of your productions. Connecting to a networked workstation or laptop computer running LiveText™, NewTek’s powerful realtime title and graphics...
Page 230: Ivga For Os X
Double-click the Zip file to decompress it, and then double-click the .dmg file to mount it.  The NewTek iVGA icon shown above will be placed on your Desktop. Open it (by double- clicking, and you will see two files in a Finder window –...
Page 231: Ivga For Windows
When iVGA is running, the icon in the (OS X) Dock has a menu you can access by right-clicking it:  Engaging Privacy Mode prevents the client display from appearing accidentally on the TriCaster display when you don’t want it to. ...
Page 232 Note: iVGA will run from anywhere you put it on the client hard drive, but you might wish to install it in the Program Files folder (Program Files (x86) for a 64bit version of Windows. Run iVGA on the client computer by double-clicking its icon. A smaller icon will be added to the Windows task tray.
Page 233: Livetext
zoomed view to move once set, you can lock zoom position with a hotkey — Right Ctrl + Numpad 9. The hotkey is a toggle – use it again to cause the display to track the cursor again (this is useful to re-position the display, too.) ...
Page 235: Streaming
15 STREAMING Live webcasting has dramatically altered the broadcast landscape. Information can now be shared among audiences around the world with very small transmission costs – and the future is bright. It seems certain that the live streaming market will continue to expand, providing many creative and profitable opportunities.
Page 236: Pull Profiles
All the settings you need to configure your streaming output are located in the Stream Configuration panel (Figure 202). To open it, click the Configure button (gear) beside the Stream button – beneath the Program Output monitor. 15.1.1 PULL PROFILES If you are streaming internally (to people in your building or inside your own corporate firewall), Pull streaming may well provide the easiest approach.
Page 237: Push Profiles
When a Push profile is chosen, the Stream Configuration interface changes to allow entry of the (pre-arranged) host web address (Location), Username and Password. Note: The publishing point is placed at the end of the URL, following a forward slash (i.e., http://225.21.1.4:8080/NewTek). Page | 221...
Page 238: Capturing The Stream
Enabling the Stream button then “pushes” the stream from your location, logging into the pre- arranged web address using the username and password you provided. The streaming service then re-transmits your stream for all to see. 15.1.3 CAPTURING THE STREAM TriCaster can archive your live stream file as it is created.
Page 239 Ideally, ‘on demand’ streaming video begins to play on request after a few moments (letting the stream get a bit ahead of the client playback device is called ‘buffering’, and helps ensure smooth playback). (This stands in contrast to other types of online video distribution which requires the viewer to completely download the video file before he can begin play.
Page 240  Some sources report that the Flash movies will have a larger file size and use greater bandwidth than Windows Media for a given stream quality. (This is hard to assess, and changes constantly as developers update their products).  Codecs for both types are updated with fair regularity, and when you choose the ‘latest, greatest’...
Page 241: Streaming Protocols
Also consider the expected download abilities of your viewers. Ideally, a safety margin 1.5 times the stream’s bitrate is desirable. This may mean you need to consider using a lower resolution, or lower framerate for your stream – but doing so when required will generally deliver a smooth result, and is the wise course.
Page 242 Requires significant bandwidth -- for example, with TriCaster connected to the Internet by a DSL or Cable Modem line, upload bandwidth is often less than 400kbits/second. Allowing for network overhead, at best a 320kbit steam can be accommodated. This bandwidth would be fully consumed by two viewers watching 160kbit streams, or a single viewer pulling a 170-320kbit stream.
Page 243: Streaming Media Providers
