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TriCaster Manual

1. 1 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 C 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 Even if you hate reading please take a moment to peruse at least this section which explains the manual structure You may find you can escape with a minimum of reading Or if you are a devout reader you can be the hero others turn to for expert advice Part Getting Started introduction to TriCaster connecting devices cameras monitors etc and registration ending with the Live Production Walkthrough a brisk jog through fundamentals about 50 pages if you re a quick study this may provide all you need Part II Reference chapters in this section cover every arcane detail related to using TriCaster for those who need it and those who just like to know everything Part IIl Appendices leads off with a handy section titled How do a helpful question and answer section with its own brief index When you have a specific need you may well find a quick answer here along with cross references to more detailed information when appropriate Appendix D lists all sho
2. Ctrl key before dragging 2 Click Reset Positioning to restore default Position Rotation and Size 3 Drag the horizontal upper Position mini slider to the right locating the foreground talent shot as seen in Figure 75 Live Radar Abilene Forth Worf sam 5 day Foreca gt Mid ide ca MA MO 62 74 Austin Houston San Antonio Victoria Figure 75 Without having moved the physical camera we have changed the apparent position of our talent relative to the virtual backdrop ai Take Auto 0100 4 10 2 ADDING AN UPSTREAM OVERLAY Figure 76 Just above the Input A row you ll see a control area labeled Overlay with its own source row along with other controls The Overlay feature in Virtual Input works very much like the two downstream DSK video layers we used back in Sections 4 6 1 and 4 6 2 but is upstream of the Switcher Thus content in this overlay channel thus appears beneath anything you display in those two video layers on Program Output 4 Access the Graphics or Title player and click the Breaking News CGXML icon imported back in Section 4 2 from the Practice Sessions folder 5 Edit the top line in the title to say 5 Day Forecast as shown in Figure 77 6 Select Graphics Title in the V1 tab s Overlay row and display the Virtual Input s overlay channel by clicking the Auto button in the Overlay Transition area of the VI tab Live Radar Ditas Abilene ronn Yo
3. This all makes it easy to Take or Transition directly to from or between Virtual Inputs with a single click even if the video sources used in the composition for both are identical 12 1 PRIMARY VIDEO SOURCES Figure 191 Virtual Inputs support two primary video sources These two sources are labeled nput A and B Selection is made using buttons in the lower part of the tabbed panel The number of buttons corresponds to the Switcher source count for the TriCaster model When a Virtual Input is displayed Input A appears above or if you prefer in front of Input B by default This means that when nput A is fully opaque it completely hides nput B However when LiveMatte settings for an input result in transparency or the source has transparency by virtue of being a 32bit file or its active Position settings mean it does not completely fill the frame then other imagery can appear through the transparent regions in the result 12 2 POSITION Figure 192 Position controls for both Input A and Input B appear to the right of their respective selector button rows Figure 192 Click the double headed arrow button to open the Position panel Figure 193 for either input Enable or disable all settings using the switch provided at upper left a 100 0 100 0 Figure 193 At left is a group of controls labeled Crop Edges which provide identical but independent functionality to that found in the LiveMatte
4. Click the Configure gear button beside Destination to reveal a menu providing quality options The setting here affects iVGA s video compression parameters You can use these options to improve performance when your local network connection lacks the bandwidth required to deliver the highest quality iVGA output to TriCaster Note Gigabit network connection provides the best transfer rates and the best quality video output Slower connections may cause dropped frames and should be considered unsuitable especially for HD sessions In extreme cases where network capability is low or unreliable because of other traffic iVGA may still be useful for static displays VIDEO SOURCE The video source menu governs the imagery iVGA transmits or Video Source captures The menu lists a number of important options Figure 226 3 ic Co LIL Iau FF R ASUS YHZ32H Primary T e ACIS YUTTU Dra rt Sa WL het Pr ni any e At the top you will see all monitors connected to the system VGA PRO is running on named Selecting a monitor by name assigns its entire display as the current VGA source aa AZ da E Figure 226 e Just beneath the list of monitors is the Region option This ae refers to the portion of the screen that is inside a rectangular marquee that is shown when Region is newly selected o Drag the cross hair icon in the center of the marquee to relocate it on the screen or to a different monitor o Drag
5. the main layer controls at left with local layer controls at right The latter group is divided vertically into individual sections for the BKGD DSK 1 and DSK 2 video layers 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 Take Auto 0L00 Figure 51 1 Select Camera 1 on the Switcher s Program row 2 Select Camera 2 on the Preview row 3 Click the All Monitors tab and notice that the red and green highlighted titlebars conform to the selections you just made 4 Click the local Take button for the BKGD layer Figure 51 a Camera 1 is removed from Program Out b Camera 2 previously the Preview row selection moves to Program output c The Camera 2 button is now lit up on the Program row d The Camera 1 button is lit up on the Preview row e The red and green monitor titlebars have been swapped 5 Now click the local Auto button for the BKGD layer The Program and Preview row selections swap again but this time rather than a simple and instant Cut the change employs the currently selected transition by default a Fade 6 The icon for the current Transition for the BKGD layer has a gold b
6. Revised Jan 11 2013 Trademarks NewTek TriCaster TriCaster XD TCXD8000 TriCaster 8000 TriCaster TCXD8000 TCXD850 TCXD850 EXTREME TriCaster TCXD850 EXTREME TriCaster 850 EXTREME TriCaster EXTREME TriCaster 850 TCXD450 TCXD450 EXTREME TriCaster TCXD450 EXTREME TriCaster 450 EXTREME TriCaster 450 TCXD455 TriCaster 455 TriCaster TCXD455 TriCaster 855 TCXD855 TriCaster TCXD855 IsoCorder TCXD300 TriCaster 300 TriCaster TCXD300 TCXD40 TriCaster 40 TriCaster TCXD40 TriCaster PRO TriCaster STUDIO TriCaster BROADCAST TriCaster DUO ProTek ProTek Care ProTek Elite VGA SpeedEDIT 3PLAY 3Play 3Play 820 3PXD820 3Play 330 3PXD330 LiveText DataLink LiveSet 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 TABLE OF CONTENTS AA o AA i il A nn e o o 1 C ADO TAE MONA on n N 3 DMO CUO oat AEA EA pata E AA AE 5 2 1 O AA LA A o E E A A S E N A E EE E T E 5 2 2 o o E A AEA 6 23 PVE DC Si CO Diab 6 2 4 FCO E oo o A EET 7 2 4 1 LS Cel OA E EE E e eE O E E E 7 2 4 2 Muti Her Palsate hoenar RE EREE TSA 8 2 4 3 A a an O sena 9 2 4 4 U CO nn tre wae Senna asa escent oenaes nore eeds 9 2 4 5 AAA Pi o PEO Pr E 9 2 4 6 MOI aan 1
7. in the Audio In section is heard When Follow is enabled for an audio source its sound is automatically sent to output whenever the associated video source is displayed on output In this case the levels shown in the VU meter for that audio source are drawn in color When you switch away from that video source the VU meter still shows its audio level but the graph is drawn in grayscale providing confirmation that audio is present but indicating that it is not going live to Program out Hint Follow even works when the associated video source is displayed on Output as an Overlay or Virtual Input source FOLLOW AND AUDIO GROUPING Each audio control group has an additional drop down located just below the Connection Type menu This is the Audio Group control Grouping allows you to gang multiple audio sources together When Follow is enabled for a group member the sound from the entire audio group is heard whenever the corresponding video source is displayed Figure 42 Let s test this 1 Supply live sound to audio input 1 and 2 and set both inputs to a single group color using the drop down Group menu 2 Enable Follow for Camera 1 and Camera 3 but not Camera 2 3 Select Camera 1 on the Switcher s Program row The audio from both input 1 and 2 should be audible 4 Switch to Camera 3 The audio from inputs 1 and 2 is muted on output If audio input 3 has sound you will hear it instead Switc
8. recommend changing this setting during live production A 3 15 VIEW MEDIA PLAYER TIME DATA ON MULTIVIEW OUT WHEN SET TO ALL SOURCES Space limitations prevent TriCaster from displaying timecode fields beneath monitors on Multiview output when VGA Output Resolution is set to 720x480 A 4 FILES A 4 1 MANAGE FILES Please refer to the item How do 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 Both of these alternatives record l frame only MPEG2 files at a rate of approximately 100mbps for HD video or half that for SD sessions The Normal setting produces a standard profile MPEG2 with 4 2 0 encoding and has best compatibility with third party products High quality files comply with the MPEG2 high profile standard resulting in 4 2 2 encoding at the expense of slightly less cross product compatibility To change the setting 1 Opena TriCaster session 2 Access Record Configuration by clicking the gear icon just right of the Record button beneath the Program monitor 3 Use the Encoding menu to select the Quality setting you wish to use A 4 3 IMPORT MEDIA FILES Importing files implies copying them into the TriCaster session folders making them local rather than external To import media fil
9. screen sharing or remote desktop applications which would actually be as bad or worse Of course iVGA benefits from the fastest possible network connections between remote clients and TriCaster even when used as directed This is especially true if you intend to stream high resolution motion graphics to TriCaster using iVGA 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 on IMAG is a very tricky task at the best of times one that calls for excellent planning and where possible testing Those designing an IMAG installation have not just one but two inter related broadcasts to consider in the form of the audio and video streams B 3 1 RELATIVITY AND THE SPEED OF LIGHT Wouldn t it be nice if audio and video travelled from their respective broadcast devices at the same speed Then wherever you were seated in the audience the sound from hypothetically perfect speakers and the video image from huge video displays co located at the front of the auditorium would reach your ears and your retinas at precisely the same moment This is not the case however Sound travels quite slowly so slow in fact that even in relatively small venues it reaches thos
10. 10 MEDIA PLAYERS DDRS STILL TITLE AND AUDIO TriCaster s Media Players permit you to integrate video still images and title C pages into your live presentation with utmost simplicity and professional style Preload content and display it sequentially as a playlist or singly on demand The media players can even play stop and advance automatically in response to your Switcher operations 10 1 SPECIALIZED MEDIA PLAYERS TriCaster sports multiple Media Players located in tabbed panes found in the bottom third of the Live Desktop These are the DDR 1 DDR 2 either Still and Title found on TriCaster 855 ora dual purpose Graphics player TriCaster 455 and Sounds Figure 168 In essence all of the different Media Players are specialized variants of a single module intended for specific and complementary purposes The foremost difference between players is in the file formats they each support and even that distinction is not rigidly adhered to as we will see 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 Similarly the Sti player is meant for still images photos graphics and the like but you
11. 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 187 The term Matte refers to a black and white representation defining transparent background and opaque foreground parts of the image during compositing Portions of the matte that are grey are treated as semi transparent which is very useful in progressively smoothing edges between foreground source material and inserted background imagery TriCaster s matte is a digital version of this traditional tool The controls under the Matte label as you would expect allow you to define and adjust the matte for the corresponding video input 11 2 1 COLOR Initially LiveMatte removes a specific color from the foreground image This color is chosen using the Color button To choose this key color click on the Color button Figure 187 and keep the mouse button depressed Drag the eyedropper tool over one of the video monitors to choose the color you wish to remove and then release it The neighboring color well is updated to show the color selected 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 TriC
12. TriCaster 455 presents Network controls in External Audio Figure 25 There is a source Type selector drop down at the top of the control panels for each Input Clicking it reveals the list of Connection Types Figure 26 Options include Mic 1 2 with and without phantom power Line SDI Embedded and in some cases Line Quad The latter option combines two neighboring input pairs as a one 4 channel source governed by a single Gain slider After connecting audio sources to the input connectors see also RUDER Section 3 5 1 the first thing to do is set the correct Type using the drop down menu e Select Mic 1 2 for professional grade microphones or other low impedance connections use the Phantom option for condenser microphones requiring supplementary power e Choose Line for higher impedance device connections such as a CD player computer audio output or VCR or Line Quad where required e Select SDI Embedded to access digital audio from an SDI video source Note Analog levels conform to SMPTE RP 155 The maximum input output level is 24 dBu nominal input level 4 dBu 20dBFS and the sample rate is 96 kHz The Gain sliders next to the VU meters default to their lowest settings on first launch After adding audio sources slowly bring these sliders up to pass their signals through the system Hint Most numeric controls in TriCaster can be reset to their defaults using Shift double click on the control
13. TriCaster automatically presents the current session s Frame Buffer folder using the network share name Frame Buffer This arrangement allows Frame Buffer files to be individually updated across a network using any suitable graphics application such as Photoshop or similar method When you save the edited image the remote copy on the TriCaster is immediately updated even if it is currently displayed live This allows you to refresh an overlay virtually instantly using your graphics software of choice from any computer with a network connection Frame Buffer files are stored using the popular 32 bit PNG Portable Network Graphics image format The specific file associated with any Frame Buffer is easily identified by its unique name overlay_1 png virtual_input_1 png etc Note This special share name assignment is dynamic It is automatically updated whenever you enter a session with network sharing enabled to ensure that applications on the remote system can access and update Frame Buffer graphics for the current or most recent TriCaster session 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 Opening the pop up Title Page Ed
14. We can use a few of the unique features of Virtual Inputs to dress up our production For example we might want to transpose the greenscreen talent shot to one side placing it off center in the result 100 0 100 0 Figure 74 1 Click the Position button just to the right of the Input A row to open the Position panel Figure 74 for Input A 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 You can drag the mouse over the top buttons in each group to freely adjust Position Rotation or Size on multiple axes at once or use the numeric sliders below to adjust just one property As currently configured Program output displays the result of changes you make of course during a live production you d likely use Preview to set this up instead Hint When the Lock padlock button for the Size controls is lit vertical and horizontal adjustments are locked together adjusting one affects both When unlocked the vertical and horizontal scaling factors are independent Drag vertically over the magnifying glass button to modify vertical scale or drag laterally to adjust the horizontal scale Another way to constrain the action to one axis is to hold down the
15. e Look Ahead Preview and Program output monitors 2 Live Control e Switcher rows Utility Program and Preview with Delegate buttons e Transition controls Delegate buttons T bar video layer configuration and control 3 Tabbed Modules e Media Players DDRs etc e Virtual Inputs e Audio Mixers 6 3 A FEW HINTS You will find various types of user controls in TriCaster s Live Desktop Some examples are shown in the table below Several convenience features are associated with these controls As you would expect all slider controls whether their motion is vertical or horizontal can be set to a new value by holding down the left mouse button and dragging in the same direction as the control s orientation Hold down the keyboard Shift key and double click most controls to reset the associated value to its factory default Slider vertical Gain Balance or horizontal single value Radial slider Position Size two value Rotate Rotary Knob Audio Input 1 single value Trim Combo Slider Speed Zoom Duration Drag in line with the control s orientation to raise or lower the current value Drag up down to adjust one value left right to adjust the other value or diagonally to adjust two values simultaneously Drag left right to adjust the current value Drag in line with the control s orientation to raise or lower the current value click to type in a new value or select from the me
16. 13 2 2 EFFECTS TRANSITIONS This control group governs the embedded sound from Animation Store Transitions 13 2 3 MEDIA PLAYERS Video and audio only files in DDR 1 and 2 playlists along with audio files in the Sounds player may contain one or more audio channels At most Media Players output the first four audio channels of multiple channels additional embedded streams are ignored The options and controls in these sub panels are similar to those in the input control panels with the obvious exception that a Connection Type menu is unnecessary Note See also Sections 13 1 5 Audio Groups and the heading Follow in Section 13 1 4 13 3 OUTPUT CONTROLS Each of the audio sources discussed earlier provides its own contribution to TriCaster s audio output mix Settings in the output control panels in the Internal Audio tab take effect downstream from all sources further governing audio levels sent to two different sets of output connectors plus headphones and when in use the Internet stream 13 3 1 AUX AND STREAM Aux Output as you might expect controls audio sent to the four AUX output connectors An important control in this group is the Source drop down menu This allows you to decide to supply sound to the AUX outputs exclusively from one of the following selections e DDR1 The meters show the levels for audio the first 4 channels from DDR 1 output which are individually sent to AUX output connectors 2a
17. 13 5 PRESET BIN Audio presets work just like their counterparts in the Media Players Presets are a convenient way to quickly store and recall audio steps and settings for different venues productions and users Hint When you roll the mouse to the edge of the screen the very same Audio Preset bin appears either at left in External Audio or at right in the Internal Audio tab In other words there is just one uniform set of Audio presets rather than one for each tab 14 NETWORK SOURCES The network source features of your TriCaster are very useful TriCaster supports two simultaneous network sources so you can live switch displays from networked computers as part of your productions Connecting to a networked workstation or laptop computer running LiveText NewTek s powerful realtime title and graphics 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 External computer display inputs served across a network can be selected as video sources in TriCaster s live production environment Potential sources include displays from network connected Windows or OS X based computer systems via iVGA and text and graphics overlays from LiveText The currently selected Network sources are directly available for selection on the Switcher and can of course be capt
18. 16 9 too while for SD 4 3 sessions output is of course formatted as 4 3 Aux row video output is uniquely configurable within certain limitations for different session formats For example during an HD session you can output either HD or SD video from Row 3 and SD video output can be either a 16 9 widescreen format or one cropped for display on a 4 3 television see Section 7 1 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 Note See Section 7 1 for more information on Video Output configurations Having made your selections you would normally click the Start Session button at lower right to launch TriCaster s Live Desktop but first let s explore the features of the Home Page a bit more 5 2 2 OPEN SESSION If there are existing sessions on TriCaster the icon ring on the Home Page will default to Open Figure 93 Shutdown Figure 93 Selecting Open causes the Sessions List to appear at right This pane lists all sessions stored on qualified media currently mounted on TriCaster Sessions are listed separately under the name of the storage volume they are located on Figure 94 The listing shows the Session Name and video Format for each one Let s look at a
19. 297 Get stubborn clips to play in the DDR cccccoccnccncccnncnccnnnnnnnnnnnncnnonnnnnnonononnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnanenonos 298 BLA OA E A E 298 A o EE eo eansanaumeaseactameeoseaas 298 A A OU PIES 299 Change the colors for an entire title playlist at ONCE cccooonccnnnccnonnnnnononennnnnnnnnnnnnonanoss 300 Get live title pages cgxml to respect all LiveTEXT font attributes ccccooonnccnccnnnccnnnnnnnos 301 Prepare a matched group of virtual inputs ccccccoooccnnnncnnncnnnnonanonnnononanonnnonanonnnnnonacnnnnnns 301 Improve the quality of Multiview output occcccocccnncccnoncnnnnonanonnnonnnnnnnnnonannnnnnnnannnnnnnnannnnnnnos 302 View Media Player time data on Multiview out when set to All Sources ooccccccconccnncn 302 E sass ac A E ds o o e O A 302 Manage Mesta 302 Change the MPEG 2 Recording quality ooooccnccoocnccconnnnnoncnnncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnanonononcnnonanenonos 302 impor meda Metas is 303 Connect alpha Matte OUtpUt occcccocccccncconccnncnnononennnnnnnnnnnnnnnononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrnnonaninonns 303 Prepare Clips with Embedded Alpha Channel ccccccssssecceceseeceeceesseceeseeeseceeseeaeeeesseees 303 Import Clips with Embedded Alpha Channel occcooccnccccoccnccnccnnonnnonnnoncnnncnnonnnnanononnnnnnnnanonos 303 Prepare clips for TriCaster playback using Apple Final Cut Pro oooccnncccocnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnos 304 Add an external Fil
20. 4 3 SDI Component e 720 30p SDI Component e 480i 4 3 SDI Y C Composite AUDIO SOURCE The audio options portion of the Aux control group allows you to choose which Audio accompanies the Aux video output in two situations Firstly this setting determines which audio stream is captured to a file by TriCaster s Record feature when it is configured to record Aux Additionally it governs the embedded audio accompanying the Aux row s SDI video output 10801 SDI Component Figure 129 Aux options for TriCaster systems include a switch labeled Output Alpha Matte This feature can be used independently or complement the Act as Alpha option discussed in Section 7 2 2 An alpha matte can be automatically derived from any suitable source It might be the matte from a LiveMatte keyer effect allowing Aux output to support downstream compositing of the full color source or it could be drawn from the Title player or even a pass through from an upstream alpha channel source 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 7 15 FAILSAFE Failsafe Figure 130 TriCaster s comprehensive hardware and software failsafe system provides audio and video passthrough in all but a no power state
21. 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 e Right click a playlist icon and choose Send to Frame Buffer from the playlist context menu e Select FRM BFR or the specific Virtual Input Overlay you wish to the file to be assigned to from the hierarchical menu This actually copies the selected image into a specially provided folder located on the hard drive at C TriCaster Effects Frame Buffer session_name The copied image file remains available in that folder even when the original file is not only unavailable from the playlist but has actually been deleted from the hard drive Naturally if an image has previously been assigned to this particular Frame Buffer the current file is overwritten by the new one This has no effect on the original source image or title page however only the Frame Buffer copy is affected Hint Title pages sent to a Frame Buffer are converted to a snapshot that is an image before the copy operation is performed Modifying the source title page subsequently in the playlist does not affect the copy in the Frame Buffer To update the Frame Buffer copy simply use the Send to Frame Buffer menu item again after modifying the source title page gt 10 3 1 UNIQUE ADVANTAGES Several charac
22. D llas Abilene Forth Worth 5 day Forecast 62 74 65 68 61 Figure 70 1 Change the Switcher s Program row selection to V1 and enable the BKGD delegate button in the Transition section of the Switcher 2 Remove any extraneous DSKs left from earlier operations from view using the local Take buttons in the Transition section of the Switcher Figure 71 Click the tab labeled V1 Figure 71 below the Switcher to reveal the panel for Virtual Input 1 Make sure the current LiveSet selection shown at upper left just below the tab is Default gt A over B Figure 71 Figure 72 5 Notice that the lower portion of the Virtual Input panel contains two source button rows labeled Input A and Input B Figure 72 a Select DDR 1 in the button row labeled nput A b Select the Graphics or Still button in the nput B row Click the DDR 1 tab and Add the video clip named Kiki 1 Center mpg from the Green Screen group inside the Clips gt NewTek location Click the Graphics or Still tab and add the image named texas_weathermap png from Practice Session under Still in the Location list If you are not already viewing All Monitors click that tab at the top of TriCaster s Live Desktop Move your mouse pointer over the DDR 1 monitor and click the Configure button gear that pops up at right in the titlebar above the monitor 10 Click the LiveMatte tab in the Configuration panel that opens Spill Suppres
23. 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 projects external data that has not been imported will not be deleted See Section 5 2 2 for more information A 2 7 MANAGE SELECTED CONTENT INSIDE A SESSION 1 Click the name of the session containing the content you wish to delete in the Home Page of the Startup Screen 2 Click the Manage icon on the Session Page 3 Under Browse at right click the link for the type of content you wish to manage see the sub heading Manage in Section 5 3 A 2 8 RENAME A SESSION 1 Make sure all drives that have session data on them such as captured clips are inserted 2 Right click the name of the session you want to rename in the Home Page of the Startup Screen and choose Rename from the menu that appears A 2 9 DUPLICATE A SESSION It can be very useful to make a copy of a session For example it might often take less time to modify a copy of an existing session than to configure an entirely new one 1 Backup a session see Section A 2 4 2 Rename the current session see Section A 2 8 3 Restore the backed up session see Section A 2 5 A 3 LIVE PRODUCTION A 3 1 MAKE CUSTOM TRANSITIONS AND LIVESETS The Animation Store Creator application is included with TriCaster Its documentation can be a
24. Shift Backspace Ctri b Alt Shift Alt Alt Shift Alt Alt Shift Alt Alt Backspace Shift Alt Backspace a S Shift a Shift s and comma and period Ctrl f Restore Last Transition Transition Slow Medium Fast Transition Increase Speed Transition Decrease Speed Toggle Reverse Transition On Off Ping Pong Transition off on D 2 T BAR Take Take T Bar Back to Top Transition Go Pause Auto Reverse Adjust T Bar Down Up Halfway T Bar Take D 3 VIRTUAL INPUTS Activate Zoom Preset 1 for Virtual Input selected on Program Activate Zoom Preset 2 for Virtual Input selected on Program Activate Zoom Preset 3 for Virtual Input selected on Program Activate Zoom Preset 4 for Virtual Input selected on Program Activate Zoom Preset 1 for Virtual Input selected on Preview Activate Zoom Preset 2 for Virtual Input selected on Preview Activate Zoom Preset 3 for Virtual Input selected on Preview Activate Zoom Preset 4 for Virtual Input selected on Preview D 4 RECORD AND GRAB Record on off Grab still image Shift Ctrl f rA Gm e Shift c Shift z e Alt e Return Key Shift Return Spacebar Shift Spacebar t Shift t faster add Alt h Alt F1 Alt F2 Alt F3 Alt F4 Alt F5 Alt F6 Alt F7 Alt F8 r Shift r p D 5 TABS Show DDR 1 tab Show V1 Vx tab Show External Audio tab Show DDR 2 tab Show Sti
25. Stay signed in Can t access your account Don t have an account Sign up for YouTube 2011 YouTube LLC Terms of Use Privacy Policy Help Community Guidelines Contact The panel is comprised of three bands e The uppermost contains the controls for creating and managing Connection profiles along with familiar web browser navigation tools e The larger area beneath this displays the current webpage if any e Finally beneath this is the footer which contains a status line and OK button 15 1 1 COMPACT VIEW oOo Configure Stream Connection A Unnamed Connection Figure 234 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 234 15 2 WEB BROWSER A simple set of navigation controls Figure 235 is provided above the Web Browser viewport an AAA CA http www akamai com Figure 235 Easily recognizable Backward Forward and Refresh buttons operate just like those on a typical web browser The URL field allows you to type in a webpage address and access it using the Go button at right The operation of the Home button varies a bit from familiar usage and bears a little explanation dea R y pea he i a aiservice youtube passive 4nL Figure 236 It helps to understand the distinction when you recall that this is not a gener
26. amp Crop tab of Input Configuration Position controls are grouped at right Located at the top of this section are three interactive buttons from left to right these represent Position Rotation and Size Click and drag on Position to adjust the location of the source within the output frame It is useful to display the corresponding Virtual Input using the Switcher s Preview row while making adjustments Notice that by dragging left or right on either of the two numeric gadgets below you can adjust Position on a single axis Hint If you click a numeric field a second time or right click it you can type a value into the gadget using the keyboard press Enter to complete the editing action or Esc to cancel it In similar fashion drag the pointer over the Rotation button with the left mouse button pressed to turn the source in 3D space as follows e Drag left right to rotate the source about the Y vertical axis e Drag up down to rotate the source about the X horizontal axis e Hold down Alt on the keyboard while dragging to rotate about the Z axis e Drag on a single numeric slider below or hold down Ctrl while dragging to constrain rotation to one axis Dragging the mouse on the Size button magnifying glass affects the scale of the overlay When the nearby lock button is enabled dragging in any direction affects size equally on both axes Otherwise dragging vertically changes the height of the overlay and
27. e 720x576 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by SDI input connectors e Optionally carries embedded audio 1576 25i Y C e PAL S Video analog format standard definition interlaced e 720x576 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y and Pb input connectors e PAL analog format standard definition interlaced e 720x576 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y input connector Multi standard TriCaster PAL connection type 7 2 2 ACTAS 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 chromakeying systems such as Ultimatte To use this feature select Act as Alpha Camera l Conthourton Camera lt _LOnngurtion Channel for Input as the Connection Type in the Input Configuration panel for an even numbered input Component MEN 16 9 Composite fe Lad 3 SD Component me po rie A Composite Figure 135 Note The input configuration video format and connection type for the alpha input is automatically configured
28. gt FX O O e Selecting a DSK 1 or 2 delegate allows direct selection of the associated DSK source e When you make a delegate selection the Utility row button corresponding to the source currently assigned to that delegate lights up e Foranew multi delegate selection whose current sources are different no buttons are initially lit e Atall times the source currently assigned to a delegate is listed above its button in the Utility Delegate group 8 1 2 PROGRAM AND PREVIEW The Program row selection determines the dominant video stream of the Background BKGD video layer the bottom most layer of the composition shown on Program output Other sources may be mixed into the Background layer at times as Normally the Preview row selection determines which source is queued up for display in the Background layer by the next BKGD Figure 145 The Program and Preview rows are extended with buttons labeled V1 to either V4 or V8 depending on the TriCaster model These buttons control display of the composite output of TriCaster s Virtual Inputs Chapter 11 8 2 VIDEO LAYERS The understanding how TriCaster s concept of video layers is central to Switcher and Transition controls relate to one another and how they combine to form the video seen on Program Out TriCaster s Background layer often shortened to simply BKGD is always the base for the video composition displayed on Program o
29. install the MainConcept AAC Encoder for Flash onccnccc 309 Restore TriCaster software ccccsssscccccsessececcseeecccccaesecceesauseecessaaeseeesseenseeeeseausecessanaeeeessaees 309 Avoid file path problems due to unique characters in some languages ceecceeeseeeeeeees 312 Registration and Tech SUPPOSt scscccccsseseecccnesececcsusseccccaenseccssauseeesscauseesssauasecsssauseesssauneeeseas 312 PRIS TICS TO dodo 312 Access Technical Support eksssxesnacusaaneantsarxeuesaosavvasoansaesanessen aneusdvadoanasvsanvarcassastaneexbansauecevantes 313 Find TriCaster s hardware firmware revision numbers cccseeccceseccccesececcecececeececaaeeeees 313 Access System Administration Features ccccscccccssecccceeecceecccssusccsaeeeceseaecesseuseessaeeeesaaees 313 Return to TriCaster from Administrator Mode ccccccccssssececceeseececeeeseceeseeueeeeeseeaseeessuees 313 NUS COV COS aria er 313 Access WINDOWS sisas 313 Return to TriCaster from the WidOWS Desktop cooooocccncccnocccnnnonaconnnononononnnonanonnncnnnncnnnnnos 314 Add A Custom Streaming Profile to the Configure Stream Connection Panel 314 Supplement Does TriCaster support multi bitrate streaming profiles oo ooo o 316 Supplement s it better to use a Baseline or Main profile for H 264 encoding 317 More QUESTIONS and ANS WEIS 2 te 317 Can I do anything to improve la
30. notably these two http en wikipedia org wiki Push_technology http en wikipedia org wiki Pull_ technology Microsoft even hosts an animation on the subject at www microsoft com windows windowsmedia knowledgecenter wminaction streaming pushpull asx Ignore the detailed discussion of configuring the encoder and just enjoy the pretty pictures your TriCaster makes that part easy for you 15 7 PRODUCTION AND CAPTURE CONSIDERATIONS If you re not intent on live streaming but wish to capture a live switching session you would likely record at full resolution using the Record button rather than Stream The high quality captured files can then be used later in TriCaster s DDR edited in SpeedEDIT or even be transferred to another computer even on a different platform for external processing or editing Hint use an external hard drive to transfer the files between systems or simply transfer them across a local network You can always convert these files to a streaming file format if you later decide you d like to supply them for on demand Internet viewing This lets you retain best quality right through to final output When you eventually encode for streaming you can choose settings that best suit the intended audience and streaming environment At the very least if perhaps to save conversion time you capture video for web distribution it s best to capture it at least at the size that you intend for fin
31. or to produce another episode of a live series Perhaps you wish to do some video editing using SpeedEDIT to prepare some title pages for an upcoming event or to perform system maintenance We ll look into each of these in turn but first let s consider a fundamental TriCaster concept the session What is a session and why are sessions both important and valuable to you 5 1 INTRODUCTION TO SESSIONS Whenever you work with TriCaster you provide certain information about the production environment e 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 e If your task includes cameras or other live sources are they HD SD or both e How are cameras connected are you perhaps using component or SDI connections or a mixture of several types As you continue you may make other adjustments relevant to your current production requirements e You might calibrate your cameras individually using the Proc Amp settings in the nput Configuration panels e f your production plans include the use of greenscreen staging you will adjust the LiveMatte settings for one or more cameras to provide optimal keying e Perhaps you will use the output Proc Amps to adjust the display sent to a projection system e What are your output device connection preferences For example will you send video to a local reference monitor using an S Video or
32. so it s not something you want to begin just before an important event Backup or Restore System A complete set of Backup and Restore features are available to help in the event of an unforeseen problem We strongly encourage you to protect against any unforeseen occurrence by using the Backup feature soon after registering TriCaster Please refer to Section A 5 7 in Appendix A for details Command Window Open a system command line window allowing you among other things to use advanced commands to manage your system and network settings Swap Primary Monitor reverse the monitor assignments currently in use for TriCaster s interface and Multiview displays SETTINGS Regions and Language Open the system language control panel Advanced Keyboard Open the system keyboard controls panel Date and time Open the system keyboard controls panel Configure Network Open the system network controls panel Display Open the system display controls panel useful for configuring multiple monitors among other things Fonts Open the system font management console allowing you to add that new font your client wants you to use for their title pages System Name It can be very useful to modify the default name your TriCaster is identified on the network This is especially true when more than one TriCaster might be on the same network The System Name feature opens the System Properties console s Com
33. 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 Launch TriCaster and click the Open icon on the Home Page of the Startup Screen 9 Click the Eject gadget at upper right on the screen and select the hard drive you wish to safely disconnect see Section 5 2 2 OF 10 Click the Eject button in the titlebar of the Live Desktop see Section 6 5 2 A 1 10 CONNECT TALLY LIGHTS External tally light devices and their connections vary widely Please refer to Section 3 9 1 for details on TriCaster s tally light jack implementation A 1 11 CONNECT TO A NETWORK Please refer to Section 3 18 and Chapter 14 A 1 12 LOCATE A SPECIFIC TRICASTER ON MY NETWORK Please refer to Section 3 2 for details on giving your TriCasters unique network names A 1 13 CONNECT TO AN AIRPLAY SOURCE The local network the same network you connect TriCaster to is the means of transmission for AirPlay and a wireless connection from the player to the network is perfectly acceptable 1 Select the AirPlay entry in the Source menu for Net 1 or Net 2 just as you would select an iVGA or LiveText source TriCaster identifies itself as a potential client devic
34. 2 4 4 TIMECODE e TriCaster generates and displays local timecode based on the system clock e MPEG 2 recordings include full per frame time code e TriCaster supports industry standard LTC external timecode e lIsoCorder multi stream recording allows recorded clips from multiple sources to easily be aligned for synchronized post show editing using their embedded timecode 2 4 55 ALPHA CHANNEL I O e TriCaster allows alternate video inputs to be configured as alpha channel inputs for the TriCaster Switcher e Alpha channel output is supported on TriCaster s Aux video output channel 2 4 6 MONITORING Figure 3 TriCaster s Live Desktop includes large Program output and Look Ahead Preview monitors with associated controls Also freely toggle between viewing e All Monitors onscreen monitors for all sources Figure 3 e External Monitors Live video sources supplied to TriCaster s video inputs e Internal Monitors all internal sources including Media Players and Network sources e Scopes Waveform and Vectorscope monitors and full color source monitor e Secondary Multiview monitor output options including o All sources plus Preview Program and clock o Waveform Vectorscope and video monitor o More 2 4 7 VIDEO PROCESSING e Proc Amps for every source preserve pristine image and color fidelity through the entire pipeline to final output e Separate control over the Brightness Contrast
35. 3 LATENCY AND YOUR TRICASTER TriCaster is a wonderful tool in the IMAG arsenal but inevitably it is only one albeit critical link in a chain of devices It is common for each device to contribute a little to the combined total latency for the system TriCaster s portion of the total latency sum is well within acceptable standards for devices of this sort the actual amount can vary slightly within this range depending on several factors 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 almost one entire frame until its turn comes How can you achieve the lowest possible latency for the TriCaster section of the IMAG chain One trick is to Genlock your cameras to the TriCaster output see Sections 3 6 3 16 and 7 1 7 This allows TriCaster to bypass its input time base correctors ensuring latency is consistent during switching operations Hint you can actually assess the latency of your TriCaster installation fairly easily Run timecode directly to 1 a monitor and at the same time 2 through the TriCaster to a second identical monitor Take a photograph that encompasses both monitors and compare the timecode shown B 3 4 OTHER S
36. 4 Turn on the computer monitor P he P itch 5 ress the Power switch located on A word about UPS devices TriCaster s faceplate Modified popular due to low manufacturing costs sine wave UPS devices are At this point the blue Power LED will illuminate and the adjacent hard drive i However such units should generally be activity light should flicker as the device l E id i keik viewed as being of low quality and possibly DOUP AINIS Coss NOE NAPPEN ENAC inadequate to fully protect the system from your connections and retry abnormal power events Though not a requirement we do strongly For a modest added cost consider a pure recommend that you connect TriCaster usin y 5 sine wave UPS These units can be relied pana Power SUBE as on to supply very clean power eliminating for any mission critical system Likewise y y f potential problems and are recommended consider A C power conditioning ee nae l l P for applications demanding high reliability especially in situations where local power is unreliable or noisy Surge protection is especially important in some locales Power conditioners can reduce wear on TriCaster s power supplies and other electronics and provide a further measure of protection from surges spikes lightning and high voltage 3 2 ACTIVATING AUTHORIZING WINDOWS Your dealer may have performed this operation for yo
37. Balance knob will result in Gain being applied equally to the left and right channels Sliding the knob to the left decreases the gain applied to the right channel channel 2 while moving to the right of center decreases the gain applied to the left channel 1 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 Sliding Balance to the left decreases Gain for channels 2 and 4 the notionally right channels and so on The largest portion part of the individual control panels is devoted to VU Volume Unit meters with Gain control knobs The VU meters displayed vary depending on the Connection Type The default calibration of the VU scale also varies according to source type but can be changed to taste Two VU Meters are displayed when an analog Connection Type is set to a Mic option with individual knobs to control the Gain for each input channel When the Connection Type is Line the VU meter displays the levels for the two analog input channels controlled by a single Gain knob Also the Pan sliders are replaced with a Balance control Figure 214 Other connection Type selections and sources display a single VU meter with either two or four lev
