NewTek TriCaster 850 User Manual

Newtek tricaster studio live production system

Table of Contents

Quick Links

Table of Contents

Chapters

Table of Contents

Need help?

Do you have a question about the TriCaster 850 and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Summary of Contents for NewTek TriCaster 850

Page 2 TriCaster Virtual Set Editor, TriCaster VSE, LiveMatte, TimeWarp, VT, VT[3], VT[4], V[T5], Video Toaster, Toaster, Inspire 3D, 3D Arsenal, Aura, LightWave, LightWave 3D and LightWave CORE are trademarks, service marks, and registered trademarks of NewTek. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ........................i PART I (Getting Started)......................1 About This Manual ......................3 Introduction ........................5 Overview ........................... 5 Startup Screen ........................6 Live Desktop ........................6 Features ..........................7 2.4.1 Physical ........................7 2.4.2 (Multi-Tier Failsafe) ....................
Page 4 Activating & Authorizing Windows® ................20 TriCaster License and Registration .................. 21 3.3.1 Online Registration ....................22 3.3.2 Registering by Telephone ..................22 Rack Mounting TriCaster....................23 Input Connections ......................23 3.5.1 Connect A/V Sources ....................23 Genlock Connection ......................25 Timecode Connection ......................
Page 5 Importing Content ......................42 Monitoring ........................43 4.3.1 Program and Preview ....................43 4.3.2 All Monitors ......................44 4.3.3 External and Internal Monitors ................45 4.3.4 Scopes ........................46 Audio Mixer ........................47 4.4.1 Mute, Mono and Balance ..................47 4.4.2 Pan ..........................
Page 6 4.12.1 Streaming Configuration ..................87 4.12.2 Simple Pull Streaming ..................... 87 4.12.3 Push and Flash Streaming ..................89 4.12.4 Capturing the Stream ....................89 PART II (Reference) ........................91 The Startup Screen ......................93 Introduction to Sessions ....................94 The Home Page ....................... 95 5.2.1 New (Session) ......................
Page 7 I/O Configuration ......................123 Output Configuration ....................123 7.1.1 Output Controls ....................124 7.1.2 Proc Amp ....................... 125 7.1.3 SD Analog Connections ..................127 7.1.4 Aux Output ......................128 7.1.5 Multiview Output ....................131 7.1.6 Genlock ......................... 133 7.1.7 Center Frequency ....................135 Input Configuration .......................
Page 8 Look Ahead Preview ...................... 160 All Monitors Tab ......................162 9.3.1 Contextual Tools ....................162 9.3.2 Interactive Control ....................164 External Monitors Tab....................165 9.4.1 Contextual Tools ....................165 Internal Monitors Tab ....................166 Scopes Tab ........................166 Media Players (DDRs, Still, Title and Audio) ..............169 10.1 Specialized Media Players .....................
Page 9 11.5 Compositing ........................192 11.6 Fine Tuning ........................193 11.7 Practical Staging for LiveMatte ..................194 11.7.1 Lighting ........................194 11.7.2 Connection Considerations ................... 194 Virtual Inputs ......................197 12.1 Primary Video Sources ....................198 12.2 Position ......................... 198 12.3 Overlay ..........................
Page 10 13.4 Advanced Audio Configuration ..................220 13.4.1 Equalizer........................ 220 13.4.2 Compressor Limiter ....................221 13.5 Preset Bin ........................222 Network Sources ......................223 14.1 iVGA ..........................223 14.1.1 iVGA for OS X® ...................... 224 14.1.2 IVGA PRO™ (WINDOWS) ..................225 14.2 AirPlay®...
Page 11 15.8 Diagnostics and Troubleshooting .................. 252 15.8.1 Testing your stream ....................252 15.8.2 Is it Really a TriCaster Issue? ................. 260 Record and Grab ......................261 16.1 Record ........................... 261 16.1.1 Record Configuration .................... 261 16.2 Grab ..........................267 SpeedEDIT and LiveText ....................269 17.1 SpeedEDIT ........................
Page 12 A.1.11 Connect to a Network? ..................287 A.1.12 Connect to an AirPlay® Source? ................287 A.1.13 Resolve iVGA PRO Quirks ..................290 A.1.14 Enable Termination for Video Inputs? ..............290 Sessions ......................... 290 A.2.1 Start an SD Session? ....................291 A.2.2 Start an HD Session? .....................
Page 13 A.4.4 Prepare Clips with Embedded Alpha Channel? ............. 303 A.4.5 Prepare clips for TriCaster Playback Using Apple® Final Cut Pro? ......303 A.4.6 Add an External File Location to the File Browser? ..........304 A.4.7 Remove a Location From the File Browser? ............304 A.4.8 Export files to an External Drive? ................
Page 14 iVGA and Performance ....................319 IMAG and Latency ......................320 B.3.1 Relativity and the Speed of Light ................320 B.3.2 Latency and Your Audience................... 321 B.3.3 Latency and Your TriCaster ................... 321 B.3.4 Other Sources of Latency ..................322 Video Calibration ......................325 What (And Where) to Calibrate? ..................
Page 15 D.11 General .......................... 341 D.11.1 Selection and Navigation ..................341 D.11.2 Misc........................341 Reliability Testing ......................343 Index ............................345 Credits ............................ 350 xiii...
Page 17: Part I (Getting Started)
PART I (GETTING STARTED) Introducing TriCaster™ – 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 20 Page | 4...
Page 21: Introduction
TriCaster™ changed all that. In one compact system, you can have a complete set of tools to create, broadcast, web stream and project your production. TriCaster even includes NewTek’s revolutionary LiveSet™ system to provide you with network quality virtual sets for ‘bigger than life’ production capabilities.
Page 22: Startup Screen
STARTUP SCREEN When you power up TriCaster the Startup Screen appears. This is your command center for initiating most other operations. 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.
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, Still and Title), Virtual Input setup, and the Audio Mixer.
Page 24: Multi-Tier Failsafe)
 Massive storage capacity – the internal drive holds approximately 50 hours of 1080i, and the removable drive bay can be used to add to this capacity (TriCaster 850 ships EXTREME with an extra 2TB drive for this purpose).
Page 25: A/V Input And Output
Select Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh computers on the same network as Switcher inputs for your live productions using NewTek's iVGA client.  Assign one or both Network inputs on the Switcher to receive AirPlay® streams and switch live or recorded content directly from your compatible Apple mobile device or computer.
Page 26: Alpha Channel I/O
EXTREME™ ASTER  TriCaster EXTREME models support industry standard (LTC) external timecode.  With IsoCorder™, recorded clips from multiple sources are easily aligned for synchronized post show editing using the embedded timecode. 2.4.5 ALPHA CHANNEL I/O  TriCaster allows alternate video inputs to be configured as alpha channel inputs for the TriCaster Switcher.
Page 27: Video Processing
THE SWITCHER TriCaster’s Switcher layout is consistent for all models, but the number of inputs available varies. TriCaster 450 & TriCaster 450 EXTREME provide a 14-channel switcher, while TriCaster 850 & TriCaster 850 EXTREME both offer 24-channels. Figure 4 – TriCaster 450 & 450 EXTREME Figure 5 –...
Page 28: 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 as a secondary source for virtual sets or for Figure 6 other purposes).
Page 29: Record And Stream
DSK CHANNELS Figure 8 TriCaster’s DSK layers support dual-channel downstream keyed (or alpha) overlays. Assign any Switcher source or a dedicated Frame Buffer to either channel. DSK channels can be displayed in tandem or independently, or swapped – again, with independent custom transitions. You might use the Graphics or DDR modules to overlay title pages, including scrolls, crawls and lower-thirds –...
Page 30: Import And Export
Multiple encoding formats, including MPEG-2, AVI, Quicktime and H.264 (m4v).  Capture MPEG-2 clips with embedded LTC (linear timecode).  Use NewTek’s TimeWarp™ instant replay control surface without interrupting full-time recording of your program (or other sources). 2.4.11 IMPORT AND EXPORT IMPORT MEDIA Clicking the Import Media link in Startup opens a dedicated Import Media module in Startup, providing a convenient one-stop approach to managing productions assets.
Page 31: Audio Mixer
2.4.12 AUDIO MIXER 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. ...
Page 32: Keying, Virtual Sets And Virtual Inputs
Figure 10  Media Players have volume and more elaborate controls in the mixer, along with convenient per clip audio level adjustments right in the playlist.  Start and stop playback manually or automatically based on Switcher activity.  Use two Media Players to create automated ‘slide-shows’, complete with transitions. ...
Page 33: Graphics
Figure 11  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.  Virtual Inputs also sport an integrated overlay channel (selected from any Switcher source or an assigned Frame Buffer graphic) with its own position controls.
Page 34: Optional Control Surfaces
 Edit, import and export in full HD resolution.  Realtime external hardware project preview in HD or SD.  Import and export file format support includes MPEG2 and QuickTime for versatility in program delivery. In summary, TriCaster gives you the combined power of both a network control room and a complete post-production facility in one simple to use broadcast appliance.
Page 35: Setting Up
1. Connect an external computer monitor to the (uncapped) DVI port on the backplate (labeled Interface on TriCaster 850). For TriCaster 450, use the DVI connector nearest to the Video In group for the interface monitor connection. (DVI connectors located at left near the network port are normally capped and should not be used.)
Page 36: Activating & Authorizing Windows
3. Connect the A/C power cord(s) from the three-prong connections on A word about UPS devices: TriCaster’s backplate to an external power receptacle (see Hint below). ‘Modified sine wave’ UPS devices are 4. Turn on the computer monitor. popular due to low manufacturing costs. However, such units should generally be 5.
Page 37: Tricaster License And Registration
3. Assign a name to the administrator account. You may type your name, company, or perhaps simply “TriCaster”. 4. Click Finish, and TriCaster will re-start. After restarting and accepting NewTek’s User Agreement, the interface will load automatically. TRICASTER LICENSE AND REGISTRATION On launch, TriCaster presents an End User License Agreement dialog.
Page 38: Online Registration
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 39: Rack Mounting Tricaster
1.5 to 2 inches of space on all sides for cool (i.e., comfortable ‘room temperature’) air to circulate around the chassis. Good ventilation at the front and rear panel of TriCaster 850 is important; When operating TriCaster in a ‘road case’ for mobile production, it’s best to do so with both the front and back covers (of the road case) removed.
Page 40 Figure 15 – TriCaster 850 and TriCaster 850 EXTREME 1. Connect video sources to the appropriate connectors in the VIDEO IN section, whether SDI, Component, Y/C (S-Video) or Composite (may require RCA to BNC adapter). – Attach SDI source connectors to upper row of BNC connectors in the Video In group (marked SDI).
Page 41: Genlock Connection
TriCaster EXTREME supports external linear timecode (LTC). Connect the cable from your timecode generator to one of the connectors in Audio Input 7 for TriCaster 850 EXTREME; TriCaster 450 EXTREME uses Audio Input 3. External timecode is enabled and configured in the Live Desktop (see Sections 3.17 and 7.3).