PUSH TO PROVIDER Windows 2003 Server introduced “Push” technology. With this method, the encoder sends the stream to downstream servers. This allows the encoder to establish a connection to the server on a specified port. Once this connection is established, additional network ports may be opened as required (since the Encoder established the connection, not the server.) ...
Page 244: Other Resources
15.2.4 OTHER RESOURCES If you’re still struggling with the differences between Push and Pull streaming methods, you can find lots of online resources (in addition to excellent information available in NewTek’s user forums!) The popular web resource Wikipedia® hosts many articles on the subject, notably these two: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_technology...
Page 245: Configuration And Troubleshooting
You can always convert these files to a streaming file format if you later decide you’d like to supply them for ‘on demand’ Internet viewing. This lets you retain best quality right through to final output. When you eventually encode for streaming, you can choose settings that best suit the intended audience and streaming environment.
Page 246: Testing Your Stream
15.4.1 TESTING YOUR STREAM When it comes to using your TriCaster in a professional live production environment (i.e., your bread and butter depends on getting it right, and now - not tomorrow), failure to test beforehand is not merely unwise - it can be professional suicide. You should already be aware of the need for redundancy in a professional environment (you didn’t bring just one camera, did you?) As reliable as any device may be, Murphy and his Law are alive and well.
Page 247 Note: If the connection to a server is lost after initial success, the encoder attempts to resume streaming automatically if the connection becomes available again during the session. TESTING WITH PING Before your stream can be seen - whether on a local intranet or the Internet - client computers (or your service provider) need to be able to establish a network connection with your TriCaster.
Page 248 For Windows Vista® (or later) 1. Type “run” (without the quotation marks) into the Search field, then press Enter on the keyboard. 2. Type “cmd” (without the quotation marks) into the dialog, and press Enter on the keyboard. 3. In the command shell that opens, type “ipconfig” (without the quotation marks) and press Enter again.
Page 249 Figure 204 3. Ping will go to work, and in a moment or two begin reporting results. A ping failure (indicating a network problem) will look like Figure 205. A success ping will display a report like Figure 206. Figure 205 Figure 206 Page | 233...
Page 250 Apple OS X For a system running Apple’s OS X®: 1. Double-click Terminal in the Applications\Utilities folder. 2. Type the following command into the Terminal (without quotations) and then add the IP number, and press Enter: “ping –c 4 ipnumber.” (So, for example, you might type: ping –c 4 192.168.1.101) The response will be similar to the Windows example described above.
Page 251 To enable port forwarding, you need three pieces of information:  The login information for the router. Your router’s manual will have this information, which typically involves entering a specific IP number into your web browsers URL field, and perhaps also a password you have set previously. ...
Page 252 Enter the Start and End port values – you can use the same port number in both fields, but of course it must be the one you set in TriCaster’s Port field. 5. IF possible, select Both for Protocol (or select UDP). 6.
Page 253 the website in your browser and read the IP number from the screen. Append a colon and the port number you are using to this number and you’ve got everything you need for your viewers to connect. SPEED TESTS Are you sure your upload bandwidth is adequate to the bitrate you’ve set for your stream? Why not test and make sure.
Page 255: Record And Grab
TriCaster TCXD850 offers the ability to capture the a/v stream from either Program out or Aux to hard disk. This can be useful as a method of archiving a live production for later use, or as a way to capture video clips for playback from the DDR during a live production.
Page 256 RECORD CONFIGURATION At upper left in the Record Configuration panel you will see a section labeled Output to record. By default, TriCaster records Program output. However, at times it may suit your purpose to record the a/v stream assigned to the Aux output instead (see Section 7.1.4). The A/V group in the panel has several options in it.