38. Center the Balance control once again so that you hear the mid tone exclusively from the left speaker and higher tone from the right only 14 Click the Mono switch Notice that now a blend of the channel 1 mid range tone and channel 2 higher tone issue from both speakers 15 To confirm that for yourself slide the Balance knob to the extreme left Although sound is now issuing only from the left speaker you can hear both tones 16 Click Stop in the Sound player Note the Mono switch has no effect on channels 3 and 4 These two channels are never blended with channels 1 and 2 on output 4 4 2 PAN 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 Sliding the Pan knob left or right actually moves or pans the audio from its original channel onto its neighbor For example when the Pan knob for Mic 2 is at the extreme right all of the sound from that source is sent to output channel 2 Moving the slider leftward places an increasing amount of the sound from Mic 2 on output channel 1 Pan Figure 40 When the slider reaches the extreme left position the sound from Mic 2 is now entirely sent to output channel 1 Hint In their default center position the two Pan controls have exactly the same effect as clicki
39. Facilities such as hotels or convention centers will usually not provide a public IP address Even if they do getting them to open holes in their firewall is next to impossible o If TriCaster is behind a router your router must be configured to port forward o Requires significant bandwidth for example with TriCaster connected to the Internet by a DSL or Cable Modem line upload bandwidth is often less than 400kbits second Allowing for network overhead at best a 320kbit steam can be accommodated This bandwidth would be fully consumed by two viewers watching 160kbit streams or a single viewer pulling a 170 320kbit stream Even a T1 digital line can only handle four simultaneous 300kbit streams 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 This method worked passably until firewalls became more common Y Advantages o Pull doesn t waste bandwidth no signal is being sent out to the server unless somebody wants to view it o If you lose your connection to the provider side server the server will re connect to your encoder automatically when Interne
40. Genlock input on TriCaster s backplate is for connection of a house sync or reference signal often a black burst signal intended specifically for this purpose Many studios use this method to synchronize equipment in the video chain Genlocking is commonplace in higher end production environments and genlock connections are usually found on professional gear If your equipment allows you to do so you should genlock all cameras supplying TriCaster and TriCaster itself To genlock TriCaster supply the reference signal from the house sync generator to TriCaster s Genlock In connector 3 7 TIMECODE CONNECTION TriCaster supports external linear timecode LTC Connect the cable from your timecode generator to one of the connectors in Audio Input 7 for TriCaster 855 TriCaster 455 uses Audio Input 3 External timecode is enabled and configured in the Live Desktop see Sections 3 17 and 7 3 3 8 OUTPUT CONNECTIONS Next we ll discuss the audio and video output connectors along with relevant settings We ll start with video output not only so you can view your results but because some aspects are best considered before even beginning a TriCaster session 3 8 1 A V OUTPUT TriCaster provides separate video and audio output connector groups and very flexible options for display of your live and recorded video streams Here are some of the possibilities e Simultaneously send output to standard and or high de
41. Hue and Saturation for every video source along with White Balance and U and V Offset e Individual Proc Amp controls for Program and Multiview outputs 2 4 8 THE SWITCHER TriCaster s Switcher layout is consistent for all models but the number of inputs available varies TriCaster 455 provides a 14 channel switcher while TriCaster 855 offers 24 channel support AUXOUT DSK1 DSK2 Figure 4 TriCaster 455 DSK1 DSK2 FTB AUXOUT DSK1 Figure 5 TriCaster 855 The three row Utility Program and Preview Switcher allows you to freely hot punch between external sources Cameras or Network 1 or 2 internal sources Media Players and Virtual Inputs or Take Transition between Preview and Program sources 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 other purposes Figure 6 2 4 9 VIDEO LAYERS AND TRANSITIONS The Transition section of TriCaster s Live Desktop provides powerful tools for arranging and displaying the numerous video and graphic layers contributing to TriCaster s ultimate program output DSK1 DSK2 Figure 7 e Display of one or more user delegated video layers including FTB Fade to Black is controlled by the main T bar supplemented by one click Take or Auto buttons e Local Transition controls for BKGD Backgr
42. Just as we noted earlier Section 9 3 1 when discussing the All Monitors view rolling the mouse pointer over the preview panes in the External Monitors view presents a row of context sensitive buttons above These include a Configure button and other features relevant to the source represented by the individual monitors The function of these buttons is identical to the corresponding controls in the All Monitors tab 9 5 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 Again depending on the TriCaster model you may find other additions completing the array 9 6 SCOPES TAB NewTek TriCaster ITU R BT 709 Figure 166 A further and very valuable monitoring tab option is Scopes This selection presents a full color source video monitor along with Waveform and Vectorscope displays A drop down menu at upper left lets you choose whether the current reference source for the scopes and full color monitor is Preview Program or the FX row selection ia d FX e When set to Preview the two scopes and the associated monitor refer to the current Look Ahead Preview composition including any delegated DSK channels or FTB as source Figure 167 e The Program setting like
43. MUTE MONO AND BALANCE 1 Click the Sound tab at right below the Switcher area of the Live Desktop 2 Click the Add button in the Sound pane 3 Click the Practice Session entry under the heading Audio in the Location list at left this Location entry was created automatically when we imported files back in Section 4 2 Importing Content Media Browser My Media Locations Figure 37 4 Find the icon named 3tone_quad WAV in the file pane This is a four channel audio file with a mid range tone on channel 1 a higher tone on channel 2 while both channels 3 and 4 both carry a lower tone 5 Select the icon for this file and click OK to add this sound file to the DDR 1 playlist 6 Turn on both Single and Loop for the DDR then turn off Follow for DDR 1 Figure 38 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 see Figure 38 8 Click the Internal Audio tab and make sure audio for the Sound player is not muted 9 Set the Sound player Gain slider to OdB you can do this quickly by holding down the keyboard Shift key while double clicking the Gain knob 10 Click the Sound tab and then click the sound player s Play button If you have stereo speakers or headphones connected you should now hear two distinct ton
44. Picture Line Up Generation Equipment in the lower right area Figure 268 The images in this section have been adjusted slightly to accentuate the subtle differences in the black bars making up this region Figure 269 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 Our criteria for adjusting black level takes advantage of the fact that nothing in NTSC should ever be blacker than 7 5 IRE This means that when the monitor s black level is too bright both the 7 5 IRE and 3 5 IRE bars will be distinct Set properly it will be impossible to distinguish them from one another Conversely if the monitor s black level was too dark it would be impossible to distinguish between the lighter than NTSC black 10 5 IRE bar and its darker neighbors Here are steps you can follow 1 Having warmed the monitor up as described earlier start by enabling the monochrome switch if your monitor is so equipped otherwise turn the Color or Saturation knob all the way down 2 Set the monitor s Contrast knob to its center detent 3 Play with the Brightness knob until you can clearly discern the bars for all three black levels in the PLUGE 4 Gently turn Brightness down until
45. Record button Figure 58 it will illuminate and the neighboring timecode field will begin keeping track of the duration of your recording 9 After a little while press Record again to stop recording This configuration will record everything that is displayed on Program Output in this manner letting you capture your entire live production for posterity if you like it also provides a way for you to capture clips for playback from TriCaster s DDRs during your live events 4 7 2 GRAB i Still Configuration Figure 60 The Grab feature is similar to Record just described except of course that it grabs a fresh still image from Program Output each time you click the Grab button Also in place of an option to add the captured file s to a DDR you may enable an Add to Still Playlist switch with the result that every time you click Grab a new image is added to the Still Media Player 4 8 MEDIA PLAYERS 4 8 1 DDR 1 AND2 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 Show DDR 1 by clicking its tab beneath the Switcher A ma j ia M Figure 61 ADDING FILES Figure 62 2 Click the Add button in the DDR 1 pane Figure 62 to open a Media Browser 3 Click the name for your current TriCaster session Practice Session if yo
46. Resolution MENUT ri 283 Supplement After reconnecting monitors my Multiview and Interface monitor configuration is messed up What can I COP u csseccccccsssscccccaeseeccccaeecccesauecceesaueecessuansees 283 Connect a supported external control surface oocccccocccnccnncnnnnncnnnnnncnnnnnacnnonarononnarononanononos 284 Supplement TriCaster TCXD850 CS has suddenly stopped working What can do 284 Insert Remove a Drive From TriCaster s Removable Drive Bay cccccccccccecceeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeees 285 Supplement What hard drives are recommended for TriCaster c ccsecceesseceeeeeeeees 286 Connect an external hard drive cccccecccccsseccceescccceseccccesececeeseceeeecessegeceseueceeeeeceeeeeesetees 286 Elec Wea We UNI cantero sta 286 connec r aly NES ri 287 Connect to a network the Internet ccccccnncccccnnnnicnnnnnnnnocanononacicononanorcnnnnnnrrcnnonnnarinnnnnnoss 287 Locate a specific TriCaster ON My Network ccceeecccesseccceeecceceececeuseceeeeecessuecessueceeseneeess 287 Connect toan AirPlay SOUlCE ccssasswessesiasaznneedvessandeueynneaeveniussaneyataey ecauvansadedetaueabeeaaasebnoadsas 287 Why doesn t my AirPlay device list TriCaster as a target ccccsssescccccsssscccecasseceesaaseees 287 Supplement Why do some clips not play properly across an AirPlay connection 290 RESOIVEIVGA PRO Quirks isis iia 290 Enable termination for video inputs oooc
47. Serial Number found on your registration card and also on your TriCa case panties sia presented Note the following Product ID If necessary enter the unique TriCaster Serial Number and Product ID for your system TriCaster s video output will show a watermark If your TriCaster is not currently connected to the intemet please visit http register newtek com on another computer or at a later time z until the system is registered and unlocked by Click here to visit register newtek com and get a registration code entering the registration code Enter your Registration Code Figure 13 Hint If the Serial number doesn t appear automatically and you can t find it on your unit you can obtain it from the registration webpage mentioned in the next section or by calling Customer Support Desk open seven days a week You can register and obtain your registration code either by telephone or online directly from TriCaster or from another system connected to the Internet as described next Hint For later convenience record the registration code for your TriCaster on the sticker provided for the purpose inside the front access panel of the system 3 3 1 ONLINE REGISTRATION If you have connected your TriCaster to the Internet simply click the button under Step 2 in the registration dialog This will take you to the Registration page http register newtek com in the Customer Care section of NewTek
48. System Utilities under Administrator Mode in Section 5 2 3 This process can take considerable time so it s best not to commence unless time before a production permits A 5 2 RESOLVE SERIOUS INSTABILITY OR DROPPED FRAMES If the system becomes seriously unstable or is dropping frames with known compatible video files after the warm up period consider a full System Restore see item A 5 7 A 5 3 UPDATE TRICASTER 1 Click the Shut Down icon on the Home Page of the Startup Screen 2 Click the Administrator Mode link at right to exit the TriCaster environment 3 In the Administrator Mode screen click Update TriCaster under the System Utilities heading and follow directions provided see the heading System Utilities under Administrator Mode in Section 5 2 3 A 5 4 UPDATE THE FLASH AND OR WINDOWS MEDIA ENCODER TriCaster is not designed to be user upgradeable For certain features to work correctly specific versions of third party utilities must be present These applications are upgraded in timely fashion in official TriCaster updates It is quite likely that any attempt to update these manually will have unintended results and you are strongly cautioned against doing so A 5 5 INSTALL VIRUS PROTECTION Virus and malware protection applications can dramatically impact system performance this is true even for Windows Defender which is deliberately disabled for this reason In general once additional softw
49. 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 Choosing NTSC as the session Video Standard results in a Connection Type list with appropriate formats and it is similar for NTSC J Changing from one Video Standard to another requires opening a new session Hint All connected cameras must conform to the current Video Standard for the session The standard options are i 1080i Component e Analog source high definition interlaced e 1080 60i or 11080 50i e 1920x1080 pixels 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y Pr and Pb input connectors 1080i SDI e Digital source high definition interlaced e 1080 60i or 11080 50i e 1920x1080 pixels 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by SDI input connectors e Optionally carries embedded audio 1080 30p SDI 1080 30pPaf SDI 1080 24p SDI 1080 24PsF SDI 11080 25p SDI 11080 25pPsF SDI e Digital source high definition progressive scan PsF is a hybrid e 1920x1080 pixels 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by SDI input connectors e Optionally carries embedded audio 720 60p Component 1720 50p Component e Analog source high definition progressive scan e 1280x720 pixels 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y Pr and Pb input connectors 72
50. What is the best session format for streaming A We strongly recommend that you use a progressive video format for sessions you intend primarily for streaming 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 A 2 3 WORK ON A STORED SESSION 1 Click the Open icon in the Home Page of the Startup Screen 2 Click the name of the session you want to re open A 2 4 BACKUP A SESSION 1 Open the TriCaster session you wish to backup 2 Click the Manage icon in the Startup Screen s Session Page then click the Backup Session button below the Browse list 3 Ifthe session has external files in its playlists choose one of the options from the dialog that opens next 4 Use the system file explorer that opens next to select the location for the backup file and click OK This process can take considerable time if the session has a lot of content in such cases it s best not to commence unless time before a production permits See Backup Session under Section 5 3 for more detail A 2 5 RESTORE A SESSION 1 Click the Open icon the Home Page of the Startup Screen 2 Click the Restore Session Backup link at the bottom of the Sessions list as right 3 Navigate to and select the previously stored session backup file and click Open A 2 6 DELETE A SESSION AND ITS CONTENT 1
51. a PAL example common throughout European nations Figure 264 NTSC Figure 265 PAL You can use color bars in conjunction with TriCaster s Waveform and Vectorscope to make sure the video supplied to the Switcher is consistent accurate and broadcast legal Most video cameras are capable of displaying color bars check your camera manual to see how to display these given a choice use 75 bars Then look at the Vectorscope to see how it traces the individual colors comprising the image Figure 266 The Vectorscope graticule has six distinct rectangular targets one each for Yellow Red Magenta Cyan Blue and Green The targets are small rectangles with a cross hair superimposed on them 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 267 Figure 267 If the trace vectors do not line up as they should even after performing a white balance at the camera you can use TriCaster s Proc Amp controls to tweak the signal Adjust the Hue control to rotate the vectors around the center point to line them up correctly on their respective targets Increasing Saturation will move the trace further out towards the edge of the scope Decreasing Saturation lowers color intensity bringing the trace back closer to the center Hint Naturally you should repeat the steps above for each connected source to
52. aMSN 87 4123 PUSHPA Fase a a 89 AAPA Capt ring the tea Mi dt a vadedentusdecdei a 89 E A A E E 91 5 Tne startup Stren ti cwc cena e ces eee iene anna he cacaaeieeuicaaeeaeceee senel unu none vas iueuiesau ures states 93 5 1 Introduction O SCS SIONS a a eaten 94 5 2 meone POG A E ETTE E deg E ETTE Eisen 95 5 2 1 NewiSessio Nanita 96 5 2 2 Open Session sd lddetas 98 5 2 3 SOUTO WA delo do cccocito 100 5 2 4 LN 105 5 2 5 O r oe tcinnse A E a A N 105 5 3 Meses On POJE A PP A A 106 5 3 1 WNC P EE E A E E A E E E E A E AT 106 5 3 2 A E E neuen 107 5 3 3 Manage eiii a a a a nantes 108 6 Live Desktop OVERVIEW ran ii 117 6 1 Display Requirements ari nn a 117 6 2 OVC W AA EA ETE EE 118 6 3 A OW AICS tia AAA 118 6 4 CUSTOMIZING the LVE DESKTOP sireno a E E A ven Meebo 119 6 4 1 Desktop OD TIOMSIIV GWU tia a da aia 119 6 4 2 O 120 6 4 3 Dual Displays and Monitoring miccional dai tai 121 6 5 TED TIOS A aio 122 6 5 1 STOUSS Balle chasse scewntsaaas vamnnees vanannuaeesness pauses N ratuanaE SONOS 123 6 5 2 O O E TA A A TAO ceeas 123 7 NZ O ECONTMBULATION asione o a Oa a aO TE 125 7 1 OUTBUE CON FIGUIACION vas dE Geneva sav AAA AAA 125 7 1 1 CUTIE CORE ONS aces acc cate A 126 7 1 2 AN 127 7 1 3 SD Analog CONNECHON Sada 129 7 1 4 PRUE CUNO nia 130 LAS E E a E AEE E PA N EE IEE E A E N I A ETS 132 7 1 6 MAUVE OPI de 133 7 1 7 ETE y OC OPEP Oo E O eee 135 7 1 8 Center Frequentes nos 137 7 2 INPUECON AQUA O add taa 137 7
53. and Program monitors share identical backgrounds e Delegated DSK layers are shown above the background on Preview according to their current state That is if a delegated DSK layer is currently displayed on Program output it does not appear on Preview since the next transition would remove it 9 3 ALL MONITORS TAB Figure 161 Click the All Monitors tab at upper left to reveal a group of preview windows These previews often referred to as SO 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 Generally monitors are provided for all live Camera inputs along with previews for Media Players Additional monitors show your current Network external source selection if any 9 3 1 CONTEXTUAL TOOLS Additional controls pop up when you move your mouse pointer over the onscreen monitors The controls provided vary according to the source type represented by the monitor Figure 162 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 Note Audio is not affected by the Freeze feature Additional controls appear
54. are not prevented from adding title pages to its playlist if you like you can even edit a title page in Still just as you can in Title You can see that the difference in these two modules is really no difference at all And as mentioned earlier TriCaster 455 models combine the functionality of both Still and Title players in a unified Graphics module Of the various Media Players however only the two DDRs have the capability to play video clips including motion titles such as scrolls Like the other two though it can also host images audio files or title pages The purpose of the Sound player is self explanatory and perhaps it is obvious why it alone is not represented by a Switcher row button Sound will play back standard wav or mp3 format audio files but does not support graphics or clips of any sort Its controls are similar to other Media Players with the exceptions that no Autoplay or Speed controls are provided 10 2 SHARED FEATURES Individual Media Players are accessed by clicking tabs in the lower 1 3 of TriCaster s Live Desktop Each appears as a half screen width panel 10 2 1 PLAYLISTS The dominant feature of all of TriCaster s Media Players is a storyboard style playlist that is used to organize content for use during your live productions Sayre E thee bh ol wv eh tn hp then oe Figure 169 This arrangement offers large thumbnail icons for each entry A scrollbar at right
55. composite cable etc Do you intend to connect to a projection system What external audio connections and adjustments are required e You might create a playlist of custom title pages in a Media Player along with preset and playlists for clips in the DDRs During the course of the actual live production you may perform further fine tuning and also add to the media content available e You could grab a series of still images from Program Output e And capture the network Stream output as a file The list of adjustments activities and assets involved in a specific production goes on but the main point to grasp here is that the session is comprised of all of the above collectively Assuming you do not deliberately delete the session all of your session media and all of your session settings are ready for immediate recall 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 This greatly simplifies business models that involve regular trips to several locations a number of unique episodic programs or different users with their own specific needs 5 2 THE HOME PAGE Figure
56. connectors are easily accessible from the rear for convenient installation in industry standard 19 rack mount configurations Audio and video connectors are industry standard XLR phono or BNC as appropriate ensuring broad compatibility and secure locked connections Headphone Output uses a standard 1 4 stereo phone jack and an HDMI port supplies an added Program output _TRICASTER 855 Rugged 4U rack mount case with redundant power supplies ensures robust reliable and quiet performance in fixed or mobile installations 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 All audio and video monitoring and network connectors are easily accessible from the rear for convenient installation in industry standard 19 rack mount configurations Audio and video connectors are industry standard XLR 4 phono or BNC as appropriate ensuring broad compatibility and secure locked connections Headphone output uses a standard 1 4 stereo phone jack and the HDMI port supplies an added Program output 2 4 2 MULTI TIER FAILSAFE TriCaster s Always on Air features provide multi tiered redundant failsafe mechanisms in both hardware and software To name just a few Failsafe software monitors live performance and automatically re starts modules if any unexpected error condition calls for it Video pass through en
57. 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 represented by the preset A built in ease in out is applied to ensure a smooth zoom The duration for the animated zoom is controlled by a menu beside the Animate Zoom switch This works just like the similar Duration menu buttons in the Switcher s Transitions section providing instant access to three preset durations Alternatively click and drag in the neighboring numeric field to set a custom duration or click the field once more to enter a value directly using the keyboard The maximum duration for an animated zoom is 120 seconds Hint LiveSets each zoom in on a predetermined target A given group of LiveSets may offer variations on the basic set that allow you to zoom in on an actor at center stage or a virtual monitor situated on a desk beside the talent or something else entirely You will find many creative uses for the different versions of the LiveSet 12 5 EFFECTS The virtual Input tabs provide access to some other special purpose effects in addition to LiveSets Among these are effects found in Media Browser groups labeled Alpha Alignment and 3
58. export to TriCaster using the Send to Live options in LiveText s File menu PART III APPENDICES A time saving question and answer section followed by an extensive listing of Shortcut Keys schematic diagram and keyword index A HOW DOI Be In this section we ll consider the most common questions TriCaster operators may have and of course we ll provide the answer too C The answers are intentionally brief perhaps just a reminder of one or two steps required to perform some operation For this reason we ll also point you to explanatory information elsewhere in this manual whenever that would be useful If you ve largely mastered your TriCaster but have a specific question this may be the best place to look first 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 dol CO CCH OS etarra ortodoncia 280 Connect Cale aS soriano isa asa 280 Connect ii alba SOUICO Sesion essen ca apa eoosspds 281 Color correct mismatched Cameras ccccccssecccesscccceeeccccusececeuscceeenececeusecetseeceeseneceesunesetees 281 COME C LIMO OS saeta cda 282 Supplement Why don t see the Multiview monitor resolution want listed in the VGA Output
59. in display problems on some devices 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 124 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 124 Click these to enable disable the associated Proc Amps Note TriCaster s input and output Proc Amps are very useful However please keep this important thought in mind Whenever possible it is best to perform color adjustments at the source or target device For example it is preferable to calibrate a camera s colors at the camera before sending the signal to TriCaster Doing so will yield higher color precision Similarly it s better to adjust output color using controls on down stream devices monitors or projectors whenever possible TriCaster s Multiview Proc Amp can never completely compensate for a badly calibrated monitor TriCaster s Proc amps are available for occasions when no external options are available many cameras do not have built in color controls projectors generally do but at times the physical placement of the device can make it inconvenient to access to them WHITE BALANCE A secondary group labeled White Balance adds U Offset and V Offset controls e The U portion of the video signal carries the blue and yellow colo
60. in the source Configuration panel is labeled LiveMatte amp Crop 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 Also Configure controls are not provided when the Program or Preview source is a Virtual Input 11 1 CHROMAKEYING The method by which part of the image is defined as transparent is generically referred to as chromakeying for its dependence on the color values chrominance of the video stream Note Internally LiveMatte actually goes well beyond simple chromakeying techniques to provide its great realtime results but we ll stick with fundamentals for our discussion here Chromakeying has become an essential tool in video and film production Typically foreground footage is shot in front of a blue or green screen and then that background color the key color is treated as transparent allowing another image to be inserted Live Radar a Dallas Abilene Forth Worth 5 day Forecast MON TUE WET THU Fr Waco 62 74 65 68 61 San Antonio Figure 186 For example when you see a television meteorologist in front of a weather map that person is almost certainly posed in front of a green screen The background is keyed out and replaced by computer generated imagery
61. is active on the network Q2 Why do some clips not play properly across an AirPlay connection A There are several possibilities First TriCaster cannot play media governed under Digital Rights Management DRM schemes This is a common limitation of commercial content Otherwise If an iOS device loses its connection with the network for any reason it does not refresh its AirPlay destination list for about one hour It may seem as though the TriCaster is detected even though the connection has been lost One way to flush the AirPlay list is to enable and disable Airplane mode in the device settings Finally make sure you are connected to the correct Wifi network etc A 1 14 RESOLVE IVGA PRO QUIRKS e Some antivirus software can interfere with certain VGA PRO features If you encounter a persistent quirk you might try disabling your antivirus protection briefly to see if the problem disappears If the problem goes away consider using a different anti malware product or disabling realtime protection while using VGA PRO e f iVGA PRO s connection to TriCaster seems intermittent make sure only one network path exists between the two systems to prevent the PC from switching back and forth between connections e Some systems deliberately restrict access to system sound for DRM reasons preventing the system Stereo Mix from appearing as an audio source option for iVGA PRO Several workarounds exist as a starting
62. is where you choose basic TriCaster session settings see Section 5 1 for a discussion of sessions Session Name Enter Session Name Volume D Video Standard O NTSC O NTSC 5 Resolution O 10801 720p 480i 16 9 O 1080 30p 720 30p 480i 43 1080 24p EOZ 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 The default name is the current date Note TriCaster supports a variety of optional session configurations for live production You can choose either HD High Definition or SD Standard Definition operating modes SD options include both 4 3 and 16 9 widescreen image aspects TriCaster Multi standard models permit you to select from different video standards according to your locale choosing between NSTC NTSC J Japan or PAL Continue with session creation by designating the Video Standard used in your locale Multi standard models only For the moment let s choose 1080i for Resolution even if the cameras you plan to connect are SD 4 3 then click the Start Session link below By default new sessions are created on TriCaster s D Media drive see Section 5 2 1 for a discussion of session Volume options Click
63. it is very beneficial and you should sync to control its video timing definitely use it if you have the capability l l The output of video devices TriCaster mixes and switches output from eight video connected in this manner is sources Miniscule local timing differences between synchronized to the reference signal these may force tiny delays during switching and they are referred to as operations which can also contribute to throughput genlocked latency Thus serving i TriCaster s Genlock input and ii other video devices in the chain with a single reference is the best approach You could think of it this way Y Genlocking your cameras has the effect of locking their output together ensuring optimal synchronization for live switching This may result in throughput latency benefits Supplying the same sync source to TriCaster s Genlock input ensures a match between TriCaster output and any downstream video devices required to handle both it and other genlocked sources Hint Digital audio is less tolerant in certain respects than analog Some devices require SDI sources to be genlocked when mixing digital audio whether for recording or live production TriCaster however includes live dynamic audio re sampling for each input Genlocking of SDI audio video sources is not a requirement for TriCaster Still genlocking sources and TriCaster to a house reference signal or genlocking the cameras d
64. new LiveText projects inside a folder named for the current session as follows for example D LIVETEXT PROJECTS sessionname projectname cg LiveText s internal File menu and Save As functions default to the same location However it is possible to use File gt Save As to store a project in another location outside the session structure Be aware that projects stored outside the session structure are not shown in the project list on the Sessions screen To re open them you ll need to navigate to the project file using File gt Open in LiveText Note Similarly external projects will not be backed up by the Backup Session function or be deleted by the Delete Session function To create a new LiveText project click in the default project name just above the Start New Project link and modify it then click Start New Project When you are finished working in LiveText clicking the x button in its upper right corner or selecting Exit in the File menu returns you to the Session Page 5 3 3 MANAGE Figure 105 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 Selecting Manage refreshes the options pane on the right hand side of the Session Page w
65. on the Live Desktop 2 Move your mouse back and forth over the input monitors Notice that a Configure button gear icon appears above the top right corner of each input monitor as you do SO 3 Click the Configuration button to open a tabbed settings panel for Camera 1 Figure 24 Figure 24 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 Close the Configuration panel for now note that you can click the Close button or simply click outside the panel to close it 6 Continue to configure all connected external video sources in the same manner We ll look at the other options and settings in the Configuration panel later see Section 7 2 but at this point you should be able to view the video inputs you have configured on their respective monitors 3 15 CONFIGURE AUDIO Click the External Audio tab in the lower left quadrant of the Live Desktop to reveal set up and control features for external audio sources Figure 25 The tab houses individual control panels for each of the external audio inputs on TriCaster s backplate nputs 1 4 Hint Audio tab layouts for different TriCaster models vary For example TriCaster 855 has eight audio inputs rather than four so Network source controls are located in the Internal Audio tab
66. option If TriCaster should ever fail to boot up properly you may need to try a different approach to restore your TriCaster system software as follows 1 Select the menu item labeled Restore Factory Defaults from the black boot screen that appears shortly after powering TriCaster up If this screen does not automatically appear reboot and press F8 a few times in quick succession say once per second immediately after powering up Either method described above will ultimately present you with powerful system backup and restore tools The management screen initially presents you with 3 options as follows e Restore System Partition to Factory Defaults overwrites the C partition only on the existing system drive from the disk image in its local Restore partition Note Following a Reset to Factory Defaults operation the Windows system software must be re activated To do this you will need the operating system serial number which you will find on a sticker affixed to the exterior of your TriCaster This procedure restores your system drive C to its as shipped state The D drive which holds content and sessions won t be modified However any TriCaster software updates possibly including optional TriCaster expansion packs will be overwritten so use this function only when necessary When you do restore remember to update the TriCaster software afterward e Create User Backup Drive create a bootable c
67. option e You may want to un check the Enable Keyboard Shortcuts option when you wish to use a keyboard for text editing along with a control surface for switching Hint Control surface operations can sometimes result in a tabbed module that you want to view being obscured because related Desktop Options are enabled Press the corresponding control surface Delegate button again to re display the tabbed pane you are interest in 6 4 2 RENAME As charming as descriptive names like Camera 1 DDR 2 and Virtual Input 5 are we must admit that it s possible you might wish to change these default labels to something localized Rename Input Cancel Figure 116 To do so simply right click on any of the following items to open the Rename Input dialog Figure 116 e Any monitor in the All Monitors pane e Any Switcher source button e 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 6 4 3 DUAL DISPLAYS AND MONITORING Figure 117 The Live Desktop monitor tabs and specific Multiview options can be flexibly combined to show what you want to see where you want to see it Note These options are suitable when Multiview output is not tasked to projection or similar display duties For example e You might select the External layout for t
68. or other blemishes as well Second the distance from your talent to the screen behind can make a profound difference in key quality When the subject stands too close to the key colored background the key color reflects back onto the subject creating a green or blue fringe that is difficult to remove If you have available space move your subject farther away from the wall When good distance is out of the question you can improve things somewhat by placing lights above and behind the talent lighting them from behind with a complimentary color filter over the light to cancel out unwanted reflection for green use a magenta filter for blue orange or amber Don t overdo back or top lighting however The limited dynamic range of the camera means there will be little useful color data in badly over exposed highlights This can make it next to impossible to separate fringe zones such as hair detail from the background especially when this is also overexposed 11 7 2 CONNECTION CONSIDERATIONS As mentioned above washed out areas in the video signal lack sufficient color information to provide good separation For similar reasons it s worth considering the color characteristics different types of video signals SDI connections are ideal if you can use them Otherwise in the analog video realm you will encounter three main types of camera connections We present them here in ascending order according to the quality of video
69. point try an Internet search for terms like audio loopback software A 1 15 ENABLE TERMINATION FOR VIDEO INPUTS TriCaster has full time video termination If you need to loop through or t off from other video devices such as an external monitor prior to TriCaster in your video pipeline you should ensure termination is OFF for earlier devices A 2 SESSIONS SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q What is a session 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 4 2 Connect your SD monitors to TriCaster s output connectors see Section 3 8 1 3 Select the New icon in the Home Page of the Startup Screen 4 Click the Enter Session Name link under Session Name at right and supply a name for the new session 5 Select a Volume hard drive for the new session 6 TriCaster Multi standard only choose your local Video Standard NTSC NTSC J or PAL 7 Choose either SD 4 3 or SD 16 9 widescreen for Resolution 8 Click the Start Session link lower right See also Sections 3 10 and 5 1 A 2 2 START AN HD SESSION 1 Follow steps 1 6 in the preceding section 2 Select either 720p or 1080i for Resolution and then click the Start Session link lower right SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q
70. point you in the right direction to overcome them 15 8 1 TESTING YOUR STREAM When it comes to using your TriCaster in a professional live production environment i e your bread and butter depends on getting it right and now not tomorrow failure to test beforehand is not merely unwise it can be professional suicide You should already be aware of the need for redundancy in a professional environment you didn t bring just one camera did you As reliable as any device may be Murphy and his Law are alive and well So you plan for this bringing the appropriate equipment such as uninterruptable 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 No one will thank you for excuses no matter how brilliantly they point the finger at forces beyond your control 1 Setup and enable atest program stream from your TriCaster 2 You can use the tools and integrated web browser in the Streaming Configuration panel but you may want to confirm using an external system too Open Windows Media Player and select File gt Open URL from its file menu in some versions you need to right click WMP s title bar to present the menu 3 Enter the P address and port number for your stream here 4 You should be able t
71. possible entry in the list depending on how many are currently free for iVGA selection Alternatively TriCaster operators on the same network can directly select your iVGA client as a network source for their Net 1 or Net 2 inputs When a TriCaster you have not previously connected to selects your iVGA output iVGA pops up a connection request dialog You can then authorize or decline the connection request click the gear icon next to Destination and checkmark Accept All Connections in the menu if you prefer that this dialog not be shown RECORDING Unique XD450 2 The last entry in the Destination menu is always ae Record Selecting Record redirects iVGA PRO he output into a movie file instead of transmitting Audio Source it across the network Stereo Mix Realtek High Dei w sai When you select Record a file window opens to let you set the path and file name for the clip that will be captured Figure 225 Note You can choose the file format that will be employed for recording in this file window by modifying the Save as type setting 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 Press it again to end capture Hint Changing the Video Source while recording will automatically stop and restart recording The current file name is numerically incremented as required QUALITY CONFIGURE
72. presets for easy recall e Flexible playback controls include variable Speed and Loop options 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 e Use two Media Players to create automated slide shows complete with transitions Assign titles graphics or a v clips to multiple DSK or Overlay channels Edit titles live even while on air 2 4 14 KEYING VIRTUAL SETS AND VIRTUAL INPUTS e Use LiveMatte realtime keying technology for green blue screen effects e Apply independent LiveMatte settings to all video sources e Virtual Inputs Figure 11 permit M E Mix Effect style compositions of two primary switcher sources with convenient Scale Position Crop and Rotation controls NewTek gt Comer Talk gt Take Auto 0100 Figure 11 e Achieve the look of a sophisticated studio setting in a very small space with NewTek s astonishing LiveSet virtual set technology e Zoom in out on LiveSets during your live productions right from the Live Desktop e Virtual Inputs also sport an integrated overlay channel selected from any Switcher source or an assigned Frame Buffer graphic with its own position controls e Convenient presets allow single click access to pre configured Virtual Input setups 2 4 15 GRAPHICS Also part of TriCaster
73. reason the first thing many do is calibrate their camera for correct levels WAVEFORM MONITOR For video engineering purposes the scale between black and white is defined in RE units IRE being an acronym for Institute of Radio Engineers White is pegged at 100 IRE For PAL and NTSC J countries black is defined as O IRE For NTSC lands black properly sits at 7 5 IRE Using TriCaster s Waveform monitor in the Live Desktop s Preview Scopes tab you can actually see the IRE values for your video sources graphed on a vertical scale select the source on the Switcher s Preview row Confirming that the black and white levels your camera is sending TriCaster are correct is as simple as sending first black and then white and reading the value from the scale Figure 261 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 O 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 If not you might try using your camera s Auto White Balance feature with the white card your camera manual will provide instructions Afterwards check the black level again Some
74. reference instead of relying on the local system time A switch in the Timecode Configuration panel to enable this support please see Section 13 4 for more detail 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 video streamed from additional TriCaster or 3Play systems on the network or from Apple AirPlay Generally simply connecting a suitable cable from the Ethernet port on TriCaster s backplate to your external network is all that is required to add TriCaster to a local area network LAN In some settings additional steps beyond those mentioned when we discussed Microsoft Windows activation in 3 2 may be required You can access the system Network and Sharing control panel to accomplish more extensive configuration tasks see Settings Configure Network under the heading Administrator Mode in Section 5 2 3 If further help connecting is required please consult your system administrator The next section Chapter 4 Live Production Walkthrough will guide you through your first experience using TriCaster 4 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
75. resources available you can host the video yourself but if many people will likely want to view your production you will likely avail yourself of a service to stream it on your behalf Ideally on demand streaming video begins to play on request after a few moments Letting the stream get a bit ahead of the client playback device is called buffering and helps ensure smooth playback This stands in contrast to other types of online video distribution which requires the viewer to completely download the video file before he can begin play 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 This form of streaming is a somewhat more demanding implementation Rather than record a file and deal with it later live video is transmitted over the network effectively in realtime give or take a little time in the pipe as it were Delivering a good quality stream requires that you consider both your network connection capabilities and that of your viewers As well to ensure reliable delivery you will ideally have some idea of the size of your audience Nevertheless for all cases TriCaster gives you the tools to do the job Naturally streaming video is highly compressed to reduce bandwidth demands and make it avail