Page 42: A/V Output
TriCaster 450 and TriCaster 450 EXTREME employ Row 2 to supply the AUX video output, which has even more options.  TriCaster 850 and TriCaster 850 EXTREME (only) provide a third video output row, and use it to present AUX output. Page | 26...
Page 43 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 44: Supplemental Video Outputs
1. An HDMI connector provides an additional primary Program output. Simply connect a suitable external monitor or device to the HDMI connector on the backplane 2. TriCaster’s Multiview output may be supplied by a DVI connector (TriCaster 850) or an HDMI connector found beside the main Interface DVI connector (TriCaster 450). Again, connect a suitable external monitor or device.
Page 45: Starting A Session
  Pin1 – LED1 Pin9 – GND   Pin2 – LED2 Pin10 – GND   Pin3 – LED3 Pin11 – GPI1   Pin4 – LED4 Pin12 – GPI2   Pin5 – LED5 (850 only) Pin13 – NC ...
Page 46 THE HOME PAGE Figure 17 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 47 By default, new sessions are created on TriCaster’s D: (Media) drive (see Section 5.2.1 for a discussion of session Volume options). 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.
Page 48: Configure Video Output
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 – coming up soon.) 3.11 CONFIGURE VIDEO OUTPUT TriCaster provides complete video input monitoring right on the Live Desktop.
Page 49: Configure Aux Video Output
The first tab in this panel is labeled Output. Optional settings for SD Analog Connections are located in the central part of the panel (). These settings provide optional configurations for the first output connection, designated as Output 1 (a.k.a. Program out).
Page 50: Configure Multiview Output
3.13 CONFIGURE MULTIVIEW OUTPUT The next tab in the Output Configuration panel is Multiview. Settings in this tab determine what is displayed on TriCaster’s secondary DVI output, and the resolution of that display. You might use this output for subsidiary monitoring purposes, or perhaps to supply a projection system.
Page 51: Configure Audio
Figure 25 4. 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. 5.
Page 52 The tab houses individual control panels for each of the external audio inputs on TriCaster’s backplate (Inputs 1-4). Hint: Audio tab layouts for different TriCaster models vary. For example, TriCaster 850 has eight audio inputs rather than four, so Network source controls are located in the Internal Audio tab.
Page 53 After connecting audio sources to the input connectors (see also Section 3.5.1), the first thing to do is set the correct Type using the drop-down menu:  Select Mic 1, 2 for professional grade microphones or other low impedance connections (use the Phantom option for condenser microphones requiring supplementary power).
Page 54: Configure Genlock
3.16 CONFIGURE GENLOCK 1. If the Live Desktop isn’t already open, launch a TriCaster session from Startup. 2. Access the Output Configuration panel by clicking the Configure button (gear icon) that appears at upper-right when you move the mouse over the main Program Output monitor on the Live Desktop.
Page 55: Configure Timecode
3.18 NETWORKING TriCaster is capable of displaying screens from networked computers running NewTek’s iVGA™ client software, output from other supported applications (such as NewTek’s own LiveText™), or media streamed via from Apple AirPlay® to a connected network. Connecting TriCaster to a local area network (LAN) may require additional steps beyond those ®...
Page 56 1. Connect a suitable cable from the ETHERNET port on TriCaster’s backplate to your external network. 2. (If necessary) – close the Live Desktop; click the Back arrow to return to the Home Page. 3. Click Shutdown, then select Exit to Windows at right to access the operating system’s own desktop.
Page 57: 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 58: Importing Content
2. The Session Page will appear when you click Start Session. 3. Click Manage on the icon ring (Figure 32). Figure 32 IMPORTING CONTENT Let’s import a few files that we’ll use later in our walkthrough: Click the Import Media button at lower-right. Figure 33 5.
Page 59: Monitoring
Hint: 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 60: All Monitors
Just as Audio tab layouts for different TriCaster models vary, so too do the monitoring tab layouts. For example, for TriCaster 850 the All Monitors tab shows eight camera monitors, while TriCaster 450 naturally has half that number. Otherwise, though, the various aspects of the interface are quite similar.
Page 61: External And Internal Monitors
Figure 36 The monitor titlebar for the Preview row selection has a green tint, while the titlebar for the FX source monitor is blue. Note that many of these onscreen monitors are interactive: 1. Click a (source) monitor once to select that source on the Switcher’s Preview row. 2.
Page 62: Scopes
4.3.4 SCOPES Figure 37 In this configuration, the tabbed monitoring area in the Live Desktop displays Waveform and Vectorscope displays (along with a full color source video pane), invaluable for calibrating your video sources. 1. Click the Scopes monitor tab. 2.
Page 63: Audio Mixer
AUDIO MIXER Having previously connected and configured your audio inputs, let’s explore a few of the standard features in TriCaster’s two Audio Mixer tabs. Hint: You will need to have speakers connected to (at least) the first two connectors (channel 1 and 2) in the PGM row of TriCaster’s Audio Out section (even better, if you have them handy, connect a pair of stereo headphones and put them on).
Page 64 6. Turn on both Single and Loop for the DDR, then turn Follow off for DDR 1. Figure 40 7. To avoid confusion later, click the External Audio tab and Mute any inputs that currently show live audio on their respective VU meters (by clicking the speaker icons in the titlebar of each control group so they show a red stroke through them) –...
Page 65 12. Next, drag the Balance slider all the way to the left. As you do so, observe that the level shown for channel 2 and channel 4 are gradually reduced. At the extreme left position, these two channels are completely silent. Only the mid-range tone (on channel 1) is heard (in a stereo environment), and only from the left speaker at that.
Page 66: Pan
4.4.2 The Pan control looks much like the Balance slider, but has special abilities. Like Talk, Pan is only available when the one of the two Mic input Types is chosen. A Pan slider is provided for both channels of External Audio sources (when Mic is selected).
Page 67: Follow
4.4.4 FOLLOW Figure 43 19. Connect cameras to both Video In rows 1 and 2. 20. Connect two (audibly different) active audio sources to Audio In rows 1 and 2. 21. Enable the Follow switch in the Audio Mixer for both Input 1 and Input 2. 22.
Page 68: Network Sources
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™ client applications (not required for LiveText).
Page 69: Ivga Clients
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 70: Apple Airplay
TriCaster. 4.5.3 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.
Page 71 Figure 46 – TriCaster 450 & 450 EXTREME Figure 47 – TriCaster 850 & 850 EXTREME 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 BKGD (Background) video layer.
Page 72 The BKGD (Background) video layer constitutes the base of the video composition ultimately sent to Program Output. Based on your Switcher operations, as many as three other primary video layers may be superimposed above the BKGD layer on output:  The DSK 1 and DSK 2 video layers are most commonly used to apply graphics or titles to the BKGD layer (DSK stands for ‘Down Stream Keyer’).
Page 73 Utility row buttons. 1. Click the tab for the Graphics tab (TriCaster 850 models have a dedicated Title module you can use instead), and Add a title to the playlist; choose one that does not cover the entire screen.
Page 74: Transitions
2. Add a different title to the playlist for DDR 2 (or Still, for a TriCaster 850). 3. Click the button labeled DSK 1 in the Utility Delegate group; this delegates the Utility row to control the DSK 1 source.
Page 75 Controls for each layer are stacked in order of their appearance from ‘bottom to top’ on Program output – first BKGD, then the other two layers in order. (FTB, the final video layer, has no optional settings; thus it does not appear in this area.) LOCAL CONTROLS Let’s begin our exploration of switching with local controls and the BKGD (Background) layer.
Page 76 Click a transition ‘slot’ other than Fade (the left-mot icon), and then click the configuration (gear) button at extreme right. b. Click the drop-down menu in the configuration panel, select Browse, and choose a new transition from the many supplied with TriCaster (Figure 54). Figure 54 8.
Page 77 10. In the main Transition control group (Figure 55), click the BKGD button above the T-Bar. This delegates the controls below to affect the Background video layer – only. 11. 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).
Page 78 15. With the BKGD delegate button lit up, press Ctrl on your keyboard, and keep it pressed while you click the buttons for both DSK 1 and DSK 2 – then release it. Your Transition Delegate buttons should resemble Figure 57, with three delegates multi-selected. Note also that the Take button for DSK 1 is illuminated in Figure 57, and the progress gauge beneath the Delegate button likewise shows that DSK 1 is fully displayed.
Page 79: Record And Grab
b. The Preview monitor shows DSK 2, assigned to Still (or DDR 2) overlaid on the current Preview row selection. The Look Ahead Preview monitor (or simply, Preview) is showing us the composition that will result if a Take or Transition operation is performed – a look into the future, if you will. 2.
Page 80: Record
4.7.1 RECORD Figure 60 1. Click the Configuration button (gear) next to Record (Figure 60). 2. The Record Configuration panel opens (Figure 61). 3. Click in the Base Name field, and enter a unique name for the captured file(s). Hint: TriCaster stores recordings at (drivename):\Media\Clips\sessionname\Capture (where “drivename”...
Page 81: Grab
6. Click Close. 7. Make sure you have an active source playing on Program output. 8. Press the Record button (Figure 60) – it will illuminate, and the neighboring timecode field will begin keeping track of the duration of your recording. 9.
Page 82: 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 Still and Title players, and the Sound player.) 1.
Page 83 2. Click the Add button in the DDR 1 pane (Figure 64) to open a Media Browser. 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.
Page 84 6. Click the newly added icon in the playlist, and press the Play button in the player’s footer (Figure 66). The video clip you recorded should play on the DDR onscreen monitor (All Monitors view). b. Click DDR 1 on the Switcher’s Program row, it will appear on Program Output. 7.
Page 85 12. Click the first (top-left) clip in the playlist, highlighting it. 13. Drag the trim controls to shorten the clip’s runtime to 10 seconds (watching the Duration display to the right of the Scrub Bar helps when trimming). 14. Record a few more clips, if you haven’t already done so, and add several to the playlist (either automatically or by using the Add button).
Page 86 Notice that a transition is performed (returning DDR 1 from Preview to Program) and, more importantly, the next item in the playlist begins to play automatically -- right on time. When it ends, another automatic transition occurs, restoring Camera 1 to Program output. Let’s try Autoplay without Single mode: 21.
Page 87: Graphics, Still & Title
4.8.2 GRAPHICS, STILL & TITLE TriCaster 850 and 850 EXTREME provide dedicated players for Still and Title, while TriCaster 450 models offer a combined Graphics player. In either case, all of these are actually essentially the same, identified by name mostly for convenience in use. All are similar to DDRs, just discussed, but for the fact that they do not offer clip playback.
Page 88 5. Add some image files (a dozen or more) to DDR 1 (you can use some of the images from the NewTek Content group under the Still location heading for this example). 6. Click on one the icons about halfway through the playlist, highlighting it.
Page 89 Let’s try them out: 1. Click Add, and use the Media Browser to select a few of the prepared title pages from the NewTek location listed under Titles in the Location List at left. Page | 73...