Page 257 Close the Record Configuration panel by clicking Close, or clicking anywhere outside the panel. When ready, click the Record button to capture program output to your hard drive. Let’s spend a moment on several other Record settings beforehand though. QUALITY TriCaster records video using a ‘double-rate’...
Page 258: Grab
ADD TO DDR Enable the Add to DDR Playlist switch to automatically include newly captured clips at the end of the DDR playlist, ready for immediate playback during the live production. 16.2 GRAB At times, all you really want to capture is a still image from the current Program Output video stream.
Page 259: Speededit And Livetext
17 SPEEDEDIT AND LIVETEXT LiveText™ is a powerful title and CG application, allowing you to create title pages for use in the Live Desktop’s Media Players. Title pages can be still or motion pages, including scrolls and crawls. SpeedEDIT™ provides a host of world-class editing tools for pre and post production purposes.
Page 260: Filebin Quicktabs
Likewise when the project is SD, the SDI outputs will all be SD. As there are multiple connection options for analog SD video, please refer to the following table in this case: Row Number Analog BNC 1 Analog BNC 2 Analog BNC 3 Composite Composite...
Page 261: Speededit Desktop
17.1.4 SPEEDEDIT DESKTOP TriCaster launches SpeedEDIT on a desktop of its own, spanning all connected monitors. You can exit SpeedEDIT by clicking the [x] button in the upper-right corner of the desktop, or by using the File men item Close. If you have a secondary monitor connected to TriCaster, you can drag SpeedEDIT’s Video Output window (opened from the Window menu) onto that screen, then maximize it by double-clicking inside the preview area (double-clicking a second time restores the standard floating window).
Page 262: Files/Filebin
Likewise when the project is SD, the SDI outputs will all be SD. As there are multiple connection options for analog SD video, please refer to the following table in this case: Row Number Analog BNC 1 Analog BNC 2 Analog BNC 3 Composite Composite...
Page 263: Naming Stand-In Images
When you select Send All Pages to Live, each page in the project is exported in turn to the appropriate format and location. This means they are readily accessible in the Live Desktop’s Media Browser afterward, for easy addition to a Media Player playlist. Title Page icons will appear grouped under their project names in the Media Browser’s File Pane when you select the session name in the Location List at left.
Page 265: Part Iii (Appendices)
PART III (APPENDICES) A time-saving question and answer section, followed by an extensive listing of Shortcut Keys, schematic diagram and keyword index … Page | 249...
Page 267: A How Do I
Connect monitors? ......................255 Connect a supported external control surface ..............257 Supplement: TriCaster TCXD850 CS has suddenly stopped working. What can I do? ..257 Insert/Remove a Drive From TriCaster’s Removable Drive Bay........... 258 Supplement: What hard drives are recommended for TriCaster? ........258 Connect an external hard drive? ..................
Page 268 Start an SD session? ......................260 Start an HD session? ......................261 Supplement: What is the best session format for streaming? ..........261 Work on a stored session? ....................261 Backup a session? ......................261 Restore a session? ......................262 Delete a session (and its content)? ..................
Page 269 Prepare clips for TriCaster playback using Apple® Final Cut Pro?........273 Add an external File Location to the File Browser? ............. 273 Remove a Location From the File Browser? ............... 274 Export Files to an external drive? ..................274 Export files from TriCaster for use in Apple® Final Cut Pro? ..........274 Supplement: Why does the ‘Renderless’...
Page 270: Connections
A.1 CONNECTIONS A.1.1 CONNECT CAMERAS? 1. Connect video sources to the appropriately labeled BNC input connectors on TriCaster’s backplate according to your camera’s video output connection type (see Section 3.4). (Because of the ‘busy’ nature of the backplate, you may find the BNC removal tool provided with TriCaster helpful for this purpose).
Page 271: Color Correct Mismatched Cameras