76. s website where you will find further directions Hint More information on connecting TriCaster to a network can be found in Section 3 17 and Chapter 14 Otherwise you can visit the registration webpage from another system with Internet access In either case after registering on the website enter the resulting registration code into the field provided at Step 4 of the dialog Hint It s a very good idea to record the login name and password you choose when creating your website profile and keep them in a safe place Jot down registration code too it could come in very handy if you ever need to restore the TriCaster software to its as shipped state when you don t have access to the Internet Check your personal area of the site from time to time afterward among other things you ll be able to download any free software updates that are made available going forward 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 The phone numbers for Customer Service follow Telephone US 1 800 862 7837 Outside US 1 210 370 8000 Fax 210 370 8001 Note For Technical Support contact information please see Section A 6 2 3 4 RAC
77. see Section 2 4 2 In some control room pipelines however TriCaster s continuous output can prevent more elaborate external failsafe mechanisms from being triggered In such cases turn this switch off to disable A v passthrough Hint Only use fail safe when a stable video source is connected to the last numbered video Input 7 1 6 MULTIVIEW OUTPUT Output Configuration TriCaster s Multiview output fills several valuable purposes You might use it to provide a video stream to a projection or other remote display system at high resolution If you supply your projector inputs from TriCaster s SDI or analog video outputs instead or don t require projection the Multiview output can be used to feed a secondary display monitor Perhaps you wish to use Multiview to output something other than the main Program output This is where the Screen Layout menu comes in Interna Program FX Preview Program Wavetorm Vectorscope Figure 131 Hint See Section 5 3 1 for details on the time shown in Multiview layouts with clocks Changing Multiview output options Layout or Resolution can cause frames to be dropped briefly Changing these settings during live production is not recommended Figure 132 Screen Layout offers a diverse list including numerous optional displays as follows e All this useful display is the default and combines monitors for all Switcher sources plus Program and Preview and handy digi
78. shot to Input A in the Virtual Input tab 2 Putthe looping montage clip in a DDR and select that DDR as Input B A 3 4 INITIATE STREAMING 1 Connect TriCaster to the Internet see Section 3 17 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 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 Under Browse at right click the Clips link A system file explorer will open 5 Open the Saved Streams folder in the file explorer A 3 6 RECORD MY PROGRAM 1 Open or create a TriCaster session see Section 3 10 2 Click the Configure gear button next to Record under the Program monitor 3 Choose your recording options see Section 4 7 1 and Chapter 16 and enter a Base Name for the file s 4 Close the panel and when ready click the Record button See Chapter 16 for full details 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 t
79. 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 typically using a round 4 pin mini DIN connector or two BNC connectors Y C keeps Y luminance and C chrominance signals separate Hint Y C is occasionally called component which while technically correct can be a bit confusing given the name of the next class S Video legitimate or S VHS completely incorrect though a common error Component a k a YUV or Y Pb Pr a three wire system typically using BNC push twist on connectors For analog connections either of the last two methods is to be preferred but it is entirely possible to succeed with only a composite signal When you have something better available however you should naturally use it Try to avoid downgrading the pre LiveMatte signal from a Y C camera for example by connecting it to your TriCaster using composite cabling Hint cameras using IEEE 1394 connection such as mini DV or HDV format are not supported as live switching sources for several reasons However they may often be connected by Y C cable mini DV cameras only or Component cabling This configuration may actually provide a better color rendition for keying purpose than if it were possib
80. 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 Click the monitor with the green highlight again to perform a simple Take swapping the Program and Preview row selections Looked at another way what you have done is swap the BKGD Background video layer sources without changing the display status of any other video layers 3 Double click any source monitor to send it immediately to Program output And as discussed back in Section 3 14 these monitors display a Configuration button allowing input type selection and more including Proc Amp see Section 7 2 3 and LiveMatte controls see Section 4 9 and indicators depicting the on off status of these features Further some onscreen monitors provide other contextual controls and displays including things like Play or Stop Freeze current position timecode in a clip and Network source selection see Section 9 3 1 4 3 3 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL MONITORS These two tabs offer other monitor layouts that you may find useful especially when used in concert with complementary Multiview monitor layouts 4 3 4 SCOPES Figure 35 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
81. 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 In the Output Configuration panel s Multiview tab set VGA Output Resolution to match the native resolution of the external device 6 Select an optional display mode from the Screen Layout menu SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS Q1 Why don t I see the Multiview monitor resolution want listed in the VGA Output Resolution menu A Normally the VGA Output menu option list is updated using DDC Display Data Channel information the monitor itself provides In some cases this information may not be not available e g a monitor switch or adapter might prevent the available display mode information from being supplied to the operating system If you are sure your monitor supports an unlisted mode you can attempt to add it to the menu manually by editing an XML format configuration file supplied for this purpose The file is named multiview_resolutions xml and is located in the folder at C TriCaster Configuration Comments in the file provide details of its use Note that if your display hardware declines to work with additions you make to the menu the Live Desktop error flash line may show an unsupported display mode message and the monitor may either revert to the previous mode or simply not show anything at
82. 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 Figure 227 Hold down Ctrl when dragging to release the aspect lock To restore the marquee s standard widescreen aspect simply drag the border again without the Ctrl key depressed o The next Video Source option shown in Video Source the menu is Window This is a particularly useful option as it allows you to snap iVGA to a specific application window or child window Figure 228 For example you might designate just the video player pane on a web browser page or in Skype as the source or perhaps you might want to snap to the video display pane to an application window When you select the Window option in the Video Source menu a new icon is shown at right Figure 228 Click the mouse on this icon and then drag it to the application window you want to assign as the source The marquee updates as you drag the mouse around the screen from one application window to another Note that it automatically disappears from view when the control panel is closed Hint Many application windows actually comprise a number of child windows grouped together When you drag the marquee around in Window mode its borders snap to the current child window showing what is currently selected o Finally if you have any webcams or similar video input devices connected to the system you ll see the
83. to adjust the value click to type directly into the field using the keyboard or press keyboard Shift and then double click to restore the default value for that preset 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 200 The Zoom T Bar is located beside the Zoom Presets Dragging it vertically adjusts the virtual camera distance for the active LiveSet between 0 100 When you click a Zoom Preset the T Bar updates to the new zoom level displayed numerically above Conversely though adjusting the 7 Bar does not change the value for a Preset When the current T Bar position does not correspond to any presets none of them are shown with a white border 12 4 5 INPUT POSITION We discussed the Position controls for video Inputs A and B back in Section 12 2 It s worth adding here that these controls when active do affect the scale rotation and position for LiveSet video inputs this is another unique advantage of this LiveSet implementation You will find that you can often use Position controls to ensure a good fit and natural appearance of talent or other source appearing in your virtual sets greatly reducing the need to fuss with physical camera positions to do so 12 46 ANIMATE ZOOM NewTek gt City Loft gt Center 20 00 5 00 20 00 00 10 00 F 00 05 00 Figure 201 As noted
84. to match the fill source it is paired with 7 2 3 PROC AMP Figure 136 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 Input Proc Amp adjustments are applied after LiveMatte is processed which can help when composing greenscreen shots to match a background or LiveSet You may also notice that changes to Proc Amp settings do affect stopped or frozen sources including live camera feeds 7 2 4 LIVEMATTE CROP The second tab in the Input Configuration panels is where you configure TriCaster s powerful realtime keying system for live production LiveMatte Keying is a popular and powerful method of combining two images whether photos video clips or live camera streams The process involves eliminating a portion of the image effectively cutting a digital keyhole in it to reveal a user defined background scene It also plays an important role in the workflow of LiveSet TriCaster s powerful virtual set technology Enable LiveMatte Matte Enable Crop Figure 137 LiveMatte s controls a
85. to the second BNC connector in an output row Y and Y C to the third and fourth connectors Pb and Pr respectively 3 12 CONFIGURE AUX VIDEO OUTPUT Aux The Aux video output allows you to pias ellie choose a different video source for output if you wish using the Source menu Program 1060 30p SDI Component Figure 22 You can also choose from a wide array of output formats and opt to send either the Master or Aux audio mix to accompany it Aux configuration and options are detailed later in Section 7 1 4 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 The Screen Layout drop down menu provides numerous optional displays including Program Preview or FX monitors an All Sources monitors ES for all Switcher sources plus a clock option and many more External Interna Program Set the VGA Output Resolution to the native O resolution of the external device and test the EX Preview Program different display options to find a suitable Waveform Vectorscope setting Figure 23 3 14 CONFIGURE VIDEO INPUT Let s continue by configuring the video sources you connected earlier Section 3 4 1 Click the All Monitors tab at upper left
86. ve been following along you have already used a LiveSet a very simple composition named A over B Figure 79 the default Default gt A over B Figure 79 As its name implies A over B simply produces a composite of the video source you select as nput A displayed on top of Input B In cases where LiveMatte is active for Input A or if Input A has an alpha channel as might be the case for example for a 32bit image file or for that matter if Input A is scaled down or repositioned Input B will automatically show through transparent areas in the composition we can see that result in Figure 78 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 gt Default gt A over B identifying the specific LiveSet a member of the Default group in the NewTek folder Figure 79 Let s try something more sophisticated now 1 Click Take or de select the BKGD delegate in the Transitions section of the Switcher to place V1 on Preview 2 Add the file TriCaster Spin Logo Long avi from the NewTek gt Logos group to DDR 2 Enable the Single and Autoplay switches for both DDR 1 and DDR 2 3 Click the Configure gear button beside the current LiveSet name in the V1 tab to display a Media Browser 4 Select NewTek in the left hand column under the heading LiveSets 5 In the file pane at right click the thumbn
87. your program on a local composite monitor at the same time as you use the SDI connection to supply broadcast equipment 3 8 3 SUPPLEMENTAL VIDEO OUTPUTS Additional dedicated video outputs make it possible to connect monitors or projection devices to TriCaster for a variety of purposes including program output for IMAG Image Magnification installations or flexible monitoring for the convenience of the operator 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 855 or an HDMI connector found beside the main Interface DVI connector TriCaster 455 Again connect a suitable external monitor or device The new device should be recognized and enabled by the system automatically This output offers a variety of optional monitoring layouts that can be selected at any time in TriCaster s Live Desktop Note For best results in IMAG applications it is important to configure Multiview Output to the native resolution of the external projector 3 9 TALLY LIGHTS TriCaster s Tally Light support allows you to connect external tally lights and similar devices These typically provide a red LED for the video input that is currently selected on the Switcher s Program row 3 9 1 EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS Here is a pin out listing for TriCaster s DB15 Ta
88. 0 2 4 7 Mal a e ni Ae 10 2 4 8 A E O no na ianeod saneaccessiranesteaseesesss 11 2 4 9 Video Layers and Transitions oooccccccocnnccnncnnncnnnnnnnanennnnnnonononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnss 11 24 10 Record ANG ICM errata 13 ZAAL Importada EXPO Esran EEE EEE 14 2412 A 14 2 4 13 Integrated Media PIAV ENS cs cido 15 2 4 14 Keying Virtual Sets and Virtual InputS ccccccoocccnnnonononnnnncnanonononancnnnnnonanononononoss 16 AP o aces 17 DAG e AP E E E O A 17 24 17 OOO COMO SUTICOS nora iaa 17 10 Pe oes sent EEE aa EE 19 3 1 COMmana and CON Ol into ibi 19 3 2 Activating amp Authorizing Windows ssccccccssseseccccnessscceccesecessacussecsssauneecsssauseessssaensess 20 3 3 THCaSter License ONG Registrati dial 21 3 301 OMNE RESIST TOI ridad Rina 22 332 Registering by Telephone sencan eea iee a aE E 22 3 4 ROCK MIOURTING TICO Tri A A OR 23 3 5 INBUECONN CUINA A A Aa 23 3 5 1 Connect A N SOU CES er R 23 3 6 GENOCK CONNECT A AA 25 3 7 VIMCCODS CONNECT A E T E E E E TER 25 3 8 OUTPUT COACCI N SAA A NAT wa etdes 25 3 8 1 AIV ODU AAA II II II 26 3 8 2 Dana Desa tn E ee ee ee eee ere eee eee 26 3 8 3 Supplemental Video OUTPUTS narosan a a E T 28 3 9 FAY LONT aa E E A N EE EEE A ea 28 3 9 1 External CONNECUO NS ira tdi 28 BLO SIINA SESSION A OA E 29 SAD Configure Video OU LUE arne E EE ba EE TON 32 SILL SD Analos Contigua tds 32 3 12 Configure AUX Video QUIE 33 3 13 Configure Multiview OU
89. 0 60p SDI 720 30p SDI 720 24p SDI 1720 50p SDI 1720 25p SDI e Digital source high definition progressive scan e 1280x720 pixels 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by SDI input connectors e Optionally carries embedded audio The standard definition options listed below are provided in both 4 3 and 16 9 versions 480 30i Component e NTSC analog format standard definition interlaced e 720x480 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y Pr and Pb input connectors 480 30i SDI e NTSC digital format standard definition interlaced e 720x480 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by SDI input connectors e Optionally carries embedded audio 480 30i Y C e NTSC S Video analog format standard definition interlaced e 720x480 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y and Pb input connectors 480 30i Composite e NTSC analog format standard definition interlaced e 720x480 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y input connector 1576 25i Component e PAL analog format Standard definition interlaced e 720x576 pixels 4 3 picture aspect or anamorphic 16 9 picture aspect e Connected to TriCaster by Y Pr and Pb input connectors e PAL digital format standard definition interlaced
90. 12 A 6 2 Contact Technical SUD DONE aia 313 A 6 3 Find TriCaster s Hardware Firmware Revision NUMbers occcoocccccnncccccnncccnonicos 313 Pid SWISS COU GI COWS ER A aa aaa HAA aA 313 A 7 1 Access System Administration Features cccccssccccssssccceseecccenscesseeseesaeeseesaases 313 A 7 2 Return to TriCaster from Administrator Mode ccoooccnncccnoccnnnononononnnnnnncnnnnonanonoos 313 A 7 3 ACCESS AMINO WS eiii 313 A 7 4 Return to TriCaster from the Windows Desktop ccccccoocccnncconcnonnncnaconnnnnnnonnnos 314 A 7 5 Add A Custom Streaming Profile to the Configure Stream Connection Panel 314 A 8 More Questions and ANSWELS 1sccccssseccsesseccsanseccscsscensusecesauseessauscessusecesauseessauseessunseees 317 A 8 1 Can do anything to improve latency audio SYNC cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 317 A 8 2 Why is my power supply beeping ccoooccccccoconocononcnononononanonononcnnnnoncnnonanononnnos 318 A 8 3 Why Do Some Thumbnail ICONS LOOK Wrong ccoooccccccoccnncnocnnccononcnnnnonnnnanonnnos 318 Performance Considerations icvsscvescsescasesuencuceavewavensvenanenavescaaveussawcesvanssonswenenenaseaneaseuseatees 319 Xi C xii B 1 Testing ONE TWO A AA AA AR 319 B 2 VGA GNO Perro ran CO dr ai 319 B 3 IMAG GNT LATA ados 320 B 3 1 Relativity and the Speed Ot etica 320 B 3 2 Latency an Your Audience sineira E ads 321 B 3 3 Latency and Your TriCaster sirsiran a ar a 321 B 3 4 Oth
91. 148 Figure 149 Completing the Transition section is the Transition Bin which allows you to pre select the transition effect that will be performed next by clicking its thumbnail icon The active transition for each video layer is displayed with a gold border Figure 147 Click the Configure gear button at right above the Transition Bin to select and configure transitions for each video layer Figure 150 Transition Turbine Figure 150 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 Hint The frequently used Fade transition is always available in the left most slot in the bin As it has no options and cannot be replaced the Configure button is ghosted when Fade is selected By the way note that the direction of the Overlay Transitions i e DSK layer transitions automatically alternates That is if the first click displays the layer using an effect the next click removes it using the reverse transition effect and so on this behavior mimics the Background Transition option call Ping Pong discussed momentarily BKGD TRANSITION OPTIONS Clicking the Configure gear button for a Background Transition opens a
92. 2 1 Connection TY DE rai iaa 137 7 2 2 Actas APN aia 140 7 2 3 PrOCAM Deien iodo 142 7 2 4 LiveMatte S Crop 142 7 3 Tineco de COn TOUR ddr idea 143 31 Subtract 12 OU added 144 7 3 2 Production TIM ia 144 7 3 3 LTC PIMC COG rai 145 Switcher Transitions and Over lay ccsscsccsccsccsccsccsccsccsccsccsccsccscesceccecceccecceccsccsccnconces 146 8 1 Switeher ROWS siooni e rena aE nam sie A ae ih cea AN N ate eave aaa eae 146 8 1 1 Utility land Delegate sn dias 147 8 1 2 Program ana PrVIeWs ias 148 8 2 MA A atcha A reese ace ane S 149 8 3 TEASER eadav eons teen tune en ete 150 8 3 1 RO CAM ONULOIS oct ase 151 8 3 2 MANCO TOS dd ete 157 8 3 3 A eosin ore cae aa ee T 159 Desktop Mono sccocccsissvctivaactatttecisadscicsbecctansentansstaditeadeatiaicebescseetendaninaiaeiaenieadcaiseteertes 161 9 1 PFOGIGIN and PREVICW A AA TAO 161 9 1 1 Configuration INGICALOLS ada 162 9 2 LOOK A NCUA PIEVENTAS TT O N TOT ET 162 10 11 vi 9 3 AMONIO TOD sce teeter ena teaie eaten tac tiauiae dida vada ais 164 9 3 1 Contextual TOOS 2d 164 9 3 2 INTEFACUVE CONTO a ada A 166 9 4 External Monitors TOO der 167 9 4 1 COMTEX UU al e El 167 9 5 l ternal Monitors Tab ii AN MA A dd a Ade 168 9 6 SCOPES TI OS aia 168 Media Players DDRs Still Title and Audio ccsccssccssccnsccesccesccescceccesccsccsccescees 171 DOA Specialized Medid PIOYETS 2 A as 171 TOF GSAOFEOO FEO TUE a Nao 172 1021 A A e A ei eced ennai 172 102 2 Media Browser d
93. 2d e DDR 2 The meters show the levels for audio the first 4 channels from DDR 2 output which are individually sent to AUX output connectors 2a 2d e Sound The meters show the levels for audio the first 4 channels from the Sounds player output which are individually sent to AUX output connectors 2a 2d e Internal This is a unique configuration providing support for a number of interesting and useful situations o The first two channels from DDR1 are Figure 217 blended with output from the Sounds player and placed on the left AUX output pair 2a and 2b o The first two channels from DDR2 are placed on AUX outputs 2c and 2d e All The AUX outputs provide a supplementary program output channel with independent level control e Solo When this option is selected AUX connectors will output a blend of all soloed sources i e audio inputs that have their respective Solo switches enabled e Color Group Send the selected group color output to the AUX connectors 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 Hint Shift double click Gain knobs to restore their default values OdB 13 3 2 MASTER AND PHONES The main Program outputs labeled PGM on TriCaster s backplate are controlled by the Gain knob and Balance control in the Master sub panel loca
94. 6 130 182 183 184 Network Sharing 184 G Genlock See Connections Genlock Configure See I O Configuration Grab See Live Desktop Grab Graphics See LiveText Hard Drive Eject 99 123 286 Hard drive external 286 Home Page 29 I O Configuration Audio 35 Genlock 37 135 136 137 Proc Amp 10 44 45 94 127 128 142 169 Video Input 34 137 Act as Alpha 140 281 Connection Type 137 140 Video output alpha Output 281 Video Output 32 125 126 Aux Output 130 131 SD Analog Connections 129 IMAG 28 317 320 321 322 Images Stand in See Live Desktop Media Player Title Pages Input Connectors 23 Input Virtual See Virtual Input Installing Third Party Software 309 Internal Audio See Live Desktop Audio Mixer VGA See Network Keyboard 19 Keying See LiveMatte Language 312 Latency 320 321 322 LC 11 Control Surface 284 Live Desktop 6 31 117 118 Audio Mixer 14 47 209 Balance 47 216 Connection Type 212 External Audio tab 120 210 Follow 51 214 Internal Audio tab 219 Link Audio Mixer Tabs 120 Lock 213 Mono 47 214 Mute 47 211 Output 222 Pan 50 213 Phones Output 222 Presets 224 Program Output 222 Solo 211 215 Stream Output 221 Talk 212 Trim 213 VU Meters 217 Dual Displays 121 Grab 65 263 269 Media Browser 67 176 Add Media Location 177 304 Filter 178 Menus 178 Media Player 15 66 220 Add Files 66 Autoplay 69 180 Presets 70 181 S
95. 90 Having discussed sessions let s go on to consider how you create sessions and choose which one to work on This and a few other top level functions are found in the TriCaster s Home Page This primary screen is the first thing you encounter on launching TriCaster It is dominated by the icon ring shown in Figure 90 When you click an icon on the ring such as New or Open that item advances to the front most position Hint Alternatively you can use the keyboard s left and right arrow keys to cycle through the icons on the ring Also when you choose an icon from the ring the right hand pane of the Home Page updates to provide more options related to your choice Session Name Enter Session Name Volume D Video Standard O NTSC NTSC J PAL Resolution O 1080i O 720p 480i 16 9 O 1080 30 720 30p 480i 4 3 1080 24 720 24p Figure 91 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 91 Multi standard model options shown 5 2 1 NEW SESSION As just mentioned clicking New on the icon ring populates the pane at right with related options Principally for each session you must designate by selecting switches your local video standard
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97. AUTO As we have seen clicking the main Take button keyboard shortcut Enter performs a straight cut for all video layers BKGD DSK 1 DSK 2 and FTB that are currently selected in the Transition Delegate group Likewise if you press Auto or the keyboard Spacebar transitions configured at right for all delegated video layers are performed 8 3 3 T BAR The T Bar mimics the similar control on a traditional video switcher and allows you to manually perform a transition between delegated video layers see Section O Video Layers e FTB delegated show or hide the FTB video layer e DSK 2 delegated show or hide the DSK 2 video layer e DSK 1 delegated show or hide the DSK 1 video layer e BKGD delegated transition between sources selected on the Program and Preview rows Figure 156 To use the T bar pull it downward by dragging it with the mouse pointer Drag it all the way to the bottom and release to complete a transition the T Bar then pops back to the top Hint Naturally when the T Bar is dragged part way a partial transition occurs With certain transitions this can be useful for split screen effects 9 DESKTOP MONITORS The word monitor comes from the Latin monere meaning to warn The word has taken on additional meaning since Roman times C As a verb these include such connotations as keeping an eye on something and checking continually as when
98. Backspace text input box opens with the last character of the string deleted and the cursor at the new end of the string Tab advance to next entry field Shift Tab to prior field Hint A red line under a character or word indicates the spell checker is questioning its spelling Right click the word to open a menu showing various suggested alternatives Click one of these if you wish to update the original Edit Title Arial Figure 183 The titlebar of the Title Page Editor holds an assortment of text attribute controls These include a Font selector drop down menu numeric Size control and Bold Italic and Underline switches Aharon Insert Image Here Figure 184 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 You can find out which if any images are unlocked stand ins and which are locked and toggle the status of any image Hold down the Shift key while rolling around inside the Title Page With Shift depressed a red border is shown around any locked image under the cursor Stand in unlocked images display a green border on roll over when Shift is depressed To toggle the stand in locked status for an image left click it with Shift dep
99. D Figure 202 The effects in the first two groups are largely self explanatory but it s worth reviewing Anaglyph found in the 3D group The anaglyph method of displaying 3D imagery depends on stereo gt video inputs that have been filtered and composited into a single h gt gt p P output stream In turn this combined stream resolves into 3D when DB NS ite j i N P AS viewed through special glasses with red and cyan blue green filters Sg for left and right eyes respectively Figure 203 TriCaster provide easy access to anaglyphic technology by means of its Anaglyph effect The 3D effect combines the 2 primary video inputs in a Virtual Input panel 3D output can then be switched easily like any other source No complex configuration steps or tricky control surface operations are required 13 AUDIO Less than 100 years ago movies were silent We ve come a very long way TC 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 External audio connections and configuration were briefly discussed back in Sections 3 5 1 and 3 8 1 You ll observe that there are two side by side audio tabs External Audio at left and Internal Audio on the right Figure 204 and Figure 205 e Externa
100. K MOUNTING TRICASTER Your TriCaster is designed for convenient mounting in standard 19 racks mounting rails designed for different TriCaster models are available separately from NewTek Sales Please keep in mind that adequate cooling is a very important requirement for virtually all electronic and digital equipment and this is true of TriCaster as well We recommend allowing 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 855 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 For TriCaster 455 take special care not to obstruct vents on the system s sides and upper surface as well When designing enclosures or mounting the unit supplying good free air movement around the chassis as discussed above should be viewed as a critical design consideration This is especially true in fixed installations where TriCaster will be installed inside furniture style enclosures 3 5 INPUT CONNECTIONS 3 5 1 CONNECT A V SOURCES External audio and video sources are connected to the appropriate inputs on TriCaster s backplate Figure 14 TriCaster 455 A MULTIVIEW ol INTERFACE Figure 15 TriCaster 855 1 Connect video sources to the appropriate connectors in the VIDEO IN sec
101. L See Video Standard Pause 338 Ping 254 Play Pause amp Stop 338 Power Supply 318 Profile H 264 Baseline 317 Profile Streaming 309 multi bitrate 316 Program Output Monitor 43 Pull See Streaming Pull Push See Streaming Push Q Quicktime 298 R Record See Live Desktop Register See TriCaster Register Rename Input 120 Restart See Startup Screen Shutdown System Restore TriCaster 103 309 S Session Volume Storage 98 Session Page 31 Sessions 29 94 291 Backup Restore 100 108 114 292 293 Shutdown See Startup Screen Shutdown Software Installing Third Party 309 Speed See Live Desktop Meida Player SpeedEDIT 17 271 272 Spell Check 186 Spill Suppresion See LiveMatte Startup Screen 6 29 93 Export Media 14 111 New Session 291 Open Manage Session 98 293 296 Shutdown 100 Exit to Windows 100 System Utilities Defragment 307 Restore TriCaster 309 Update TriCaster 307 308 Stills See Live Desktop Media Player Stop 338 Storage external 286 Streaming 239 246 247 249 AAC 309 Bitrate 248 Capture 245 296 Flash 247 254 261 299 308 309 Port Forwarding 258 Production Tips 253 Profile 248 309 H 264 317 multi bitrate 316 Providers 243 244 246 250 251 Pull 243 249 258 Push 243 244 250 Session Format 292 WME 247 308 Support 313 Switcher See Live Desktop T Tally Lights See Connections Tally Lights Technical Support 313 Title
102. Latency is usually expressed either in milliseconds or in video frames typically either 25 or 29 97 to the second As we said above really a little video latency is not a bad thing as viewed from a surprisingly short distance back into the audience This is just as well since for all practical purposes a little latency is also unavoidable Even so as long as audio and video are in sync at your seat only a rather significant degree of latency will be objectionable unless you happen to be very near the stage For those in the front rows a few extra frames of latency may be rather disconcerting It s true that IMAG was conceived primarily for the benefit of those further back but if the latency is too obvious for those nearest the front it can be disconcerting distraction For this reason it s desirable to keep video latency to an agreeable minimum but put away any notion of zero latency Not only would this require bending the laws of physics it would be a bad idea Even before considering minimizing latency in the device chain acknowledging that there is always going to be some latency calls for some creative thinking with regard to practical staging For example if you design your IMAG layout in such a fashion that those in the front row are unlikely to be able to see the screen s without lifting their eyes from the onstage talent they are extremely unlikely to notice a small amount of latency B 3
103. 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 These may correspond to named sessions or groups of content When you select a sub heading the right hand pane is populated this is the File Pane ADD MEDIA LOCATION amp BROWSE Add Media Location OWS Figure 173 Clicking Add Media Location opens a standard system folder selector The name of a folder you selected using this is added to the Media Browser s Location List under the main heading My Media Locations These locations can be accessed in others sessions opened by the same user File recursion for listings under My Media Locations is limited to one sub folder below the folder sub heading selected in the Location List Recursion is deeper infinite for default locations Note External devices used with Add Media Location must be fast enough to support realtime playback of the files on it Really it s better to use the Import feature instead of Add Media Location but the latter can be handy for those times when you need to add smaller files wish after your production is already underway Click Browse to substitute open and use a standard system file explorer for file sel
104. M TRICASTER S REMOVABLE DRIVE BAY 1 If TriCaster is running and if applicable Eject the hard drive you wish to remove see Section A 1 9 Open TriCaster s front panel Open the removable drive bay door Pull the hard drive currently in the drive bay if applicable to remove it oe UN Insert the new hard drive connector end first Figure 257 TriCaster 855 shown 6 Close the drive bay door 7 Close TriCaster s front panel SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION 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 Keep in mind that manufacturer specifications and reviews may highlight favorable statistics focusing on results from typical i e less demanding operating environments Naturally NewTek cannot guarantee that hard drives obtained from such sources will provide performance adequate to TriCaster s requirements Here are some guidelines to keep in mind if you employ hard drives purchased from other sources e All else being equal larger drives are normally faster try to use 1TB drives or above e Use SATA 3 0GB s drives with rotational speed of 7200 R P M or better e Drives should have a larger onboard cache 32Mb or better is recommended A
105. Media Browser see Section 10 2 2 for browser details Use this pane to locate and select or multi select files for export Hint The Export Media panel can be resized by dragging its edges or corners with the mouse Target kids mpg Application Apple Final Cut Pro mov Figure 110 The file pane is much like a spreadsheet table listing all files in the current export batch in its first column then the current settings for each file in other columns A Status column shows the current export status or progress for each file in the list TOOLS Export Media Add Duplicate Remove Figure 111 The Duplicate feature is very useful for cases when you wish to export a file to multiple target file formats to be used for different purposes or in different applications Note that Export Media s file list pane supports multi selection When a file or group of files is selected you may use either the Duplicate and Remove buttons to clone or delete selected files from the list Hint To multi select files you can use the familiar Shift click or Ctrl click techniques Figure 112 TARGET PRESET amp 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 fo
106. Multi standard model only select NTSC PAL or NTSC J and session format 1080i 1080 24p 1080 30p 720p 720 30p 720 24p 480 30i 16 9 or 480 30i 4 3 Multi standard models offer PAL format equivalents SESSION NAME You will see a suggested name for a new session listed above the options pane at right You can click in this name field to modify the default name provided using your keyboard Session Name Enter Session Name Volume D Figure 92 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 You can select any drive shown Note External drives are not recommended for active use as session drives See Section A 1 7 for suggested hard drive specifications for use in TriCaster s removable drive bays FORMAT AND OUTPUT CONSIDERATIONS Remember that for live production TriCaster can supply SD output for SD sessions or both SD and HD in the case of HD sessions The format of video signal on Program and Aux outputs varies according to the session type e For all HD sessions Program Row 1 output is also HD e For all SD sessions Program Row 1 output is likewise SD e For 16 9 sessions HD or SD 16 9 Program Row 1 output is consistently configured as
107. O TIENES 20 to 95 Vibration 3580 9 Test Parameter Hz to 500 Hz Exceeds ASTM D3580 95 Paragraph 10 4 3 Random Mil Std F Par Electrostatic Discharge IEC 61000 4 2 Air Discharge Contact 4K Volts 3D 208 A AAC Encoding 309 Act as Alpha See I O Configuration Video Input Activate Windows See Windows Add Ons 105 Administrator Mode 39 100 101 309 313 AirPlay 220 287 Alpha Channel 82 157 Alpha Input See I O Configuration Video Input Anaglyph 208 Apple AirPlay 220 233 287 Apple Final Cut Pro 304 305 Artisan 106 Audio Mixer See Live Desktop Audio Mixer Audio Sync 317 Aux Output Audio 27 216 220 222 Aux Output Video 27 130 AVI Codecs 298 AVID Media Composer 305 B Beep 318 Calibration 325 IRE Units 327 Chroma Keying See LiveMatte Clocks See Multiview Output and Sessions Codecs 298 309 Connections Cameras 23 137 280 281 External Drive 286 Genlock 25 LC 11 284 Output 25 282 284 Tally Lights 28 287 Crop 193 Crop Edges 155 201 D DDR See Live Desktop Media Player E Edit See SpeedEDIT Eject 99 123 286 EULA See TriCaster Register Export Media See Startup Screen External Audio See Live Desktop Audio Mixer FAV 299 Failsafe 8 132 FAQ 277 Files Export 181 274 301 305 306 Import 181 303 Final Cut Pro 304 305 Flash See Streaming Flash F4V 299 Frame Buffers 84 85 8
108. OURCES OF LATENCY More often than not significant latency is added by other devices in the IMAG chain that come after the TriCaster Projectors are a common contributor but at times the cameras themselves are a factor Here are some helpful points to consider when designing and connecting your system e If you use Multiview output from the TriCaster to the projector if at all possible match the resolution sent from the TriCaster to the native resolution of the projector On some projectors this allows the unit to avoid using its own internal scaling which is often a significant factor in unwanted latency e When possible try supplying the projector with analog video This can eliminate a lot of the complexity from the process of course this is not always possible e Certain projectors provide a low latency mode to disable features of the unit that carry a heavy toll in latency Enabling this mode can make positioning the projector slightly more challenging as you may sacrifice some ability to position and scale the image using projector menu functions but the latency reduction can be very worthwhile 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 sess
109. SIDERATIONS 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 B 1 TESTING ONE TWO Professionals simply do not leap into new environments blindly They prepare plan plan some more and then most importantly they test This allows them to tackle the really tough jobs with confidence B 2 IVGA AND PERFORMANCE Although VGA is highly efficient it does require significant system resources taxing the CPU GPU and even the AGP or PCle bus of client systems especially when a large portion of the display is refreshed This is not normally problematic as for VGA purposes the client system is not required to perform other concurrent tasks Its entire duties involve providing a video source for the downstream TriCaster via the iVGA client software However it is very unwise to install and run the iVGA client software directly on a TriCaster itself TriCaster s live video processing requires unhindered CPU and GPU access Adding the resource demands of the iVGA client to TriCaster would almost certainly cause frames to be dropped on output and should simply never be done The same warning applies to other
110. Scopes monitor tab 2 Move your mouse pointer over the vertical divider separating the Scopes pane from the main Preview monitor at right click and drag the divider as far as it will go to the right 3 Drag the horizontal divider separating the monitoring section from the Switcher area below downward until you ve got nice big scopes to work with Figure 35 4 Move the mouse onto the video monitor at left and click the Configure button gear at right in its titlebar to display the Configuration panel for the video source A drop down menu at upper left lets you choose whether the current source for the scopes and full color monitor is drawn from the Preview row selection Program row or the FX row Togram FX Feel free to experiment with the controls but before leaving restore the monitoring panes to their default size as follows Figure 36 5 Move the mouse above one of the Desktop dividers you previously dragged and double click it Then repeat this process for the other divider too 4 4 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 4 4 1
111. TPUT cccooooncnncccconncnncncnnnonnnnnnnnonnnnnnonnnnnnnnrnononnnnnnnnnonanrnnnnnnnnronnnnnos 33 SIA Congre IO COMPU E db 34 SL CONQUE AU OO cielos 35 BuO CONQUE CO OO O aa 37 BLT gt CON Je TIMECOAO ds 38 Beh O eea a ie acemtaivise EREE E EEO NAA 38 Live Production Walkthro gh ocorren iaaea sede 41 4 1 Creatina OSES A E O E ENO E E E OEO 41 4 2 IMPOFINO CON TEN nd AAA AAA AAA AA ANA 42 4 3 MONTON a o 43 4 3 1 PROT AMI AMG Pr Wilde 43 4 3 2 AIN Sita ES 44 4 3 3 External and Internal MOROS sitios 45 4 3 4 SCODE e a E N T E E O a anes TONO 46 4 4 AUU OMKE A II T A hia ee heals pain Lee Shalit Shae 47 4 4 1 Mute Mono and Bala CG ninio doit 47 4 4 2 A O 50 4 4 3 A 50 4 4 4 A on o Er N anaes 51 4 5 Network SOUNCES it iii 52 4 5 1 WOA Clients io oo 53 4 5 2 APPIE ATPASE 54 4 5 3 AS Ta E A A TA 54 4 6 UA E aaa Meecha Santee Mier acacia ah 54 4 6 1 SWIECIVOl ROWS iaa aa 54 4 6 2 o a a estonia 58 4 7 Record and NGO Gros sot ic O E E o O nis eee Rats eu N TA 63 4 7 1 o A O A A 64 4 7 2 A A a a a II O A A 65 4 8 Media PIGYEIS nd A oa 66 4 8 1 DORE a o eee ee 66 4 8 2 Graphics SU Be Tinas rt dd 71 4 9 WEMA C a 75 4 10 Virtualni PUES A ias 78 AOL COMPOSING MPSA ta 78 4 10 2 Adding an Upstream Overlay cssccccsessescssvesctecseansiesssccneusdcovssencsuvsctios encarnada mese 80 LAOS IM iia 81 AT OIM BUS isa 84 AAD ITCR aiceanncaner raw lacteaeen 86 412 1 Streamine COMMS Uranio 87 4122 Simple Pu Stre
112. TrodbleshootlNg enie EEEE E 253 viii 138 1 TESTING VOU Sedins a N iain amon aortas adecdera nes 253 15 8 2 Is it Really a TriCaster ISSUC mayasin aE AR A AENEAN aAa 261 16 RECON ANG Glas sents stecsscvecanstancvartsscenscushcantasandsemasataie basses wesdaasese sevens onavasencsasssbseseeseanse 263 DO te RECOU RS 263 TB LL Record COMMBUCAT Onis e 263 162 SGD A A A ARE a 269 17 SHEECEDIT ANG Live Esad cis 271 TRA PE CEDAR 271 17 1 1 SpeedEDIT Projects and Display cccooccncccocnnccnonnnonnnonnnnnnonocononnnnanonononcnnonanonos 271 17 1 gt JEEFET394 1 0 OUUU musiano no i r EOR iaa 272 IAES SpPecdEDIT DESKTOP did 272 DT 2 Y O 272 L721 SESSIONS PROJECES and DISD IV easan E E TNN 273 1722 A a a a ROME A 273 17 2 3 Naming Stand in IMages coins aran 274 PART HCA DDENGICES siii dde 275 BS HOW DO erd ssnscecscatssnvacs vaca sacs esensuescacusnentsanswesunsrnes aAA EAEE AET 277 A 1 COMA CCTHONS dad 280 A 1 1 CONNECT CAINE AS ira 280 A 1 2 Connect Till alpha sources Pina nadie 281 A 1 3 Configure alpha Matte Output occcnccoocccnncccnncnnnnnnnnconnnonononnnnnnnncnnnnononcnnnnonanonnnnnnns 281 A 1 4 Color correct mismatched Cameras sasssa oiar a i 281 A 1 5 CONNECTIONS ts 282 A 1 6 Connect a supported external control surface ccccccoonccnncononcnnnnnnnnononnnnnncnnnnnnos 284 A 1 7 Insert Remove a Drive From TriCaster s Removable Drive Bal sssssss 285 A 1 8 Connect An External Hard Drive esses sevsccd
113. able to a wider group TriCaster supports two popular and prolific encoding systems Microsoft s Windows Media and Adobe Flash Media The decision as to which encoding format to use for your live stream is up to you or in some cases your client Here are some things to consider Y Some corporate and institutional network administrators opt to support one or another format exclusively Check with your IT department to find out if this affects your decision Flash has a very wide installed user base and seems poised to increase in proliferation in the foreseeable future Flash works well across multiple platforms PCs Macs Linux etc Windows Media is well represented but perhaps not quite to the same degree Some sources report that the Flash movies will have a larger file size and use greater bandwidth than Windows Media for a given stream quality This is hard to assess and changes constantly as developers update their products Codecs for both types are updated with fair regularity and when you choose the latest greatest 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 flowi
114. 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 The filename with extension of each item in the current playlist is displayed above the thumbnails and its duration is shown below Hint The duration shown is the play time after any trimming operations and thus may at times be less than the file length on disk for video clips or audio files In such cases the In and Out markers on the Scrub Bar spanning the width of the playlist immediately below it show the effect of trimming operations while the full width of the Scrub Bar depicts the total length of the file on disk Clicking an item selects it The play position is automatically set to the n Point on selection Standard Shift click and Ctrl click multi selection operations are supported and all selected items are denoted by a white border around their icon When the Media Player is stopped its output to video monitors tracks your selection and trimming operations The current item is displayed as the media player s output and in consequence appears on the corresponding monitor in the All Monitors tab Of course only one item can be displayed on output at a time the frame surrounding the thumbnail icon for the currently displayed item is illuminated Double clicking a thumbna