Page 90 2. Click an icon to highlight it in the Media Player playlist. 3. Display the title page on Program Output by selecting the correct Media Player on the Switcher’s Program row. 4. Move the mouse over a different title page icon, and click the Configure button (gear) that appears in its lower-right corner.
Page 91: Livematte
Figure 71 10. Try changing the Font, Size and other attributes for a line of text, using the tools in the Title Page Editor’s titlebar (Figure 71). 11. Click the Close button. LIVEMATTE Let’s try something different now – using LiveMatte to create a typical ‘weather report’ shot. (We’ll use a pre-recorded sample clip for this task, but of course if you happen to have a greenscreen studio ready to use, just skip the first three steps below, and select the appropriate Input button on the Switcher’s Program row - instead of the DDR).
Page 92 Select the Graphics (or Still) button in the Input B row. 6. Click the DDR 1 tab, and Add the video clip named Kiki 1 Center.mpg from the Green Screen group inside the Clips>NewTek location. 7. Click the Graphics (or Still) tab, and add the image named texas_weathermap.png (from Practice Session, under Still in the Location list).
Page 93 10. Click the LiveMatte tab in the Configuration panel that opens. Figure 75 11. Click on the Color button in the Matte section of the panel, and keep the mouse button depressed. 12. Drag the eye-dropper pointer over the green background in the DDR’s monitor, and then release it (Figure 75).
Page 94: 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. They can be likened to the M/E (Mix/Effect) rows of a traditional video switcher, in that they permit a composition to be prepared from multiple sources.
Page 95 There are three sets of numeric sliders in the Position group in this panel: one with a four- pointed arrow button above, a rotation group, and another identified by a magnifying glass button. Experiment with these controls a bit to see how they work. Hint: Shift + double-click a control to reset it to defaults.
Page 96: Adding An Upstream Overlay
Without having moved the physical camera, we have changed the apparent position of our talent relative to the virtual backdrop. 4.10.2 ADDING AN UPSTREAM OVERLAY Figure 78 Just above the Input A row, you’ll see a control area labeled Overlay, with its own source row along with other controls.
Page 97: Liveset
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 98 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 81.
Page 99 6. 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 82 Assuming that you still have LiveMatte enabled for the DDR, V1’s Input A selector set to DDR and...
Page 100: Frame Buffers
8. Now, click the second Zoom Preset icon (Figure 83). Observe that the view on Program output (Figure 84) has now zoomed in by 33% - the value shown in the adjustable zoom slider above Zoom Preset 2. Figure 84 9.
Page 101 1. Add the image file named TriCaster Logo w. Bkgnd.png from Still > NewTek > Logos to the playlist of a Media Player. Figure 85 2. Right-click on the new icon in the playlist, and slide the mouse pointer down to the item Send to Frame Buffer.
Page 102: Streaming
4. Note that the image you sent to the V1 Frame Buffer now appears on the virtual monitor in the LiveSet. 5. Now, right-click the original TriCaster Logo w. Bkgnd.png icon in the Media Player, and select Remove. Observe that the correct image continues to appear when the LiveSet is displayed, even though the original image file no longer exists in the playlist.
Page 103: Streaming Configuration
Figure 87 Note: A few frames may be dropped on video output the first time you enable streaming for a session as the encoder launches. (If you test your stream first, you’ll avoid this.) 4.12.1 STREAMING CONFIGURATION Click the Configure button (gear) situated next to the Stream (on/off) button to open the Configure Stream Connection panel, which lets you view and modify settings related to streaming your production across a network connection (Figure 87).
Page 104 “Pull” streaming is arguably the simplest way to get your production online: 1. Click the New button. The Choose Connection Type dialog switches allow you to select between Browser Based, Windows Media Pull, Windows Media Push, and Adobe Flash streaming protocols. Figure 89 2.
Page 105: Push And Flash Streaming
Hint: If your TriCaster is connected to the network by a router or is behind a firewall, it may be necessary to take further steps to provide external access. See Chapter 15 for a more elaborate explanation. 5. Close the Configure Stream Connection panel now, and click the Stream button. You’re streaming! You can provide clients (or streaming providers supporting Pull streaming) the ®...
Page 107: 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 | 91...
Page 109: The Startup Screen
THE STARTUP SCREEN TriCaster’s Startup Screen is the gateway to a suite of applications as well as session and system maintenance and management features. Icons in the left-hand pane of the Startup Screen provide access to numerous functions. We’ll discuss each of these in the pages that follow, beginning with a review of the concept of sessions.
Page 110: 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 111: 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 112: New (Session)
Figure 93 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. This results in the corresponding session options being displayed at right, as shown in Figure 93 (Multi-standard model options shown).
Page 113 VOLUME Figure 94 Beneath 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. Suitable hard drives added to one of TriCaster’s removable drive bays are listed in a drop-down menu when you click on the field.
Page 114: Open (Session)
The session setting has some other significant ramifications, too. For example, if your session format is SD 4:3, this is the file format captured by the Live Desktop’s Record function when capturing Program output … even when the video cameras supplying your inputs are HD; the opposite is also true.
Page 115 Figure 96 EJECT Figure 97 An Eject button at the top right corner of the page allows you to safely disconnect external drives. (Drives can also be ejected from the Live Desktop – see Section 6.5.2.) Note: Media configured as Read Only is not shown for the New or Open (session) features, since they cannot be used for sessions.
Page 116: Shutdown
RESTORE SESSION BACKUP In another section of the Startup Screen (Session Page>Manage) there is a feature that allows you to back up the current session to another storage volume. The Restore Session Backup link at the bottom of the Session List (for each drive) is provided to compliment this feature. To restore a session you have previously archived, click Restore Session Backup (Figure 98), and use the file explorer provided to select a .SessionBackup file.
Page 117: Utilities
TriCaster shows a watermark on output before registration, so 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 118 If you find an update, you can install it manually as follows: 1. Click Update TriCaster 2. Login to the NewTek update webpage, locate the latest update in “my downloads” and click on it.
Page 119: Help
you will lose a lot of time locating and assembling its sections before you can read it. How much better it would be to slide the remaining books closer together, combining all the free space first. Unfortunately, computers are ‘foolish librarians’. They tend to want to fill in all the gaps in their storage areas, even if it means literally shredding your ‘book’...
Page 120: Add-Ons
5.2.6 ADD-ONS As time goes on, NewTek offers additional software to extend the power of your TriCaster. Figure 102 The icon labeled Add-Ons on the Home Page provides access to these tools. When you select it, links are displayed for installed software applications, allowing you to launch them. (For example, Figure 102 shows a link to the Virtual Set Editor™...
Page 121: Live
Initially, the icon ring in the Session Page offers four selections. These are discussed next. 5.3.1 LIVE Figure 104 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 122 TriCaster 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 Session Page. Figure 106 When you first enter a new session, no LiveText projects are listed in the area under Project Name.
Page 123: Edit
EDIT Figure 107 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. When you first enter a new session, no SpeedEDIT projects are listed in the area under Project Name.
Page 124: Manage
5.3.4 MANAGE Figure 108 Various TriCaster components provide filebins to permit you to manually administer files related to their projects, playlists, and so on. The Manage icon in the Session Page provides an alternative approach to file management. At times you may find it useful to be able to quickly access the various files associated with specific sessions.
Page 125 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. Hint: Of course, you can open several of these folders simultaneously, and navigate these file windows to other locations as well. For example, you might copy the title page (.cgxml) files from the Titles folder of one session into the Titles folder for a different session.
Page 126 Figure 112 Click Add to open a standard system file window, and select (or multi-select) items to build a list in the Import Media file pane. Some highly compressed video files may not be well suited to live playback. Enable switches in the Transcode column for files you wish to convert to a friendlier format on import.
Page 127 Hint: The Export Media panel can be resized by dragging its edges or corners with the mouse. Figure 113 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.
Page 128 TARGET, PRESET & DESTINATION Having prepared the file list, click the triangle button in the Target field to open a drop-down menu listing categories of device or application targets to choose from. Then select a specific encoding Preset in the next column. Export presets vary according to what is appropriate for a given session format.
Page 129 DV/ DVCPro (.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. MJPEG (.avi) – moderate quality, SD or HD capable, 4:2:0 sub-sampling, broad compatibility.  (*.mpg) – SD-only MPEG 2, quality presets up to 9MB/sec bitrate (≈60 minutes) with 4:2:2 sub-sampling.
Page 130 BACKUP SESSION Clicking the Backup Session button opens a system file explorer that you can use to assign a storage location for the backup files. Backup operations can take some time, depending on the amount of content in the session. For obvious reasons, then, it would be wise not to begin a major backup operation shortly before a scheduled live production.
Page 131: Live Desktop: Overview
LIVE DESKTOP: OVERVIEW TriCaster’s Live Desktop is the control center for all your live production work. It provides control over switching, transitions and overlays, titles and graphics, audio mixing, playback of digitized content, and so on. As well, streaming and recording features are located here, along with keying and virtual set tools.
Page 132: Overview
OVERVIEW TriCaster’s Live Desktop provides visual feedback for operations, including monitoring, live switching, and so on. It is divided into three horizontal bands. From top to bottom, these are: Monitoring • All Monitors tab - all live inputs and internal sources (such as DDRs, etc.) •...
Page 133: 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) Rotate left-right to adjust the other value, or diagonally to adjust two values simultaneously.
Page 134: Rename
 When Tabs Follow Preview for Virtual Inputs is checked, the tab shown updates only when you select a Virtual Input on Preview.  The Tabs Follow All Delegates option is especially useful when a TriCaster™ CS (Control Surface) is connected, causing the interface to track your control selections. ...
Page 135: Dual Displays And Monitoring
 Any Switcher source button  Any Virtual Input tab The dialog has two editable text fields, Input Name and Button Label. The latter is a short name that will be shown on Switcher buttons, while the longer name is used in dialogs where more space is available.
Page 136: Titlebar Tips