5. Click the All Monitors tab at the top of the Live Desktop, roll the mouse pointer over the camera monitor you want to set up, and click the Configure (gear) button that appears above it. 6. Choose the appropriate Connection Type for the source attached to the odd-numbered input in the Input Settings tab (see Sections 3.4 and 7.2.1).
Page 272 SECONDARY COMPUTER MONITOR (OR PROJECTOR) TriCaster supports the use of its secondary output connector by means of its Multiview output feature. This output can serve as a supplementary program output for projection, or for operational monitoring purposes (see Section 7.1.5). 1.
Page 273: Connect A Supported External Control Surface
If you are using a very long USB cable (or a poor quality cable), you should supply a powered hub at the end of the cable nearest the control surface, then complete the connection with a short USB cable from the hub to TriCaster TCXD850 CS. (An unpowered hub will be of no help.) Page | 257...
Page 274: Insert/Remove A Drive From Tricaster's Removable Drive Bay
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Q: What hard drives are recommended for TriCaster’s removable drive bays? A: NewTek Sales offers additional hard drives for use in TriCaster’s removable bays. NewTek supplied storage media has been carefully tested to meet exacting specifications, and can be expected to provide optimal performance and reliability.
Page 275: Connect An External Hard Drive
‘typical’ (i.e., less demanding) operating environments. Naturally, NewTek cannot guarantee that hard drives obtained from such sources will provide performance adequate to TriCaster’s requirements. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind if you employ hard drives purchased from other sources: ...
Page 276: Enable Termination For Video Inputs
A.1.11 ENABLE TERMINATION FOR VIDEO INPUTS? TriCaster has full-time video termination. If you need to loop through (or t-off from) other video devices (such as an external monitor) prior to TriCaster in your video pipeline, you should ensure termination is OFF for earlier devices. A.2 SESSIONS SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Q: What is a session?
Page 277: Start An Hd Session
A.2.2 START AN HD SESSION? 1. Follow steps 1-6 in the preceding section. 2. Select either 720p or 1080i for Resolution. 3. Click the Start Session link (lower-right). SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Q: What is the best session format for streaming? A: We strongly recommend that you use a progressive video format for sessions you intend primarily for streaming.
Page 278: Restore A Session
5. Use the system file explorer that opens next to select the location for the backup file, and click OK. This process can take considerable time if the session has a lot of content; in such cases, it’s best not to commence unless time (before a production) permits. (See Backup Session under Section 5.3 for more detail.) A.2.5 RESTORE A SESSION? 1.
Page 279: Duplicate A Session
1. Click the ellipsis button [...] to the right of the current LiveSet name to open the LiveSet Browser. 2. Click the NewTek heading beneath the LiveSets heading in the locations list at left. 3. Click the A over B in the Default group in the file pane at right. (See Section 12.4.1.)
Page 280: Set Up The 'Nightly Show A' Liveset
A.3.3 SET UP THE ‘NIGHTLY SHOW A’ LIVESET? As you may know, TriCaster TCXD850’s LiveSets support two primary video inputs, along with a third source dedicated to its Overlay channel. The ‘Nightly Show A’ LiveSet is special in that it appears to show many different video sources simultaneously (see Figure 212), even including a moving ‘news ticker’.
Page 281: Initiate Streaming
Figure 213 Figure 214 Hint: Several sample montage clips are supplied in the Clips>NewTek folders, and there is also a template clip (Figure 214) you can use as a guide to prepare similar clips that reference your own custom content with the software of your choice.
Page 282: Find My Captured Stream File
A.3.5 FIND MY CAPTURED STREAM FILE? 1. Got to Locate the Home page of the Startup Screen and click Open. 2. Click the name of the session you streamed at right. 3. Click the Manage icon on the Session page. 4.
Page 283: Change Playback Speed For Clips In The Ddr (Media Player)