115. ail icon named Center in the World Update group and then click OK at the bottom of the Media Browser 6 Select DDR 2 as the source for nput B The Zoom Preset icons in the Virtual Input tab and the name above will update showing that the current LiveSet is now NewTek gt World Update gt Center Figure 80 Assuming that you still have LiveMatte enabled for the DDR V1 s Input A selector set to DDR and Input B set to Still a little adjustment in the Positioner for Input A is all that it should take to produce a result similar to Figure 80 on Preview Input A is the primary input for the LiveSet while Input B serves as a secondary source in this case assigned to the virtual desk front monitor 7 Enable the BKGD delegate in the Switcher s Transition control group and click the main Auto button Both DDRs will begin running their currently selected clips simultaneously thanks to Autoplay of course normally your foreground shot would be supplied by a camera Figure 81 8 Now click the second Zoom Preset icon Figure 81 Observe that the view on Program output Figure 82 has now zoomed in by 33 the value shown in the adjustable zoom slider above Zoom Preset 2 Figure 82 9 Enable the Animate Zoom switch and click Zoom Preset 4 The zoom gradually changes from the starting position to the level assigned to Preset 4 100 The timing for the change is controlled by the nearby duration time controls Us
116. al companion for your system Figure 12 3 SETTING UP This chapter explains how to properly connect power external control devices monitors and audio visual sources to your NewTek TriCaster C system It also reviews registration for warranty purposes and technical support After completing this short section you ll be all set to continue into the Walkthrough chapter that follows it To begin let s review what came in the box e NewTek TriCaster e Keys to front panel of case e Four attachable rubber feet for desktop use e A C power cable s e BNC removal tool to assist with cable connection and removal e DVI to VGA adapter e NewTek mouse and keyboard e Quick Start Guide e NewTek 3PLAY brochure e NewtTek TriCaster registration reminder card e New product letter 3 1 COMMAND AND CONTROL 1 Connect an external computer monitor to the uncapped DVI port on the backplate labeled Interface on TriCaster 855 For TriCaster 455 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 Note TriCaster s interface requires a minimum screen resolution of 1600x1050 2 Connect the mouse and keyboard to USB ports on TriCaster Connect the A C power cord s from the three prong connections on TriCaster s backplate to an external power receptacle see Hint below
117. al output to ensure satisfactory video quality for your viewers When video is compressed as it invariably is for web viewing you can 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 For this reason good lighting of your source video is essential Also web streaming doesn t handle detail transitions and motion all that well so your best shots should be close up and without a lot of movement Too audio from cameras and camcorders is rarely as good as that from external microphones You should at least use a clip on lavaliere microphone if not a directional or shotgun microphone to be sure you record only the audio you really want Finally for high quality streaming consider using a 720p session even when your cameras may be SD and interlaced there is no particular benefit to working in SD when your goal is a smaller streaming output 15 8 DIAGNOSTICS AND TROUBLESHOOTING As technologies go video streaming is still in its adolescent phase at best There are a lot of different standards and diverse environments to consider TriCaster gives you the necessary tools but there are still some teething problems you may encounter This section will
118. al purpose web browser The purpose here is to access the main account page you use for a specific Connection as opposed to a landing page you like to use for more mundane browsing Thus you very likely want the Home Page for one custom Connection to be different than the one you use for another Connection you configure for a different end use The URL field above the viewport is always the current URL Uniform Resource Locator or simply web page address A second URL field labeled Home is located below the selected connection name at left The address shown in this field is the assigned Home Page for the current Connection To copy the address for the currently displayed webpage into the Home field for the Connection simply click the Return button at right of the Home field Figure 237 A Unnamed Connection E Fi FLAW Ce P F a e A mF ME pr rif m2 r 9 i https www google com accounts ServiceLogin uilel 3 Figure 237 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 The options available are as shown in Figure 238 Choose Lonnection lype Figure 238 Hint The Connection Types options may seem unfamiliar if you are new to streaming You
119. all NOTE Changing Output Resolution can cause frames to be dropped briefly We do not recommend changing this setting during live production Q2 After reconnecting monitors my Multiview and Interface monitor configuration is messed up What can I do 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 alone while live In the case of an accidental disconnection avoid reconnecting both monitors at the same time Rather allow the display on the first monitor connected to stabilize before connecting the second VIDEO MONITORS DEVICES Downstream video monitoring devices must be compatible with the video broadcast standard such as NTSC or PAL you intend to use in the TriCaster session 1 Connect cables between downstream devices whether monitors or other devices and appropriately labeled connectors on TriCaster s backplate see Section 3 8 1 2 Open a TriCaster session or create a new one from the Home Page of the Startup Screen 3 Click the Live icon on the Session Page of the Startup Screen and press Enter or click the Start Live Production link 4 For SD display devices you may need to adjust the connection options found in Output Configuration a Move the mouse over the Program monitor and click the Configure butt
120. all aspects of TriCaster follows in Part II Reference Having made the essential external connections in the previous section let s start your first TriCaster session and skim through some important fundamentals e Startup and Import e Monitoring and related features e Audio mixing and the Follow feature e Network sources e Switching between video sources and using transitions e Program Output and Recording e Playing stored clips using the DDR Digital Disk Recorder e Adding and editing title pages and graphics e Using LiveMatte to create a simple chromakey effect e Virtual Inputs e Creating a LiveSet virtual set shot e Streaming to the Internet 4 1 CREATING A SESSION We ran through the basics of starting new sessions and configuring input and output devices in sections 3 10 through 3 16 If you need to review this information go ahead and do so now We ll look at them individually again later in Part II Reference too 1 Inthe initial Startup Screen create a new 1080i session name it Practice Session 2 The Session Page will appear when you click Start Session 3 Click Manage on the icon ring Figure 30 Figure 30 4 2 IMPORTING CONTENT Let s import a few files that we ll use later in our walkthrough Click the Import Media button at lower right Import Media Add 3Tone Quad WAW Waiting LEAR E Alo ELES E e ireaking News cgxmll Waiting texa
121. alog BNC 3 Y Pb Pr SD Composite Y C 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 gt Open File gt Add File gt Save and Save As have pre configured QuickTabs pointing to the following default paths for the current session Note the Quicktab links refer to session dependent paths thus are not permanent That is fora given session the path the Quicktab refers to is established at launch time For this reason the TriCaster version of LiveText does not support user added Quicktabs LiveText s File menu has two special items Send Current Page to Live and Send All Pages to Live These take the place of other export options appearing in the standalone version of LiveText As you would expect these functions creates files for use in the Live Desktop automatically storing them in the correct place s for easy access Titles prepared in LiveText can be either still or motion pages When you send a still page to Live it becomes a Title Page file with the characteristic filename extension cgxml Title Page files can be edited in the Live Desktop s Media Players Send Current Page to Live will automatically store these files in the D Media Titles session
122. am to capture again this is the recording stream used for the Add to DDR feature and that is controlled by an optional TimeWarp control surface when connected QuickTime 4 2 2 DY 636 GB Figure 253 A drop down menu labeled Source permits you to choose which video stream to capture TriCaster provides numerous source options Beyond simply selecting PGM Program output you might select AUX a particularly flexible option since it can be independently set to a variety of useful configurations in Output Configuration In addition any single camera input can be designated as a source allowing the Aux Output to be freely assigned to something else Hint The Aux video output format can be configured in Output configuration and it can likewise be accompanied by either Aux or Master audio For this reason directly selecting Cam 1 for example as Source can easily produce a very different recording than would occur if you record and output 1 or 2 assigned to Cam 1 and then select that output as Source ENCODING The Encoding option menu allows you to choose between encoding formats for the recorded file Let s consider the default encoding format first QUICKTIME TriCaster s Quicktime encoding options provide of a number of important advantages Both are high bitrate I frame only MPEG 2 formats providing excellent image fidelity embedded timecode support as well as excellent cross platform compatibili
123. are 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 a ways take sensible precautions to avoid introducing infected files into TriCaster by rigorously virus checking media you plan to connect or import beforehand ideally do so on a laptop or other system before connecting to TriCaster Realistically though in some settings you may feel the need for protection outweighs the risk If you really feel you must install virus protection switch all of its active scanning operations off so that nothing can occur in the background while TriCaster s Live Desktop is running Anything that provides full time protection will dramatically reduce memory and disk speed on your system so you should disable those features Then only when you need to do so perhaps on a daily or weekly schedule perform a manual scan Never let scanning continue into a live switching event and do not assume that you can now omit pre checking files and external media for nasty surprises Hint In the unfortunate event that malware ever does evade your defensive measures you can always use TriCaster s Restore TriCaster function to completely rehabilitate your system A 5 6 INSTALL MY FAVORITE SOFTWARE OR CODEC TriCaster is not a general purpose computer The installed softwar
124. aster provides a great deal of flexibility when it comes to capturing your production a part of it or a wide array of internal and external sources with embedded timecode to files This ability will be very helpful for immediate post production purposes or as a way to capture video clips for playback from the DDR during a live production Tio 00 00 04 23 k Figure 249 TriCaster s unique IsoCorder technology provides you with even more powerful recording capabilities For example it s possible to record all incoming sources simultaneously with embedded timecode or a mix of sources and output streams including Program Program Clean along with many other useful Aux or input selections Settings and controls for recording are grouped in the Record Configuration panel Click the Configure button gear near the Record button to open this panel Figure 249 16 1 1 RECORD CONFIGURATION The Record Configuration panel allows you to select a Primary source for recording and configure it TriCaster EXTREME systems allow you to go on to set up as many as seven additional Secondary recordings we ll discuss that a bit later QuickTime 422 DA 636 GB Figure 250 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 251 Enable the Add to DDR Playlist switch to aut
125. aster 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 colors to be included in the matte A low tolerance removes only color values close to the primary or key color As you raise the tolerance you extend the range of values on either side of the primary color that will be treated as transparent This allows you to deal with those imperfections we mentioned On the other hand it may be that there is usually unplanned for detail in the foreground that is somewhat similar to the key color Reducing Tolerance may allow you to prevent unwanted holes appearing when the subject opts to wear his St Patrick s Day tie 11 2 3 SMOOTHNESS Smoothness defines a further tolerance factor and a very useful one We want our keyed foreground to blend smoothly into the background rather than to stand out in hard relief like a postage stamp or decal Smoothness serves this purpose Don t overdo it though as aggressive settings can cause the foreground to become unnecessarily muddy 11 2 4 LUMA LIMIT When working with poorly lit backgrounds or poor quality footage the color Tolerance range separating the foreground talent from the background can be extremely narrow This problem can be aggravated if the subject wears dark clothing or when there are harsh shadows there is often a strong chroma com
126. ate quality SD or HD capable 4 2 0 sub sampling broad compatibility e DVD o x mpg SD only MPEG 2 quality presets up to 9MB sec bitrate 60 minutes with 4 2 2 sub sampling e Flash Flash 9 o A diverse collection of presets suitable for playback in newer or legacy Flash players e Mobile Devices o Presets suitable for use with iPad iPhone or iPod Touch e Quicktime o Renderless Conversion high quality wrapped Quicktime file o DV DVCPro mov moderate quality SD only NTSC 720x480 PAL 720x576 25Mbit s 4 1 1 NTSC or 4 1 0 PAL sub sampling very broad compatibility o h 264 Highest Quality mov o h 264 Very Good mov o MJPEG mov e Same as Source file copy no re rendering for native TriCaster Quicktime files this is probably the best option e Video Server o Leightronix NEXUS Ultra NEXUS SD NTSC 720x480 PAL 720x576 high quality MPEG2 Program Stream 9Mb s variable bitrate 4 2 2 o TelVUE Princeton SD NTSC 720x480 PAL 720x576 high quality MPEG2 Program Stream 9Mb s variable bitrate 4 2 2 NTSC 720x480 PAL 720x576 Next use the Destination field drop down to designate a target folder for exported files to be sent A progress gauge is shown during file processing Click the Export button at the bottom of the dialogue to begin batch export processing Hint The time an export takes is affected by numerous factors the number duration and resolution of the
127. avoid confusion that might arise when sequencing files based on timecode that wraps around past midnight Otherwise for example a video frame recorded one minute before midnight would be assigned the timecode 23 59 59 00 while frames recorded one minute or more later would have timecode gt 01 00 00 00 seemingly a lower i e ordinarily earlier timecode value 7 3 2 PRODUCTION TIME Indicate Production Time Start 12 00 00 AM Figure 140 Figure 141 Two more switches under the label Production Time allow you to indicate Start and End times Beside each of these is an editable time field click inside the field to modify the time value During live production the Live Desktop titlebar and several of TriCaster s Multiview layouts Figure 141 provide Broadcast Clock displays along with current timecode Secondary clocks show a useful countdown to the production Start or End times when the corresponding switches are enabled in the Timecode Configuration panel 7 3 3 LTC TIMECODE Linear timecode is by far the most common method of Mi AA sharing an external timecode reference in video EEN ET imecode Configuration Lr e Ba production Timecode Output from an external timecode generator is supplied to devices in the video pipeline using a standard audio pe connection TriCaster 855 uses Audio Input 7 for this h e purpose while TriCaster 455 uses Audio Input 3 see Section 3 7 Indicate Product
128. bar 122 Titles See Live Desktop Media Player Titling See LiveText TriCaster Register 21 312 Unicode 312 V Vectorscope See Live Desktop Video Calibration See Calibration Streaming See Streaming Video Standard 25 Virtual Input 16 78 199 301 LiveSet See LiveSet Overlay 80 Overlay 202 Position 201 Sources 200 Virtual Set See LiveSet Virtual Set Artisan 106 Virus Checker 308 W Waveform Monitor See Live Desktop Windows Activate 20 Exit to See Startup Screen Shutdown CREDITS Acknowledgments Tim Jenison Jim Plant Engineering Andrew Cross Alvaro Suarez Bennie Pierce Bob Peene Brian Brice Cary Tetrick Charles Steinkuehler Dan Fletcher Greg Heine James Killian Jan Uribe Jarrod Davis Jeremy Brosius Jeremy Wiseman John Perkins Karen Zipper Kevin Nations Kevin Rouviere Kirk Morger Kristen Perez Mahdi Mohajer Masaaki Konno Menghua Wang Michael Joiner Michael Watkins Mike Murphy Nathan Kovner Naveen Jayakumar Ryan Hansberger Shawn Wisniewski Steve Bowie Thomas Nanninga 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 source and the ability to change and recompile these components please visit the links provided Freelmage librar
129. bove the Program Output monitor Their presence denotes that Proc Amp settings are enabled for Program Multiview output or both Figure 158 Hint Click these flags to toggle the Proc Amps on off without opening the Configuration panel 9 2 LOOK AHEAD PREVIEW Figure 159 Right beside the Program monitor the Live Desktop also displays the Look Ahead Preview monitor labeled simply Preview surmounted by a green tinted titlebar Figure 160 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 IN OTHER WORDS WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU WILL GET AFTER A TAKE OR AUTO When BKGD is delegated alone Take Auto and Preview work just as in other TriCaster This allows you to set up the next models shot check its composition including titles and overlay positioning and switch to it with sublime confidence A green titlebar always highlights the Preview monitor e Selecting the BKGD delegate tells TriCaster you intend the next transition to swap the Program and Preview layers The Preview monitor will show the Preview row selection as its background e When the BKGD delegate is not active the BKGD layer will not change during a transition Consequently in this case the Preview
130. button again TriCaster supplies a wealth of transitions to suit every need 13 Select a slower transition speed for the BKGD layer using the drop down as before and click Auto again to test the new transition rate Note that local configuration settings for the BKGD layer do affect transitions performed using the main controls Hint Manually control the progress of a transition by grabbing the T bar with the left mouse button and dragging it downward 14 Earlier we displayed DSK 1 using its local Take button The BKGD transitions we ve made did not affect it so it should still be displayed if you removed it from view while experimenting please restore it before continuing Figure 55 15 With the BKGD delegate button lit up press Ctr 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 55 with three delegates multi selected Note also that the Take button for DSK 1 is illuminated in Figure 55 and the progress gauge beneath the Delegate button likewise shows that DSK 1 is fully displayed LOOK AHEAD PREVIEW Back in Section 4 3 4 we promised to spend some time on the Look Ahead Preview monitor and the time has finally arrived for us to do so together gt Image r Main Line Figure 56 1 Cast your eyes over the Preview and Program monitors consider what you see there and how it relat
131. button controls all channels associated with an input apart from those assigned as microphone inputs in which Figure 207 case twin Mute switches appear in the header Enabling a Mute switch removes the sound from that source from the Master audio mix and most all other internal mixes and outputs too The two exceptions involve TriCaster s Aux and Solo features e TriCaster s multi purpose Aux mix can be configured to duplicate the Master mix In this case the Aux mix respects the Mute settings of each upstream source All other optional Aux sources ignore upstream Mute settings e The Solo feature always ignores Mute If Solo is enabled for a source it is heard on the Headphone output regardless of the Mute switch state Note Audio 7 is automatically muted when Use Linear timecode LTC is enabled in Timecode Configuration You can un mute it briefly to adjust signal levels but of course you don t want this to be audible during a live production Solo might be useful in such cases 13 1 2 CONNECTION TYPE Figure 208 Individual sub panel panels for external sources govern a group of audio connections comprised variously of two XLR or phone jack inputs or an SDI Embedded digital audio source 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 e Mic 1 2 low impedance microphones a
132. by the router and is not accessible to the world at large To find out how to provide external access to your stream in this configuration please see Section 15 8 Diagnostics and Troubleshooting for information on routers and port forwarding You can provide any clients or streaming providers this address Entering this address into the File menu of Windows Media Player using copy and pasting it into the Open URL window will direct the player to show the stream from your system on client computer system s connected to the Internet Hint Most web browsers can be also configured to invoke a compatible player when required as well but using WMP directly in this fashion may save some steps Beyond this simply select a suitable profile from the Resolution menu for your need Once you are done setting up the connection click OK to close the panel Your live program stream will be sent continuously to the network while the Stream button is enabled 15 3 3 WINDOWS MEDIA PUSH A Push Connection Type is often the most convenient method especially in cases where TriCaster is connected behind a firewall Push streaming is also usually simpler when you need to stream from major venues such as hotels or convention centers The program stream passes quietly out through any firewalls or routers between the facility and your streaming server Also once your streaming provider has provided you the connection specifics you can resu
133. ccessed from the Help menu on the Home Page in Startup As well an optional user friendly tool called TriCaster Virtual Set Editor is available This tool makes it easy to modify LiveSets to suit your specific needs A 3 2 RESTORE THE DEFAULT LIVESET 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 LIVESET As you may know TriCaster 455 and 855 support two primary LiveSet video inputs along with a third source dedicated to an Overlay channel The Nightly Show A LiveSet is special in that it appears to show many different video sources simultaneously see Figure 258 even including a moving news ticker Figure 258 This virtual multi monitor effect depends on a single clip played from a DDR which is itself a montage composed of a number of different looping video clips composited into a single frame e g Figure 259 Figure 259 Figure 260 Hint Several sample montage clips are supplied in the Clips gt NewTek folders and there is also a template clip Figure 260 you can use as a guide to prepare similar clips that reference your own custom content with the software of your choice To configure the effect 1 Assign your talent
134. ce that if you move the mouse pointer over the Speed slider it changes to a double headed arrow indicating you can drag the slider to a new value if you wish 8 Instead try this simply click inside the Speed slider engaging direct edit mode type 50 and press Enter to change the Speed to 50 9 Click Play again and observe that playback is now in slow motion 10 Adjust Speed again notice that you can even modify Speed during playback 11 Click Stop TRIMMING AND SCRUBBING Let s spend a moment learning how to trim a clip in the DDR To do this you will use tools in the Scrub Bar immediately beneath the playlist pane Figure 65 Figure 65 Drag the Scrub Bar s square blue knob left or right to change the current play position Trimming is accomplished by dragging the start and end points for the clip using the blue and bracket controls at either end The mouse pointer changes to a double headed arrow when you move it over a trim control 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 Figure 66 16 Double click the first clip in the DDR playlist to play it double clicking is anot
135. ch DSK layer has its own Position button and settings Click the neighboring AE button labeled with a double headed arrow to open the Overlay Position panel Figure 152 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 However these local DSK settings are independent and apply even when the Crop in Input Configuration is not enabled The rest of the panel is devoted to Position settings At the top are three buttons Position Rotation and Scale viewed from left to right Click and drag on the Position button a double headed arrow to relocate the associated DSK layer vertically or horizontally within the frame Enable Positioning Notice that by dragging left or right on either of the two numeric controls below you can adjust the position on a single axis You can also constrain mouse actions to one axis by holding down the Ctrl key before dragging Figure 153 In similar fashion drag the pointer over the Rotation button with the left mouse button depressed to turn the overlay source in 3D space as follows e Drag left right to rotate the source about the Y vertical axis e Drag up down to rotate the source about the X horizontal axis e D
136. closer to your actual ceiling but reliable performance cherishes headroom Also consider the expected download abilities of your viewers Ideally a safety margin 1 5 times the stream s bitrate is desirable This may mean you need to consider using a lower resolution or lower framerate for your stream but doing so when required will generally deliver a smooth result and is the wise course Nothing inclines viewers to turn away quicker than a stuttering start and stop stream See Speed Tests in Section 15 8 1 for some useful resources 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 Connecting in this manner requires you to have a connection with sufficient bandwidth to deliver a stream to each individual user For this reason the simple Pull streaming method rarely works well for more than 1 or 2 viewers Y Advantages o When TriCaster is not behind a firewall or does not have a public IP address this is a very simple way to let a few viewers watch your program stream Disadvantages o Requires either a public IP address or requires users to be on the same network
137. cnncccnnccnnncnnncnnnnnnnnccnnnnonanonnnononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnncnnnnnns 290 OE 291 Supplement What isa session P sarna 291 A DE O e eii E 291 Start aM HD SESSION radar ERARE NSARE AANE 291 Supplement What is the best session format for streaming ccccseeececsecceeeseceeeeseeeeees 292 Work on a stored SESSION sisrir diia 292 BACKUP A eS A e o o PO PRE PR OE O pana denen assonenmauatecaetancs 292 Restore SOS SOR atenciones 293 Delete a SESSION and its content essa iaa 293 Manage selected content inside a session ccccccssssecccceessecceceeesceecsseseecessueuecessueaeeeessaees 293 Rename SESSION til id 293 Duplicate a SOON 294 LIVe PROG UCU OM aleta celo boba coced 294 Make custom transitions and LiveSets ooccccccconccnncnononnnnnononocnnnnonanonnnononononnnnnnnnnnnnnonacnnnnnns 294 Restore the default WIVES CUE nea patita iaa siii 294 Set up the Nightly Show A LiveSet ccccccoocccnnccnoncnnnncnancnnnnonanonnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnancnnnnnnacnnos 294 Mtro tea iaa dais 296 Find my captured stream file sins a 296 Record MY PLORraM serseri ianea En Ean E ETA EE EE 296 Find my recorded program file ccccsssscccccssecccccsesecccceaeseeceeseeesceesseeeeeceeseaueeeesseeeeeessaees 297 Change playback speed for clips in the DDR Media Player ccccccccssseeceeeeeseeceeeeeeeees 297 Deal with clips that seem blurry when examined in the DDR Media Player
138. crub 68 Single 69 180 Speed 68 182 297 Title Pages 185 Editing 185 186 Stand In Images 187 274 Trimming 68 Options Menu 119 Tabs Follow Preview Row 119 120 Tabs Follow Preview Row for Virtual Input 120 Overlay 156 Crop Edges 155 Position 154 Record 63 64 252 263 296 Quality Setting 267 Switcher 11 54 146 148 Take 45 56 69 151 159 166 T Bar 159 Transition 58 152 Waveform Vectorscope 38 127 134 136 168 326 327 328 330 LiveMatte 16 75 142 189 190 191 192 196 197 Luma Limit 192 Spill Suppression 193 LiveSet 16 81 106 203 Animate Zoom 84 Default 82 294 Nightly Show 294 Source Positioning 206 Sources 205 Tools 294 Zoom Presets 83 205 Zoom T Bar 206 LiveText 17 271 273 274 Standalone 44 54 225 234 Locale 312 Luma Keying See LiveMatte M Media composer 305 Media Player See Live Desktop Media Player Mix Minus 216 Monitors All Monitors Tab 44 Computer 19 282 Dual Displays 121 Output external 126 284 Switcher Monitors Tab 46 Multi bitrate Streaming 316 Multiview Output 133 Broadcast Clocks 134 144 N Network 3Play 234 AirPlay 220 287 Connecting 53 244 253 VGA 38 44 53 166 225 319 for OS X 225 for Windows 227 iVGA PRO 227 Ping 254 Port Forwarding 258 Testing 253 NTSC See Video Standard O Open Manage Session See Startup Screen Overlay Virtual Input See Virtual Input Overlay p PA
139. cted 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 Compressor or Limiter what s the difference Compression and limiting are not really different processes but really rather a matter of degree and perceived effect Compression ideally takes the form of a subtle almost imperceptible modulation of the sound level to bring it into a more pleasing and convenient range A limiter is applied more for the purpose of managing even crushing unwanted spikes and transients That distinction aside a limiter is essentially just a compressor set to a high ratio and generally a fast attack time Audio engineers generally consider compression with ratio of 10 1 or more as limiting THRESHOLD Sound above the set Threshold level will be compressed the amount of compression and the manner in which it is applied are both dictated by the other settings A Ratio of 4 1 means that if input level is 4 dB over the threshold the output signal level after compression will be just 1 dB over the threshold The gain level is reduced by 3dB Very high ratio settings are the reason for the word limiter is part of the title for this feature The highest ratio setting will effectively
140. ction options for analog SD video please refer to the following table in this case Row Number SDI AnalogBNC1 AnalogBNC2 Analog BNC 3 SD Y Pb Pr SD Composite Y C Note When opening projects TriCaster will attempt to provide hardware video output for SpeedEDIT which may require it to reset the display hardware from HD to SD or vice versa It s possible that this could result in a monitor its connection type or both being inappropriate for TriCaster s output mode 17 1 2 1EEE1394 I O OUTPUT The realtime IEE1394 DV HDV preview found in SpeedEDIT standalone is not supported for TriCaster which has other superior video display options 17 1 3 SPEEDEDIT DESKTOP TriCaster launches SpeedEDIT on a desktop of its own spanning all connected monitors You can exit SpeedEDIT by clicking the x button in the upper right corner of the desktop or by using the File men item Close If you have a secondary monitor connected to TriCaster you can drag SpeedEDIT s Video Output window opened from the Window menu onto that screen then maximize it by double clicking inside the preview area double clicking a second time restores the standard floating window Similarly you might find it convenient to maximize the SpeedEDIT window to fill the primary monitor display To do this double click the window border In this configuration the Desktop exit button is not available but you can exit the application using the Fi
141. ctions on the icon ring The name of the current session is shown in the top left corner of the screen The current session is displayed in the form Home session name If you wish to leave the current session and return to the Home Page you can click the large Back Arrow displayed beneath the session name or the word Home in the session name label Figure 101 Initially the icon ring in the Session Page offers four selections These are discussed next 5 3 1 LIVE Graphics Figure 102 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 click it to launch the Live Desktop 5 3 2 GRAPHICS Graphics Figure 103 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 Project Name No LiveText Projects in Session New LiveText Project Enter Project Name Figure 104 When you first enter a new session no LiveText projects are listed in the area under Project Name When you have created one or more projects the name s will appear here and as you would expect you can re open the project by clicking its name Note that TriCaster stores
142. current Playlist Item Alt i Alt 0 Shift k Shift L Shift j J Shift colon Shift u U Shift quotation Shift 1 Q Ctrl k Ctrl I lower case L Ctrl j Ctrl semi colon Ctrl u Ctrl apostrophe Ctrl q Ctrl Shift k Ctrl Shift lower case L Ctrl Shift j Ctrl Shift semi colon Ctrl Shift apostrophe Ctrl Shift q Ctrl Shift i Ctrl Shift o D 11 GENERAL D 11 1 SELECTION AND NAVIGATION Select All First Last Item Navigate through Playlist items Select All Previous Following Items Playlist select to Top Bottom Playlist add to selection Up Down Ctrl a Home End Up Down Left Right Arrows Shift Home End Shift Home End Shift Up Down arrow D 11 2 MISC Cut Copy Paste Delete Ctrl x Ctrl c Ctrl v Delete Key E RELIABILITY TESTING We know our products play vital roles in the productions of our customers Durability and consistent robust performance are much more than just adjectives for your business and ours For this reason all NewTek products undergo rigorous reliability testing to ensure they meet our exacting test standards For TriCaster 855 the following standards are applicable Evaluation Standard Temperature Mi 1 810F Part 2 Sections 501 502 Ambient Operating 0 C and 40 C Ambient Non Operating Humidity Mil STD 810 IEC 60068 2 38 Ambient Operating TA
143. d and audio icons e Standard Cut Copy Paste and Delete keystrokes are supported for playlist entries e Un playable missing corrupt or unsupported file icons are ghosted The Send to Frame Buffer feature is reviewed in Section 10 3 Interestingly the playlist Rename feature edits a local alias or playlist nickname It does not actually change the name of the file on your hard drive Roll the mouse over the Alias in the header of the icon to see the actual filename Hint Multi selection is supported for most operations including Set Duration applies to Still and Title only ICON AUDIO SLIDER Figure 170 The playlist of the two DDRs as well as Sounds 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 171 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 This results in an improved match between the default playback level for captured audio and imported sounds or music for which nominal levels are unknown SCRUB BAR Just beneath the Playlist pane is a full width Scrub Bar Figure 171 The width of the Scrub Bar represents the full run time of the current clips or other file Drag the central knob left or right to change time p
144. did not automatically jump ahead to the next clip this time You may find Single mode your usual choice but it can be useful to turn it off as just described at other times Perhaps a live speaker is presenting a long clip but wants to be free to interrupt it with live commentary at any time Turning Single off with Autoplay on works perfectly in this scenario The TriCaster operator can click Take or Transition freely confident that DDR playback will resume at precisely the right frame when he does so again PRESETS Let s consider one more powerful feature common to TriCaster s media players the Presets Bin These bins run vertically down the outer edges of all Media Player and Audio Mixer modules providing instant access to custom playlists and configurations Normally hidden the preset bins fly out when you move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen Presets store other information about the current state of the module too including playback position selection status and so on In many ways presets act like tabs that reveal even more media players 27 Click a different preset icon and use the Add button to populate it Figure 67 28 Switch back and forth between presets noting as you do how various attributes are retained 29 Try copying and pasting playlist icons between two presets right click on an icon to access the context menu containing Cut Copy and Paste 30 Notice that if a clip is pla
145. ditional text objects as necessary For similar reasons text entered as paragraphs is automatically split into multiple lines in cgxml Title Page files A 3 13 PREPARE A MATCHED GROUP OF VIRTUAL INPUTS Suppose you want to assign matching shots from one theme group of LiveSets to different Virtual Inputs or Presets You might for example want everything to be the same except that one shot is centered on a virtual monitor in the LiveSet while another is centered on the set itself 1 Prepare the first Virtual Input click its tab and use the controls to select a LiveSet assign and position an Overlay source even click a Zoom Preset to be the default 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 Select the file you exported above and click Open The second Virtual Input will adopt the exact same settings as the first Now all you need to do is replace the currently assigned LiveSet with a matching one by clicking Add at upper right in the tab choosing the LiveSet you want and clicking OK A 3 14 IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MULTIVIEW OUTPUT For best quality be sure that the VGA Output Resolution you choose corresponds to that of the monitor connected see Section 7 1 5 NOTE Changing Output Resolution can cause frames to be dropped briefly Thus we do not
146. dragging horizontally affects its width Again if you drag just one of the numeric gadgets below the Size button with lock disabled you modify just one dimension of the overlay stream width or height Position and Size can be reset by clicking Reset Positioning and can be toggled on or off by clicking the Position button located to the left of the Configure button gear You will likely have realized by now that simply using the Virtual Input controls considered so far you could scale a live video source down and position it above another source to create a picture in picture effect or even two live insets with a black background 12 3 OVERLAY Take Auto 0100 Figure 194 Another switcher style source selector is situated right above the Input A row in Virtual Input tabs It is labeled Overlay Just above that at right you will also see local transition controls that are quite similar to those found in the Switcher s Transition pane Really the Virtual Input Overlay feature matches the DSK channels found in the Switcher s main Transition section in almost all respects Unlike the DSKs though its inclusion in Virtual Input tabs make it a pre Switcher sub layer along with Input A and B 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 co
147. e Delete Export and Import the file will be saved with the extension pst 10 2 5 SPEED ai 100 Figure 179 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 As is common for numeric input controls in TriCaster drag left or right to adjust the Speed value or click the slider to access a direct entry field allowing you to type a value using the keyboard Hint Press Shift while double clicking Speed to quickly reset to the 100 default 10 3 FRAME BUFFERS TriCaster s Frame Buffer system provides a very convenient and important alternative source system for Virtual Inputs including their Cut Copy v1 Ove associated Overlay channels and the Switcher s sala two primary Overlay channels Remove Rename y au s Overlay Graphics i e a title page or image file assigned Set Duration V6 Overlay V7 Overlay to Frame Buffers serve independently from Media V8 Overlay Players Figure 180 These sources are represented by the FRM BFR button on all three Switcher rows thus available to DSK 1 and 2 FX Program and Preview plus dedicated to each Virtual Input Hint We considered a Frame Buffer example back in Section 4 11
148. e Flash Media Live Encoder modify the settings for the profile to suit your need Select Save Profile from the File menu Navigate again to the appropriate sub folder inside the main C TriCaster Streaming Profiles FlashProfile directory supply a suitable name for the new profile and click the Save button 10 Exit Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder and re launch TriCaster SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q Does TriCaster support multi bitrate streaming profiles A Yes it does but there are a few things you should consider Multi bitrate encoding places higher demands on system resources than usual It is entirely possible to create a custom multi bitrate profile that is impractical either because its bandwidth expectations are unrealistic or because the encoding requires so many cpu cycles that it can intrude into other important live functionality For this reason we encourage you to use the profiles supplied with your system 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 The exact position of the character combination does not matter and spaces are permitted though the latter may pose issues for some CDNs A multi bitrate profile without i in the Str
149. e Location to the File Browser ccoooccnccnccncncnncnnonononoconnnnnnnncnnnnanononnnos 304 Remove a Location From the File Browser cccccssssecccceeseeceecaeeecceecaeesecesseeueecessaaaeseeseaees 304 Export Files to an external drive occoonccncccccnccnncnnoconcncnnononnnnncnnononnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnannnonnnnnnnnanenos 305 Export TriCaster files for Cross platform use ooocccncccnocccnncnnnncnnnnnnncnnnnnnnnononnnonancnnnonnnncnnnnnos 305 Supplement Why does the Renderless Quicktime export only work with Normal Profile MPESZ2 ES urna 305 Import Export files larger than 4 Gigabytes ccccccccccccccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 306 Repair damaged recordings ccccccssscccssseccceneccccenscccsensceseusceesauseesauesecsauseessaeeeesauesesseneeess 306 Free up space by deleting the demo clips occccooccncococnnccnnnnnnononnnonanonocnnnnnonanononnnnnnonanonos 307 Software Maintenance and Updates oooccccccccooncnnnccononnnnnnanccnnnnnonononnononronnnnnanrnonnonanininnnnos 307 Resolve serious instability or dropped framesT occcccccconcnnccononcnnncnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnncnnnnonanonnnnnns 307 Update the Flash and or Windows Media Encoder ccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 308 Install virus protection arica 308 Install my favorite software or codec oocccccccnnccnnnnnnnccnnnononacnnnnonarononononaronnnonanononononironnnnns 309 Supplement Can
150. e adjoining field A folder is automatically created at D Media Clips sessionname SavedStreams to receive the captured stream file Note this option is not shown for Browser based connections since archival service is commonly offered by the CDN in that case Note Remember to turn off the Stream when your production concludes or TriCaster will continue writing the stream capture file 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 5 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 C 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 The Startup Screen s Home Page appears whenever you launch TriCaster From here you create and launch sessions then choose what sort of activity you wish to pursue by making a selection from the icon ring on the Session Page Session Name Enter Session Name Volume D Video Standard O NTSC NTSC 1 Resolution O 10801 720p 480i 16 9 1080 30p EIES O 480i 4 33 1080 24p 0 720 24p Figure 89 Your intention may be to begin a new live production
151. e in the rear of the audience noticeably later than those in the front In loose terms for a mid size auditorium 600 feet long it takes around a half second for the audio to reach those in the back For this reason audio engineers often position speakers throughout the house then introduce carefully considered delays by electronic means to ensure late sound from front speakers does not arrive after sound from the nearest speaker to those further back Light on the other hand travels so much faster that for all intents transmission can be considered instantaneous in the same setting So a person in the rear will see the image ona screen at the front long before sound from a co located speaker arrives If transmission of the video signal from the camera lens right through to the projection screen were instantaneous it s not mind you we d likely need to find a way to delay it as otherwise the carefully timed delays the audio engineers induced would ensure a mismatch between video and late arriving audio Viewed in this light a certain amount of latency is actually A Good Thing 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
152. e large others smaller just as TriCaster media files may be larger smaller As time goes along you decide to remove books you have finished using from the shelf in order to make room for new additions You remove a book here another there opening up gaps between Figure 98 the remaining books This makes some shelf space available by creating gaps between the remaining books Sadly another large new book may be too big to fit in any one of the gaps A foolish librarian might tear the new book into smaller sections just big enough to fit into the open spaces on the shelf This would obviously be unwise When you wish to refer to the book later you will waste a lot of time locating and assembling its sections before you can access 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 this requires literally shredding your book in reality large video files from your TriCaster sessions into tiny fragments Defragmenting the storage volume has the same effect as sliding the books together resulting in one or more larger gaps The end result is that TriCaster doesn t have to frantically search in many different places to assemble the video streams from your recorded session Hint Defragmentation can sometimes take considerable time