 You can also drag the divider between Preview and the tabbed monitor pane (see Figure 120, showing the Program and Preview monitors only). Hint: Reset a Live Desktop divider to its default location by double-clicking it. TITLEBAR TIPS An information display in the Live Desktop titlebar provides useful data. Displayed info includes: ...
Page 137: Status Bar
6.5.1 STATUS BAR Figure 122 Figure 123 An information display is conveniently located below the titlebar, just above the Program and Preview monitors. From time to time this bar displays information pertaining to operations or system status, including any cautionary indications. For example, a brief initialization is required following a system start (or restart) for DDR video playback to stabilize.
Page 139: 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 140: Output Controls
Figure 126 NOTE: The format for TriCaster’s Program output (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 141: Proc Amp
Aux output configuration controls  Including Output Alpha Matte  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...
Page 142 Hint: your TriCaster™ system provides Waveform/Vectorscope monitors, an invaluable way to accurately monitor the video signal to avoid issues such as illegal color. Figure 127 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 127).
Page 143: Sd Analog Connections
 The V portion of the video signal carries the red and green color information. Adjusting it affects only the red/green portion of the video signal. Rotate V Offset clockwise to shift the signal toward red and counter-clockwise to shift the signal toward green. Figure 128 ...
Page 144: Aux Output
 The sole analog video connection type commonly supporting HD is Component. Consequently, the analog Connection Type for HD sessions is always Component (SD Analog Connection options are ghosted).  This means that the four BNC connectors for Program (Row 1) output will be automatically configured as HD-SDI and HD Component (three connectors –...
Page 145 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 146 Let’s try to clarify all of this by considering an example. For an NTSC 1080i session, you can select any of the following output connection and format conbminations:   1080i (SDI, Component) 480i, 16:9 (SDI, Component) 480i, 16:9 (SDI, ...
Page 147: Multiview Output
Output Alpha Matte is easy to use. Simply enable the switch in the Output Configuration panel, and select a suitable source using the Source menu. Hint: The Format setting should match session resolution when Aux is used to supply an Alpha Matte signal to downstream devices.
Page 148 Figure 134 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.  External – all 8 primary inputs plus large Program and Preview monitors. ...
Page 149: Genlock
7.1.6 GENLOCK TriCaster’s Genlock feature allows it to ‘lock’ its video Hint: “Genlock” refers to “generator output to a reference video signal (house sync, such locking”. Professional video devices as ‘black burst’) supplied to its Genlock input often provide a “genlock input”, connector.
Page 150 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. Even so –...
Page 151: Center Frequency
However, if you are supplying an HD reference signal to TriCaster’s Genlock Input (and your other equipment), select the HD (Tri-level) switch in the Reference Type area of TriCaster’s Genlock settings. Note: Reference Type options do not appear for SD sessions. 7.1.7 CENTER FREQUENCY This setting is applied when a Genlock reference signal is not in use.
Page 152: Connection Type
7.2.1 CONNECTION TYPE The Configuration panel for the Camera 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. The Connection Type menu options for a PAL session list PAL HD and SD format options.
Page 153 720/60p (Component), 720/50p (Component) • Analog source, high definition, progressive scan • 1280x720 pixels, 16:9 picture aspect • Connected to TriCaster by Y, Pr and Pb input connectors 720/60p (SDI), 720/30p (SDI), 720/24p (SDI), 720/50p (SDI), 720/25p (SDI) • Digital source, high definition, progressive scan •...
Page 154 480/30i (Composite) • NTSC analog format , standard definition, interlaced • 720x480 pixels, 4:3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16:9 picture aspect • Connected to TriCaster by Y input connector 576/25i (Component) • PAL analog format, Standard definition, interlaced • 720x576 pixels, 4:3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16:9 picture aspect •...
Page 155: Act As Alpha
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’ channel (sometimes also referred to as “fill and matte”). The ability to configure one input as the alpha channel source for another is absolutely invaluable for installations employing video feeds from high end external CG and...
Page 156: Proc Amp
7.2.3 PROC AMP Figure 138 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 157: Timecode Configuration
Figure 139 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). When LiveMatte is enabled for a specific source, a small green indicator is displayed in the upper- right corner above the corresponding monitor in any of the three main monitor tabs.
Page 158: Subtract 12 Hours
EXTREME™ TriCaster Extreme systems can optionally use an external linear timecode ASTER (LTC) reference to drive its clocks (and timecode for capture). We’ll discuss the shared timecode features first, and then focus on the unique aspects of the timecode support in TriCaster Extreme (in Section 7.3.2).
Page 159: Ltc Timecode
Output from an external timecode generator is supplied to devices in the video pipeline using a standard audio connection. TriCaster 850 EXTREME uses Audio Input 7 for this purpose, while TriCaster 450 EXTREME uses Audio Input 3 (see Section 3.7)
Page 160: Switcher, Transitions And Overlay
SWITCHER, TRANSITIONS AND OVERLAY 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 aspects of your live productions.
Page 161: Utility (And Delegate)
8.1.1 UTILITY (AND DELEGATE) Utility is a special purpose row, and offers additional capabilities, described next. 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) –...
Page 162: Program And Preview
 When you make a delegate selection, the Utility row button corresponding to the source currently assigned to that delegate lights up.  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.
Page 163: Video Layers
VIDEO LAYERS The concept of video layers is central to understanding how TriCaster’s Switcher and The Background (BKGD) layer supplies Transition controls relate to one another, and how the ‘bottom-most’ video layer, seen they combine to form the video seen on Program behind any other layers shown on Out.
Page 164: Transitions
Recall, too, that the BKGD layer itself is often a composite of sub-layers:  Sub-layers may include video from the Program or Preview rows.  Selecting a Virtual Input on Program or Preview can bring more sub-layers into the BKGD composite –...
Page 165: 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 slightly different. BKGD Transitions have Reverse and ...
Page 166 In similar fashion, DSK layers will be either hidden or displayed (above the BKGD layer) when you click their local Take and Auto buttons. You can halt an Auto operation partway by clicking the button again during the transition. For BKGD transitions, the operation will be completed the next time you click the button.
Page 167 Figure 152 The options that appear when you do so differ, depending on whether you are configuring a Background Transition (BKGD layer only) or an Overlay Transition (DSK layers). The first time you click Configure, the only entry in the drop-down menu may be Browse. Selecting it opens a Media Browser to let you choose a transition to replace the current selection.
Page 168  When Ping Pong is enabled, the Reverse behavior is toggled each time a transition is performed. Using the previous example, if the last transition progressed from left-to-right, the next one time you apply the same transition, it will automatically be reversed (and thus run right-to-left).
Page 169 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. The Crop Edges controls are similar to Crop settings in TriCaster’s Input Configuration panel.
Page 170  Drag while holding Alt down to rotate about the Z axis. layers automatically appear  Drag on a single numeric slider below, (temporarily) on Preview when the or hold down Ctrl while dragging to Position panel is open (regardless of the constrain rotation to one axis.
Page 171: Main Controls
Player (DDR, Still or Title) 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. The BKGD layer (and, for DSK 2, its lower-numbered sibling) will appear through or around sources with transparency as appropriate.
Page 172 TRANSITION DELEGATES An executive maxim suggests “Don’t do anything yourself when you can delegate it. We briefly examined the Utility Delegate tools back in Section 8.1.1, where we discovered that delegating controls can multiply their functionality. The familiar main T-Bar, Auto and Take controls occupying the left half of TriCaster’s Transition control group are now joined by a set of Transition Delegate buttons.
Page 173: T-Bar
A progress bar beneath the each of the Delegate buttons tracks transition progress. (For the two DSK layers, the bar will remain fully ‘on’ when the related layer is 100% displayed). Let’s discuss the final button in the Transition Delegate group - FTB. The acronym stands for Fade to Black.
Page 174  FTB delegated – show or hide the FTB video layer.  DSK 2 delegated – show or hide the DSK 2 video layer.  DSK 1 delegated – show or hide the DSK 1 video layer.  BKGD delegated – transition between sources selected on the Program and Preview rows.
Page 175: 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 176: Configuration Indicators
The Program monitor shows what TriCaster is displaying to your viewing audience at any moment. This includes the BKGD video layer as well as any other video layers (such as DSK 1 or 2, or FTB) that are displayed above it. When you move your mouse pointer over the Program monitor, a Configure button (gear) appears above its upper-right corner.
Page 177 Right beside the Program monitor, the Live Desktop also displays the Look Ahead Preview monitor (labeled simply Preview) surmounted by a green tinted titlebar). The Look Ahead Preview is versatile and powerful. Instead of showing just one video source (the Preview row selection), it displays the composite result of a Take operation applied to all currently delegated video layers (see the sub-heading Transition Delegates in Section 8.3.2).
Page 178: All Monitors Tab
ALL MONITORS TAB Figure 163 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. The actual list of monitors varies according to your TriCaster model.
Page 179 Figure 164 Camera monitors show Freeze and Configure buttons in the titlebar on mouse roll-over. The function of the first is obvious – click the button to highlight it and freeze the current frame; click it again to restore live input. The Configure button opens the Configuration panel for the related source (see Chapter 7, Section 7.2).
Page 180: Interactive Control
AirPlay® stream, 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 181: External Monitors Tab
(Observe that the Autoplay switches respond normally when you switch interactively in this manner.) INTERACTIVE TITLEBAR INDICATORS Small yellow, green and blue flags representing the Proc Amp, Crop LiveMatte appear in the monitor titlebar when the corresponding features are active. These are actually switches, and allow you to enable or disable these features simply by clicking them –...
Page 182: Internal Monitors Tab
INTERNAL MONITORS TAB The Internal Monitors tab provides yet another useful view (especially for times when you may be using TriCaster’s Multiview output to show a complementary monitor set (such as External Monitors). This tab displays individual monitors for all Media Players with Network 1 and Network 2.
Page 183 The scopes and monitor permit you 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.) The titlebar for the video monitor shows a Configure button (gear) when appropriate. Click this button to access Proc Amp and LiveMatte™...
Page 185: Media Players (Ddrs, Still, Title And Audio)
10 MEDIA PLAYERS (DDRS, STILL, TITLE AND AUDIO) TriCaster’s Media Players permit you to integrate video, still images and title pages into your live presentation with utmost simplicity and professional style. Preload content and display it sequentially as a playlist, or singly on demand.