A.3.8 CHANGE PLAYBACK SPEED FOR CLIPS IN THE DDR (MEDIA PLAYER)? The DDR’s Speed control adjusts playback speed between 25-400%. Simply adjust the slider knob to suit the need. (Note that certain highly compressed video file formats cannot successfully be played back at rates beyond 200%, even though Speed value is set to a higher value.) See Section 10.2.5 for more.
Page 284: Flash (F4V)
For the sake of stability, if an AVI clip does not play well in the DDR, please consider converting it to a ‘friendlier’ format. We can recommend NewTek’s own SpeedHQ, or perhaps DV (for Standard Definition clips), M2T or MPG – please continue reading for more information on file conversion.
Page 285: Change Colors For An Entire Title Playlist At Once
known as "fragments" or "moof atoms." Some MPEG-4 compatible tools and players do not support moof atoms, and therefore cannot recognize files recorded by Flash Media Server. The F4V Post Processor tool aggregates the information from all the moof atoms into a single moov atom and outputs a new file”...
Page 286: Prepare A Matched Group Of Virtual Inputs
For example, multiple font styles on one text line are not supported, which means that different words on a single line cannot be different colors, or use different typefaces. (Of course you can achieve the same effect by using additional text objects as necessary.) For similar reasons, text entered as paragraphs is automatically split into multiple lines in .cgxml Title Page files.
Page 287: View Media Player Time Data On Multiview Out When Set To 'All Sources
® Specifically, disabling Windows Aero may cause video ‘tearing’. Also, for best quality, be sure that the VGA Output Resolution you choose corresponds to that of the monitor connected (see Section 7.1.5). NOTE: Changing Output Resolution can cause frames to be dropped briefly. Thus we do not recommend changing this setting during live production.
Page 288: Import Media Files
Probably the best format to use for files with embedded alpha channel for use in TriCaster are those encoded using NewTek’s own SpeedHQ 4:2:2:4 codec. This format can serve for either SD or HD clips, and represents a high quality, moderately compressed alternative. (As a registered...
Page 289: Prepare Clips For Tricaster Playback Using Apple® Final Cut Pro
NewTek customer, you can download the NewTek Multi-Codec Pack from your personal Downloads page on the NewTek website.) Apple® computer users have several options available which support an alpha channel, including the Animation and PNG Quicktime movie codecs (select “Millions of Colors +” in the codec settings to include alpha in the file).
Page 290: Remove A Location From The File Browser
4. Select the folder you wish to list as a location in TriCaster’s File Browser, and click OK. (See Add Media Location in Section 10.2.2) A.4.7 REMOVE A LOCATION FROM THE FILE BROWSER? 1. Click the Add button for a Media Player (DDR, Stills or Titles) 2.
Page 291 6. Click the selection gadget (triangle) and choose a target location for the output file(s). 7. Click the Export button in the panel to commence transcoding. Please see the sub- heading entitled Export Media, in Section 5.3.4 for more on TriCaster’s Export feature. METHOD 2 1.
Page 292: Import/Export Files Larger Than 4 Gigabytes
3. Import the files into Final Cut. A red bar will indicate these clips need to be rendered within the editor. After rendering, they should be available for editing like any other clip. SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Q: Why does ‘Renderless’ Quicktime export only work properly with ‘Normal Profile’ MPEG2 files? A: The “Renderless”...
Page 293: Free Up Space By Deleting The Demo Clips
A.4.12 FREE UP SPACE BY DELETING THE DEMO CLIPS? 1. Go to TriCaster’s Startup Screen. 2. Open a session (it doesn’t matter which one). 3. Click Manage on the icon ring. 4. Click the Clips link at right. 5. Use the system File Explorer that opens to navigate up one level in the folder hierarchy, to D:\Media\Clips.
Page 294: Update The Flash™ And/Or Windows Media Encoder
3. Click Update TriCaster, and follow directions provided (see Section 5.2.4). A.5.4 UPDATE THE FLASH™ AND/OR WINDOWS MEDIA ENCODER? TriCaster is not designed to be user-upgradeable. For certain features to work correctly, specific versions of third-party utilities must be present. These applications are upgraded in timely fashion in official TriCaster updates.