153. e suite is finely tuned to provide reliable performance and amazing features Anything you install apart from official TriCaster updates places these important goals at risk Doing so is strongly discouraged Regarding codecs TriCaster supports the vast majority of popular image audio and video formats That said hardly a day passes without another new one appearing on the scene Ifa file you would like to use does not play back well or at all consider converting it to a friendlier format If you feel the format is so popular that TriCaster should support it please submit the details as a feature request Please also see Section A 3 10 above SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q Can install the MainConcept AAC Encoder Plug in for Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder A This is not required A 5 7 RESTORE TRICASTER SOFTWARE We firmly expect you will never need it but isn t it good to know that comprehensive TriCaster Restore features are available in the event of an unforeseen problem You can use one of two methods to access TriCaster s Restore features depending on your situation To restore your TriCaster system software after the system launches normally 1 Click the Shut Down icon on the Home Page of the Startup Screen 2 Click the Administrator Mode link at right to exit the TriCaster environment 3 Inthe Administrator Mode screen select the link labeled Backup or Restore System 4 Select the Restore Factory Defaults bootup
154. e to an odd numbered video Input 2 Connect the Alpha channel source to the next higher even numbered video Input 3 Open a TriCaster session or create a new one from the Home Page of the Startup Screen 4 Click the Live icon on the Session Page of the Startup Screen and press Enter or click the Start Live Production link 5 Click the All Monitors tab at the top of the Live Desktop roll the mouse pointer over the camera monitor you want to set up and click the Configure gear button that appears above it 6 Choose the appropriate Connection Type for the source attached to the odd numbered input in the Input Settings tab see Sections 3 4 and 7 2 1 7 Choose Act as Alpha Channel for Input as the Connection Type for the even numbered in the Input Settings tab See Section 7 2 2 A 1 3 CONFIGURE ALPHA MATTE OUTPUT 1 Open the Output Configuration panel by clicking the Configure button gear above the main Program Output monitor 2 Click the Output tab in Output Configuration and enable the Output Alpha Matte switch 3 Select a suitable source using the Aux Source menu 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 sessi
155. e to the AirPlay source One or more TriCaster devices will be listed as potential output devices for the AirPlay device Select one and you are done 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 Q Why doesn t my AirPlay device list TriCaster as a target A1 The first time you connect to a network with the TriCaster you must choose a network location This is a standard Windows process that automatically configures appropriate firewall and security settings for the type of network that you connect to You will be presented with 3 options Home Work and Public If TriCaster s active network has inadvertently been set to Public AirPlay will not connect Be sure this is set to either Home or Work A2 By default the Windows firewall is disabled on TriCaster If your AirPlay device does not recognize TriCaster after enabling AirPlay for Net 1 or Net 2 it may be that someone has enabled it and it is preventing connection You can either disable it or if you really must have it adjust its settings as follows Exit to Windows from the Shutdown menu in TriCaster s Home Page Open the Windows Firewall interface by clicking the Start button and then clicking the Contro
156. eam ID will produce a Flash Media Encoder error on attempting to stream Also the filename for multi bitrate streaming recordings TriCaster saves will automatically include the requisite i because the originating stream ID contains it SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q Is it better to use a Baseline or Main profile for H 264 encoding A Flash Media Live Encoder lets you choose either Baseline or Main type profiles in the Advanced Encoder Settings that opens when you click the Configure wrench button beside the 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 A 8 MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS A 8 1 CAN I DO ANYTHING TO IMPROVE LATENCY AUDIO SYNC Latency might be defined as the transit time for an a v stream Each device in the video chain introduces some limited transmission delay TriCaster s latency is very minimal but you can take measures to keep it to a minimum first and foremost by genlocking your video devices see Section 7 1 7 In a seemingly related matter note that audio and video passing through TriCaster are always synchronized However aspects of the physical design for IMAG video projection installations can make mimic a sync issue for viewers at some locations in the auditorium These issues are discussed
157. ection rather than the custom Media Browser Hint To jump to the standard system file explorer rather than the custom Media Browser from a Media Player hold keyboard Shift while clicking the Add button 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 174 FILE FILTERS The File Pane view is filtered to show only relevant content For example when selecting LiveSets the browser only shows LiveSet files vsfx An additional filter appears above the File Pane This is a smart filter which quickly locates files matching criteria you enter doing so even as you type For example if you enter wav into the filter field the File Pane would display all content at the current location with that string as part of its filename This would include any file with the filename extension wav WAVE audio file format but also wavingman jpg or lightwave_render avi CONTEXT MENUS Right click a Location listed under My Media Locations to show a context menu with just one item in it Remove de lists the location but does not delete the folder and its contents from the hard drive Note this menu is exclusively for use in the My Media Location section and is not available for other headin
158. ed 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 A good provider can guide you past firewalls provide public addresses for everyone to view your stream and provide no end of valuable guidance And it may not be as expensive as you think costs vary based on considerations such as how many viewers you expect how much web bandwidth you use each month and so on Some services based on an advertising model will even host your stream free 15 6 1 ON DEMAND OR LIVE Not all streaming is live streaming The difference is similar to i watching a television program you previously recorded at a time convenient for you or ii watching a live event On demand streams are stored on a server often supplied by an external service provider ready to be transmitted whenever a viewer wishes Live streams are available at the time they are broadcast such as during a live concert or event ON DEMAND HOSTING TriCaster permits you to record live productions to a local hard drive The resulting files can be hosted on a network later so viewers can connect whenever they like If you have the
159. ed as an executable program file Copy this file to the client system from its location in the iVGA folder found inside C TriCaster Extras Run iVGA on the client computer by double clicking its icon iVGA PRO will run from anywhere you put it on the client system even from a USB thumb drive Note For use with SD only model TriCasters or 32bit iVGA client computers use the original version of iVGA The first time you launch VGA PRO you ll be asked to accept an End User License Agreement Afterward several things will occur e Asmallicon is added to the Windows task bar notification area e The iVGA PRO control panel dialog is opened on your desktop The control panel Taskbar iVGA PRO icon and its context menu along with a marquee discussed momentarily provide all the settings and controls you need to configure and manage the application and its output Figure 223 THE CONTROL PANEL Let s begin our review of the tools provided by Destinati dessina uon looking more closely at the control panel w None DESTINATION SE XD 11 The default Destination setting is None indicating E that VGA PRO s audio and video output is not connected to a TriCaster on your local network TriCaster xD 1 SAR LJ mg ue X D4 yO l 1 Figure 224 When one or more TriCaster systems are detected the drop down menu will display their machine names Figure 224 A given TriCaster may display more than one
160. eesaaeeess 304 A 4 8 Export ies to an External DAVE usada 305 A 4 9 Export TriCaster files for Cross platform use cssssecccceccsssseeececeeseueeseeeeeeeenas 305 A 4 10 Import Export Files Larger Than 4 Gigabytes cccccccccccceeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 306 A 4 11 Repair damaged recordings ccccssccccssccccesecccsenscccceneccseuececseuecessauseessaneesseaees 306 A 4 12 Avoid the Error copy this file without its properties ooonccccccnoncnnnncnnnnnnnnnos 306 A 4 13 Free up Space by Deleting the Demo CLIPS ccoooccnccoocnnnonccnnonononnnnnnonnnnanononnnos 307 A 5 Software Maintenance and Updates ccococoocccnnccconnconnncnononnnnannnonononanonononanoconnnnnnnos 307 A 5 1 Mprove Performance reta 307 A 5 2 Resolve Serious Instability or Dropped frames cooooncnncccnoccnnncnnnconnnnnonoconnncnanonoos 307 A 5 3 Update TUCI tem aint snseart esta ncac teases cateba cOn e 307 A 5 4 Update the Flash and or Windows Media Encoder ssssssssssssssssssessseees 308 A 5 5 MStall VIFUS PrOTECU ON a 308 A 5 6 Install My Favorite Software or Codec c ooooccnnccnnncccnncnnncccnnnonanononcnnnaccnnnonanonoss 309 A 5 7 Restore ICI SONW Ena 309 A 5 8 Avoid file path problems due to unique characters in some languages 312 A 6 Registration And Tech Support sscccccsescccssescccsnsscccausecesauscecsuuscesauseessausesssuesessaunsessaes 312 A 6 1 Register TIC ria 3
161. ehind 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 Location address Entering this into the File menu of Windows Media Player using the Open URL window will direct WMP to show the stream from your system on client computer system s connected to the Internet or intranet 4 12 3 PUSH AND FLASH STREAMING Browser Based Windows Media Push and Adobe Flash streaming are slightly more complex largely because they depend on external resources to distribute your stream to a wider viewing audience These may be provided in house by your organization or you may take advantage of a commercial or free advertising sponsored Content Delivery Network Arrangements and requirements of various external streaming hosts are diverse but TriCaster s Streaming Configuration panel adapts to provide the necessary input and information fields for the various types More detail on these matters including connecting to a network and numerous useful tips on streaming strategies is found in Chapter 15 4 12 4 CAPTURING THE STREAM TriCaster can archive your live stream file as it is created Enable the Archive File switch in the Server control group and supply a file name in th
162. el Click the Resolution drop down menu and slide the pointer all the way down to the bottom to select Browse Navigate to the custom profile select it and click Open From TriCaster s Startup Screen click the Shutdown icon and select Exit to Windows Click the Exit to Windows button in the confirmation dialog that pops up Double click the My Computer icon and navigate to C TriCaster Streaming Profiles WMVPRofiles Identify a profile prx file similar to the one you wish to create inside the appropriate sub folder at that location Copy the file and paste the copy in at the same location Double click the new profile to open it in the Windows Media Profile Editor Make such changes to the settings as you see fit then click the Save and Close button Rename the modified profile to differentiate it from the others in the same folder Close the folder and re launch TriCaster 1 From TriCaster s Startup Screen click the Shutdown icon and select Exit to Windows Click the Exit to Windows button in the confirmation dialog that pops up Launch Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder from the Windows Start menu Select Open Profile from the File menu in the encoder application Navigate to C TriCaster Streaming Profiles FlashProfiles Continue to identify a profile xml file similar to the one you wish to create inside the appropriate sub folder at that location and click the Open button in the file explorer In Adob
163. el graphs controlled by a single Gain knob As mentioned earlier the default calibration used for the VU scale depends on the source type Mic and Line sources are normally displayed using the traditional dBVU scale while in other cases a CBFS scale is shown by default Click the downward pointing triangle next to the label above the VU scale for any source control group to manually choose a different VU scale calibration option 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 OdB are shown in red in the VU meters to caution you that overly high levels can result in clipping in recordings Hint An error message appears in the Status Bar above the main Program output monitor to warn you if clipping occurs see Section 6 5 1 See also Section 13 4 Advanced Audio Configuration and the heading Audio Headroom in Section 16 1 1 13 1 5 AUDIO GROUPS ooo Audio control panels for TriCaster EXTREME sources both internal and external have a drop down Group menu that allows you to link different audio sources Figure 215 together This allows you to assign individual sources to groups identified by color Audio Groups are especially useful in two respects e First Audio Groups are very useful in combination with TriCaster s Audio Follow Video feature see Section 13 1 4 Con
164. em will be listed in the right hand pane Issuing a Ping Ping is a command line program and must be run from a command shell on the issuing computer To open a command shell and send a ping follow the procedure below that applies Windows 1 Repeat the steps you performed above to re open a command shell 2 Type ping without quotes followed by a space and the target IP number as in the image below then press Enter cy CWINDOWS system321 cmd exe Microsoft Windows KP Version 5 1 2606 CG Copyright 1985 2601 Microsoft Corp C2 Documents and Settings TCStudiotping 192 168 1 161 Figure 245 3 Ping will go to work and in a moment or two begin reporting results A ping failure indicating a network problem will look like Figure 246 A success ping will display a report like Figure 247 cy iC WINDOWS system3 cmd exe Microsoft Windows KP Version 5 1 2600 LC Copyright 1985 2681 Microsoft Corp C Documents and Settings TCStudio gt ping 192 168 1 161 192 168 1 181 with 32 bytes of data timed out timed out timed out timed out Ping statistics for 192 168 1 1M1 Packets Sent 4 Received B Lost 4 106A loss ICssDocuments and Settings TCStudio gt Figure 246 cy C WINDOWS system32 cmd exe Microsoft Windows XP Version 5 1 2600 MC Copyright 1985 2061 Microsoft Corp C Documents and Settings TCStudio ping 192 168 1 181 Pinging 192 168 1 261 with 32 bytes
165. embered After creating a session or opening an existing one you are taken to the Session Page Here you can launch the Live Desktop for live production or perhaps choose to Edit prepare Graphics title pages Manage content or even create custom transitions 2 3 LIVE DESKTOP TriCaster s live production features are all available from its unique Live Desktop which in many ways mimics familiar production equipment However the Live Desktop provides far more functionality than that of similar single purpose devices all in one place The various features controls and modules comprising TriCaster s Live Desktop are arranged in three horizontal banos as seen in Figure 2 Monitoring 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 2 4 FEATURES Here s a brief overview of just some of TriCaster s key features 2 4 1 PHYSICAL _TRICASTER 455 e Rugged 2U rack mount case ensures robust reliable and quiet performance in fixed or mobile installations Massive storage capacity the internal drive holds approximately 20 hours of 1080i and the removable drive bay can be used to add to this capacity All audio and video monitoring and network
166. emonstrates that even identical and brand new video devices can differ dramatically When mixing multiple cameras we need to ensure that their output matches Switching to a camera with obviously different color characteristics will be seen as a glaring error by your viewers Even when we restrict matters to a single unit color characteristics can change as the system warms up and as it ages For this reason it s important to allow a device to warm up before attempting to calibrate it 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 They can t the upper limit white is firmly fixed Instead parts of the image that are nearly white are boosted eventually also becoming white Meanwhile black portions of the picture are tending towards gray Since white cannot become whiter and black has become gray we could say that the dynamic range of the image has been narrowed The net result is a less vibrant image The same thing is true for video from your cameras If the black and white levels from the camera are incorrect you are effectively losing either shadow or highlight detail For this
167. end automatically if necessary But in many venues system administrators are very reluctant to configure their system with an open port to have your stream Pulled from 15 6 3 STREAMING MEDIA PROVIDERS Using a commercial streaming media provider sometimes referred to as a Content Delivery Network or simply CDN bypasses otherwise high bandwidth requirements for the encoding computer When you have made arrangements for a streaming media provider to distribute your stream the encoder only needs enough bandwidth to get a single a v stream to the provider All end users connect to the provider to view the stream Most streaming providers have access to massive bandwidth and often with a few hours notice they can scale up your allotment on demand to meet a temporary need Since your local bandwidth is really only used for uploading a single stream you can send a high quality stream secure in the knowledge that it will not degrade as soon as a second viewer attempts to see it 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 15 6 4 OTHER RESOURCES If you re still struggling with the differences between Push and Pull streaming methods you can find lots of online resources in addition to excellent information available in NewTek s user forums The popular web resource Wikipedia hosts many articles on the subject
168. ensure a perfect match when switching from camera to camera during your live productions At this point your video signal should be reasonably accurate and broadcast legal Naturally there are other devices between that signal you and your viewers Let s discuss ways to calibrate downstream video monitors to ensure that you see your video at its best C 3 CALIBRATING YOUR MONITORS In most cases you will use a computer monitor of one type or another to display TriCaster s controls the so called user interface Even though the television monitors you likely use for 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 It may not be quite as important to achieve spot on color calibration for the monitor used for the user interface Not surprisingly video output color is best judged on larger downstream video monitors Nevertheless you may find a trip to one of any number of websites providing test imagery and calibration hints useful A search for computer monitor calibration will yield an endless list along with some commercial utilities for those who feel the need Here are links to several such sites http epaperpress com monitorcal http ww
169. er DUO ProTek ProTek Care ProTek Elite WGA SpeedEDIT 3PLAY 3Play 3Play 820 3PXD820 3Play 330 3PXD330 LiveText DataLink LiveSet 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 j d 7 Y 5 ES s 7 N j s i a Ae riCaster TriCaster is a trademark of NewTek Inc Copyright O 2013 NewTek Inc All rights reserved a
170. er horizontally or vertically this would indicate that the camera is incorrectly calibrated actually tinting gray areas When the trace is off center the direction and distance of the offset tells us what sort of tint and how much is represented by the deviation You may be able to use the color controls at your camera to correct for this offset or you can use the U Offset and V Offset controls in TriCaster s Proc Amp to do so as always source controls are best Adjustments to U Offset move the trace left or right while V Offset changes adjust its vertical position Let s move on to a slightly more rigorous testing C 2 3 COLOR METRICS At this point we ve assured ourselves that the signal from the camera is neither too bright nor too dark that its output falls within broadcast legal luminance limits and that the black amp white part of the signal does not have an unwanted color cast We haven t done anything yet though to assure our reds are red not slightly brown or that our blues are not slightly green or magenta etc The Vectorscope can provide much more specific information about your cameras color signal Let s see how it can assist you to ensure your colors are accurate _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 264 is an example of the color bars used in NTSC countries while Figure 265 is
171. er Sources OF Late iaa 322 O A scizsscasesaucsssscausssasneusncusveuenavansusneneusveuaueasusncans vans wens wen avoasuecaueosueeviseaueenuens 325 C 1 What And Where To Calibrate iii AAA AA 325 C 2 Calibrating Video SOUICES oe 326 C 2 1 Settins Black and WAR Geiri ani cIaIaitOS 326 C 2 2 PG USCIS COn 328 C23 COLOR MEIC S an a E T is 329 C 3 COMDIATING Your MONTOS ti dada ra ecis 331 C 3 1 Computer MONTO usa aaa ia 331 C 3 2 Program Output MONITO asia aio aiaa 332 C 3 3 Settins Black ANO WARG ir ana 332 C 3 4 Color Aqlustrents ia it 335 Keystroke Shortcuts caminan adoos 337 D 1 SUPE CIN vests disse ncaa E A Moca hea eerie oe acs 337 D 2 O 338 D 3 Virtual AAA acces aivaeadavas seas E ae eee ep ae 338 D4 ROCOFO ONG GID A aa 338 D 5 TODS festa cach ias odas 339 DG DORIA 339 B DOR A O EMR SO ten Fer Te Te ene et ar Pr Pee me 339 DE A ONO 340 D9 FREON GIO DCS a AAA E A 340 DIO SOU IIS eins so ace ies eh aan de Ba o ees 340 DAT CONE eT RETR ORE 7 cE E 341 DILI Selection and NIRO Nil id 341 DIL MC aaa 341 E gt Relablltv Testi idad 343 O es acacia sas ear ean wena a atin vane Savievenn ies nam aca un mae as a ae eee 345 A cc ccqicecnss suas cnavecatccatceavanstocsvarssovanenstocatenacoeanenaeussvanessuanauameuabenasswanaeasauevansssuesenatecstecateeate 350 xiii PART GETTING STARTED Introducing TriCaster connections and registration a top level overview of primary features and a hands on tour to get you started
172. er end of the analog quality range Component To connect an analog standard definition monitor for use in live production you must specify the connection type in the Output Configuration panel Note Analog connections for SoeedEDIT and LiveText output are pre defined and cannot be user modified Please see Chapter 17 for details daa mae oe Ha Figure 20 1 Move your mouse pointer over the large Program Output monitor on the Live Desktop 2 Click the Configure button gear that appears above its top right corner Figure 20 to open the Output Configuration panel The first tab in this panel is labeled Output Optional settings for SD Analog Connections are located in the central part of the panel Output Configuration These settings provide optional configurations for the first output connection designated as Output 1 SD Analog Connections a k a Program out Output 1 Note that the video format for Row 1 output and for TriCaster 855 Row 2 invariably conforms to the Aux format you chose for the session e g 1080i The me only suitable analog connection type for HD is component so the SD Analog Connection options are ghosted in HD sessions Program 4801 16 9 SDL Component Failsafe Figure 21 By contrast SD sessions do support several optional connection types Choose between Component connection or Composite Y C in this case Selecting Composite Y C sends composite video output
173. ert a number of clips in a single operation FLASH F4V FAV format files written by Adobe Flash Media Encoder are incompatible with most video playback applications even those from Adobe The developer has explained the situation as follows Adobe Flash Media Server version 3 5 and later and Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3 can record content in MPEG 4 F4V format using an industry standard recording technology known as fragments or moof atoms Some MPEG 4 compatible tools and players do not support moof atoms and therefore cannot recognize files recorded by Flash Media Server The F4V Post Processor tool aggregates the information from all the moof atoms into a single moov atom and outputs a new file Unconverted F4V files imported will not play in TriCaster s DDR either Conveniently TriCaster can automate the conversion for you to a degree If you locate the folder named Media Clips sessionname SavedStreams on your primary session drive you will see the raw unprocessed streaming file s and a batch file bat that can be used to convert all files in that folder Simply double click the bat file to initiate processing Note that processing can take some time so don t do this just before a production Output files will be placed in the same folder after conversion Hint The bat file supports several additional features if run using command line switches The readme file located in the same folder prov
174. es a mid range tone from the left speaker connected to Output CH1 and a higher pitched tone from the right speaker connected to Output CH2 Hint If you happen to have a surround sound speaker setup with front and rear speakers you will also hear another even lower tone coming from the rear speakers 11 The VU meter for Sound in the Internal Audio tab will show matching levels for all four input channels 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 Moving the slider to the right of center has the opposite effect reducing channels 1 and 3 doing so without any effect on the other 2 channels At the extreme right position only the mid range tone from the DDR file is audible and only from the right speaker The lesson here is that unlike either Mono or Pan considered shortly Balance does not move audio from one channel to another You cannot use Balance to blend channel 1 with channel 2 for example Rather Balance regulates the levels for one pair of channels 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 at a time Figure 39 and does not affect the other pair in doing so Let s consider the effect of the Mono switch next 13
175. es 1 Open or create a TriCaster session 2 Click the Manage icon in the Startup Screen s Session Page 3 Click the Import Media button below the Browse list 4 Use the Import Media module that opens to create a list of files you wish to import into the current session and click the Import button Hint You may know that external files can be used in a session without being imported by adding them to Media Player playlists using the Add Media Location feature However such external files used in a session will not be included in session backups unless they are deliberately imported during the backup process nor are they deleted when sessions are deleted Also the transfer speed of many external devices is too slow for reliable playback of media content making it wise to use Import instead whenever possible A 4 4 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 The NewTek codec packs for both windows and OS X are included in your TriCaster content and from your personal Downloads page on the NewTek website see also Section A 4 5 OS X users have several other options available which support an alpha channel including the Animation and PNG Quic
176. es to the Transition Delegate controls a The Program monitor shows DSK 1 currently assigned to Graphics or Title over the current BKGD layer The latter at the moment is the Program row selection 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 Hold down Ctrl on the keyboard and click the BKGD Delegate button de selecting it Note that after de selecting the BKGD delegate button the Preview monitor no longer shows the Switcher s Preview row selection Why is that At this moment only the DSK 1 and DSK 2 buttons remain lit thus only those two video layers will be affected by a main Take or Auto operation The result will be as follows e DSK 1 currently seen on Program out will be removed from view e DSK 2 will be overlaid above Program instead e The BKGD layer will not change in this case Hence Preview correctly depicts the outcome of a Take or Auto just as we ve mentioned The Look Ahead Preview allows you to switch with real confidence the Transition Delegate features provide flexible and convenient video layer management and thus enhanced control over your ultimate Program output composition 4 7 RECORD AND GRAB Record TF Stream tt Figure 57 L
177. etup Privacy LU e Disconnect releases the currently selected TriCaster About connection equivalent to selecting E None in the control panel Destination 10 36 AM 11 29 2012 aw al CP amp c menu Figure 230 e Setup shows the VGA PRO control panel e Privacy while engaged VGA PRO s video output is replaced by a static privacy image see hint below and audio output is muted Privacy mode allows the user to check e mail or perhaps view or arrange something without risk of the audience observing The taskbar icon shows a red indicator when Privacy mode is engaged Hint If an image named privacy bmp or privacy jpg exists in the folder that iVGA is launched from it will be sent Otherwise the default privacy screen is used e About displays information about the application e Exit exits the VGA application HOTKEYS e In Region mode it s possible to zoom the marquee to several preset sizes 150 200 400 using the hotkeys Right Ctrl number pad 1 2 or 3 these hotkeys enable Region mode Right Ctrl number pad O selects the full screen for output Pressing Right Ctrl number pad 5 5 toggles the Marquee display on off even if the control panel is closed while Right Ctrl number pad 9 enables or disables the Follow Mouse option 14 2 AIRPLAY AirPlay is Apple s protocol for getting audio and video from here to there specifically from an A
178. few features of the Sessions List briefly before we open a session Media Practice Session 1080 601 Restore Backup Session Media 2 Restore Backup Session Figure 94 Open Session amp Figure 95 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 However Read Only media can be used for import purposes CONTEXT MENU Right click a session name to open a context menu with two items listed in it Rename and Delete The Delete function should be used thoughtfully as it cannot be undone All content stored in the named session s folders will be deleted including clips images and titles and even title and edit project files created within the session unless you have deliberately saved the projects and all constituent files to locations outside the session folders Note Content that is not local to the session but which was used in it is not deleted For example you may have added still images to your playlist directly from a USB thumb drive doing so without actually importing the files into the session Those external files will not be deleted RESTORE SESSION BACKUP In another section of the Startup Screen Session Page gt Manage there is a feature
179. finition devices from HD sessions e Simultaneously send program output to both analog and digital devices e Send program output or other layouts to a secondary monitor or projector using Multiview e Stream program output to the Internet via a suitable network connection 3 8 2 HD AND SD As mentioned earlier for HD sessions TriCaster supports simultaneous output of both SD Standard Definition and HD High Definition video The Video Output section on TriCaster s backplate provides vertical columns of four BNC connectors offering the following connection possibilities for live production e Row 1 video output format is determined by the session see Section 5 1 o When the session is SD 4 3 or 16 9 output is likewise SD 4 3 or 16 9 o When the session is HD output is HD e Row 2 outputs are user configurable and can be set up in the Live Desktop Output Configuration panel o For TriCaster 855 Row 2 outputs a secondary configurable copy of the main Program video stream o TriCaster 455 employs Row 2 to supply the AUX video output which has even more options e TriCaster 855 only provides a third video output row using it to present AUX output 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 b
180. for your NewTek products including FAQs for all products It also lists the Technical Support Department s hours of operation and contact details A 6 3 FIND TRICASTER S HARDWARE FIRMWARE REVISION NUMBERS Click the About icon in the Startup Screen s Home Page Doing this opens an information panel that lists significant version numbers at the bottom A 7 MISCELLANEOUS A 7 1 ACCESS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION FEATURES 1 Exit the Live Desktop and navigate to the Home page in Startup 2 Click the Shutdown icon and then click the Administrator Mode link A 7 2 RETURN TO TRICASTER FROM ADMINISTRATOR MODE Click the Back to TriCaster link in the Administrator Mode screen to return to the TriCaster Startup Screen A 7 3 ACCESS WINDOWS 1 Exit the Live Desktop and navigate to the Home page in Startup 2 Click the Shutdown icon and then click the Administrator Mode link 3 Click the Exit to Windows link at right and confirm the warning dialog A 7 4 RETURN TO TRICASTER FROM THE WINDOWS DESKTOP Double click the TriCaster icon on the Windows desktop to return to the TriCaster Startup Screen A 7 5 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 agai
181. formation 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 Once configured on the remote site you can audition your streaming broadcast using the Test button provided in the Configure Stream Connection panel After leaving this panel the Stream button underneath the Program Out monitor on the Live Desktop toggles streaming note that if you start streaming with the Test button then close the Configure Stream Connection panel streaming continues uninterrupted If you do not wish to archive your test stream disable the Archive File switch beforehand but remember to re enable it later if desired Hint Some services may show you what they are receiving from TriCaster when you press Test or Stream but do not actually broadcast that stream until you indicate that you are ready to go on air using controls on the website For Browser Based streaming the encoding of your program into a stream for transmission to the service provider and ultimately beyond to your Internet audience is performed by an applet running on the website As mentioned before however this arrangement often doesn t give you as much control or as many options as you might want Other Connection Type options are more hands on in this respect but require you to manually select related settings as discussed next for each type Hint Password pr
182. g Its capabilities are equally well suited to broadcast center control room installation or remote production location and it requires just one person to operate No matter what your live broadcast ambitions are a TriCaster can help you fulfill them With TriCaster you can produce and distribute live video programs from diverse sources and materials in both Standard and High Definition Use multiple cameras recorded digital video PowerPoint presentations on networked laptops live web pages digital photos and graphics and much more TriCaster also supports Apple s AirPlay protocol allowing compatible off the shelf mobile video devices such as iPhone and iPad to stream content wirelessly to TriCaster Your presentations can simultaneously be displayed by video projectors television monitors broadcast by traditional means and streamed in high quality on the Internet 2 2 STARTUP SCREEN When you power up TriCaster the Startup Screen appears This is your command center for initiating most other operations Session Name Enter Session Name Volume D Video Standard O NTSC O nisCc 5 Resolution O 1080i 720p 480i 16 9 1080 30p 0 720 30p 480i 4 3 1080 24p 0 720 24p Figure 1 The Home Page of the Startup Screen allows you to define and open sessions each of which can be customized for various productions or other purposes Later when you re open a session all of its assets and settings are rem
183. gabit networking is highly recommended and should be considered mandatory for HD sessions in particular Figure 43 When TriCaster recognizes qualified network sources it adds them to a drop down menu for quick selection Figure 43 4 Move your mouse pointer over a Network monitor in the All Monitors tabbed view 5 Click the triangular menu button above the monitor to select a networked source or change the current selection from the menu that appears Hint iVGA places a red green blue status icon on the client system For a Windows based system the icon is in the task tray on Macintosh systems it is shown in the dock This indicates this computer s display is ready to send to TriCaster The icon is animated when the iVGA source is selected as the active Network source in TriCaster 4 5 2 APPLE AIRPLAY See Section 14 2 for details on using devices and applications supporting Apple AirPlay as network sources for 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 This is a wonderful addition for those times when you could really use another pair of hands When running on the network connected compute
184. gs in the Location List 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 Figure 175 Figure 176 During playback a timecode field in the transport controls area displays the Current Time for the player This may be the current time position relative to the active playlist item or the duration for the entire playlist as discussed next when Single mode is enabled the duration used is always that of the current playlist item Left click the field to type in a timecode then press Enter to jump to that point in the file or playlist If you right click the timecode field instead a menu allows you to choose to between showing current time and remaining time Reverse Direction enabling or disabling Warning Colors or toggling Playlist Duration on and off versus single playlist item duration Hint With Warning Colors enabled the time display provides visual indication that the playback is nearing its end Ten seconds before the end of play for the current item the digits in the time display turn amber When only five seconds are left the numbers are shown in red Figure 177 Media Player playback normally confo
185. guration panel the number depends on the model These are configured in exactly the same manner as the Primary source discussed previously QuickTime mov Media Dx 630GB MPEG 2 Compatibility mpg Media 2 E 1 73TB MPEG 2 Compatibility mpg Media 2 E 1 73TB MPFPEG 2 Compatibility mpg Media D 630GB cl MPEG 2 Compatibility mpg Stripe F 46GB t MPEG 2 Compatibility mpg Stripe F 4666 peg A A A J iat gt ft Lu cli H 264 High Quality mp4 Stripe Fz 46GB Figure 255 Click the Add Source button to add an entry to the Secondary list up to the total limit for the model either four TriCaster 455 or eight TriCaster 855 sources in total including the Primary source To remove an entry click the corresponding X button at left Caution It is recommended that any single drive serve to capture one or two video sources at most and a warning message is displayed if you exceed this number when configuring Destination settings TriCaster does not prevent you from exceeding this limit however when you are confident that very fast volumes are capable of handling the load 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 al eo Click the Configure button gear next to Grab beneath the Program Output monitor to open the Grab Still Configuration panel The options
186. h to Camera 2 Even though Follow is not turned on for input 2 you will nevertheless hear sound from both input 1 and input 2 again This is because another input in the same group does have Follow enabled 4 5 NETWORK SOURCES Perhaps you d like to be able to add Microsoft PowerPoint output web pages Skype video calls application displays titles and graphics from NewTek s LiveText or other exotic content to your productions TriCaster supports all such displays from computers on the same network as Network 1 and 2 sources on the Switcher via the supplied iVGA client application not required for LiveText 4 5 1 IVGA CLIENTS 1 Fora Microsoft Windows client copy the iVGA program from the Extras folder inside C TriCaster to the sending computer For OS X client systems copy the appropriate iVGA dmg zip for your version of OS X from the same folder to the Mac Unzip it by double clicking it mount the disk image dmg file in the same manner then drag the VGA program icon into Applications See Section 14 1 for more detail 2 Connect TriCaster to the client computer via the local network 3 Double click the VGA 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 VGA running on them to the VGA client list Note Gi
187. he Multiview output Then select the Internal Monitors tab on the Live Desktop or reverse these choices You ll get much larger views of all sources this way e Alternatively choose the All Monitors tab as the Multiview layout and drag the horizontal divider between the monitors and the Switcher to of the top of the screen hiding the Desktop monitors e You can also drag the divider between Preview and the tabbed monitor pane see Figure 117 showing the Program and Preview monitors only Hint Reset a Live Desktop divider to its default location by double clicking it 6 5 TITLEBAR TIPS An information display in the Live Desktop titlebar provides useful data Displayed info includes e Session Name e Session format e Switcher Memory tracks how much system memory is required by currently selected virtual sets transitions and the like If you do inadvertently overtax the effects system by pre selecting many many large custom effects unlikely you might just reach the limit which could result in dropped frames e Timecode from an external LTC timecode source or the system clock may include optional Start End time displays e Timecode Configure button gear Scan this code to view the TnCaster user guide Figure 118 e QR Code Documentation click this button and scan a QR code with your mobile device such as an iPad or Android tablet to download and view TriCaster documentation wi
188. he Session Page 4 Under Browse at right click the Clips link A system file explorer will open 5 Open the Capture folder in the file explorer A 3 8 CHANGE PLAYBACK SPEED FOR CLIPS IN THE DDR MEDIA PLAYER The DDR s Speed control adjusts playback speed between 25 400 Simply adjust the slider knob to suit the need Note that certain highly compressed video file formats cannot successfully be played back at rates beyond 200 even though Speed value is set to a higher value See Section 10 2 5 for more A 3 9 DEAL WITH DDR MEDIA PLAYER CLIPS THAT SEEM BLURRY When paused or stopped TriCasters DDRs perform motion removal to avoid unwanted flicker This can make the image seem slightly blurred when paused but it should look perfect during playback Recorded static title pages look their best when captured using the Grab function with De Interlace turned off A 3 10 GET STUBBORN CLIPS TO PLAY IN THE DDR First note that TriCaster has a two minute warm up period during which system software initializes During this period frames may be dropped during playback see Section 6 5 1 QUICKTIME At the time of writing a 64bit version of Quicktime for Microsoft Windows is not available TriCaster provides internal support for many QuickTime file formats but not all of them Ifa QuickTime file fails to play smoothly or at all in the DDR we recommend converting it to a friendlier format We highly recommend installi
189. heir signals fall within legal ranges it s best to use camera white balance controls whenever possible mind you Output proc amp settings allow you to compensate for specific circumstances For example independent Proc Amp controls make it simple to tweak the Multiview output to conform to local conditions such as projector color temperature variations projection surface color and physical lighting conditions without affecting the video output streams Let s begin with a consideration of Output Configuration tools 7 1 OUTPUT CONFIGURATION Figure 122 Roll the mouse pointer over Program Output to reveal a Configure button Figure 122 above the top right corner of the display Click it to open the Output Configuration panel Figure 123 Output Configuration 50 Analog Connections Output 1 AUX Program 480i 16 9 SDI Component Failsafe Figure 123 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 7 1 1 OUTPUT CONTROLS Output Configuration contains tabbed panes providing e Output o Proc Amp processing amplifier controls for TriCaster s primary output o SD Analog Connection configuration controls o Aux output conf
190. her and related controls and features including the Layer Controls which include main and local layer Transition controls and configuration features Figure 143 Figure 143 8 1 SWITCHER ROWS AUXOUT DSK1 DSK2 Figure 144 From top to bottom the three Switcher rows are labeled Utility Program and Preview Clicking a button in the Program or Preview row selects the active video source for that row audio sources may or may not be affected by Switcher activity see Chapter 13 8 1 1 UTILITY AND DELEGATE Utility is a special purpose row and offers additional capabilities described next AUX OUT DSK1 The function of the Utility row is governed by the nearby Utility Delegate button selection s e Making a selection on the Utility row assigns that source to all selected delegates e The FX channel selection provides an auxiliary video stream which can serve in a variety of ways For example it could supply the background scene in a Virtual Input or be assigned to an Overlay or DSK channel Chapter 12 3 e Selecting the AUX OUT delegate allows direct selection of the Auxiliary Output video stream without requiring you to open Output Configuration Hold down Shift on the keyboard when clicking the Utility row buttons on the Live Desktop as listed below to access extended AUX OUT selections 1 8 gt VI Frame Buffers 1 8 Net 1 gt Look Ahead Preview Net 2 gt Program DDR 1 gt Program Clean DDR2