Page 186: Shared Features
The Title player, when present, is principally intended for display and management of title pages (both those based on TriCaster’s integrated titling system, and titles prepared as image files in third party applications). Even so, if you wished you could use it as a ‘secondary’ media player for a playlist consisting of photographs (for example).
Page 187 This arrangement offers large thumbnail icons for each entry. A scrollbar at right accommodates long playlists. Icons can quickly and easily be re-ordered using the familiar drag and drop workflow. The playlist can even be altered during playback (of course, if the currently playing item is removed, playback stops immediately).
Page 188 FILE OPERATIONS  Click the Add button beneath the playlist pane to open a custom Media Browser (see Section 10.2.2). Alternatively, double-click in an empty part of the Playlist pane.  Newly-added files become selected items in the Playlist pane. ...
Page 189 ICON AUDIO SLIDER Figure 172 EXTREME™ In TriCaster EXTREME (only), the playlist of the two DDRs as well as Sounds ASTER have an additional audio feature. The icons of files with audio will display a small configure (gear) icon at lower right. Click this icon to pop up a small level slider (Figure 173). Note: When playing files located in TriCaster’s ‘capture folders’, DDRs automatically adjust the audio level according to the current Audio Headroom setting in the Record Configuration panel.
Page 190: Media Browser
During playback, the Scrub-Bar knob traverses the span between the In and Out Points. ALPHA CHANNEL SUPPORT For files with transparency (such as 32bit image files), use non-premultiplied alpha channels only in TriCaster’s media players. Premultiplied files will not give the correct results when overlaid on other imagery.
Page 191 LOCATION LIST The Location List is a column of favorite “locations”, grouped under headings such as LiveSets, Clips, Titles, Stills, and so on. The Media Browser is context sensitive, so the headings shown are generally appropriate for the purpose for which they were opened. A list of sub-headings will appear under each main heading in the Location List.
Page 192 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 176 FILE FILTERS The File Pane view is filtered to show only relevant content.
Page 193: Player 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 PLAYER CONTROLS Transport controls and playback settings are located directly below the Playlist and Scrub-Bar.
Page 194 SINGLE Figure 179 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 195: Preset Bin
Note: Unlike Switcher Transitions, the reverse overlay effect does not occur automatically as the end of play approaches. In either case, when the Media Player is in Single mode, the current play position advances to the next item after playback is automatically stopped. 10.2.4 PRESET BIN Another very useful feature shared by all three of TriCaster’s Media Players is the Preset Bin,...
Page 196: Speed
10.2.5 SPEED Figure 181 The Speed control is only found in the DDR. The DDR supports variable speed playback between 25% and 400% of the normal rate (100%). Speed can even be adjusted during playback. 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.
Page 197: Unique Advantages
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 Frame Buffers (the number of Frame Buffers provided on your TriCaster is related to the number of Virtual Inputs it offers). ...
Page 198: Network Sharing
Frame Buffers have another extremely powerful feature – network sharing, discussed next. 10.3.2 NETWORK SHARING Another very useful advantage of this system is that, if you wish, you can share the Frame Buffer folder and its content across a network. Share Frame Buffer on Network is easily enabled or disabled even during a live production using the Live Desktop Options menu at the right-hand end of...
Page 199: Editing Title
10.4 EDITING TITLE PAGES On mouse-over, title page icons display a configuration (gear) icon in their lower-right corner. Clicking this button (or selecting Edit Title in the icon context menu) opens the pop-up Title Page Editor. Title Page content can be edited during both play and display (changes are detected and shown immediately).
Page 200 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 201 Figure 186 STAND-IN IMAGES Images embedded in Title Pages may be locked, or they may be editable stand-ins. When you roll the mouse over an embedded image and a yellow border is displayed around the image, the image is a stand-in. Click a stand-in to open the File Browser, allowing you to select a replacement image file.
Page 203: Livematte & Crop
11 LIVEMATTE & CROP Although its controls are deceptively simple, TriCaster’s LiveMatte™ is a very powerful chromakeying technology, capable of extremely high quality results. Whether uses 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 204: Chromakeying
Hint: Clicking Configure for the video monitor in the Scopes tab likewise opens the Input Configuration panel for the corresponding Switcher row source. For Program and Preview selections, note that the controls only affect the Background source (not any active DSK channels).
Page 205: Matte
Of course, if you choose inappropriate settings, foreground areas may inadvertently be cut away as well. Ideal settings require judicious balance between ‘too much’ and ‘too little’. Let’s consider the tools provided to help you achieve a good result. 11.2 MATTE Figure 189 The term Matte refers to a black and white representation defining transparent (background) and opaque (foreground) parts of the image during compositing.
Page 206: 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 207: 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 208: Compositing
Figure 191 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 209: 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 210: 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 211 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 213: 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 214: Primary Video Sources
As you would expect, selecting one of the Virtual Input buttons on the Program row displays the output from the corresponding Virtual Input output on Program Output. Likewise, clicking a Virtual Input button (labeled V1, V2, etc.) on the Preview row cues up that Virtual Input’s composite output for an upcoming Take/Transition operation (and also displays the corresponding control panel in the tabbed area below).
Page 215 Position controls for both Input A and Input B appear to the right of their respective selector button rows (Figure 194). Click the double-headed arrow button to open the Position panel (Figure 195) for either input. Enable or disable all settings using the switch provided at upper left.
Page 216: Overlay
 Drag up/down to rotate the source about the X (horizontal) axis.  Hold down Alt on the keyboard while dragging to rotate about the Z axis.  Drag on a single numeric slider below, or hold down Ctrl while dragging to constrain rotation to one axis.
Page 217: Liveset
This means that the Overlay is applied before that composition is sent to the Switcher. Thus content in a VI Overlay appears beneath anything displayed via the two (Switcher) DSK channels. The Overlay selection and Position controls work just like their Input A and B cousins, discussed earlier (see Section 12.2).
Page 218: Video Sources
To select a different LiveSet, click the Add button at the right-hand end of this field line, opening a custom Media Browser (Figure 199). Figure 199 The Location List of the Media Browser lists any installed LiveSet groups under the heading “LiveSets”.
Page 219: Zoom Presets
Figure 200 Virtual sets in the LiveSet system display video from either one or two different TriCaster sources. It will not surprise you that these correspond to Input A and B, the primary video sources we discussed back in Section 12.1. (Again as you might expect, Input B is often assigned to secondary purposes, such as to supply the display for a ‘monitor’...
Page 220: Zoom T-Bar
Note: Some LiveSets (e.g., double-box sets) do not support zooming. In such cases, the Zoom Presets and the Zoom T-Bar are inactive. 12.4.4 ZOOM T-BAR Figure 202 The Zoom T-Bar is located beside the Zoom Presets. Dragging it vertically adjusts the virtual ‘camera distance’...
Page 221: Animate Zoom
12.4.6 ANIMATE ZOOM Figure 203 As noted earlier, you can use the Zoom T-Bar to manually zoom in on most LiveSets, even when displayed on Program Output. The Animate Zoom switch makes it possible to easily perform this realtime zoom automatically with a single click. With Animate Zoom enabled, simply clicking a preset automatically zooms from the current position to the virtual camera ‘distance’...
Page 223: 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 224: External Audio
Compact sub-panels in each tabbed pane provide configuration and control for one audio source or output stream. Figure 205 Note: Illustrations in this chapter depict the TriCaster 450 EXTREME unless otherwise noted. TriCaster’s Audio tab layout is virtually identical for all models, but for the following items: ...
Page 225: Mute
You may choose to think of these audio sources as being associated with the same-numbered video inputs in the nearby rows (see the sub-heading Follow, below) but you are completely free to use them in various other configurations. 13.1.1 MUTE Figure 207 The labeled header for each input or source is also where Mute switches are located.
Page 226: Microphone Specific Controls
Only one input type can be operative for a given audio input group at any moment. A drop-down Connection Type menu at the top allows selection of one of the following options:  Mic 1, 2 – low impedance microphones and other common professional audio sources. ...
Page 227 Pan adjusts placement of the corresponding input sound on output channels, and progressively modulates levels in the process so that the overall volume neither rises nor drops as a result of adjustments. Using Pan, one can send part of channel 1 to channel 2, and vice versa. Let’s consider an example: ...
Page 228: More Basic Controls
13.1.4 MORE BASIC CONTROLS Most of the features that follow are common to all Connection Types, with exceptions as noted. FOLLOW Figure 212 Enabling the Follow switch for an audio source directs TriCaster to track switcher operations for the related video source. This results in the audio for this source being completely muted until the associated video source is displayed on Program Output (whether as the Switcher’s Program row selection, via Overlay, or as Input A for a Virtual Input).
Page 229 SOLO Solo implementations and options vary widely in the audio industry, but broadly speaking, the feature provides several very useful functions. TriCaster’s Solo feature offers remarkable flexibility without overly confusing complexity. Consider a few basic principles:  When all Solo switches are off, the combined audio mix from all sound sources is sent to the Master and Headphones output connectors.
Page 230 2. Then enable Solo – allowing you to hear it on Headphones output (and Aux, at times when Solo is selected as its Source). ISOLATING A SOURCE At other times, you may want to output specially configured audio signals using TriCaster’s Aux audio output.
Page 231 Of course, TriCaster provides supports four audio output channels (quad). When considering how Balance works in this configuration, it may help to think of these four channels as comprising two independent stereo (left/right) pairs – channels 1 and 2 (or a and b, if you like) forming one pair, and 3 and 4 (c and d) the other.
Page 232: Audio Groups
AUDIO LEVELS TriCaster’s analog audio conforms to SMPTE RP-155. The maximum input/output level is +24 dBu. Nominal input level is +4 dBu (-20dB FS), and the sample rate is 96 kHz. Levels above 0dB are shown in red in the VU meters, to caution you that overly high levels can result in clipping in recordings.
Page 233: Internal Audio
Audio Groups are very useful in connection with Follow. Consider a typical scenario:  Two participants are behind a sports desk. Cameras 1, 2 and 3 are left, center and right views, and there are individual close up cameras as well – 4 and 5. ...
Page 234: Net 1 And Net 2