Page 295: Install My Favorite Software (Or Codec)
A.5.6 INSTALL MY FAVORITE SOFTWARE (OR CODEC)? TriCaster is not a ‘general purpose’ computer. The installed software suite is finely tuned to provide reliable performance and amazing features. Anything you install apart from official TriCaster updates places these important goals at risk. Doing so is strongly discouraged. Regarding codecs, TriCaster supports the vast majority of popular image, audio and video formats.
Page 296: Restore Tricaster To Original 'As-Shipped' Condition
(possibly including optional TriCaster expansion packs) will be overwritten – so use this function only if you truly find it necessary (a call to NewTek’s excellent Tech Support first may often be fruitful – see Section A.6.2). When you do restore, remember to update the TriCaster software afterward.
Page 297: Contact Technical Support
Visit the NewTek Website, at www.newtek.com and select Technical Support from the main Customer Care menu at the top of the page. This page always contains the latest support information for your NewTek products, including FAQs for all products. It also lists the Technical Support Department’s hours of operation and contact details.
Page 298: Miscellaneous
3. Click the Exit to Windows link at right (and confirm this desire in the warning dialog). A.7.2 RETURN TO TRICASTER FROM THE WINDOWS™ DESKTOP Double-click the TriCaster TCXD850 icon on the Windows™ desktop to return to the TriCaster Startup Screen.
Page 299 The default profiles are suitable for most purposes, and should not interfere with other operations. Attention to these considerations when creating custom profiles is vital to ensure reliable performance, and we encourage you to perform real world testing beforehand. FOR WINDOWS MEDIA 1.
Page 300: More Questions And Answers
5. Navigate to C:\TriCaster\Streaming Profiles\FlashProfiles\. 6. Continue to identify a profile (.xml file) similar to the one you wish to create inside the appropriate sub-folder at that location, and click the Open button in the file explorer. 7. In Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder, modify the settings for the profile to suit your need.
Page 301: Why Is My Power Supply Beeping
Figure 215 SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Q: Where can I obtain replacement or spare Power Supply modules? A: Contact NewTek Sales for purchase information for spare TriCaster components. Page | 285...
Page 302: Why Do Some Thumbnail Icons Look Wrong
A.8.3 WHY DO SOME THUMBNAIL ICONS LOOK WRONG? Some file formats (notably AVI) do not provide embedded aspect ratio information. As a result, certain files (such as 1440x1080 files intended to be displayed as 16:9) the thumbnail image in Media Player icons for may not be properly proportioned. Generally the problem does not extend to playback (the DDR will ‘guess’...
Page 303: Bperformance Considerations
PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS Your TriCaster has been carefully designed to faithfully execute its duties under any reasonable circumstances. Still, your production environment – especially in remote locations – may impose limitations that you are wise to consider. This chapter discusses a few matters that may help you get optimal performance in less than ideal settings.
Page 304: Imag And Latency
B.3 IMAG AND LATENCY What’s IMAG? It’s a compression of the expression “image magnification.” Typically in modern IMAG applications, video cameras supply live imagery to projection systems, magnifying speakers and performers so that audience members further back in large venues can still see what’s going IMAG is a very tricky task at the best of times, one that calls for excellent planning, and where possible, testing.
Page 305: Latency And Your Audience
Still waiting for the promised mention of ‘relativity’? OK, here it is then: E=MC B.3.2 LATENCY AND YOUR AUDIENCE “Latency” - what’s that you ask? In this context, latency refers to the time it takes for the video signal to transit one part of the IMAG path, from camera lens to final display. Latency is usually expressed either in milliseconds or in video “frames”...
Page 306: Other Sources Of Latency