191. her way to engage Play With Single mode engaged playback automatically stops at the end of the current clip 17 Select Camera 1 on the Switcher s Preview row DDR 1 is already selected on the Program row 18 Enable the Autoplay switch for DDR 1 19 Play the first clip in the playlist again This time just as the clip approaches its end the Switcher automatically performs a transition the sources on Program and Preview are automatically swapped leaving Camera 1 on Program output 20 After a few moments click either Take or Transition in the Switcher s Transition section 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 Click Stop if necessary 22 Uncheck Single leaving Autoplay engaged 23 With DDR 1 on Program and Camera 1 on Preview highlight a fairly long clip say a minute or more 24 Click Play 25 After a few seconds perform a Take and watch what happens a Naturally DDR 1 and Camera 1 are swapped on the Switcher b DDR playback is stopped at the current frame of the current clip 26 Perform another Take a As expected DDR 1 is restored to Program output b Playback re commences at the next frame of the current clip The DDR
192. hese options may be found in an obscure place such as the router s Applications and Gaming page since online gaming often requires port forwarding Access Applications Restrictions amp Gaming Setup Wireless Security Port Range Forward Port Triggering DMZ Cos WT S080 to 8080 Both 192 168 1101 TrCast 7000 to 7000 Both 192 168 1102 M Figure 248 3 Enter an Application name if required this is for your own recognition purposes so use anything you like 4 Enter the Start and End port values you can use the same port number in both fields but of course it must be the one you set in TriCaster s Port field 5 IF possible select Both for Protocol or select UDP 6 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 For example the Linksys router shown above has a setting in the Security page named Block Anonymous Internet Requests While this may be a great idea normally it s not going to help much when outside computers request that your system permit them to Pull the video stream is it There are countless makes and models of routers for information on various models and a great deal of help on port forwarding generally we can recommend the f
193. ht of the Switcher rows is the Transitions section This group of controls and settings provides many creative and flexible ways to compose the video layers comprising Program output Main Layer Controls Local Layer Controls DSK 1 DSK 2 FTB Figure 146 With video layers in mind it s easy to comprehend the philosophy underlying the Transition control group The larger right portion of the Transition group provides local control and configuration options individually for three of the four primary video layers namely BKGD DSK 1 and DSK 2 We ll consider the local controls first 8 3 1 LOCAL CONTROLS BKGD Transitions and Overlay DSK Transitions are slightly different BKGD Transitions have Reverse and Ping Pong options The direction controls have been relocated to the Transition Options panel opened using the nearby gear button Overlay Transitions always Ping Pong so do not offer direction controls Pressing the local Take button for the BKGD layer will swap the current Preview row selection to the Program row and vice versa just as you would expect Pressing the local Take button for either DSK 1 or DSK 2 displays or hides the corresponding video layer shown on top of the BKGD layer Naturally local Auto buttons perform similarly but apply transition settings you configure with the controls at right for each layer Hint DSK Overlay Positioning is toggled on off in the Transition Option
194. ibution system Alternatively you may want a clean output from one or more sources for use apart from the main Master mix This arrangement is often referred to as mix minus It can be invaluable for productions like phone in shows The remote caller needs to be able to hear the interviewer but if you simply send the Master mix back to him he is forced to endure a late arriving echo of his own voice Needless to say this would be confusing and undesirable Suppose your interviewer is speaking into a microphone connected to Input 1 The audio from your interviewee is routed into another TriCaster input 1 Enable the Solo switch for Input 1 2 Select Solo as the Source for Aux This setup gives you a clean output consisting of just the interviewer s voice on Aux By connecting the input of your remote call hookup to TriCaster s Aux output you can send that clean signal to your remote caller and control its level independently This eliminates annoying echoing feedback and the like Meanwhile both participants can be heard on the main Program output Hint TriCaster s Audio Groups feature Section 13 1 5 can also be used for mix minus setups but Solo provides an especially useful alternative when the use of grouping is already in use for managing sources for Follow purposes BALANCE A Balance slider is likewise shown for all source types other than Mic In a conventional stereo environment centering the
195. icated oe CG and title solution for your live presentations MARSHALL EVANS oe When running and connected LiveText will be listed in Technical Director TRISTA VALMI TriCaster s Net 1 and Net 2 drop down menus similar to Ciia bervicwa PHH GHEENME an VGA source a E gt For more information on installing and using LiveText please refer to its manual Figure 231 LiveText LIVE Output pane 14 4 3PLAY 3Play s Output A and Output B are available as Switcher sources to TriCaster They appear in the source selector fal Receive menu for TriCaster s network inputs as 3Play A and 3Play1 B 3Play B where 3Play is the name for the system LiveText CG MyLaptop Conveniently the output includes embedded audio freeing up multiple TriCaster a v inputs for other purposes Figure 232 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 When it comes to taking advantage of this new medium TriCaster places you in the forefront of all the excitement Internet streaming for different purposes involves a wide variety of attributes at times too account login details are required for your stream
196. ides details of these alternatives If you prefer to perform this post processing on another computer you can transfer the raw files to it and use the Adobe F4V Post Processor tool available from the URL below requires an account to login https www adobe com cfusion entitlement index cfm Pevent custom amp sku FS0000522 amp e fms35 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 Click the Configuration gear button for the player s onscreen monitor to access the Proc Amp 3 Click and drag the Hue slider left or right swinging colors through the spectrum Observe that black and white graphics and titles are unaffected by the hue shift In many cases this allows you to modify background imagery without any effect on text objects which are often white A 3 12 GET LIVE TITLE PAGES CGXML TO RESPECT ALL LIVETEXT FONT ATTRIBUTES TriCaster s Title Page file format cgxml presently supports a most every attribute that LiveText offers but there are a few exceptions For example multiple font styles on one text line are not supported which means that different words on a single line cannot be different colors or use different typefaces Of course you can achieve the same effect by using ad
197. if you roll over the onscreen monitor for a Media Player Stop and Play buttons are supplemented by Previous and Next playlist item buttons These buttons all perform identically to the controls in tabbed modules below the Switcher see Chapter 9 Figure 163 As well a timecode field is conveniently situated below the monitor label for Media Player modules Figure 163 Like its sibling in the tabbed modules right clicking on it opens a menu allowing you to Reverse Direction for the time counter show or disable Warning Colors or use the entire Playlist Duration for the timecode rather than just the time for the current item Figure 164 On rolling the mouse pointer over the monitor for either Network 1 or Network 2 an additional control is shown a downward pointing triangle Click the triangle to show a menu listing any valid network video sources TriCaster has recognized This menu might list displays from other computers transmitted across the network via iVGA an 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 9 3 2 INTERACTIVE CONTROL The onscreen monitors with the exception of Preview are actually interactive live production controls You can click them to perform many Switcher operation
198. iguration controls Including Output Alpha Matte e Multiview o Proc Amp controls for Multiview output o Multiview output display options e Genlock o Genlock calibration controls o Center Frequency setting This panel closes when you click the Close button or click outside the panel 7 1 2 PROC AMP Proc Amp adjustments can be toggled on and off using the Enable Proc Amp switch at upper left in the Main and Multiview panes note that the Multiview output Proc Amp affects only Program and Preview displays or reset by clicking the Restore Defaults button Each Proc Amp has numeric slider controls for Brightness Adjustment range from 50 to 50 IRE the default being 0 As reference the full luminance range of the visible portion of a video signal can be thought of as 100 IRE units named for the Institute of Radio Engineers ignoring minor regional variations Contrast Adjustment range from 25 400 default 100 Hue Adjustment range from 180 to 180 Adjusts the master color of the video signal from the attached source swinging the entire image through the color wheel s spectrum Saturation Adjustment range from 0 500 Zero saturation results in a black and white picture increased saturation results in richer colors High saturation values can exaggerate the color portion of the signal Note that over saturated colors are considered illegal for broadcast transmission and may result
199. il or clicking the Play button begins playback from the n Point of the current file Note that even still images and static title pages added to the playlist are given a play duration The default duration for these items is fifteen seconds This duration can be adjusted on an item by item basis or as noted earlier en masse for multi selected stills or title pages During playback the frame around successive playlist items illuminate as each is played in turn The playlist pane scrolls to display the icon for the currently playing item A progress bar is displayed beneath the currently playing thumbnail and the Scrub Bar knob also tracks playback progress Hint Selection status is independent of which clip is playing Selected items have a white border in the Playlist pane e 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 e Newly added files become selected items in the Playlist pane e Drag appropriate type file s from one module s playlist to another module e Right click in the playlist pane to show a menu with context relevant items from the following list operations affect selected playlist items o Cut o Copy o Paste o Remove o Rename o Clone o Set Duration Still image and title icons o Edit Title o Send to Frame Buffer Still image and title icons o Set Audio Level clips with soun
200. in detail in Section B 3 IMAG and Latency SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q Why does latency seem higher for certain video formats i e 24p 25p or 30p A TriCaster passes frames through the switcher at the appropriate frame rate When the session format calls for frames at 60Hz displayed frames are refreshed much more often than for example a 24p format Consequently apparent latency will also be less than half what it would be at 24Hz In general the lower the frame rate of the session video format the higher latency will seem to be A 8 2 WHY IS MY POWER SUPPLY BEEPING TriCaster 855 provides 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 If you wish you can mute the alert by pressing the green button on the back of the unit SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q Where can I obtain replacement or spare Power Supply modules A Contact NewTek Sales for purchase information for spare TriCaster components A 8 3 WHY DO SOME THUMBNAIL ICONS LOOK WRONG Some file formats notably AVI do not provide embedded aspect ratio information As a result certain files such as 1440x1080 files intended to be displayed as 16 9 the thumbnail image in Media Player icons for may not be properly proportioned Generally the problem does not extend to playback the DDR will guess the aspect ratio correctly B PERFORMANCE CON
201. in the NTFS file system at all times before repair Operations like zipping the file transferring it to a FAT32 drive and then back etc will make recovery impossible A 4 12 AVOID THE ERROR COPY THIS FILE WITHOUT ITS PROPERTIES Windows shows this error message when you export a media file from TriCaster to an external volume that does not use the NTFS file system The warning is not really a concern although we highly recommend using NTFS formatted storage as noted in Section A 4 10 The files will copy just fine regardless TriCaster generates metadata attributes for media files for internal use This metadata is only retained when you export to storage formatted as NTFS That being said the metadata is automatically regenerated if you use the files with TriCaster again later so its loss poses no issue A 4 13 FREE UP SPACE BY DELETING THE DEMO CLIPS 1 Goto TriCaster s Startup Screen 2 Open a session it doesn t matter which one 3 Click Manage on the icon ring 4 Click the Clips link at right 5 Use the system File Explorer that opens to navigate up one level in the folder hierarchy to D Media Clips 6 Selectively delete content from the sub folders you find in this location A 5 SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND UPDATES A 5 1 IMPROVE PERFORMANCE 1 In the Administrator Mode screen click the Defragment Hard Drive link under the System Utilities heading and follow directions provided see the heading
202. in the menu that opens See the sub heading Context Menus in Section 10 2 2 A 4 8 EXPORT FILES TO AN EXTERNAL DRIVE There are several approaches to exporting media files from within TriCaster sessions By far the simplest is to use the Export Media feature see the sub heading by that title in Section 5 3 3 A 4 9 EXPORT TRICASTER FILES FOR CROSS PLATFORM USE TriCaster s default Quicktime capture format can be successfully imported without any unusual steps into standard OS X applications with MPEG 2 playback support such as Final Cut Pro and AVID Media Composer To export media files you might have used in your live production that are in other formats or which are intended for some special cross platform purpose you may wish to use the Export Media feature 1 In the Startup Screen s Home Page Open the session containing the recorded files you are interested in 2 Click the Manage icon in the Startup Screen s Session Page Click the Export Media button at lower right and then click Add to open a Media Browser as Add the files s you wish to export to the Export Media file list Use the drop down preset menus to select export options for the files you add Click the selection gadget triangle and choose a target location for the output file s aS Ol gt Click the Export button in the panel to commence transcoding Please see the sub heading entitled Export Media in Section 5 3 3 for more on TriCaster
203. ing Start Session will take you to the Session Page As our intention is to configure our connections done in TriCaster s Live Desktop click Live on the icon ring Figure 18 Simply click the link labeled Start Live Production to launch the Live Desktop which is likely where you will spend most of your time working with TriCaster THE LIVE DESKTOP Initially as you have yet to configure input devices or add content the Live Desktop will look a bit barren Figure 19 Figure 19 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 This allows you to operate it without even connecting downstream video monitors or devices You might do just that in the case of productions intended primarily for live streaming In other cases however you will likely connect external monitors to the VIDEO OUT connectors on TriCaster s backplate see Section 3 7 High definition video monitors should be connected to either SDI or Component connections 3 11 1 SD ANALOG CONFIGURATION For standard definition monitoring however several types of analog connections are currently in popular use These include Composite Y C also known as S Video and at the upp
204. ing service or CDN content delivery network or possibly even multiple accounts you maintain for different purposes CUSTOMERS VOLUME 3 NUMBER 4 The State of the Internet 4th Quarter 2010 Report 13 640 293 207 change above daily average The Akamai HD Network Figure 233 TriCaster s Streaming Configuration panel supports the creation and configuration of all of the information and settings you are likely to need in this context The information you enter for a given Connection is retained in a preset that is easily accessed afterward from a convenient drop down me In addition this panel has built in web browser capabilities permitting you to both view your stream from the remote site just as your audience will see it and use webpage based controls as required 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 Flash 15fps 320x180 384k You Tube Search Browse Upload Sign in to YouTube Join the largest worldwide video community gt Get full access to YouTube with your account You Tube Google e Upload and share your own videos with the world Sign in to YouTube with your Comment on rate and make video responses to your favorite videos YouTube OR Google Account e Build playlists of favorites to watch later Username 2 Web Browser Password
205. ing the other Virtual Inputs along with convenient presets you can easily mimic a very large studio complex from a much smaller location 4 11 FRAME BUFFERS To this point we have used photos graphics and titles from TriCaster s Media Players as sources for several different exercises Of course for Overlay and DSK purposes this requires you to be sure that that the current playlist entry in the respective Media Player is the right one for the moment TriCaster s Frame Buffers provide an alternative workflow that not only prevents selection accidents but also offers other benefits 1 Add the image file named TriCaster Logo w Bkgnd png from Still gt NewTek gt Logos to the playlist of a Media Player W Ple Tk We miles ter Overlay 1 Cut Overlay 2 Copy V1 Overlay he Paste V2 Overlay emo V3 Overlay Remove y el V4 Overlay Rename y Clone V5 Overlay Set Duration V6 Overlay Edit Title WT Overlay Send to Frame Buffer V8 Overlay Figure 83 2 Right click on the new icon in the playlist and slide the mouse pointer down to the item Send to Frame Buffer Select V1 BFR from the sub menu that appears 3 Select the button labeled V BFR as the nput B source in the V1 tab Y NewTek y TriLaster Figure 84 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
206. ion Time 12 00 00 AM TriCaster decodes time stamps from the audible signal and uses the values for clock displays and embedded timecode when recording video This is a great asset for post production purposes Figure 142 Enable linear timecode using the switch labeled Use External timecode LTC in Timecode Configuration Sound from the audio input tasked with supplying timecode is automatically muted for recording and output purposes when LTC timecode is enabled but you can un mute it briefly in the Audio Mixer to let you adjust input levels Hint The timecode display in the Live Desktop titlebar is tinted blue when external timecode is in use If the external connection is lost for any reason the display changes to white TriCaster will attempt to maintain continuous timecode from the interruption on until a valid signal is restored in which case the display turns blue once more 8 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 TC 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 The central band of TriCaster s Live Desktop between the upper monitoring section and the tabbed modules below is taken up by the Switc
207. ion are theoretically ideal C VIDEO CALIBRATION 8 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 For these reasons and many more it s important to control the visual quality of your work all the way through the production pipeline Adequate lighting good cameras and high quality connections are critical but there are other things to consider Human vision is remarkably adaptable In one study participants equipped with inverting lenses initially saw everything upside down After a few days people reported that things appeared right side up 2 again c Even when things are OoOO dramatically wrong our brains compensate to a remarkable degree Have you ever looked at a television in a store without noticing anything untoward and then realized that the colors on another unit nearby looked much better This built in tolerance makes it difficult for us to judge whether the blacks in our video productions are really black or just dark gray whether reds are purple or tinged with a slight greenish caste and so on What we really need is a reference for comparison just as we find it easier to pick the best looking display from a row of tele
208. irPlay source which may be an Apple computer or a mobile device such as iPad iPod or iPhone to a second device 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 e You select the AirPlay entry in the Source menu for Net 1 or Net 2 just as you would select an VGA or LiveText source Unlike VGA embedded audio with level control is supported e TriCaster identifies itself as a network client for AirPlay apps applications e You can then designate TriCaster as the output device for content played on the device e AirPlay streams audio video or both from the device to the local network and on to TriCaster e TheAirPlay output is available just like any other TriCaster Switcher source Consider just a few of the countless possibilities Use your iPad as a touch driven external wireless DDR or capture video or snapshots on your iPhone and instantly stream this content to the TriCaster Note Please see Appendix A Section A 1 13 for more on Airplay connections 14 3 LIVETEXT As we noted in the Walkthrough chapter Section 4 5 2 a companion workstation on your TriCaster network LIVE Output aan with LiveText standalone installed serves as a ded
209. irectly to the TriCaster output is encouraged to genlock cameras see your camera manual 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 problems result if one soldier leads with the left foot while everyone else is on the right Or perhaps everyone is evenly spaced and perfectly aligned but for one misfit who tailgates the soldier ahead of him and keeps stepping on his heels This is essentially why TriCaster provides Output Configuration several adjustments in its Genlock section The Horizontal and Vertical Position settings pin the image in the proper space in the frame and in doing so could be likened to Restore Defaults making sure each marching soldier is in Reference Type position relative to his fellows as viewed from above The Phase setting ensures proper color alignment corresponding to Restore Default making sure everyone is on the left or right foot at the same time Altogether then the Vert Position Horiz Figure 133 ia Position and Phase settings allow you to tweak synchronization to arrive at an optimum match between devices Typically these settings are fine tuned with the aid of a downstream Vectorscope and Waveform Monit
210. irly close to the boundary between the background and foreground regions Now you can start to ramp up Tolerance Bring it up slowly until most of the background color has been eliminated cutting away most of the background to within a few pixels of the foreground background boundary Now raise Smoothness to fine tune that edge region and you re nearly done Before considering your settings final make sure to test the result using a moving source This will sometimes reveal that overly aggressive settings cause small blocks of pixels in the edge region to appear to snap on and off during motion as they either qualify or disqualify for inclusion in the matte A little reduction in Tolerance and increase in Smoothness will usually resolve this problem Hint it can be useful to zoom in using Position controls when fine tuning 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 Hotspots and shadows create different green or blue shades on the wall and overexposed areas lack sufficient color for clean keying It is not how much light you have on the key wall but how evenly lit that wall is Naturally you want to keep your green or blue screen clean and free of wrinkles ripples folds tears
211. ith a number of convenient items Browse Clips Stills Titles Sound amp Music LiveText Editor Projects import Media e Figure 106 Under the label Browse you will see direct links to the Clips Still and other content associated with the current session Clicking one of these links or selecting it with the up down arrow keys and pressing Enter opens a system file explorer You can use the familiar features and shortcut keystrokes in these windows Cut Copy Paste Rename Delete and so on to manage the session content 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 Figure 107 Several other important features are found in Manage including Import Media Export Media and Backup Session IMPORT MEDIA We discussed importing media for using in TriCaster productions back in Section 4 2 so we ll just review briefly here Clicking the Import Media link opens a custom import panel offering batch import of files for use in TriCaster s Media Players It even allows you to transcode files to appropriate high quality TriCaster friendly file formats at the same time if you wish Figure 108 Import Media s quick processing makes this the fastest and most convenient way to pre l
212. itor during playback is permitted The panel can be re sized by dragging its lower right corner and re positioned by dragging its titlebar When you move the mouse over text in the Title Page Editor s preview pane a white bounding box appears If you click once inside the box it turns yellow indicating the text object is selected Edit Title Arial 72 Restore Defaults Slicky McFirmhair Figure 182 If you begin editing the text by pressing a character on your keyboard a text edit field opens alternatively double click to open the text entry field Press Enter or click outside the box to complete the operation 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 Home text input box opens with cursor before the first character of the current string End text input box opens with cursor after the last character of the current string Delete text input box opens empty the original string is cleared Spacebar text input box opens with original text string deleted and a space character inserted in its place Up or Left Arrow key text input box opens with the cursor between the last two characters of the current string Down or Right Arrow key text input box opens with cursor at the end of the string
213. knob The default for Gain sliders is OdBVU equivalent for our purposes to 20dBFS Some variation exists as respects signal levels from individual sources even within the same type For Mic and Mic Phantom connections the Trim controls provide a preliminary adjustment allowing you to fine tune the input level Use Trim to bring levels for microphone into a useful range on the meter Figure 27 Note In digital audio systems signal levels exceeding allowable values are clipped uniformly assigned the maximum level value inevitably entailing audible issues that cannot be corrected later The Audio Headroom setting In Record Configuration allows you to offset input signal levels to provide a safety margin see the heading Audio Headroom in Section 16 1 1 This can greatly reduce the possibility of clipping in captured files Beyond this use Trim and Gain controls judiciously to avoid over modulation Compressor Limiters in TriCaster s Advanced Audio Configuration panels also provide powerful tool to help avoid prevent clipping see Section 13 4 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 3 Click the Genlock tab in the Output Configuration panel Fig
214. known familiar imagery and make any further tweaks you feel are required D KEYSTROKE SHORTCUTS D 1 SWITCHER Utility Row Inputs 1 to Input x model limit Send Preview to AUX Out Send Program to AUX Out Send Program Clean to AUX Out Send FX to AUX Out Program Row Inputs 1 to Input x model limit Preview Row Inputs 1 to Input x model limit Transition Delegate select BKGD Transition Delegate multi select BKGD Transition Delegate select DSK 1 Transition Delegate multi select DSK 1 Transition Delegate select DSK 2 Transition Delegate multi select DSK 2 Transition Delegate select FTB Transition Delegate multi select FTB Select FTB Delegate and perform Fade Utility Delegate select FX Utility Delegate multi select FX Utility Delegate select AUX OUT Utility Delegate multi select AUX OUT Utility Delegate select DSK 1 Utility Delegate multi select DSK 1 Utility Delegate select DSK 2 Utility Delegate multi select DSK 2 Auto DSK 1 On Off Auto DSK 2 On Off Take DSK 1 On Off Take DSK 2 On Off Select Transition prev next Select Fade Transition Alt 1 0 plus Alt Shift 1 4 Alt Shift 5 Alt Shift 6 Alt Shift 7 Alt Shift 8 F1 F12 plus Shift F1 12 1 0 and Shift 1 0 key left square bracket Shift key right square bracket Shift key backslash Shift Backspace
215. ktime movie codecs select Millions of Colors in the codec settings to include alpha in the file aes PREPARE CLIPS FOR TRICASTER PLAYBACK USING APPLE FINAL CUT PRO We are often asked what format to use for export from Final Cut for best compatibility in TriCaster especially for HD clips Here are recommended steps 1 Click on Final Cut s File menu and choose Send To gt Compressor Compressor will open automatically 2 Select your encoder setting as follows a Inside Compressor click on the Settings tab in the bottom left panel b Find the Program Stream setting from the Apple Formats Mpeg 2 folder c Drag this setting and drop it onto your Sequence 3 Set your destination setting as follows a 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 Open or create a TriCaster session 2 Click the Add button for a Media Player DDR Still or Title 3 Click the Add Media Location button at bottom left in the File Browser 4 Select the folder you wish to list as a location in TriCaster s File Browser and click OK See Add Media Location in Section 10 2 2 A 4 7 REMOVE A LOCATION FROM THE FILE BROWSER 1 Click the Add button for a Media Player DDR Still or Title 2 Right click the name of the location you wish to remove from the list and select Remove
216. l Audio controls govern all external audio sources including sound from TriCaster s analog XLR and digital SDI embedded sources e The Internal Audio pane provides control over internal audio sources like the Media Players along with controls for TriCaster s several audio output streams Figure 204 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 TriCaster 455 unless otherwise noted TriCaster s Audio tab layout is virtually identical for all models but for the following items e The number of inputs e Net 1 and Net 2 control location varies e TriCaster EXTREME has several exclusive features o The Configuration button in the titlebar which provides access to advanced configuration options o The Group color swatch just below the titlebar 13 1 EXTERNAL AUDIO The sub panels in the External tab are labeled for correspondingly numbered nput rows on TriCaster s backplate Figure 206 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 a A The labeled header for each input or source is also where Mute switches are located Click the speaker icon in the header to toggle Mute on or off A single
217. l Panel link Alternatively type firewall without quotes into the Search box and press Enter then click Windows Firewall 3 In the left pane click Advanced Settings If prompted for an administrator password or confirmation type the password or provide confirmation 4 In the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security dialog box click Inbound Rules in the left pane and then click New Rule in the right pane Follow the instructions in the New Inbound Rule wizard Ensure that the following ports are open Port Protocol Name 443 TCP HTTPS 554 TCP UDP RTSP 3689 TCP DAAP 5353 UDP mDNS Bonjour A3 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 Tap Settings gt Wi Fi If Wi Fi is off turn it on by tapping the on off icon 2 Available Wi Fi networks appear under Choose a Network 3 Locate and tap the Wi Fi network that TriCaster is connected to A4 Wi Fi uses radio frequency technology to connect hardware and software applications so that they can communicate However RF interference can be a major problem especially in an environment such as a trade show or conference that might entail numerous competing signals Other devices contributing to RF clutter include microwave
218. la 176 1023 E EA la A A iuletaeauecasedtavattaratoudsecceaenmecuacamanews 179 1024 Presets dle etda 181 10 25 Speed nadaa 182 POSS Frane PUNS oaro areenaa e ola trasto 182 10 31 Unique AQUINO ii 183 10 3 2 NETWORK SINO Ei idiota 184 104 Fating INGE POTES ad at 185 A A O 189 TIE ACERO CUINA aed nentagte T 190 DD A MOUE asses cera ste RO 191 TEZI CO aa ata 191 PEZ PONV AICO tt tae boiad s 192 A N 192 H24 gt UNA tanto ia 192 TS PU SUDOMESSION iaa 193 TAGE O OR 193 ILa ACOMPOS UI ias 194 TIGO APIO TUNINI a AA AAA AAA A AAA AO 195 11 7 Practical SEQGING JOR LIVE GCE dino 196 MAL ANO dados 196 11 72 Connection CONSIGEATIONS iii aia 196 12 Virtual Mputa A A 199 121 Pima Video SOULCES da 200 DZD POSION rarena A AEO E A A 200 123 VETIA ita 202 D2 gt TUVEOS Ossa aaa cee 203 1241 JEVesSet seleciona ont 203 1242 Videod SOUE ds 204 T243 ZOOM Nes eS aaa o EAN 205 2AA ZOOM Bai oA eS 206 1245 MA DUE POSIT ON asin 206 1246 Animate ZOO Mitad NI AA O A 207 EAS E E a cda E 208 13 AUO rinaire N AA ASA 209 131 AENA AO aia 210 ISLAM 211 TLA iGOMMCCHOM IY Der caste vcnnhacaackaneuteasassasaranscuan ageuedteckaiactenens nek ee aa EART 211 13413 Micropnone Specitie Conta eet ae ears eae ie ie ee 212 ITA More Basic CONTO Sado idolo 214 TDS AUTO Groups a 218 132 ANOTE AUTO A ii 219 OZE NEERA Net Zaid as 220 15 22 HERMECLS Transition eaae a E 220 1327 Media Playe S oi E E N 220 13 3 lt QUEDUE CONOS e
219. le menu s Close item 17 2 LIVETEXT LiveText projects are launched from the Session Page in TriCaster s Startup Screen After creating a new session or opening an existing one click Graphics on the icon ring see Section 5 3 This reveals options and links at right discussed previously in the Startup Screen chapter just mentioned 17 2 1 SESSIONS PROJECTS AND DISPLAY LiveText uses the current session settings for output to TCXD855 video outputs new projects created within the LiveText File menu or from the Session Page and bitmap file exports If you use the File menu to Open a project whose settings do not correspond to the current session settings TriCaster will attempt to display it on its hardware video outputs if possible LiveText sends output from the canvas to TriCaster s outputs continuously while running For this reason the Live Display pane and associated tools that appear at upper right above the Pages Panel in LiveText standalone do not appear in TriCaster s LiveText interface When LiveText is running TriCaster s video outputs rows 1 3 will all conform to the session format That is if the project is HD the SDI outputs will all be HD and the analog outputs will be Component HD 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 SDI AnalogBNC1 AnalogBNC2 An
220. le to connect them by IEEE1394 cable 12 VIRTUAL INPUTS Virtual Inputs are a wonderful TriCaster innovation opening up whole new levels of convenience and production value You can pre configure Virtual Inputs as multi source compositions with or without an overlay and introduce them into your productions like any single 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 Now we ll look into this powerful tool in depth Default gt A over B Take Auto 0100 Figure 190 Virtual Input tabs straddle the lower left pane of the Live Desktop These correspond to similarly labeled Switcher buttons in the Program and Preview rows there are no Virtual Input buttons in the Switcher s Utility row Hint The actual number of Virtual Inputs available varies by TriCaster model 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
221. lections and allows you to configure video layers for upcoming switcher operations with great confidence 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 The result of selecting the button and displaying the video layer it controls will not likely surprise you very much FTB offers a convenient method of doing precisely what is implied by its name simply fading Program Output out completely to black It might help to think of FTB as DSK 3 since it represents a final video layer added above all others before ultimate Program output FTB has several unique characteristics however For one thing DSK 1 and 2 can display colorful video sources with or without transparency the FTB video layer is always 100 opaque black and completely obscures everything below it Note Like the DSK layers hiding or displaying FTB triggers both Autoplay and Audio Follow Video when these settings are active for Media Players FTB also fades Master Audio to mute when displayed and back up again when hidden Also unlike other video layers FTB does not support custom transitions pressing Auto simply fades it on or off or timing FTB s fade duration is drawn from the BKGD layer setting TAKE AND
222. ll tab Show Title or Graphics tab Show Sounds tab Show Internal Audio tab D 6 DDR 1 Stop Play Go to previous playlist item Go to next playlist item Autoplay On Off Loop On Off Single On Off Navigate through Playlist items Set In Point for current Playlist Item Clip or Audio file Set Out Point for current Playlist Item Clip or Audio file D 7 DDR 2 Stop Play Go to previous playlist item Go to next playlist item Autoplay On Off Loop On Off Single On Off Navigate through Playlist items Ctrl F1 Ctrl F2 F9 Ctrl F10 Ctrl Shift F1 Ctrl Shift F2 Ctrl Shift F3 Ctrl Shift F4 Ctrl Shift F10 k lower case L j semi colon u apostrophe q Up Down Left Right Arrows i O Alt k Alt 1 lower case L Alt j Alt semi colon Alt u Alt apostrophe Alt q Up Down Left Right Arrows Set In Point for current Playlist Item Clip or Audio file Set Out Point for current Playlist Item Clip or Audio file D 8 STILL Stop Play Go to previous playlist item Go to next playlist item Autoplay On Off Loop On Off Single On Off D 9 TITLE OR GRAPHICS Stop Play Go to previous playlist item Go to next playlist item Autoplay On Off Loop On Off Single On Off D 10 SOUNDS Stop Play Go to previous playlist item Go to next playlist item Loop On Off Single On Off Set In Point for current Playlist Item Set Out Point for
223. lly connector e Pin1 LED1 e Pin9 GND e Pin2 LED2 e Pin10 GND e Pin3 LED3 e Pin11 GPI1 e Pin4 LED4 e Pin12 GPI2 e Pin5 LED5 855 only e Pin13 NC e Pin6 LED6 855 only e Pin14 3 3V with 20 Ohms current limit e Pin7 LED7 855 only e Pin15 NC e Pin8 LED8 855 only Pins 1 8 are hot when the LED should be illuminated Each LED pin pins 1 8 has a 200 ohm current limiting resistor inside TriCaster With no load open circuit pins 1 8 can reach 5V With a typical LED load they can be expected to reach about 3V GPI stands for General Purpose Interface Pins 11 and 12 are assigned for possible future use as GPI1 and GPI2 connections but support for GPI triggers has not been implemented in TriCaster at this time To prevent damage to TriCaster s components when making external connections to the tally light jacks care should be taken that connection to Pins designated GND Ground are always at ground potential 3 10 STARTING A SESSION If TriCaster is not already running power it up now to reveal the Startup Screen If TriCaster is already running and is in the Live Desktop or another area of the interface you may need to click the small x button at upper right to exit or click the Back arrow at upper left in the Session Page to return to the Home Page The Startup Screen consists of two similar pages Home and Session Among other things the Home Page
224. lone of the entire system drive as it exists at the time on either an external HDD or a drive mounted in a removable hard drive bay The clone operation includes o The existing factory prepared Restore partition o The complete C partition o For 455 systems only the D partition and its content is copied too In cases of catastrophic drive failure requiring drive replacement a service technician can simply connect the User Backup clone drive in place of the original internal system drive and you ll be back in production prudence would call for creating a new User Backup drive as the first order of business e Restore System Partition from User Backup Drive overwrites the C partition only on the existing system drive with the C partition on the external user backup drive This allows you to insert a User Backup drive into a removable drive bay or otherwise connect it and regain a functional system partition as stored on the clone drive By design the process overwrites only the C partition on the existing system drive with the C partition on the User Backup drive This protects any existing content on the restored drive s D partition 455 only which may include media assets that are more recent than those stored on the User Backup drive If you do wish to restore the D content from the User Backup you can do so manually after restoring the C partition User Backup files are not compressed Note This feature it is in
225. ls of Overlay channels and Virtual Inputs 11 5 COMPOSITING When you enable and configure LiveMatte for an input the onscreen monitor for that input shows the source keyed over a checkerboard pattern If you select the LiveMatte enabled input as an in a Virtual Input tab the other imagery will appear in the transparent regions of the keyed source You will see the composite result when the Virtual Input is selected on either the PGM row or the PVW row 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 perhaps just 5 10 or so Put the video source on Preview or Program Output before you do so to provide a larger view to help you assess your settings Hint The best method for optimizing the key is to begin with the best incoming source possible if your cameras have both composite and S video outputs check to see which one gives you the best picture quality Pick your primary Color but before releasing the mouse button slide the eyedropper around to different parts the background Watch the monitor as you do so to see how the area of transparency is affected by different Color choices Release the mouse when you find the color that produces maximum results It s often preferable to pick a color from a location fa
226. m a composite The Switcher and Transition controls allow you to manage these video layers to show the viewer just what you want him to see GFX Auto 01 00 Take GFX Auto 01 00 Three of the four primary video layers BKGD DSK Take 1 and DSK 2 Auto 0202 Figure 46 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 e 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 e FTB Fade to Black constitutes a final video layer prior to output one that can obscure all others when called upon to do so FTB is less commonly used and unlike the other primary video layers has no local transition controls Figure 46 As stated in the previous section the Program and Preview row selections determine the content of the BKGD Background video layer The Preview row selection is normally cued up for the next Take cut or Transition operation Either operation once completed results in the original Program and Preview row selections exchanging places Of course during a transition portions of both the Program and Preview row selections can be seen in varying amounts The BKGD layer composition can include other content as well as we ll see late
227. may find it helpful to read over Section 15 6 entitled Streaming Strategies in this case After selecting a Connection Type and clicking OK the Name field in the main Configure Stream Connection panel is highlighted to encourage you to supply a descriptive name for the preset 15 3 1 BROWSER BASED The basic Browser Based connection option can arguably be thought of as the lowest common denominator and also the least demanding approach in terms of learning curve for you the operator The only local setting required beyond the initial Connection Type selection is the URL of the Home field see Section 15 2 for the streaming site you intend to use Many of the organizations providing streaming services offer free accounts with limited capabilities and options often ad sponsored These arrangements can be just what you need to get started experimenting with live streaming or may even satisfy all of your needs in this regard Generally the companies involved also offer paid for accounts as upgrades The benefits may include such things as removing the ads more streaming options such as higher bitrate and resolutions or multi bitrate streaming two way live chat and so on Note The steps involved in creating an account with a streaming service provider and configuring the stream vary widely and unfortunately cannot really be dealt with in depth here Generally though they are pretty simple and the provider offers step by step in
228. me the stream at any time without intervention from the server When a Push profile is chosen the Server control group updates to allow entry of the pre arranged host web address Location Username and Password Note The publishing point is placed at the end of the URL following a forward slash i e http 225 21 1 4 8080 NewTek 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 Note You will find information on the use of custom streaming profiles including MBR multi bitrate options at Section A 7 5 in Appendix A 15 4 AUDIO HEADROOM Test Connection Figure 244 TriCaster provides an Audio Headroom setting that provides the ability to choose how far below OdB FS the maximum allowable digital level to set the nominal level for your streaming audio This lets you customize your streaming audio headroom level separately to make sure your audience hears sound at an appropriate level while still eliminating any possibility of audio clipping in captured streaming files Hint Recall as well the Stream control group in the Internal Audio Mixer tab provides a Compressor Limiter that can help you deliver the best possible sound to your listeners 15 5 CAPTURING THE STREAM TriCaster archives your live stream file as it is creat
