Why Every TV Show & Network Should Buy The NewTek TriCaster 2 Elite Immediately
NewTek (owned by Vizrt) has announced it's latest product: the TriCaster 2 Elite. I'm not going to tell you about most of it's features - you can check out their website for that. I'm here to tell you why every television network and show should spend $27,995 on this unit today.
What are the two main features that make this a must have?
Live Call Connect
For the first time, you can get individual breakout shots from services like Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. This is HUGE. No one else on the market can do this right now. Some of the services let you record each individual feed and export them for post-production, but they don't let you do break out individual sources during a live or live-to-tape recording. Skype lets you do it via NDI, but the audio and mixing is not great, and they slap their logo on every output. With Live Call Connect, up to nine guest callers can be treated as if they were any other camera source. Even if you're not mixing your show on a TriCaster (which, by the way - isn't a horrible idea right now), you can record each of these isolated feeds at a potentially higher quality than a cloud recording. No more pinning posts or hoping people don't leave the call and screw up your screen capture - with Live Call Connect, the friction of working with remote feeds is eliminated.
At this price point, it's a no-brainer for talkshows that want to cut down on production and file transfer time. Is it possible that this is a simple API / software thing that other platforms will be able to do (and cheaper)? Probably, but not yet, and it's not clear when.
So... how does it work?
NewTek Sales Specialist Jeremy Morris walked me through the process. There is a new multi-view layout called App Desktop. This is where you set up your calls. Then, the individual feeds (or full app for everyone at once) simply show up as source options on each input. The App Desktop is a big deal because you don't need a separate computer to facilitate the calls! This is a major improvement from how Skype TX is currently required to run on a separate computer for the internal Skype channels on the TriCastser TC1. Now, you can even run Skype TX right from the App Desktop on your TriCaster 2 Elite!
IP Video Sources
The TriCaster 2 Elite can also take in IP sources - and for the first time, this includes HTTP feeds. This means that you can bring in websites in real time - which means that you can use a separate service that sends your guests a link for a browser-based video call that can be opened on their computer, mobile device or tablet. This also means that browser-based graphics overlays can work on TriCaster for the first time (like Streamlabs). NewTek also added RTMP and SRT in an earlier software upgrade - this means you can bring in signals like bonded cellular shots directly into your TriCaster without the use of a physical local server.
It has never been easier to get guest feeds into a production system - and right now, TriCaster is the only one with this full of a feature set. Other services like Telestream Wirecast let you send out guest links, but it's far from perfect, and doesn't integrate as smoothly with other services like Zoom.
Let me know if you want to know more about TriCaster! I'm a certified operator, and I've been using and training on them for years.
Oh - and a dumb disclaimer - I haven't actually used the software yet. But I'm hopeful :)
The critical failure is audio. We own a TC2 Elite, and it IS fantastic at segregating the video conferencing participants into inputs... BUT... Zoom, Teams, etc broadcast a muxed audio feed - all participants are blended in the streamed mix, and there's no good way to claim control of the audio mix that we have found. Basically, if somebody cannot ride their mute button, there's no way we've found to control the mix and keep them muted (other than the gymnastics of admin powers in the zoom or teams room). And full transparency, we also have used VMix, and own ATEMs and after owning the TC2 Elite for 6 months, I am not convinced that it was a good investment comparing against VMix or ATEM. ViZRT are TERRIBLE with user outreach and support. My dealer (Keycode Media) is fantastic, but the silence one receives back from NewTek/VizRT around questions or support is very unsettling
Founder/CEO of Agent Bee, Livestreaming Expert, Video and Social Media Marketer, TED Speaker, YouTube Legend, Podcasting Pioneer
4 年I wanna believe, but Try-Caster has burned a lot of productions and is Windows based. vMix can do a lot of this for a fraction of the price, as can systems that can be cobbled together. Happy to be proven wrong.
Video Propagandist | DENiM | Digital Edge New Media
4 年The Black Magic HDMI switcher has been on back order for 3 months - Maybe this thing can get delivered before it gets back in stock
Corporate Presentation Graphics | Vmix/ATEM 2ME Flypack | Cameraman Long Lens/ENG/Robo
4 年Humm it’s not for the light budgets that’s for sure. Hoe is ifb sudio felt with on these calls and other audio mix from in studio talent, do not everyone is on the incoming zoom or Skype call. Does it do everything Webex same way? What about others like inevent? Browser based. I know u can take browser but can it separate panels within a browser?
Owner Hatch Broadcast Ltd: Systems Integration & Project Managing Studio and Post installs and upgrades.
4 年I want to see a livecall demo! I'm intrigued to know how it handles call drop-offs and new callers in a conference. And there MUST be a way for a second operator to initial calls and allocate to inputs. Communicate with and brief the callers. Otherwise it's impossible to use during a live shown when the v/m is busy vision mixing.