Separate sub-panels are provided to control audio added to TriCaster’s Program output mix by the DDR and Sound media players. 13.2.1 NET 1 AND NET 2 The Net 1 and Net 2 audio control groups affect sound associated with the Switcher sources by the same name.
Page 235: Aux And Stream
13.3.1 AUX AND STREAM Aux Output, as you might expect, controls audio sent to the four AUX output connectors. An important addition to its control group is the Source drop-down menu. This allows you to decide to supply sound to the AUX outputs exclusively from following...
Page 236: Master (And Phones)
 EXTREME™ Group – Send the selected group (color) output to the Aux connectors. ASTER The Stream sub-panel provides a method of independently adjusting (stereo) audio levels sent to the network when streaming is enabled. Its sources options are similar to those above. 13.3.2 MASTER (AND PHONES) The main Program outputs (labeled PGM on TriCaster’s backplate) are controlled by the Gain...
Page 237: Compressor Limiter
13.4.2 COMPRESSOR LIMITER The Compressor/Limiter is capable of preventing clipping from unexpected peaks or transients, and making talent sound better than they do in real life, bringing voices, music and other audio sources into an optimal dynamic range. Being able to do this independently for each output too is icing on the cake, especially for internet streaming, as it ensures correct levels at any time.
Page 238: Preset Bin
ATTACK Attack (like Release) is labeled in milliseconds. The setting represents the amount of time it takes for the gain to change by a specified amount. It would not be grossly incorrect to think of this setting as changing the slope of a graph depicting how aggressively the compressor pursues the target value (defined by applying the Ratio setting to the amount the signal surpasses the Threshold).
Page 239: Network Sources
Connecting to a networked workstation or laptop computer running LiveText™, NewTek’s powerful realtime title and graphics software, means you can optionally assign CG preparation and display to a second operator. This frees you to focus exclusively on live switching, and expanding your production capabilities.
Page 240: 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 241: Ivga Pro™ (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 242 Figure 223 The first time you launch iVGA PRO you’ll be asked to accept an End User License Agreement. Afterward, several things will occur:  A small icon is added to the Windows® task bar notification area.  The iVGA PRO control panel (dialog) is opened on your desktop.
Page 243 THE CONTROL PANEL Let’s begin our review of the tools provided by looking more closely at the control panel. DESTINATION The default Destination setting is None, indicating that iVGA PRO’s audio and video output is not connected to a TriCaster on your local network. When one or more TriCaster systems are detected, the drop-down menu will display their machine Figure 225...
Page 244 Note: You can choose the file format that will be employed for recording by modifying the ‘Save as type’ setting in this file window. Also, the Send button at the bottom of the control panel is re-labeled Record. As you would expect, clicking the button initiates recording of the current iVGA source.
Page 245 Drag the cross-hair icon in the center of the marquee to relocate it on the screen or to a different monitor. Drag the mouse on any border of the marquee to scale it up or down. By default, scaling is constrained to retain a 16:9 marquee aspect.
Page 246 AUDIO SOURCE This menu allows you to directly select sound from available audio inputs and system audio devices (the latter may provide useful level and mixing options). iVGA PRO transmits the selected sound to the Network inputs of TriCaster’s that support this feature. A nearby mute icon allows you to toggle sound output on/off.
Page 247: Airplay
Right-click the icon to display its context menu (Figure 231) listing the following items:  Disconnect – releases the currently selected TriCaster connection (equivalent to selecting None in the control panel Destination menu).  Setup – shows the iVGA PRO control panel. ...
Page 248: Livetext
The local network is the means of transmission between units, and a wireless connection from the player to the network is perfectly acceptable. Typically, the target device for AirPlay might be a television display or set of speakers, but in this case, your TriCaster is the beneficiary. It basically works as follows: ...
Page 249: 3Play
14.4 3PLAY™ 3Play’s Output A and Output B are available as Switcher sources to TriCaster. They appear in the source selector menu for TriCaster’s network inputs as “3Play(A)” and “3Play(B),” where “3Play” is the name for the system. Conveniently, the output includes embedded audio, freeing up multiple TriCaster a/v inputs for other purposes.
Page 251: 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. Without question, the live streaming market will continue to expand, providing many creative and profitable opportunities.
Page 252: Overview
15.1 OVERVIEW To open the Configure Stream Connection panel, click the Configure button (gear) beside the Stream button, just below the Stream (on/off) button monitor. 1 - Header 2 – Web Browser 3 – Footer The panel is comprised of three bands: ...
Page 253: Web Browser
Just to mention it in passing, once you have configured one or more Connections, you can collapse the header to a compact view using the up/down control to the left of the connection name field (Figure 235). 15.2 WEB BROWSER A simple set of navigation controls (Figure 236) is provided above the Web Browser viewport.
Page 254: Connection Options
Figure 238 Afterward, clicking the Home button in the navigation control group at upper center will always return you to this location. 15.3 CONNECTION OPTIONS The process of configuring a Connection (preset) begins with clicking New to create it. This action will immediately open a dialog entitled Choose Configuration Type.
Page 255: Browser Based
Generally, though, they are pretty simple, and the provider offers step by step information and support through the site. And, of course, NewTek’s own TriCaster forum membership can generally be relied upon for helpful hands-on experience and advice.
Page 256: Adobe Flash
Hint: Password protected streams are an option with certain CDN accounts. In some cases (where Flash is used to provide the client side password support), using this option will mean that iOS devices cannot view the stream. This is not a TriCaster issue, per se, but something you can discuss with your streaming service if it arises.
Page 257 Figure 242 At right, you will see the Server control group (Figure 242), where you will enter the specific parameters required by your streaming service (or CDN – Content Delivery Network). Let’s consider the information you need to complete this successfully.
Page 258: Windows Media Pull
The Browse item at the top of the Resolution menu (Figure 243) allows you to select an appropriate file in a system file explorer, which is then copied to the correct location for it to be listed in the menu for your use in future. Note: the nearby Delete button allows you to dispose of unused imports of this type.
Page 259: Windows Media Push
For a Pull Connection Type, the Location field attempts to automatically display the Internet address you would provide viewers, or in some cases, your streaming service provider. This the IP (Internet Protocol) address of your computer on the network. This information will be provided as ‘punctuated’...
Page 260: Audio Headroom
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). 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.
Page 261: Capturing The Stream
15.5 CAPTURING THE STREAM TriCaster archives your live stream file as it is created. A new folder will be automatically created as needed (at D:\Media\Clips\sessionname\SavedStreams) to receive the captured stream file. (You have the option of deleting the file on completion of a streaming session if you wish.) 15.6 STREAMING STRATEGIES One of the best approaches when beginning (to stream your productions) is to establish a relationship with a commercial streaming media provider.
Page 262 viewer to completely download the video file before he can begin play. Given a sufficiently high speed connection between host and viewer, they may well be able to enjoy a seamless viewing experience without stuttering or other issues. LIVE STREAMING Live streaming is a growing international market, and one you may well wish to serve.
Page 263  Codecs for both types are updated with fair regularity, and when you choose the ‘latest, greatest’ encoding, your viewers may not all have the current player, requiring them to download and install updates. BANDWIDTH CONSIDERATIONS You’ll often hear the term ‘bitrate’ in connection with streaming video. This expression refers to data throughput per second (generally measured in Kilobits per second, or Kbps.) You could think of this as being like water flowing through a hose.
Page 264: Streaming Protocols
15.6.2 STREAMING PROTOCOLS Additionally, there are two primary streaming methods, known as Pull and Push. Choosing the best method for your needs is important. Let’s review each, and consider what is best for your needs. PULL BY END USERS Simply put, the Windows Media Encoder in TriCaster allows your (networked) audience to connect directly to it, and it distributes the stream to them.
Page 265 A variation on the Pull method involves using an external streaming provider. At one time the only method for streaming using such a provider was to have the server ‘pull’ it from the encoder. Under this system the server did not receive the stream until the first user requested it. Then the server would connect to the encoder, pull the stream to it, and finally begin re-distributing it to everyone requesting it.
Page 266: Streaming Media Providers
Hint: A helpful way to find a good streaming service provider is to ask other TriCaster users for recommendations in NewTek’s online discussion forums. Page | 250...
Page 267: Other Resources
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 268: Diagnostics And Troubleshooting
lose important detail; compressing a full-screen video down to a quarter or a sixteenth of its size is a lesson in humility! OTHER FACTORS Other variables to keep in mind when you’re creating video for the web are contrast and motion. During video encoding for web distribution, a fair amount of video information and detail can be lost.
Page 269 power supplies, backup recording devices (there’s no shame in having a VCR backing up your digital record – ‘low tech’ still has a place in the grand scheme.) But you also need to perform onsite testing, to ensure your live stream is working well before ‘zero hour.’...
Page 270 Ping is a humble but effective tool to ensure the basic connection exists, thus it can help you with streaming, iVGA and LiveText connection issues, too (and it works just fine in a multi-platform environment!) Ping sends a small set of data packets to the target host (IP number), then ‘listens’ for an echo response in return.
Page 271 4. The IP Address for the system will be reported in the window (listed next to “IPv4 Address”), along with other data. To find the IP Address for a system running OS X® 1. Click the Apple icon at upper left on the Desktop, and select About This Mac. 2.
Page 272 Figure 247 Figure 248 Apple OS X For a system running Apple’s OS X®: 1. Double-click Terminal in the Applications\Utilities folder. Page | 256...
Page 273 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. Again, a ping failure indicates a problem with the network connection.
Page 274  The specific IP local number that the router has assigned to your TriCaster. You can read this right from TriCaster’s Location display. It will comprise the entire string of punctuated numbers before the colon (the colon separates the port number you chose for your stream).
Page 275 6. Enter the full (punctuated numeric) local IP address shown in the Location field of your TriCaster after you enable the stream. 7. Checkmark Enable. Some routers may have other security settings that need to be modified for your Pull stream to be visible from the outside.
Page 276: Is It Really A Tricaster Issue