For example, suppose a ‘video frame’ supplied by a camera arrives at TriCaster’s inputs one millisecond after a different frame has been sent to the output. Obviously the new arrival must wait its turn; it can’t be transmitted until the correct duration for its predecessor has elapsed. Thus the newly arrived frame must ‘wait’...
Page 307  Some cameras include features that add more latency than you would expect. For instance, image stabilization (by definition) adds one field of latency and sometimes more. Disable anything of that sort that you can.  Latency may be slightly lower for progressive sessions, so for lowest latency, (genlocked) 720p cameras and session are theoretically ideal.
Page 309: Cvideo Calibration
VIDEO CALIBRATION An oft-heard expression is “Don’t worry – we’ll fix it in post”. Post-production techniques are invaluable, but they do not repeal another often repeated axiom – “Garbage in, garbage out.” And, in the case of live production, the results are immediately obvious to your audience, for good or for bad.
Page 310: Calibrating Video Sources
As a first step, cameras need to be properly calibrated. Ideally, this is done right at the camera. Corrective measures taken downstream never fully compensate for problems at the first link in the chain. Most cameras, even inexpensive consumer models, provide adequate controls for this purpose.
Page 311 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.
Page 312: Adjusting Color
If not, 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. Some more professional cameras offer full manual controls for white balance and/or black level. Use these as instructed to ensure your camera is providing the correct white and black levels.
Page 313: Color Metrics
As it happens, from the vectorscope point of view, neither black nor white properly have any color saturation. Thus with the lens cap on (or with a white card filling the viewfinder), the vectorscope should show only a small fuzzy trace at its center. If the fuzzy dot is off-center horizontally or vertically, this would indicate that the camera is incorrectly calibrated, actually tinting gray areas.
Page 314 Figure 219 (NTSC) Figure 220 (PAL) You can use color bars in conjunction with TriCaster’s Waveform and Vectorscope to make sure the video supplied to the Switcher is consistent, accurate and broadcast legal. Most video cameras are capable of displaying color bars – check your camera manual to see how to display these (given a choice, use 75% bars).
Page 315: Calibrating Your Monitors
Figure 222 If the trace vectors do not line up as they should even after performing a white balance at the camera, you can use TriCaster’s Proc Amp controls to tweak the signal. Adjust the Hue control to rotate the vectors around the center point to line them up correctly on their respective targets.
Page 316: Computer Monitor
C.3.1 COMPUTER MONITOR This is a subject that could (and does) easily fill multiple volumes, but which we will sadly give short shrift. It may not be quite as important to achieve ‘spot-on’ color calibration for the monitor used for the user interface. Not surprisingly, video output color is best judged on larger downstream video monitors.
Page 317 respective color bar displays vary from one another. Likewise, we’ll treat calibrating for NTSC and PAL separately. NTSC NTSC color bars have a special group of grayscale bars designated as the “PLUGE” (the acronym stands for Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment) in the lower-right area. Figure 223 (The images in this section have been adjusted slightly to accentuate the subtle differences in the black bars making up this region.)
Page 318 Our criteria for adjusting black level takes advantage of the fact that nothing in NTSC should ever be ‘blacker’ than 7.5 IRE. This means that when the monitor’s black level is too bright, both the 7.5 IRE and 3.5 IRE bars will be distinct. Set properly, it will be impossible to distinguish them from one another.
Page 319: Color Adjustments
3. Slowly raise Brightness until the black bar just begins to lighten. 4. Adjust the Contrast until the bars seem to be evenly graduated (ignore the white bar). 5. Tweak the Contrast watching the white bar carefully. When it stops getting brighter in response, pull it back slightly to the point where it just starts to have a dimming effect again.