229. member that the source for a DSK layer is selected using the Switcher s Utility row Some DSK sources may be partially transparent This might be because they are drawn from a Media Player DDR 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 Important Note Use straight a k a non premultiplied alpha channels in TriCaster s media players Premultiplied files may not yield correct results when overlaid on other imagery Figure 154 TriCaster s DSK layers offer a lot of creative possibilities You might use one DSK to display a permanent station ID bug Or you might superimpose a company logo from Still onto a title page add a spinning globe animation playing in the DDR to a lower third frame a keyed source composed over a title Figure 154 or set up many other elaborate effects in this manner 8 3 2 MAIN CONTROLS In large measure TriCaster s main Transition controls Take Auto and the T Bar behave similarly to their local sidekicks What makes them special is the Transition Delegate button group located just above the main T Bar An executive maxim suggests Don t do anything yo
230. monitoring a process As a noun we understand it to mean devices that permit one to do just that Fittingly TriCaster s desktop monitors are just what you need to keep an eye on and control your live productions warn you of conditions that might affect output quality and also allow you to make any necessary adjustments Note For convenience several valuable controls and features are located in the monitoring section Among others these include the Proc Amp Genlock LiveMatte and Crop controls To give these features their due they are treated individually in Chapter 7 which is entitled 1 0 Configuration Likewise Network sources are discussed in Chapter 14 9 1 PROGRAM AND PREVIEW Figure 157 The Program Output monitor could hardly be more important hence it s prominent position at upper right on the Live Desktop and eye catching red toned titlebar 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 Clicking this button opens a tabbed panel that contains Proc Amp controls for Output and Multiview video and Genlock settings see Chapter 7 for details 9 1 1 CONFIGURATION INDICATORS Small indicators flags may appear a
231. more professional cameras offer full manual controls for white balance and or black level Use these as instructed to ensure your camera is providing the correct white and black levels If you cannot make source adjustments or can t get it quite right by these means alone you can use the Brightness and Contrast controls in the Proc Amp TriCaster provides for that input to tweak black and white levels Of course it is always best to perform adjustments at the source if possible C 2 2 ADJUSTING COLOR We re going to move into color calibration next but first we can actually use our black and white signals for some further tests _VECTORSCOPE While we re still working with black and white levels we can introduce TriCaster s Vectorscope and perform an initial test of the camera s color balance A vectorscope Figure 262 can be likened to the familiar color wheel Figure 263 which sweeps radially through the colors of the spectrum yellow red magenta and so on around the arc of a circle Colors are more progressively intense saturated towards the outside of the circle while color saturation is zero at its center Figure 262 Figure 263 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 cent
232. n SpeedHQ see above or perhaps DV for Standard Definition clips M2T or MPG please continue reading for more information on file conversion REMUXING CLIPS Even when a specific AVI exists and can generally be considered friendly the manner in which audio and video data is multiplexed or muxed in the jargon by some few applications can cause playback issues that are only evident under stress That is a clip that plays back adequately in a typical player or NLE application may not do as well when played in a DDR at times when many other concurrent operations are occurring simultaneously In general remuxing such files is all that is needed to obtain good performance One approach is to use any of a number of freely obtainable remuxing utilities A quick internet search for remux avi turns up several applications you could use some free Installed on an external system these will remux AVI files losslessly resolving the issue You may prefer one of several simpler approaches that can be performed right on your TriCaster For example if the clip will play properly in a DDR when the system is not heavily loaded with other tasks you could simply put the DDR on Program output click Record play the clip and stop recording With a little trimming of the recorded clip you ll have a very usable file Or you can use SpeedEDIT its Convert to SpeedHQ feature found in the Filebin s context menu can easily conv
233. n be sure the very latest release version of the software for your TriCaster is installed Alternatively you can go to the NewTek web site click My Account and use the login details you provided when registering your TriCaster to access your personal product page Click the my downloads link at the top of the page and check the list shown If you find an update you can install it manually as follows 1 Locate a suitable update in downloads and click on it 2 At the dialog popup choose Run 3 Comply with any onscreen prompts that follow Advance software releases are also sometime posted on the downloads page for manual download and installation The versions listed as Latest on the web page will be newer than the automatic update version and although not yet approved for final release might be well worth trying if you encounter a software issue Hint If you wish you can instead access the same webpage from a second computer connected to the Internet then transfer update files to TriCaster using a network connection or perhaps a USB thumb drive e Defragment all Drives Over the course of lengthy use data on hard drives devoted to audio and video storage tends to become fragmented which degrades playback performance Defragmenting will correct this condition You could think of your hard drive as being like a shelf in your library As time goes along the shelf fills with books Some are quit
234. n 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 Note that profiles in the various sub folders only appear in the Stream Type List for the corresponding session type The easiest method of creating a custom profile is to modify an existing profile and then store it using a new name The procedure differs depending on whether you are working with a Flash or Windows Media profile Note It is possible to create streaming profiles that place very high demands on system resources or are impractical for streaming over most networks The default profiles are suitable for most purposes and should not interfere with other operations Attention to these considerations when creating custom profiles is vital to ensure reliable performance and we encourage you to perform real world testing beforehand IMPORTING A CUSTOM PROFILE USING BROWSE Flash Media Encoder profiles are XML files while Windows Media Encoder uses a prx file extension for its profiles If you already have a prepared custom profile and wish to import it follow these steps 1 Open the Configure Stream Connection panel by clicking the Configure button gear next to the Stream button on the Live Desktop 1 Click New Connection Select the option appropriate to the profile you wish to import in the popup Choose Connection Type pan
235. name projectname folder Motion pages scrolls and crawls that you send to Live are stored as bitmap animation files with an avi file extension suitable for playback in Live Desktop s DDR These are sent to the session folder inside TriCaster s main Clips folders The content of motion pages cannot be edited in the Live Desktop When you select Send All Pages to Live each page in the project is exported in turn to the appropriate format and location This means they are readily accessible in the Live Desktop s Media Browser afterward for easy addition to a Media Player playlist Title Page icons will appear grouped under their project names in the Media Browser s File Pane when you select the session name in the Location List at left 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 somewhere in the filename of images you prepare for this purpose For example you might name an image headshot_placeholder png or _PLACEHOLDER_crest jpg Images named in this manner will automatically appear as stand in images unlocked in the Title Pages you
236. nd other common professional audio sources e Mic 1 2 Phantom power microphones typically condenser mics requiring supplementary DC power e Line generally consumer audio sources such as CD players VCRs etc AES EBU digital audio e SDI Embedded digital audio embedded with digital video transmitted via a Serial Digital Interface SDI connection e Line Quad for convenience in some environments neighboring same type input groups can be configured as a single quad input governed by one set of controls 13 1 3 MICROPHONE SPECIFIC CONTROLS Certain controls are only shown when the Connection Type for an input is set to one of the Mic options as follows It is often useful to reduce all other audio source levels so that an important announcement can be clearly understood by the audience The Talk switch also known as Talk Over makes this a simple matter Enabling Talk for a source typically a microphone reduces the output level of all other audio sources by 20dB When the Connection Type is set to one of the Mic options TriCaster presents two small Pan sliders above each of the VU meters Du Pan Figure 209 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 con
237. ng Mono Actually this is why a Mono is not needed in this case Pan thus provides precise control over where the audio from either Mic input is heard whether exclusively on output channel 1 2 or whether differing levels from either source is sent to both outputs 443 TALK Talk is an abbreviation of Talk Over The Talk feature is only shown for inputs when they are set to Mic 17 Start the Sound player playing the audio tone file again 18 With Input 1 set to Mic 1 2 enable its Talk switch watching the Sound player s VU meter as you do so Enabling it causes the level for all other audio sources to drop off by 20dB allowing Mic 1 and 2 to dominate output This is very useful for public address announcements which is its principal purpose 4 4 4 FOLLOW Figure 41 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Connect cameras to both Video In rows 1 and 2 Connect two audibly different active audio sources to Audio In rows 1 and 2 Enable the Follow switch in the Audio Mixer for both Input 1 and Input 2 Select the button for video Input 1 on the Switcher s Program row Select the button for video Input 2 on the Switcher s Preview row Click the Audio Mixer tab Click the Switcher s Take button Notice that when the video source assigned to Input 1 is on output you hear ts associated audio input When you perform a Take placing Input 2 on output the audio source connected to row 2
238. ng the NewTek codecs for OS X included with TriCaster These provide excellent optional Quicktime formats that you can render to from your OS X graphics and editing software including several Quicktime variants that support an embedded alpha channel You ll find the installer named NewTek SpeedHQ Mac dmg in the C TriCaster Extras Codecs folder requires OS X version 10 6 or better and an Intel processor Otherwise Final Cut users can use M JPEG MPEG2 DVCPRO HD or the DV Quicktime codecs for SD clips only of course as intermediate formats Hint With the NewTek codecs installed most Apple applications will be able to read SpeedHQ AVI files as well AVI codecs are plentiful Most are suitable for DDR playback but a few are not For a given clip to play in the DDR a corresponding 64bit codec needs to be available However we strongly discourage installing foreign codecs codec packs and the like downloaded from internet sites etc By contrast though we do highly recommend installing the NewTek codecs Microsoft Windows included with TriCaster These provide excellent optional AVI formats that you can render to from your OS X graphics and editing software You ll find the installer named NewTek TriCaster XD Codec Pack in the C TriCaster Extras Codecs folder 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 recommend NewTek s ow
239. ng through a hose You control the faucet because you get to choose the Stream Profile in TriCaster s Stream Configuration panel However you don t own the hose or at least not the entire hose Once the stream leaves your immediate environment even if you can supply good throughput locally bandwidth may be constricted elsewhere along the transmission path The level of Internet traffic can impose limits but another major factor is the sort of connection your viewing audience may have Consider an example scenario Even though you know that most of your audience is going to connect to your program using relatively slow wireless devices you use a very high outgoing bitrate thinking that this will surely be enough to fill the need The fact is though a high bitrate actually ensures their experience will be poor The client player tries to play the stream at the bitrate you specified but in this example the wireless bottleneck impedes flow It is as if you connected a fire hose on your end giving them a suitable high capacity nozzle for their end but in the last stage of flow the stream must pass through a small garden hose Sadly the stream will be quite insufficient and output from the nozzle the client player will falter badly For reliable performance try to ensure the potential upload bandwidth from your system to the net is around twice the bitrate you choose You can broadcast at a rate
240. nire E E E E E E ENAN 220 Sol Aand SiedMeen naa a S 220 1332 Waster and Phones luna aa 222 vii 13 4 Advanced Audio Configuration RdA ARAS 222 O A ee ee rE a Peer even Sat ete PETRIE Senet Remeron ge 222 P42 Compressor EMILE Races a aa 222 135 Fre er BI eca cacti sane cusses eee sarees orcs ee Be sina one nese 224 14 NetWork SOUPCOS ii 225 U1 Ss A 1 C7 NA A 225 14 1 1 IGA TOROS AT A o a a a sue uencaneces coun baearueae S 225 14 1 2 VGA PRO WINDOWS lunar ada 227 TOD ANTIO aie eed ote eect hd bal ae ida ana ean dda Bo aaa O TE 233 i EG ems IS Sm ONL Se ORO E aT Se Se SOL ANODE NOEN A SER ANISM TONS POTN oP SRE So Oe 234 144 1 2 0 es a En ne ee eS 234 15 SCANIA O sscscscttaceasacesssnaectasscaasnscinaeteeceassiaeeanaed dogs a iaa 235 SY MOP VIC WW sat A NN 236 Iaido ICOM Oa eu IE uaa seneaa dens baduecuonsuacecarnn oa a 237 15 2 Web BroWSe Fasci da tebeo idea cabianaad 237 14153 GCONMCCUOM ODIOS A E ESE AE A AE 238 15 3 1 BROWSER A O ane ceterta kos ene a a stat 239 15 3 2 Widows Media PU a a e ado eel aladas Dee oO 243 15 3 3 Windows Media Pus ts dt de td 244 TS AUTO CO OA E EOS 245 159 Capturing ERC SILC GIN a AAA 245 15 6 STEAM TALONES As 246 15 6 1 On Demana Or Neri ads 246 15 6 2 Streaming PrOtOCO Sai AAA 249 15 6 3 Streaming Media PrOVId er insistas 251 1564 Other RESOUTCOS cccoerece ana a a O OE 252 15 7 Production and Capture ConsideratiONS concernant ar ootas E AEE ETO E N 252 15 8 Diagnostics and t
241. nn oreca Oo A MO 62 74 Houstor Viciona 5 Day Forecast TCXD News Network Figure 77 As you can see we have replicated on our earlier composition which relied on the FX channel with additional benefits e 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 e Virtual Inputs allow you to offset and even scale the primary video source of course this works every bit as well with live camera streams As well since the entire composition is now represented by a single button on the Switcher it is very easy to Take or Transition directly to it with a single click and it is just as easy to transition from one Virtual Input to another Of course this is just one way to use the basic Virtual Input features The creative possibilities are endless For example Figure 78 shows Input A with LiveMatte enabled keyed over Input B with the Virtual Input s integrated Overlay channel use to add a PiP Picture in Picture effect Figure 78 Again note that this setup leaves both primary DSK channels available for other purposes such as adding two more live PiPs graphics or a title composition 4 10 3 LIVESET We ve saved the best for last in connection with Virtual Inputs however This is also where we gain access to TriCaster s virtual set technology called LiveSet Hint Actually if you
242. nputs from the Virtual Input tab s without Switcher involvement Hint One special case is when you select FX as a LiveSet input Conveniently this allows you to use the Switcher to change the input without either interfering with other common Switcher operations or accessing the corresponding Virtual Input tab Figure 198 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 nput B is often assigned to secondary purposes such as to supply the display for a monitor in a virtual set 12 4 3 ZOOM PRESETS Unlike earlier LiveSet implementations LiveSet does not need multiple LiveSets to mimic different virtual camera distances for a single camera angle Making a single selection populates four Zoom Presets just below Figure 199 Figure 199 Initially these four presets represent default stops between the maximum and minimum distance for the specific set the closest view is 100 Click a preset thumbnail to jump to the camera view it represents An active Zoom Preset is shown with a gold border a white border tracks your cursor when selecting presets Notice that a numeric slider is provided above right for each preset These work the same as other numeric sliders in TriCaster s Live Desktop drag
243. ntrols work just like their Input A and B cousins discussed earlier see Section 12 2 12 4 LIVESET This brings us to the LiveSet section of the Virtual Input tab LiveSet allows you to achieve the look of a large sophisticated studio setting Figure 196 within a very small studio space Figure 195 without the need for external equipment Figure 195 Figure 196 aomen e 12 4 1 LIVESET SELECTION An information line at the top of the Virtual Input tab lists the current LiveSet if any for this Virtual Input The default LiveSet simply composites Input A over Input B if any part of the image assigned to Input A is transparent Input B will show through Hint Many virtual sets require LiveMatte settings to be applied to Input A TriCaster 455 and 855 also support keying of the Input B source To select a different LiveSet click the Add button at the right hand end of this field line opening a custom Media Browser Figure 197 Media Browser LiveSets NewTek NewTek Legacy My Media Locations Audio SD 4x3 Keying San Antonio HD ee Id RH ee Add Media Location Cancel Figure 197 The Location List of the Media Browser lists any installed LiveSet groups under the heading LiveSets Select an entry beneath to show thumbnail icons in the Browser s File Pane 12 4 2 VIDEO SOURCES Virtual Inputs provide LiveSet with a new standard of flexibility allowing you to easily and flexibly assign i
244. nu Hint To make very fine adjustments to slider values hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while dragging with the mouse this increases accuracy by a factor of 10 6 4 CUSTOMIZING THE LIVE DESKTOP The Live Desktop offers several convenient provisions for tweaking the user interface to suit your particular needs 6 4 1 DESKTOP OPTIONS MENU Several potentially very useful options are presented in the Desktop Options menu Open this menu by clicking the gear button at extreme right just above the large tabbed panes occupying the lower third of the Live Desktop e Follow Preview Row for All Inputs displays the tabbed pane for a Preview row source to be displayed automatically on selection changes Tabs Follow Preview for All Inputs Tahe FNTT PEE tear Y f Tears e labs Follow Preview for Virtua inputs k Lnk Audio Mixer Tabs Y Share Frame Buffer on Network Y Enable Keyboard Shortcuts Figure 115 e When Tabs Follow Preview for Virtual Inputs is checked the tab shown updates only when you select a Virtual Input on Preview e 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 e Enable Link Audio Mixer Tabs to show both External and Internal Audio tabs whenever you click the tab for either of these e See Section 10 3 2 Network Sharing for a discussion of the Share Frame Buffer on Network
245. nual which can be accessed from the Help icon in the Startup Screen the source pdf files are located in the C TriCaster Documentation folder in case you wish to print them out In this section then we will review matters specific to the different applications when running in as an integrated part of the TriCaster environment 17 1 SPEEDEDIT SpeedEDIT projects are launched from the Home Page in TriCaster s Startup Screen After creating a new session or opening an existing one click Add Ons on the icon ring see Section 5 2 5 This reveals options and links at right including SpeedEDIT if it has been installed SpeedEDIT is an optional download and can be found in your TriCaster registration section on NewTek s website 17 1 1 SPEEDEDIT PROJECTS AND DISPLAY Normally TriCaster uses its current session settings for video output New SpeedEDIT projects created using SpeedEDIT s File menu New for example may be a various resolutions however SpeedEDIT sends output to TriCaster s audio and video outputs continuously without selecting any menu setting Unlike the arrangement for Live Desktop output for SpeedEDIT purposes TriCaster s video outputs rows 1 3 will all attempt to conform to the SpeedEDIT project format That is if the project is HD the SDI outputs will all be HD and the analog outputs will all be Component HD Likewise when the project is SD the SDI outputs will all be SD As there are multiple conne
246. o connect and view your program stream Success at this point does not necessarily mean you re done You may be able to see the stream locally but can someone outside the local environment connect to it over the Internet The best way to find out is to have someone at a remote location verify that your stream is streaming properly If itis great Otherwise keep reading FLASH MEDIA LIVE ENCODER NOTES Unfortunately there are cases in which Flash Media Live Encoder fails to report significant error conditions For example no error message is displayed if the network cable is disconnected while streaming or if the connection to the remote server is lost Note If the connection to a server is lost after initial success the encoder attempts to resume streaming automatically if the connection becomes available again during the session TESTING WITH PING Before your stream can be seen whether on a local intranet or the Internet client computers or your service provider need to be able to establish a network connection with your TriCaster 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 Ping estimates the round trip time in milliseconds reco
247. o your Applications folder e Run it by double clicking the icon and in a 4 moment or two the iVGA swirl will be placed in your Dock and an onscreen dialog Figure 220 reporting iVGA Ready and listening When you roll your mouse over the Net 1 or Net 2 monitors in TriCaster s All Monitors tab a triangular button appears next to the Configure button gear The new source your Mac desktop will be listed in the drop down selection menu that opens when you click the triangle Hint A single iVGA source cannot be connected to both Net 1 and Net 2 simultaneously When iVGA is running the icon in the OS X Dock has a menu you can access by right clicking it e Engaging Privacy Mode prevents the client display from appearing accidentally on the TriCaster display when you don t want it to e Keynote Mode allows the iVGA client to update the screen even if Keynote is running This also can be used with some games though the framerate will likely be only one frame per second e You can set iVGA to show either desktop monitor when you have more than one attached using the Monitor 1 or Monitor 2 options in the menu e The Options list contains settings for Open at Login Remove from Dock and Show in Finder 14 1 2 IVGA PRO WINDOWS Figure 222 Privacy Mode Normal Mode Keynote Mode Monitor 1 Monitor 2 Options Figure 221 The iVGA PRO installation for Microsoft Windows systems is suppli
248. oad a session with production assets Import Media Add Mame Transcode globe avi Importing Importing bluflare avi Importing BIKEJPG Waiting BLOCKS JPG Waiting BOWS JPG Waiting CHERRIES JPG Waiting COBRA JPG Waiting COINS JPG Waiting DOLLJPG Waiting Driving Rhyme wav Waiting hdfireworks avi Erina amaa NS TES farina import k Figure 109 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 Files can be re ordered by dragging their entries up or down with the mouse or removed from the list by highlighting them and clicking Remove Once the batch import list is prepared click mport to complete the operation Files are processed quickly and are automatically added to their proper locations according to type for easy access during live production Hint Sections 4 2 10 2 2 A 4 3 and A 4 5 discuss other aspects of importing media files EXPORT MEDIA The Export Media function allows you to create a list of video files for export select a new file format for these exports to be converted to on a per file basis and designate where to send them Clicking the Export Media button opens a new pane Click the Add button at upper left to open a custom
249. ocated immediately beneath the Program monitor are Record Stream and Grab buttons along with their respective Configure buttons We ll discuss streaming further on but let s consider Record and Grab here 4 7 1 RECORD Figure 58 1 Click the Configuration button gear next to Record Figure 58 2 The Record Configuration panel opens Figure 59 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 and sessionname are appropriate entries for your system and session QuickTime 4 2 2 Figure 59 The default Encoding options and Destination will work just fine for our current purposes so let s continue 4 If necessary select PGM as the Source to be recorded 5 You could optionally enable the Add to DDR Playlist switch to automatically add newly recorded clips to the currently designated DDR playlist but let s not do that yet With IsoCorder technology TriCaster can capture multiple a v sources simultaneously The first of these sources is the Primary source and defaults to PGM Program output Additional sources in many combinations can be added in a Secondary recording group shown below The options are discussed in more depth in Chapter 16 entitled Record and Grab 6 Click Close 7 Make sure you have an active source playing on Program output 8 Press the
250. of data Reply from 192 168 1 261 bytes 32 time lt ims TTL 128 192 168 1 2081 bytes 32 timetims TTL 128 192 168 1 2B1 bytes 32 timetims TTL 128 Reply from 192 168 1 261 bytes 32 time lt ims TTL 128 Ping statistics for 192 168 1 181 Packets Sent 4 Received 4 Lost x loss Approximate round trip times in milli seconds Minimum Ams Maximum Bms Average Pms C Documents and Settings TC Studio gt _ Figure 247 Apple OS X For a system running Apple s OS X 1 Double click Terminal in the Applications Utilities folder 2 Type the following command into the Terminal without quotations and then add the IP number and press Enter ping c 4 pnumber 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 PULL CONNECTION ISSUES Note that if you are Pull streaming from behind a router the IP number shown in the TriCaster s Location field will only be valid for other systems behind the router You will need to derive the true external IP address to pass to your viewers or service provider Again in this environment you may wish to consider Push streaming with the aid of a Content Delivery Network a commercial service as this is generally free of firewall and router woes that often require a friendly system admini
251. ollowing site http www portforward com english routers port_forwarding routerindex htm Firewalls You may also run into software firewalls Generally these can be configured in similar to permit exceptions to the firewall policy permitting specific ports or applications to be opened to the world Information on exceptions in the Microsoft Windows Firewall can be found in its Help system FINDING YOUR EXTERNAL IP NUMBER Again the numbers assigned behind your router only work locally In a Pull scenario you need to supply the true external IP number and port for your TriCaster to viewers outside the LAN Local Area Network You can find this number in several ways For example your router will display it as its IP Address in its Status page Or you may want to use one of several handy websites that will quickly supply your current IP number one such is http www whatismyip com Simply go to the website in your browser and read the IP number from the screen Append a colon and the port number you are using to this number and you ve got everything you need for your viewers to connect SPEED TESTS Are you sure your upload bandwidth is adequate to the bitrate you ve set for your stream Why not test and make sure 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 dsl
252. omatically include newly captured clips from the designated primary source to the end of the playlist of the Media Player designated below These clips are available for immediate playback during your live production AUDIO HEADROOM In digital audio systems signal levels exceeding allowable values are clipped uniformly assigned the maximum value inevitably entailing audible issues TriCaster s Record Configuration panel provides an Audio Headroom setting that lets you choose an offset value in decibels between OdB FS the maximum allowable digital level and the benchmark alignment level Figure 252 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 Hint The Audio Mixer features Compressor Limiters for each input and output These can also be invaluable in avoiding clipping due to over modulation In a related point when playing playlist files located in TriCaster s default capture folders Media Players automatically adjust the audio level by a commensurate amount This automatically produces an improved match of playback levels for captured audio added to playlists that include imported sounds or music for which nominal levels are unknown PRIMARY RECORDING Other common controls permit you to define the video ste
253. on gear that appears above it to open Output Configuration b Click the Output tab and select one of either Composite Y C or Component according to the connection type used by your device Please see Section 3 11 for more information A 1 6 CONNECT A SUPPORTED EXTERNAL CONTROL SURFACE Connect the USB cable from the Control Surface to one of TriCaster s USB ports SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q TriCaster TCXD850 CS has suddenly stopped working What can 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 However please note that the use of so called USB extenders is not recommended Whenever possible use a single USB cable of the correct length Each added connector on the signal path is a potential connection problem and also causes signal reflections Such an arrangement may seem to work for a while then fail unpredictably If you are using a very long USB cable or a poor quality cable you should supply a powered hub at the end of the cable nearest the control surface then complete the connection with a short USB cable from the hub to TriCaster TCXD850 CS An unpowered hub will be of no help A 1 7 INSERT REMOVE A DRIVE FRO
254. on allows you to dispose of unused imports of this type The default Resolution profiles cannot be deleted however Figure 242 Adobe Flash Player Settings Privaoy 12 Allow cdn1 ustream tv to access your camers and micophone Allow OO Deny v Remember Figure 243 15 3 2 WINDOWS MEDIA PULL If you are streaming internally to people in your building or inside your own corporate firewall Pull streaming may well provide the easiest approach Be aware that since your stream may be constrained by lower bandwidth than a commercial streaming service typically offers Pull streaming may falter when more than a few users are viewing the stream 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 numeric value IMPORTANT Note routers provide a measure of network security by masking the details of systems connected to them thus preventing direct external access If TriCaster is connected to the network by a router the IP number shown in the location field is only valid for viewers connected on the same side of the router as your TriCaster as they might be in a local intranet configuration The Location provided in this case is merely a local number assigned
255. on format When the natural color space for a connected source does not match TriCaster s current output specification in this example Rec 709 TriCaster automatically attempts to compensate but as always it s good to refer to the scopes for critical accuracy As required TriCaster s Waveform and Vectorscope displays can be used to monitor corrections made using the Proc Amp tools Scope calibration automatically conforms to the broadcast color specification for the current session HD or SD and is appropriately labeled as a convenient reminder A 1 5 CONNECT MONITORS COMPUTER MONITOR With the power off connect an external computer monitor to a DVI port on TriCaster s backplate using an adapter if necessary For TriCaster 455 use the DVI connectors nearest to the Video In group for the interface DVI connectors located at left below the power supply are normally capped and should not be used MULTIVIEW MONITOR OR PROJECTOR TriCaster supports the use of its secondary output connector by means of its Multiview output feature This output can serve as a supplementary program output for projection or for operational monitoring purposes see Section 7 1 5 1 Connect the external device to the secondary output on TriCaster s backplate using an appropriate cable and or adapter if required 2 Open a TriCaster session or create a new one from the Home Page of the Startup Screen 3 Click the Live icon on
256. onitor 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 4 Tweak the monitor s Hue control until the small rectangles beneath the third and fifth tall upper bars likewise blend into bar above 5 You may need to redo the last two steps several times balancing the adjustments of these two controls until all four of the lighter bars evenly match the smaller rectangles just beneath them Note that a perfect match simply may not be possible on some monitors 6 Check your results with some familiar imagery and make any further tweaks you feel are required 1 If your monitor has a Blue gun only setting enable it Raise the Color or Saturation setting until the three right hand bars all appear to be the same shade 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 Turn off the Blue gun only feature or dispense with the filter if you used one and examine the red bar It should appear not be so vivid that it bleeds onto the nearby bars 4 Check your results with some
257. operation devices and your audience Situated beneath these principal monitors are Stream Record and Grab buttons their respective Configuration buttons and time counter fields we ll look at those features later A convenient master volume knob appears here too notice the VU meter monitor overlays in Figure 32 Hint Move your mouse over Program Output then click the Configure button gear that appears above it to open a tabbed panel containing Proc Amp Multiview and Genlock settings 4 3 2 ALL MONITORS Click the All Monitors tab at upper left to view dedicated monitors for all camera inputs along with an array of other sources These include monitors showing the current playlist items in the two DDRs Graphics module and Network sources such as an iVGA input from another computer on the network a title overlay from a networked LiveText workstation or Apple AirPlay stream Figure 33 Just as Audio tab layouts for different TriCaster models vary so too do the monitoring tab layouts For example for TriCaster 855 the All Monitors tab shows eight camera monitors while TriCaster 455 naturally has half that number Otherwise though the various aspects of the interface are quite similar The header of the monitor for the video layer source currently selected on the Program row is highlighted in red Figure 34 The monitor titlebar for the Preview row selection has a green tint while the titlebar for
258. or A discussion of these adjustments goes beyond the scope of this manual but a quick online search for the keywords genlock and adjust turns up a number of excellent references REFERENCE TYPE The bi level reference signal long used for standard definition television is often used for genlocking both SD and HD installations 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 18 CENTER FREQUENCY This setting is applied when a Genlock reference signal is not in use To adjust the setting supply color bars to an input and pass TriCaster s video output to a downstream vectorscope The vectorscope display is completely stable when Center Frequency is properly adjusted 7 2 INPUT CONFIGURATION Just as for Program Output the source monitors also have contextual tools that appear when you roll the mouse pointer over them In every case the right most button is a Configure button gear Clicking it opens the Configuration panel for a specific source Figure 134 pa A oe ey a eF nr LT a l YOE Figure 134 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
259. order in the Transition Bin at right Click a different icon to select a different transition and click Auto again 7 To replace the current transition in the Transition Bin with a different one follow these steps a 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 52 Transition Figure 52 8 To change the duration of the transition click the drop down menu next to the local Auto button The time for the transition is shown as seconds and frames 9 Now click the local Auto button for the DSK 1 layer Since Graphics is assigned to DSK 1 the currently selected item in that Media Player transitions in to appear above the BKGD layer MAIN CONTROLS Having seen how local Transition controls work let s move on to their main counterparts DSK1 DSK2 FTB Figure 53 10 In the main Transition control group Figure 53 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 Take Auto 07 00 Figure 54 12 Click a different transition icon in the BKGD Transition Bin and click the Auto
260. osition in the current playlist item Figure 171 Initially In and Out Point handles at opposite ends of the Scrub Bar are at their extreme positions marking the actual limits of the file on disk Dragging these handles adjusts timing for the selected item multi selections are ignored for Scrub Bar trimming The duration taking into account trimming operations is displayed in a timecode field just to the right Hint For longer durations holding SHIFT while dragging In Out handles increases precision During playback the Scrub Bar knob traverses the span between the n and Out Points i 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 Monitors show a checkerboard background behind transparent content 10 2 2 MEDIA BROWSER Media Browser LiveSets NewTek NewTek Legacy My Media Locations Audio SD 4x3 Keying San Antonio HD Add Media Location Cancel Figure 172 The custom Media Browser is available anywhere in the Live Desktop interface that you might wish to select content transitions or effects for use in your project such as the media players LiveSet and Transitions sections Its layout is comprised of left and right panes we ll refer to as the Location List and File Pane respectively LOCATION LIST The
261. otected 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 Choose Connection ype Cancel Figure 239 TriCaster can encode and stream using Adobe Flash and this is a very popular choice In determining whether you should choose Flash or another encoding method for your own purposes you might find it helpful to review the section titled Live Streaming in Section 15 6 1 When you select Adobe Flash as the Connection Type the controls presented in the header of the Configure Stream Connection panel update accordingly Flash 15fps 320x180 384k Figure 240 The first thing you might notice is the Resolution menu at left beneath the Home field Figure 240 This drop down selector lets you choose from a prepared list of streaming profiles labeled to show their respective frame rate fps resolution and bandwidth settings RA erver Import Settings From File Figure 241 At right you will see the Server control group Figure 241 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 The Username and Password are supplied to yo
262. oth of these connection options support output at SD resolution only a SDI Attach SDI connectors to the uppermost row of BNC connectors in the VIDEO OUT group labeled 1 2 and AUX Hint If your equipment supports SDI this is your best quality option b Component Attach your device to the second third and fourth BNC connectors Y Pb and Pr Figure 16 c Y C If your S Video equipment and cabling has the usual 4 pin mini DIN connectors you will need an S Video to dual BNC adapter Attach the Y luma connector of your device to the second analog BNC connector row labeled Pb at far left in the VIDEO IN group Attach the C chroma connector to the third analog connector labeled Pr d Composite Attach the device s connector to the first top analog connector labeled Y 2 Connect TriCaster s audio outputs a Analog audio Connect external audio devices to the connectors in the AUD O OUT section Note that there are two pairs of two connectors each Connectors 1a and 1b provide Program Master output while 2a and 2b are designated AUX Auxiliary Output These two output sections are configured and controlled separately in the Live Desktop b Digital audio A separate digital audio connection is not necessary for SDI output with embedded audio Hint TriCaster s SDI and analog output sections can be used simultaneously For example you could use the Composite output to view
263. ound and DSK layers provide flexible and independent configuration and control of these layers and their transitions Select different transition effects for each layer and adjust Transition Speed variable and presets Reverse and Ping Pong options e Powerful and great looking Animation Store Transitions that support full color embedded overlays and separate in out sounds Take Auto Take Auto 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 or delegate a Camera input or Network source as an overlay using the Switcher s Utility row Alternatively use the Frame Buffer feature to assign a specific title or image to any overlay channel and even update it in realtime over a network using external graphics or titling software Independent Crop Position 3D Rotation and Scale controls for each DSK channel permit you for example to configure two live sources as Picture in Picture elements using the DSK channels freely switching them on and off with or without individual custom effects with or without changing the BKGD Background video layer using the Program and Preview r
264. ovens cordless phones Bluetooth devices wireless video cameras outdoor microwave links wireless game controllers fluorescent lights and so on These sources can cause significant interference and signal degradation Where possible try to eliminate or minimize the potential interference in your installation design A5 Consider the following suggestions when many conflicting wireless sources are in the immediate area e Set the wireless network SSID to any unique name Choose a name that is unique to your network and is not shared by other nearby networks or other networks you are likely to encounter to avoid connection failures or unintentionally connecting to other networks sharing the same SSID e Make sure that the network is not set to hidden iOS devices may interpret this as a closed network and fail to connect e f using security make sure that it is set to WPA2 Personal AES Use of WEP is not recommended for compatibility reliability performance and security reasons e f possible configure 2 4 GHz Radio mode to 802 11b g n e f the router supports 5 GHz Radio mode set it to 802 11a n e 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 e Channel width should be set to 20 MHz or Narrow Band in 2 4 GHz mode e Channel width should be set to both 20 MHz and 40 MHz in 5 GHz mode e Ensure that only one DHCP server
265. ows on the Switcher 2 4 10 RECORD AND STREAM e Record your live switched production at full resolution to a multi platform compatible format e Recorded MPEG 2 files have embedded timecode e Choose how far below OdB FS the maximum digital level to set nominal level record files with headroom levels of up to 20dB e Store approximately 20 hours of 1080i video or 155 hours of SD e Simultaneous output for broadcast projector and live web stream to in house and remote audiences e Use either Windows Media or Flash Media streaming e Archive your Internet stream e Connecting to multiple content delivery networks is a snap using the Configure Stream Connection panel e IsoCorder technology lets you record up to eight 855 model a v sources at once including all camera inputs or a custom set of sources chosen from Program Aux and camera sources e Multiple encoding formats including the default Quicktime as well MPEG 2 AVI and H 264 m4v e Capture MPEG 2 clips with embedded LTC linear timecode e 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 e Batch import media files for use in TriCaster s Media Players e Impo
266. panel Figure 150 with a few added options as listed below e Normal invokes default behavior for the transition e Reverse causes transitions to be performed in the opposite direction For example a transition that normally reveals the incoming video stream from left to right will operate from right to left instead e 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 ANIMATION STORE TRANSITIONS Figure 151 Animation Store transitions can have a full color animated overlay built into them along with individual sounds for transitioning in and out transition sounds are optional also level of audio control is provided in the Internal Audio Mixer tab These special Animation Store transitions are loaded into the Transition Bins in the same way as their standard cousins using the Browse feature A number of Animation Store transitions are included with TriCaster but you can generate your own using the supplied Animation Store Creator application and custom animation content you have access to or create using art software Note The Animation Store Creator application is covered in its own manual which can be opened from the Help menu in TriCaster Startup DSK POSITIONING yy ot Ea