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. Again, a number of websites provide free speed testing. These will give you a basic idea of what your local bandwidth really is. One site which provides a list of online speed test resources is: http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?more=1 15.8.2 IS IT REALLY A TRICASTER ISSUE?
Page 277: Record And Grab
16 RECORD AND GRAB You will often want to capture video clips from external sources, as well as to record your own outgoing live production. Similarly, it can be quite useful to be able to grab stills from Program output for use in the current production. This chapter will provide everything you need to know about this topic.
Page 278 BASIC SETTINGS Figure 251 The first thing you may want to do is enter a Base Name for captured files. The name you enter will be numerically incremented as necessary when you start and stop recording. ADD TO DDR Figure 252 Enable the Add to DDR Playlist switch to automatically include newly captured clips from the designated (primary) source to the end of the playlist of the Media Player designated below.
Page 279 Figure 253 This lets advanced users record files with a professional level of headroom right up to 20dB, selectively conforming to regional standards or local preference. It also effectively eliminates any possibility of audio clipping in recorded files. EXTREME™ The Audio Mixer tabs for TriCaster EXTREME systems feature ASTER Compressor/Limiters for each input and output.
Page 280 Hint: The Aux video output format can be configured in Output configuration, and it can likewise be accompanied by either Aux or Program audio. For this reason, directly selecting Cam 1 (for example) as Source can easily produce a very different recording than would occur if you assign Aux to Cam 1 and then select Aux as Source.
Page 281 AVI format, SpeedHQ, which is a high quality, 4:2:2 file format suitable for both SD and HD applications. Hint: Users of Microsoft Windows® can download a free NewTek codec pack from their personal downloads page in the Registration area of the NewTek website.
Page 282 Click the Add Source button to place an additional entry into the list, up to the total limit for the model – either four (TriCaster 450 EXTREME) or eight (TriCaster 850 EXTREME) sources in total, including the Primary source. To remove an entry, click the corresponding [X] button at left.
Page 283: Grab
16.2 GRAB At times, all you really want to capture is a still image from the current Program Output video stream. This is the purpose of TriCaster’s Grab function. Figure 257 Click the Configure button (gear) next to Grab beneath the Program Output monitor to open the Grab Still Configuration panel.
Page 285: 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 286: 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 Note: It is possible to use SpeedEDIT’s File menu to open an existing project not using the current...
Page 287: Livetext
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). Similarly, you might find it convenient to maximize the SpeedEDIT window to fill the primary monitor display.
Page 288: Files/Filebin
Note: It is possible to use LiveText’s File menu to open a project that does not correspond to the current session settings. TriCaster will attempt to provide video output, but it’s possible that a given monitor may not display it correctly. 17.2.2 FILES/FILEBIN LiveText’s file dialogs (for File>Open, File>Add, File>Save and Save As) have pre-configured...
Page 289: Naming Stand-In Images
17.2.3 NAMING STAND-IN IMAGES Among other things, the Title Editor in TriCaster’s Media Players (DDR, Still and Titles) allows you to substitute a different image for stand-in (or “placeholder”) images in Title Pages (.cgxml) exported from LiveText (working with stand-in images is discussed in Section 10.3). When creating title pages for this purpose in LiveText, you may find it saves you time to add the string “_placeholder”...
Page 291: 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 | 275...
Page 293: A How Do I
The headings that follow list related questions and answers together, along with cross-references and other helpful remarks. Hint: The NewTek website includes a comprehensive FAQ database containing a wealth of useful information on all of its products – please see http://www.newtek.com/faq/ How do I ...
Page 294 Eject a hard drive? ........................ 287 Connect tally lights? ......................287 Connect to a network/the Internet? ..................287 Connect to an AirPlay® source? .................... 287 Why doesn’t my AirPlay® device list TriCaster as a target? ..........288 Supplement: Why do some clips not play properly across an AirPlay connection? ..290 Resolve iVGA PRO Quirks? ....................
Page 295 Get live title pages (.cgxml) to respect all LiveTEXT font attributes? ........300 Prepare a matched group of virtual inputs? ................. 300 Improve the quality of Multiview output? ................301 View Media Player time data on Multiview out when set to ‘All Sources’? ......301 Files ............................
Page 296: Connections
Miscellaneous ........................... 312 Access Windows ........................312 Return to TriCaster from the Widows® Desktop ..............312 Add A Custom Streaming Profile to the Configure Stream Connection Panel ...... 313 Supplement: Is it better to use a Baseline or Main profile for H.264 encoding ? ..... 314 Supplement: Does TriCaster support multi-bitrate streaming profiles ......
Page 297: Connect Fill + Alpha Sources
5. Choose an appropriate Connection Type for your camera in the Input Settings tab (see Sections 3.5 and 7.2.1). A.1.2 CONNECT FILL + ALPHA SOURCES? 1. Connect the Fill (color) source to an odd-numbered video Input. 2. Connect the Alpha channel source to the next higher even-numbered video Input. 3.
Page 298: Color Correct Mismatched Cameras
A.1.4 COLOR CORRECT MISMATCHED CAMERAS? TriCaster permits the use of sources that do not match the current session format. You might connect an SD camera during an HD session, for example. The official broadcast standard for SD video is Rec. 601, but HD video conforms to Rec. 709 – and TriCaster output color space is governed by the session format.
Page 299: Output Resolution Menu
3. Click the Live icon on the Session Page of the Startup Screen, and press Enter (or click the Start Live Production link). 4. Roll the mouse pointer over the main Program output monitor, and click the Configure (gear) button that appears above it. 5.
Page 300: Connect A Supported External Control Surface
A: If you disconnect (or power down) and reconnect monitors while on TriCaster’s Live Desktop, the operating system can have difficulty with monitor recognition and configuration. To avoid problems, naturally it’s best to leave display devices connected to the DVI ports along while live. In the case of an accidental disconnection, avoid reconnecting both monitors at the same time.
Page 301: Insert/Remove A Drive From Tricaster's Removable Drive Bay
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Q: TriCaster TCXD850 CS has suddenly stopped working. What can I do? A: The foremost reason this might happen is if the cable (or extender cable) you are using between the control surface and the TriCaster failed to deliver sufficient current consistently. In the short term (if you are in the middle of a show), you can generally resolve this issue by simply unplugging and re-plugging the control surface.
Page 302: Supplement: What Hard Drives Are Recommended For Tricaster
Q: What hard drives are recommended for TriCaster’s removable drive bay(s)? A NewTek supplied storage media has been carefully tested to meet exacting specifications, and can be expected to provide optimal performance and reliability. Of course, you are free to purchase storage media from other sources.
Page 303: Connect An External Hard Drive
A.1.8 CONNECT AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE? Connect a suitable USB cable from the external hard drive to one of TriCaster’s USB2.0 ports. Note that the hard drive should probably be formatted using the NTSF file system (the FAT file system chokes on exported files exceeding 4 Gigabytes, as will often be the case). A.1.9 EJECT A HARD DRIVE? 8.
Page 304: Why Doesn't My Airplay® Device List Tricaster As A Target
Note: A limitation of the current iTunes release prevents it from properly addressing the second AirPlay® connection it detects. Instead, it attempts to use the first connection. If the first connection is already committed to another source, this attempt will fail. SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS: Q2: Why doesn’t my AirPlay®...
Page 305 TCP/UDP RTSP 3689 DAAP 5353 mDNS (Bonjour) A.2.3: Make sure you are connected to the correct network, especially for Wi-Fi. iOS® connects to known networks by default. If multiple Wi-Fi connections are available, it may connect automatically to a previously known network. For a wireless AirPlay® source such as iPad®, follow these steps: 1.
Page 306: Resolve Ivga Pro Quirks
 If the router supports 5 GHz Radio mode, set it to 802.11a/n.  Channel Settings should be set to 1, 6 or 11 (11 is the most common choice, since it is the starting channel, making 1 or 6 a good choice). ...
Page 307: Start An Sd Session
A: Sessions can be thought of as ‘top-level presets’. They store all of the settings, playlists, device configurations, and so on for a given live production. See Section 5.1. A.2.1 START AN SD SESSION? 1. Connect your SD sources to TriCaster’s input connectors (see Section 3.5) 2.
Page 308: Work On A Stored Session
A: We strongly recommend that you use a progressive video format for sessions you intend primarily for streaming. Doing so eliminates fielding artifacts that might otherwise occur due to converting fielded video to progressive video for streaming. This will generally result in quite noticeably better quality.
Page 309: Delete A Session (And Its Content)
A.2.6 DELETE A SESSION (AND ITS CONTENT)? 1. Right-click the name of the session in Home Page of the Startup Screen. 2. Select Delete from the menu. This will delete the session, and any content that is local to the session, including associated LiveText and SpeedEDIT projects (external data that has not been imported will not be deleted).
Page 310: Live Production
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 A over B in the Default group in the file pane at right. (See Section 12.4.1.) A.3.3 SET UP THE ‘NIGHTLY SHOW A’...
Page 311: Initiate Streaming
Figure 260 Figure 261 Hint: Several sample montage clips are supplied in the Clips>NewTek folders, and there is also a template clip (Figure 261) you can use as a guide to prepare similar clips that reference your own custom content with the software of your choice.
Page 312: Find My Captured Stream File
2. Open (or create) a TriCaster session (see Section 3.10). 3. Click the Configure (gear) button next to Stream (under the Program monitor) 4. Supply Connection parameters in this panel as required (passwords, username, etc. See Chapter 15, Streaming.) 5. Close the panel, and – when ready – click the Stream button. (See Section 4.12 and Chapter 15 for full details.) A.3.5 FIND MY CAPTURED STREAM FILE? 1.
Page 313: Find My Recorded Program File
A.3.7 FIND MY RECORDED PROGRAM 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 314: Avi
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 315: Flash (F4V)
Or, you can use SpeedEDIT – its Convert to SpeedHQ feature (found in the Filebin’s context menu) can easily convert a number of clips in a single operation. FLASH (F4V) At the time of writing, F4V format files written by Adobe® Flash Media Encoder are incompatible with most video playback applications (even those from Adobe).
Page 316: Change Colors For An Entire Title Playlist At Once
A.3.11 CHANGE COLORS FOR AN ENTIRE TITLE PLAYLIST AT ONCE? You can quickly alter the default colors for a complete playlist of Title Pages in a Media Player (such as Titles). 1. Select the button for the player containing the titles on the Preview row of the Switcher. 2.
Page 317: Improve The Quality Of Multiview Output
2. Right-click on the Preset icon in the bin at left, and select Export. 3. Supply a filename for the Preset. 4. Click the second Virtual Input tab. 5. Right-click on a blank Preset, and select Import from the menu. 6.
Page 318: Files