Page 320 3. Tweak the Color (or Saturation) knob until the small rectangular patches at very bottom of the tall upper bars on the extreme right and left of your screen merge with the tall bars above. 4. Tweak the monitor’s Hue control until the small rectangles beneath the third and fifth tall upper bars likewise blend into bar above.
Page 321: D Keystroke Shortcuts
D KEYSTROKE SHORTCUTS D.1 SWITCHER… Utility Row, Inputs 1 to 16 Alt + (1 – 0, -, =) plus Alt + Shift + (1-4) Send Preview to AUX Out Alt + Shift + 5 Send Program to AUX Out Alt + Shift + 6 Send Program (Clean) to AUX Out Alt + Shift + 7 Send FX to AUX Out...
Page 322: T-Bar
Restore Last Transition Shift + Ctrl + f Transition – Slow … Medium … Fast z…x… c Transition – Increase Speed Shift + c Transition – Decrease Speed Shift + z Toggle Reverse Transition On/Off Ping Pong Transition (off/on) Alt + e D.2 T-BAR Take Return Key...
Page 323: Tabs
D.5 TABS Show DDR 1 tab Ctrl + F1 Show V1-V8 tab Ctrl + F2-F9 Show External Audio tab Ctrl + F10 Show DDR 2 tab Ctrl + Shift + F1 Show Stills tab Ctrl + Shift + F2 Show Titles tab Ctrl + Shift + F3 Show Sounds tab Ctrl + Shift + F4...
Page 324: Stills
Set In Point for current Playlist Item (Clip or Audio file) Alt + i Set Out Point for current Playlist Item (Clip or Audio file) Alt + o D.8 STILLS Stop Shift + k Play Shift + l (L) Go to previous playlist item Shift + j (J) Go to next playlist item Shift + ;...
Page 325: General
D.11 GENERAL D.11.1 SELECTION AND NAVIGATION Select All Ctrl + a First/Last Item Home/End Navigate through Playlist items Up/Down/Left/Right Arrows Select All Previous/Following Items Shift + Home/End Playlist - select to Top/Bottom Shift + Home/End Playlist – add to selection (Up/Down) Shift + Up/Down arrow D.11.2 MISC.
Page 327: Ereliability Testing
For this reason, all NewTek products undergo rigorous reliability testing to ensure they meet our exacting test standards. For TriCaster TCXD850, the following standards are applicable:...
Page 329: Index
INDEX AAC Encoding, 279 DDR. See Live Desktop: Media Player Act as Alpha. See I/O Configuration: Video Input Activate Windows. See Windows Add-Ons, 100 Alpha Channel, 79, 149 Edit. See SpeedEDIT Alpha Input. See I/O Configuration: Video Input Eject, 95, 118, 259 Apple®...
Page 330 Hard drive (external), 259 External Audio tab, 116, 202 Home Page, 26 Follow, 48, 205 Internal Audio tab, 209 Levels, 209 Link Audio Mixer Tabs, 116 I/O Configuration Lock, 205 Audio, 33 Mono, 44, 206 Genlock, 35, 128, 129, 130 Mute, 44, 202 Proc Amp, 9, 42, 43, 90, 121, 122, 136, 161, Output, 210...
Page 331 Crop Edges, 147 Position, 147 Network Record, 60, 228, 239, 266 Connecting, 49, 221, 229 Output to record, 240 iVGA, 36, 42, 49, 157, 213, 215, 287 Quality Setting, 241 Ping, 231 Switcher, 9, 51, 139, 141 Port Forwarding, 234 Take, 42, 53, 66, 144, 151, 158 Streaming.
Page 332 Register. See TriCaster: Register Profile, 224, 279, 282 Rename Input, 116 Providers, 220, 221, 222, 226, 227 Restart. See Startup Screen:Shutdown System Pull, 220, 225, 234 Restore TriCaster, 99, 280 Push, 220, 221, 227 Session Format, 261 WME, 220, 223, 278 Support, 281 Session Switcher.
Page 333 Virtual Set. See LiveSet Windows™ Virtual Set Artisan, 100 Activate, 16 Virus Checker, 278 Exit to. See Startup Screen:Shutdown Waveform Monitor. See Live Desktop Windows Media Encoder. See Streaming:WME Page | 317...
Page 335: Credits
TriCaster BROADCAST, 3Play, SpeedEDIT, DataLink, LiveText, LiveControl, VT, VT[3], VT[4], VT[5], Video Toaster, Toaster, Inspire 3D, 3D Arsenal and Aura are trademarks of NEWTEK. LightWave and LightWave 3D are registered trademarks of NEWTEK. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
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NewTek TriCaster TCXD850 User Manual

Tricaster™ TCXD850

PART I (Getting Started)

1 About this Manual

2 Introduction

3 Setting up

4 Live Production Walkthrough

PART II (Reference)

5 The Startup Screen

6 Live Desktop: Overview

7 O Configuration

8 Switcher, Transitions and Overlay

9 Desktop Monitors

10 Media Players (Ddrs, Still, Title and Audio)

11 Livematte & Crop

12 Virtual Inputs

13 Audio

14 Network Sources

15 Streaming

16 Record and Grab

17 Speededit and Livetext

PART III (Appendices)

A How Do I

Quick Links

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Summary of Contents for NewTek TriCaster TCXD850