A.4 FILES A.4.1 MANAGE FILES? Please refer to the item (How do I) Manage Selected Content inside a Session? (Section A.2.7). A.4.2 CHANGE THE MPEG-2 RECORDING QUALITY? TriCaster has two optional quality settings for recording live video as MPEG-2, Normal Profile (Compatibility Mode) and High Profile.
Page 319: Prepare Clips With Embedded Alpha Channel
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 NewTek customer, you can download the NewTek Multi-Codec Pack from your personal Downloads page on the NewTek website.)
Page 320: Add An External File Location To The File Browser
Drag this setting and drop it onto your Sequence. 3. Set your destination setting as follows: Click on the Destinations tab (in the bottom left panel). b. Drag the destination of your choice onto your job item. 4. Click Submit. A.4.6 ADD AN EXTERNAL FILE LOCATION TO THE FILE BROWSER? 1.
Page 321: Export Files From Tricaster For Use In Apple® Final Cut Pro
A.4.9 EXPORT FILES FROM TRICASTER FOR USE IN APPLE® FINAL CUT PRO? At the time of writing, importing MPEG-2 files recorded by TriCaster into Final Cut requires a few extra steps. There are several approaches – pick the one that suits your need best. METHOD 1 1.
Page 322: Mpeg2 Files
10. Add the files(s) you wish to export to the Export Media file list. 11. Choose Quicktime for the Target, then select Renderless conversion (.mov) as the Format for the files you add. 12. Click the selection gadget (triangle) and choose a target location for the output file(s). 13.
Page 323: Import/Export Files Larger Than 4 Gigabytes
A.4.10 IMPORT/EXPORT FILES LARGER THAN 4 GIGABYTES? This question may arise if you are using external media, perhaps portable hard drives or USB ‘thumb’ drives. These are commonly prepared using the FAT32 file system, which does not support files larger than 4GB. As video files will often exceed this size, FAT32 is not very suitable for use in that context.
Page 324: Software, Maintenance And Updates
A.5 SOFTWARE, MAINTENANCE AND UPDATES A.5.1 IMPROVE PERFORMANCE? 1. Click the Utilities icon on the Home Page of the Startup Screen. 2. Click the Defragment Hard Drive link at right (see Section 5.2.4), and follow further directions provided. This process can take considerable time, so it’s best not to commence unless time (before a production) permits.
Page 325: Install My Favorite Software (Or Codec)
once additional software or services are enabled on TriCaster, real-time performance cannot be guaranteed. In a perfect world, we'd love to recommend that you do not install virus and/or malware protection software on TriCaster. Certainly you should always take sensible precautions to avoid introducing infected files into TriCaster by rigorously virus-checking media you plan to connect or import beforehand –...
Page 326: 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 327: Avoid File Path Problems Due To Unique Characters In Some Languages
4. Follow the directions on the Registration webpage (in the Customer Care section of the NewTek website) to obtain your registration code 5. If TriCaster does not have internet access, call (or email) Customer Service with the Product ID:...
Page 328: 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 329: Add A Custom Streaming Profile To The Configure Stream Connection Panel
A.7.3 ADD A CUSTOM STREAMING PROFILE TO THE CONFIGURE STREAM CONNECTION PANEL? The streaming profiles shown in the drop-down Resolution menu in the Configure Stream Connection panel are drawn from the folder C:\TriCaster\Streaming Profiles. These files are organized according to whether they are WMV or Flash profiles, again into NTSC or PAL versions (Multi-standard models only), and then finally sub-divided into folders labeled 4x3, 16x9 (the latter two being Standard Definition profiles), and HD.
Page 330: Supplement: Is It Better To Use A Baseline Or Main Profile For H.264 Encoding
Format menu (in the Video section of FMLE’s Encoding Options tab). At the time of writing, all NewTek H.264 profiles use the Baseline option as it seems to be the best supported by various online services, and produces excellent results.
Page 331: Supplement: Does Tricaster Support Multi-Bitrate Streaming Profiles
CREATING A CUSTOM FLASH STREAMING PROFILE 1. From TriCaster’s Startup Screen, click the Shutdown icon, and select Exit to Windows. 2. Click the Exit to Windows button in the confirmation dialog that pops up. 3. Launch Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder from the Windows Start menu. 4.
Page 332: More Questions And Answers
whenever possible, and if you do opt to use a custom profile – especially a multi-bitrate one – do perform meaningful testing in advance, to ensure everything goes as planned. Note: The Stream ID (text string) for multi-bitrate profiles must contain the character combination “%i”, without the quotation marks.
Page 333: Why Is My Power Supply Beeping
A.8.2 WHY IS MY POWER SUPPLY BEEPING? TriCaster 850 and 850 EXTREME systems provide redundant, replaceable power supply units. When you i) disconnect or ii) power down just one of the modules, or iii), if a PSU should fail, a beep is sounded to alert you.
Page 335: 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 336: 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 337: 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 338: 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 339  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 341: 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 342: What (And Where) To Calibrate
C.1 WHAT (AND WHERE) TO CALIBRATE? Tip one – forget ‘point and shoot’. Lighting, set design, and countless other factors have an impact on the video attributes our cameras ‘see’. 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.
Page 343: Setting Black And White
C.2.1 SETTING BLACK AND WHITE Naturally, the color range available for transmission and recording is bounded at the upper level by white and at the lower level by black. Anything else falls somewhere in-between. Consider what happens if you gradually raise the brightness control on your television. Beyond a certain point (and unlike claims made for laundry detergent) your whites do not become whiter.
Page 344: Adjusting Color
Connect your camera to the correct TriCaster input, block the lens so it receives no illumination, and check the level shown in the Waveform monitor. For NTSC, it should be 7.5 IRE, for all others, 0 IRE. To check white, use a standard white card or even a sheet of white paper. Ensure that it is evenly illuminated with the same lighting your main subject will receive, move or zoom to fill the viewfinder with it, and confirm that the Waveform monitor is showing 100 IRE.
Page 345: Color Metrics
Figure 264 Figure 265 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 346 USING COLOR BARS You’ll no doubt have seen the familiar color bars used as a standard reference for video signal calibration. Two examples are shown here. Figure 266 is an example of the color bars used in NTSC countries, while Figure 267 is a PAL example, common throughout European nations. Figure 266 (NTSC) Figure 267 (PAL) You can use color bars in conjunction with TriCaster’s Waveform and Vectorscope to make sure...
Page 347: Calibrating Your Monitors
When a source is properly calibrated, the trace from the different colored segments of the color bars displayed will fall right inside their individual targets (see Figure 269). Figure 269 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.
Page 348: Computer Monitor
final program output may look somewhat similar to your computer monitor, they do differ in a number of important respects. For this reason, we will approach their calibration separately. 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.
Page 349: Setting Black And White
C.3.3 SETTING BLACK AND WHITE As mentioned earlier, NTSC and PAL (and NTSC-J) regions use different black levels, so it’s no surprise that they take different approaches to setting black and white levels, and that their respective color bar displays vary from one another. Likewise, we’ll treat calibrating for NTSC and PAL separately.
Page 350 The large blocks at left and right in the PLUGE represent ‘NTSC black’ - 7.5 IRE. Between these larger blocks are three smaller bars – one at left that is slightly darker than NTSC black (3.5 IRE), one at right that is slightly lighter (10.5 IRE). These are separated by another equal-sized 7.5 IRE bar.
Page 351: Color Adjustments
1. Warm up the monitor as previously mentioned. 2. Set the monitor’s Color (or Saturation), Contrast and Brightness to their lowest settings. 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.
Page 352 2. If the monitor lacks a “Blue-gun only” feature, you can obtain a colored filter such as a Kodak Wratten #47B gel, and hold that between your eyes and the monitor for a similar result. 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.
Page 353: D Keystroke Shortcuts
D KEYSTROKE SHORTCUTS D.1 SWITCHER… Utility Row, Inputs 1 to Input x (model limit) 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...
Page 354: 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 355: Tabs
D.5 TABS Show DDR 1 tab Ctrl + F1 Show V1-Vx tab Ctrl + F2-F9 Show External Audio tab Ctrl + F10 Show DDR 2 tab Ctrl + Shift + F1 Show Still tab Ctrl + Shift + F2 Show Title (or Graphics) tab Ctrl + Shift + F3 Show Sounds tab Ctrl + Shift + F4...
Page 356: Still
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 STILL Stop Shift + k Play Shift + l (L) Go to previous playlist item Shift + j (J) Go to next playlist item Shift + ;...
Page 357: 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 359: Ereliability Testing
For this reason, all NewTek products undergo rigorous reliability testing to ensure they meet our exacting test standards. For TriCaster™ 850, the following standards are applicable:...
Page 361: Index
INDEX Crop Edges, 153, 199 AAC Encoding, 310 Act as Alpha. See I/O Configuration: Video Input DDR. See Live Desktop: Media Player Activate Windows. See Windows Add-Ons, 104 AirPlay®, 218, 287 Alpha Channel, 82, 155 Edit. See SpeedEDIT Alpha Input. See I/O Configuration: Video Input Eject, 99, 121, 287 Apple AirPlay®, 218, 231, 287 EULA.
Page 362 Hard drive (external), 287 External Audio tab, 118, 208 Home Page, 29 Follow, 51, 212 Internal Audio tab, 217 Link Audio Mixer Tabs, 118 Lock, 211 I/O Configuration Mono, 47, 212 Audio, 35 Mute, 47, 209 Genlock, 38, 133, 134, 135 Output, 220 Proc Amp, 11, 44, 45, 94, 125, 126, 140, 167 Pan, 50, 210...
Page 363 Position, 152 Record, 63, 64, 251, 261, 296 Network Quality Setting, 264 3Play™, 233 Switcher, 11, 54, 144, 146 AirPlay®, 218, 287 Take, 45, 56, 69, 149, 157, 164 Connecting, 53, 243, 252 T-Bar, 157 iVGA, 39, 44, 53, 164, 223, 319 Transition, 58, 150 for Windows, 225 Waveform/Vectorscope, 38, 126, 132, 134,...
Page 364 Port Forwarding, 257 Production Tips, 252 Record. See Live Desktop Profile, 247, 310 Register. See TriCaster: Register H.264, 314 Rename Input, 118 multi-bitrate, 315 Restart. See Startup Screen:Shutdown System Providers, 243, 245, 249, 250 Restore TriCaster, 103, 310 Pull, 242, 248, 257 Push, 242, 243, 249 Session Format, 292 WME, 246, 308...
Page 365 Virtual Set. See LiveSet Virtual Set Artisan, 104 Waveform Monitor. See Live Desktop Virus Checker, 308 Windows™ Activate, 20 Exit to. See Startup Screen:Shutdown Page | 349...
Page 366: Credits
Watkins, Mike Murphy, Nathan Kovner, Naveen Jayakumar, Robert Sitton, Ryan Hansberger, Shawn Wisniewski, Steve Bowie, Todd Bryant, Troy Stevenson Design Consultants: Kris Gurrad Additional thanks to:  NewTek Marketing and Sales  NewTek Customer Support  NewTek Business Development This product uses the following libraries, licensed under the LGPL license (see link below). For the...
Page 367 LiveMatte, TimeWarp, VT, VT[3], VT[4], V[T5], Video Toaster, Toaster, Inspire 3D, 3D Arsenal, Aura, LightWave, LightWave 3D and LightWave CORE are trademarks, service marks, and registered trademarks of NewTek. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Page 368 Page | 352...

This manual is also suitable for:

Tricaster 450 Tricaster 450 extreme

NewTek TriCaster 850 User Manual

Table of Contents

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

Bperformance Considerations

Cvideo Calibration

D Keystroke Shortcuts

Ereliability Testing

Index

Credits

Quick Links

Chapters

Need help?

Questions and answers

Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel

Summary of Contents for NewTek TriCaster 850