267. ponent and associated chroma noise in dark foreground areas The noise may be partially or completely transparent when tolerances are critical Because the noise varies over time holes in the foreground can result and even worse these may flicker on and off from one frame to another LiveMatte s Luma Limit control makes it possible to overcome this issue In essence it restricts the chromakey operation based on luminance brightness values Dark foreground areas which typically cause the problems just described normally have quite different luminance values from 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 Then gradually raise the limit until you are pleased with the result 11 3 SPILL SUPPRESSION Spill Suppression Figure 188 The term Spill refers to key color unintentionally reflected or spilled onto the foreground subject It s very common for a little green spill to occur on the shoulders of a person in a greenscreen shot for example The Spill controls when enabled remove key color spill in your scene by reducing the amount of that color in the foreground where it doesn t belong The net result is that it is eliminated or at least reduced
268. presented are similar to those of Record Configuration though a bit simpler Again enter a Base Name The name you supply which will be numerically incremented Figure 256 as required Enable the Add to Graphics or Still depending on the model Playlist switch to automatically include newly captured clips at the end of the current Still tab playlist ready for immediate playback during the live production Close the Grab Still Configuration panel by clicking Close or clicking anywhere outside the panel Then click the Grab button to capture the selected a v source to your hard drive Image files are stored in a folder named for the session inside the main Still folder Hint During a session the grab counter situated beside the button keeps track of the number of images you have stored for the current base name entry 17 SPEEDEDIT AND LIVETEXT Be 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 You ll find it innovative and powerful ready to handle numerous editing and also file conversion chores SpeedEDIT and LiveText are both full blown powerful professional program also available as a standalone applications Each of these programs has its own complete ma
269. puter Name tab Click the Change button to modify the current name SHUTDOWN Exit to Windows Leave the Administration Mode screen and display the standard system desktop Back to TriCaster Exit Administration Mode and return to TriCaster s Startup screen and the production environment 5 2 4 HELP Shutdown Figure 99 Select the Help icon to reveal links to open TriCaster manuals including the primary User Guide as well as documentation for other TriCaster features such as SpeedEDIT and LiveText Documentation for optional Control Surfaces and Add ons will appear here as well Click the License Agreement link to review the TriCaster license requirements or the About TriCaster link to list software version information credits and acknowledgments 5 2 5 ADD ONS As time goes on NewTek offers additional software to extend the power of your TriCaster Shutdown Add Ons Animation Store Creator Virtual Set Editor Demo Figure 100 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 100 shows a link to the Virtual Set Editor demo as well as the Animation Store Creator utility included with TriCaster 5 3 THE SESSION PAGE ease ume Opening a session from the Home Page whether using Open or New takes you to the Session Page providing a new set of sele
270. r LiveText is listed in the Network selection drop down menus just as an iVGA source would be When you select LiveText and click the Live button in LiveText the current title page is available via the Network buttons on TriCaster s Switcher or in its DSK channels For more information on installing and using this great tool please refer to the Chapter 17 4 6 LIVE SWITCHING Back in Section 3 4 you connected cameras to inputs on TriCaster s backplate and configured them If you haven t already done so let s explore basic Switcher operations 4 6 1 SWITCHER ROWS The Switcher features 3 rows of labeled buttons From top to bottom the three rows are labeled Utility Program and Preview Each button on a Switcher row represents one of the many and varied video sources available The first button group at left on any row represents Cameras while others represent other special sources discussed soon DSKi DSK2 FTB AUXOUT DSK1 DSK2 Figure 44 TriCaster 455 DSK1 DSK2 FTB AUX OUT DSK1 DSK2 Figure 45 TriCaster 855 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 VIDEO LAYERS TriCaster video output often consists of multiple sources of imagery added together layer on layer to for
271. r in Sections 4 9 LiveMatte and 4 10 Virtual Inputs Hint By default selecting a tabbed module DDR1 Still etc on the Preview row automatically shows the corresponding control panel in the tabbed panes below Click the Desktop Options button gear at extreme right just above the tabbed panes to enable or disable this behavior CONFIGURING CAMERAS Let s try out some of these concepts shall we If you previously configured some cameras feel free to skip ahead to the next sub heading The Utility Row 1 First confirm that the Connection Type selected for your video sources is correct a Move your mouse over an Input monitor All Monitors view Open the Configuration panel for that video source by clicking the Configure button gear that appears in the monitor s titlebar c Choose a Connection Type setting that is appropriate for the camera d Close the Configuration panel 2 Repeat the steps above for all connected cameras 3 Click the Switcher button labeled 1 on the Program row to send Camera 1 to TriCaster s BKGD layer the button turns red denoting its selected state For experimental purposes feel free to use internal sources such as Media Players rather than live cameras if you like see Section 4 8 4 Click to select Camera 2 on the Preview row the button will light up in green 5 Note that the titlebars of the corresponding Figure 47 source monitors All Monitor
272. r information When you adjust the U Offset you adjust only the blue yellow portion of the video signal Rotate U Offset clockwise to shift the signal toward blue and counter clockwise to shift the signal toward yellow e 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 125 e To automatically white balance click and hold the mouse button over the Color eyedropper button and then slide the pointer on the monitor for the corresponding source Release the mouse button over a part of the image that should be white 7 13 SD ANALOG CONNECTIONS 5D Analog Connections Output 1 Figure 126 As discussed back in Section 3 8 2 TriCaster s VIDEO OUT connectors can variously output HD or SD or even both simultaneously The second row referred to as the Aux Auxiliary video output is Somewhat unique and in consequence is discussed separately in the next section Let s consider the different configuration possibilities for Program video output Row 1 First note that the Program video output format always matches the session In turn this means its HD video output will be either 1080 or 720 Let s consider how this affects the SD Analog Connection options offered e The sole analog video connection type commonly
273. r information than standard DV HDV files as well as many other file formats The increased color fidelity is especially valuable for chromakeying purposes Note that support for High Profile MPEG 2 files by various applications is not universal however It would be prudent to test file compatibility with your favorite third party programs before making extensive use of this option AVI SPEEDHQ Selecting AV encoding tells TriCaster to capture the designated source using NewTek s own AVI format SoeedHQ 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 H 264 Another encoding option is H 264 TriCaster supports two bitrates High Quality and Web Quality The first uses 20 Mbit sec encoding the latter invokes 2 Mbit sec bitrate suitable for online use Note H 264 encoding is processor intensive We recommend this format be used to encode just one video stream to avoid dropped frames or other glitches DESTINATION Select drives or other storage volumes as targets for the different recordings using the Destination drop down Media Ds 627GB menu Figure 254 SECONDARY RECORDINGS NewTek s IsoCorder technology provides the ability to record multiple output a v streams An additional list of Secondary sources can be added in the Record Confi
274. rag while holding Alt down to rotate about the Z axis DSK layers automatically appear temporarily on Preview when the e Drag on a single numeric slider below Position panel is open regardless of the or hold down Ctrl while dragging to current Delegate selections or layer constrain rotation to one axis display state This frees you to tinker with Positioning Dragging the cursor on the Scale button without the result appearing on magnifying glass affects the size of the overlay Program output prematurely When the nearby lock button is enabled dragging in any direction affects scale equally on both axes Otherwise dragging vertically on Scale changes the height while dragging horizontally affects width Hint If you click a numeric field or right click it you can type a value into the gadget using the keyboard press Enter to complete the editing action or Esc to cancel it Again if you drag just one of the numeric gadgets below the Scale button with the lock disabled or hold down Ctrl while doing so you modify just one dimension of the DSK layer width or height Individual settings such as Rotation or Size can be reset with one by clicking Reset Positioning and the settings can be globally toggled on or off by clicking the Position buttons in the Overlay section of the Switcher Hint See Section 10 3 Frame Buffers for a discussion of this special source option DSK TRANSPARENCY Re
275. ram row 4 Move the mouse over a different title page icon and click the Configure button gear that appears in its lower right corner 5 The Title Page Editor shown in Figure 68 will appear Figure 68 6 Move the mouse over the default text shown in the Title Page Editors preview pane and notice that a white bounding box appears as you locate editable items 7 Double click inside the bounding box for a line of text to open a text entry field type something different then press Enter on the keyboard to accept the changes 8 Notice that you were able to edit a page without disturbing the title already displayed on Program Output Click the Close button 9 Repeat your text edit operation but this time modify the title that is displayed on Program Output notice this time that the display updates immediately Edit Tithe Arial FE Restore Defaults Figure 69 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 69 11 Click the Close button 4 9 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 Live Radar e
276. ransition to Still o And stops DDR 1 playback o Then unseen on Program output cues up its next playlist item e Simultaneously the Graphics Still player s Autoplay setting initiates playback of its first playlist entry e When playback of that item is reached o The Graphics Still player s Autoplay function performs another transition returning DDR 1 to the Program row And stops Graphics Still playback Then unseen on Program output the Graphics Still player cues up its next playlist entry e Next DDR 1 s Autoplay setting automatically starts playing its next playlist item The cycle repeats until all items play through or is interrupted by user actions TriCaster title pages can actually be added to any of the Media Players apart from the Sounds player The Media Players can also display bitmap files exported from third party graphics applications or overlay them using the DSKs when the files are either keyed or have an embedded alpha channel all of which is quite handy However TriCaster s native title pages have some distinct advantages over a common still image 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 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 Prog
277. rds any data losses and displays a summary when finished Bottom line if you can t ping your target your connection has problems the problem might be as simple as a bad cable connection To issue a ping you need know the IP number of the target computer Finding the target IP number For Windows XP 1 Select Run from the Windows Start Menu look in the Settings sub menu if it is not listed at the top level 2 Type cmd without the quotation marks into the dialog and press Enter on the keyboard 3 Inthe command shell that opens type ipconfig without the quotation marks and press Enter again 4 The IP Address for the system will be reported in the window along with other data For Windows Vista or later 1 Type run without the quotation marks into the Search field then press Enter on the keyboard 2 Type cmd without the quotation marks into the dialog and press Enter on the keyboard 3 In the command shell that opens type ipconfig without the quotation marks and press Enter again 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 Click More info in the panel which opens 3 Click Network in the Contents column at left 4 The IP number for the syst
278. re 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 Similarly Crop shows a blue indicator These lights are actually interactive toggle switches 7 3 TIMECODE CONFIGURATION IE TriCaster can supply production time values based on the system clock when necessary To access timecode options click the small gear icon next to the timecode display at right in the titlebar of the Live Desktop Figure 138 Hint You can set TriCaster s system clock just as you would for any computer by first exiting to the Windows desktop TriCaster can optionally use an external linear timecode LTC reference to drive its clocks and timecode for capture We ll discuss the basic timecode features first and then review the details of LTC timecode support in TriCaster in Section 7 3 2 7 3 1 SUBTRACT 12 HOURS Timecode Figure 139 The current time value is embedded in the frames of MPEG 2 video files captured during the session using TriCaster s Record function For this reason a switch labeled Subtract 12 Hours is provided This permits you to
279. reduce any signal that would rise above the threshold all the way down to the threshold level with the exception of a brief period during a sudden increase in source loudness as dictated by the Attack setting 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 Shorter values are more aggressive while longer values are more subtle and tend to be less noticeable to the audience RELEASE Release is similar to Attack in many ways but refers instead to the speed with which the compression effect is removed as a source signal falls back on its own so that it no longer exceeds the Threshold Naturally compression impacts the overall output level of the source or output The Gain control allows you to compensate bringing the post compressor signal back to a comfortable nominal range Hint Different circumstances call for different Attack and Release strategies For example much less aggressive settings could work nicely for vocals but fail badly when applied to a snare drum Many websites provide suggestions on establishing the best compressor limiter settings for different environments
280. 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 Hint When Follow is enabled but the corresponding video source is not displayed on Output the audio level display on the VU meter is displayed as a grayscale rather than in full color When Follow causes an audio source to be added to TriCaster s output the audio from this input is quickly ramped up or down on removal over a period of 5 frames The Follow feature is especially powerful used in concert with TriCaster s Audio Group features please see Section 13 1 5 for more detail Figure 213 A Mono switch appears in the control panel for sources set to any Connection Type other than Mic Enabling Mono centers audio sources on both channels For digital inputs AES EBU or SDI Embedded with more than two channels only channels 1 and 2 are centered If present two additional digital audio channels are passed through unchanged on channels 3 and 4 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 The Solo switch state never has any impact on Program out a
281. reports com speedtest more 1 15 8 2 IS IT REALLY A TRICASTER ISSUE With regard to streaming issues don t overlook the fact that TriCaster is just one of the pieces of the puzzle There are many others that are just as important Here are some useful things to try CHECK THE FILE Archive the streaming output file locally and then examine it to see if it has any problems This file corresponds exactly to what TriCaster is sending the downstream server In cases of sync problems low frame rate problems audio popping problems etc if it s a TriCaster issue the problem will be seen in this file On the other hand if the file looks good then the issue has to be up stream of the TriCaster DROPPED FRAMES To really confirm that TriCaster is outputting the frame rate you chose i e not dropping frames you can edit a profile inside Flash to cause FMLE to write out frame rate stats These settings apply when using the TriCaster which lets you verify that it is uploading the stream at the rate designated In FMLE select the Encoding tab and check mark Log To File 16 RECORD AND GRAB B You will often want to capture video clips from external sources as well as to record your own outgoing live production C 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 16 1 RECORD TriC
282. ressed If you right click a stand in image a menu is presented that provides several optional methods of fitting the source image to its frame Choosing Stretch causes the image to completely fill the frame Fill Area retains the interested image s original aspect cropping if necessary to fit inside the frame Show All Image also retains the original image aspect but fits the entire source image inside the frame which may result in pillar boxing or letter boxing 11 LIVEMATTE amp CROP Although its controls are deceptively simple TriCaster s LiveMatte is a very powerful chromakeying technology capable of extremely high quality results C 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 As we mentioned earlier chromakeying or simply keying is used to combine images by eliminating a portion of a foreground image effectively cutting a digital keyhole in it to reveal a different background TriCaster also relies on this method to insert talent seamlessly into virtual sets via LiveSet Enable LivelMatte Matte Enable Crop Figure 185 LiveMatte controls are located in the Input Configuration panels for every Switcher source To access them click the Configure button gear that appears above an onscreen monitor in the All Monitors tab The second tab
283. rmat Note When presets that do not natively support HD are selected during an HD session output is automatically scaled as required to fit the selected file format This is a convenience but be sure to select a Preset suitable for your ultimate needs A similar Destination button opens a system file browser to let you designate or create a location for file output Each file to be exported can have its own Target Preset and Destination settings Export Media Add Duplicate Adobe Premiere Pro Remove X Avid Media Composer mov Grass Valley Edius NewTek SpeedEDIT Sony Vegas Figure 113 Hint It is possible to selected mapped network locations with a Drive letter assigned as the Destination saving time later Export file format options are updated from time to time to include popular new formats Here are some examples as they appear for an HD session the list is not all inclusive as additions are made from time to time Target categories are in bold text while Presets are italicized e Application formats suitable for use with various popular NLE software o Apple Final Cut Pro mov very high quality M JPEG encoding full raster 4 2 2 sub sampling high compatibility e AVI o 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 o MJPEG avi moder
284. rms 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 TRANSPORT CONTROLS A simple set of controls beneath the playlist pane provides all playback related functions e Previous button go to previous playlist entry e Stop clicking Stop when already stopped goes to the first frame e Play e Next button go to next playlist entry e Not shown Double click an entry in the playlist pane to begin playback at the start of that playlist entry e Loop repeat playback continuously respecting the Single switch state AUTOPLAY When enabled the Autoplay switch has several important effects Firstly it initiates playback automatically when the associated Media Player is placed on Program Out by a Switcher Take or Transition operation either directly as a Switcher row selection or indirectly as an input for a Virtual Input or Overlay Secondly the reverse Switcher transition occurs automatically as the end of play approaches whether the Out Point of the current item for Single play or the end of the playlist In similar fashion for a media player with Autoplay enabled performing an Overlay Effect automatically begins playback Note Unlike Switcher Transitions the rever
285. rtcut keys Part III is also home to a comprehensive keyword index This User Guide discusses two TriCaster models differentiated principally by the input and output configurations they offer In most other respects operations and the interface are quite similar and a common description will suffice for our purposes Wherever a significant difference appears it is noted in context 2 INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing this NewTek product Your TriCaster belongs to a large family of video systems and software with a remarkable heritage A TC bona fide video pioneer NewTek is justifiably proud of its record of innovation ongoing commitment to design excellence and superb product support This chapter provides a quick tour of the major components of your new TriCaster system 2 1 OVERVIEW Traditionally producing live high definition television has been very costly requiring very expensive equipment and a large crew 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 TriCaster thus sets a new benchmark for portable live production Simply put it is the most complete reliable and efficient system available for live production and web streamin
286. rted files are automatically categorized and sent to the correct locations making them easy to find and use during live productions e Optionally transcode selected to high quality and TriCaster friendly file formats ensuring smooth playback EXPORTING CONTENT The Export Media function allows you to create a batch list of files for export and optionally select new file formats for the exported media 2 4 12 AUDIO MIXER TriCaster provides extensive multi channel audio control and management in two dedicated tabbed panels e Adjust individual audio sources internal and external and introduce them into your program manually or automatically e Control output levels for program headphones auxiliary output and stream separately e Convenient mixer presets allow single click access to prepared setups e Audio follow video options Audio Configuration e Advanced audio controls including o Seven band equalization along with compressor limiter for each source and also every output o Source grouping and multi bus routing options Figure 9 2 4 13 INTEGRATED MEDIA PLAYERS A y Ua m tle dle Figure 10 TriCaster s numerous specialized Media Players and title system serve up graphics titles video clips and audio files quickly and easily during your live productions e Add a v clips sound files or still image files to Media Player playlists e Trim and re order playlist entries e Store playlists as
287. rter 2011 Financial Results 04 26 11 Akamai State of the Internet Figure 85 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 85 4 12 2 SIMPLE PULL STREAMING Figure 86 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 Choose Connection lype Cancel Figure 87 2 Select Windows Media Pull click OK and then supply a name for this Connection preset to waw akama com Figure 88 3 The next thing to do is pick a resolution and bitrate from the Resolution menu 4 Click the Test button In a few moments TriCaster provides you with the IP Internet Protocol address of your computer as viewed from the network This information will be provided to you as a punctuated numeric value in the Location display field Hint If your TriCaster is connected to the network by a router or is b
288. s Here s a list of things to try e Click on an unselected monitor to place it on the Preview row e Click the same monitor again to perform a BKGD layer only Take swapping it with the current Program row selection and sending it to Program Output e Double click any monitor to immediately send that source to Program Out replacing the previous BKGD layer and sending its predecessor to the Preview row e Shift click the monitor selected on the Preview row to Transition it to the current BKGD layer again sending its predecessor to the Preview row e Shift double click any unselected monitor to Transition the BKGD layer to it sending the original Program selection to Preview 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 and 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 without requiring you to open gt Ma eset the Input Configuration panel Figure 165 Monitors in TriCaster EXTREME views represents transparency in source imagery with a checkerboard background pattern see Figure 165 9 4 EXTERNAL MONITORS TAB This tabbed pane supplies individual monitors for all camera inputs 9 4 1 CONTEXTUAL TOOLS
289. s Export feature SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION Q Why does the Renderless Quicktime export option in Export Media only work properly with Normal Profile MPEG2 files A The Renderless export preset in Export Media Startup gt Session Page re wraps TriCaster s MPEG2 files as Quicktime a v files without re compression Quicktime does not currently decode High Profile MPEG2 files even when wrapped as Quicktime files Some applications with internal MPEG2 support play High Profile mov exports but generally it s better to simply use TriCaster s default Quicktime recording option directly 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 You should reformat these drives using the NTFS system to eliminate this limitation or you might consider transferring larger files to TriCaster over a network connection A 4 11 REPAIR DAMAGED RECORDINGS At times a catastrophic event such as a power outage that interrupts recording will result in a damaged Quicktime clip Generally such a clip can be repaired by simply adding it to a DDR playlist Note that this process depends on the clip being stored as is with
290. s integrated software suite is LiveText NewTek s professional titling and graphics application LiveText allows you to create your own custom title pages and motion graphics including scrolls and crawls 2 4 16 EDIT The TriCaster version of NewTek s popular and versatile non linear video editing program SpeedEDIT is available to TriCaster 455 and 855 owners by download without added cost as well Installed as a TriCaster Add On SpeedEDIT provides powerful professional tools to let you prepare movies for insertion into your live productions or perform broadcast quality post production work on recorded programs e Edit import and export in full HD resolution e Realtime external hardware project preview in HD or SD e Import and export file format support includes QuickTime AVI and MPEG 2 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 Let s jump in now First we ll get you connected Following that we ll begin to explore TriCaster s most important features 2 4 17 OPTIONAL CONTROL SURFACES Several optional TriCaster control surface are offered including models designed for primary control and others for specific purposes such as instant replay Control surfaces make many operations even more convenient and there s sure to be one or more that makes an ide
291. s pane opened by clicking the button labeled Pos A small sidelight beside this button indicates active positioning TAKE AND AUTO Take Glass Breal Auto 01 00 Figure 147 As we have seen clicking a local BKGD DSK 1 or DSK 2 Take button performs a straight cut for that video layer For BKGD the Program and Preview row selections will be swapped If instead you press the local Auto button for BKGD the transition currently selected in the bin at right is performed but the end result is the same 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 A slightly different result occurs when re initiating an incomplete DSK transition If the effect was more than halfway complete when halted clicking Auto again completes it Otherwise it is reversed returning the layer to its prior display state The duration of transitions is governed by a drop down menu provided for each local video layer The menu provides convenient two one and second duration presets Figure 148 Alternatively you can either drag the mouse pointer left or right over the numeric display to set a custom time or click the numeric field to enable direct keyboard entry Figure
292. s_weathermap png Waiting Figure 31 5 Click Add in the Import Media panel Figure 31 to open a system File Explorer 6 Navigate to C TriCaster Documentation Walkthrough Content 7 Press Ctrl a to multi select everything in the folder shown in the File Explorer then click Open adding these items to the file pane of the Import Media panel Figure 31 8 Click Import different media types are automatically sorted into their respective destination folders on import We ll use these files later 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 See Section 6 5 1 for more information We are ready now to commence our tour of the Live Desktop beginning with further consideration of monitoring features and options 4 3 MONITORING 4 3 1 PROGRAM AND PREVIEW Inevitably you ll be paying a lot of attention to the main Program and Preview monitors Figure 32 occupying the right half of the upper monitoring section in the Live Desktop by default Stream it Figure 32 TriCaster s Look Ahead Preview monitor The Program monitor displays what reflects the outcome of the upcoming you are sending to downstream switching
293. scccidsas sees vsees cundsenmates cocdsdendonssevinsawbecust sonnets 286 A 1 9 EJjectA Hara DAVE Td 286 A110 Connect Cally lents aii i 287 ALI Connectto a Network ci 287 A 1 12 Locate a specific TriCaster ON My Network ooocccncccnoccnnnccnanonnnnnnnccnnnnnnncnnnnnnns 287 ALIS Connectto amAlrplay QU aa 287 A 1 14 Resolve iVGA PRO QuirksS oocccccoccccconcnnconncnnnonacncnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 290 A 1 15 Enable Termination for Video Inputs coocccnnccnoncnnnnonanonnnnnnanonnnononononnnonanononnnos 290 A 2 SESSIONS A AA AAA 291 A 2 1 Start an DISENO iiid 291 A 2 2 Starc oN DS a iaa 291 A 2 3 Work orma Stored SESSION Aarra n ea E O 292 A 2 4 A A a a tech ote gdantoeenes 292 A 2 5 RESTO SESSIONS nao cdo 293 A 2 6 Delete a session and its Content sais cria dada 293 A 2 7 Manage Selected Content inside a Session ccccconcnnccnncnncnncnnnnnnnnnnnanonnnnanononanonos 293 A 2 8 Rename ag ESTONIA aa 293 A 2 9 Dublicate a session ds 294 A 3 LiVe POUM AENA aos 294 A 3 1 Make Custom Transitions and LiveSets occccoccnncccccnncnnnoncnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnononnnnnnonanonos 294 A 3 2 Restore the Default LIVES EL os dao 294 A 3 3 Set up the Nightly Show A LIVOSOt vaccine ii 294 A 3 4 nitate AAN aa 296 A 3 5 Find my Captured Stream file ni is 296 A 3 6 Record MyYPrOSTAMEA Se 296 A 3 7 Find my Recorded Program File oocccoooccnccnccnncnononcnnnnononononnnnanononnnnnnnnnnnnos 2
294. se listed below the Window option in the Video Source menu 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 VGA 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 Hint Select None to mute audio output Privacy mode also temporarily engages Mute OPTIONS e Hide Mouse Cursor the mouse pointer will not appear on iVGA s video output when this option is enabled e Follow Mouse the marquee tracks mouse movement when this option is enabled SEND RECORD STOP A multi function button at the bottom of the iVGA PRO control panel toggles output or recording on and off The button label updates to display the action that will occur if you click it according to the current operation and state of the application It may variously show Send Record or Stop as appropriate TASKBAR ICON MENU 10 40 AM DE afana Figure 229 A radio beacon icon shown at left in Figure 229 is shown in the system taskbar when VGA PRO is running The icon shows a radiating animation when connected to a TriCaster Click the icon to show the iVGA PRO Control Panel and marquee when enabled Right click the icon to display its context menu Figure 230 listing the following items Disconnect S
295. se 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 which provides quick and convenient access to multiple playlists As mentioned back in Section 4 8 1 presets also store the state of various Media Player controls To display the preset bin roll the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen in a tabbed Media Player or Audio Mixer tab If you change playlists by selecting another preset it s almost as though you are accessing another media player Use presets for quick access to different categories of content for use during a live presentation playlists prepared for different clients or for completely different programs you produce Presets are named and conveniently display a small representative image taken from the first entry in the playlist As you move the mouse over preset icons they expand to provide an enlarged view of the icon for the first playlist item To populate a new preset simply click a blank preset icon 1 y x i keyin Export Import Delete Figure 178 To modify the default name assigned to a preset right click a preset icon to open its context menu and select Rename from the list Other menu options includ
296. 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 Actually the Send to Frame Buffer function copied the source file and placed it in a special folder C TriCaster Effects Frame Buffer session_name It remains available there even when the original file is not only unavailable from the playlist but has actually been deleted from the hard drive TriCaster provides separate Frame Buffers for each Virtual Input which can be selected as nput A Input B or Overlay source for their respective Virtual Inputs and another for the main Switcher Important Hint Frame Buffer files can be updated across a network using any suitable application including Adobe Photoshop when Share Frame Buffer on Network is enabled in the Live Desktop Options menu opened by the gear button at right beneath the Transition section of the Switcher See Section 10 3 for more information on Frame Buffers 4 12 STREAMING Sending your output to the world or the office can be nearly as easy as connecting TriCaster to the Internet or intranet and pressing the Stream button located right below the Program output monitor SOLUTIONS CUSTOMERS TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVES VOLUME 3 NUMBER 4 The State of the Internet Ath Quarter 2010 Report The Akamai HD Network News amp Highlights 04 27 11 Akamai Reports First Qua
297. selected files the speed of the device selected as target for the files the designated format and so on It is generally unwise to commence a file export shortly before a live event since you cannot launch TriCaster s Live Desktop during export If necessary you can cancel the current export operation 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 A progress gauge is displayed during processing and if necessary you may Cancel the operation Of course the session to be backed up is the current session to back up a different session return to the Home Page and Open a different session The backup operation feature will determine whether all media used in the session is local i e located in folders named for that session or whether some content is external stored in other places on your system and included in the session using Add Media Location or from folders belonging to other sessions If all session media is local the backup proceeds without further interruption When external media is used in the session a dialog is presented stating The following files are external to the session Would you like to impor
298. ses a file not found type error message will typically be shown To resolve this problem Exit to Windows and open the Control Panel applet named Region and Language from the Windows Start In the Administrative tab of this dialog click the Change system locale button and then select the correct local language This will update the Current language for non Unicode programs A 6 REGISTRATION AND TECH SUPPORT A 6 1 REGISTER TRICASTER 1 Read and accept the License Agreement shown when TriCaster launches 2 Select and copy Ctrl c the characters in the Product ID field in Step 1 of the registration dialog that appears next 3 If you have connected TriCaster to the internet click the button in Step 2 of the registration dialog 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 US 1 800 862 7837 Outside US 1 210 370 8000 6 http www newtek com faq index php contact service 7 Enter the Registration Code provided into the Registration dialog at Step 3 Please see Section 3 3 for more detail A 6 2 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
299. sider a typical scenario o 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 An external audio mixer is connected to TriCaster at Audio Input 1 Video clips will be played back from the DDR on demand o Audio from Input 1 needs to be heard whenever any camera 1 through 5 is on output When we switch to the DDR we want to hear DDR output exclusively To accomplish all of this simply assign Inputs 1 5 to the same color group enable the Follow switch for each input in the group and for the DDR e As well a selected Audio Group can be assigned as the source for TriCaster s Aux output see Section 13 3 1 13 2 INTERNAL AUDIO Figure 216 Besides external audio sources sounds played from TriCaster s internal storage volumes including removable media such as external hard drives or thumb drives via the content players DDR etc can be added to the output mix 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 At present AirPlay and 3Play Source selections support audio see Chapter 14 Note Net 1 and Net 2 controls may be found in either the Internal or External Audio tabs depending on the model
300. sider an example e When Pan is set to the extreme left position for Input 1a its audio signal is passed exclusively to Program Output 1a ignoring Aux output la for this discussion e Centering the Pan knob splits the sound from Input 1a so that it is heard equally on outputs 1a and 1b The levels in this case are automatically reduced so that the overall level sent from Input 1a sent to output remains constant e Sliding Pan for Input 1a all the way to the right results in that source only being audible on Program Output 1b Hint Pan is not the same as Balance The balance control for a stereo source varies the relative level of the left and right channels but the sound from the left channel will never come out of the right speaker or vice versa whereas Pan can do this MIOS When the Connection Type is set to one of the Mic options input controls also include Trim knobs for each microphone input This is a variable gain setting Figure 210 enabling you to adjust input gain to suit the level of a variety of audio sources Clicking the Lock button links the level sliders above relative to each other This enables them to be adjusted in unison Figure 211 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
301. sion 26 9 20 Enable Crop Figure 73 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 73 This establishes the primary key Color 13 The default LiveMatte settings Tolerance and Smoothness are close enough for this little demonstration so you can close the Configuration panel now We ll look at the details of LiveMatte in more depth in Part Il the Reference section but already your result as viewed on Program output should look very similar to Figure 70 TriCaster doesn t stop here though Let s look a little more closely at TriCaster s powerful 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 In addition to the two sources just considered nputs A and B Virtual Inputs provide an integrated Overlay channel as well 4 10 1 COMPOSING INPUTS A AND B When we ended the previous section the simple weather map setup Figure 70 we created was on Program Out Again remember that LiveMatte is already enabled for the greenscreen shot from our previous exercise
302. strator to resolve otherwise You will also need to enable port forwarding on the router as discussed next Port Forwarding If you are streaming from behind a router to preserve a reasonable level of security while allowing outside computers to connect to your system you will need to port forward your router Port forwarding permits a sort of blind hand off between external clients your viewers and a local transaction port which you manually specify The router will pass requests to view the stream through to the TriCaster without exposing the internal IP routing To enable port forwarding you need three pieces of information e The login information for the router Your router s manual will have this information which typically involves entering a specific IP number into your web browsers URL field and perhaps also a password you have set previously e 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 e The port number just mentioned the part after the colon Although the steps vary a bit by brand and model generally you would proceed as follows 1 Log into the router so it shows its control panel in your web browser 2 Select the port forwarding page of the router controls T
303. supporting HD is Component Consequently the analog Connection Type for HD sessions is always Component SD Analog Connection options are ghosted e This means that the four BNC connectors for Program Row 1 output will be automatically configured as HD SDI and HD Component three connectors Y Pr and Pb for all HD sessions Somewhat similarly for SD sessions Row 1 outputs SD video If the session is 4 3 output is also 4 3 When the session is 16 9 video output is also 16 9 Additional Connection Type options are made available for SD sessions e Select between Composite Y C or Component connection types e Choosing Component or Composite Y C results in the output connectors in the corresponding row being configured as shown in the following table Connection Type BNC 1 SDI BNC 2 Y BNC 3 Pb BNC 4 Pr Component so LY PH Pr Composite Y C 7 1 4 AUX OUTPUT Au Program 1080 30p SDI Component Figure 127 The Aux group in Output Configuration provides more options than are available for the first two video output rows Two drop down menus appear here regardless of session format labeled Source and Format 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 nput and Frame Buffer sub menus support several exclusive displays Here is the comple
304. sures that as long there is AC power in a case of catastrophic software condition audio and video from the last input are routed to Program output Streaming output and recording also continue in such cases 2 4 3 A V INPUT AND OUTPUT e Live switch between as many as eight TriCaster 855 SDI and analog HD or SD cameras e Professional BNC video connectors provide increased durability and reliability for camera connections Input and mix 16 9 and 4 3 formats Freely mix SD and HD sources in both HD and SD sessions Output HD sessions as SD 4 3 or 16 9 and HD simultaneously from HD sessions e Multiple Media Player modules allow you to insert pre recorded video music sounds and imagery into your live presentations e Select Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh computers on the same network as Switcher inputs for your live productions using NewTek s VGA client e 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 e Mix internal and external audio sources e Supply external audio via analog or SDI Embedded audio e Send Aux Auxiliary video output to a projection system or secondary monitor at resolutions up to 1920x1080 e Send either Aux or Master audio to the Aux audio outputs e Take advantage of an additional Program output via an HDMI connector e Broadcast your Program to the Internet
305. t connection resumes o Providers typically have significant bandwidth and are able to meet necessary requirements to deliver stutter free high quality streams to large numbers of viewers Disadvantages o Like the Pull by End Users method above this requires a public IP address preferably a static IP address which does not change dynamically if you need to reconnect as well as open ports for the connection to be established These requirements are becoming increasingly difficult to meet given common security measures PUSH TO PROVIDER Windows 2003 Server introduced Push technology With this method the encoder sends the stream to downstream servers This allows the encoder to establish a connection to the server on a specified port Once this connection is established additional network ports may be opened as required since the Encoder established the connection not the server Y Advantages o Easy to connect to the provider There are no requirements for open ports on your local system or public IP s In addition firewalls do not get in the way Y Disadvantages o Live streams that have no viewers are still consuming bandwidth From a provider point of view it is possible that all of our bandwidth could be utilized with no viewers However that is more theoretical than practical o Some external streaming providers prefer to Pull streams as re connection can performed from their
306. t these files The optional actions in the dialog are e Backup without importing e Import and Backup e Cancel Backup 6 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 C 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 This chapter provides a top level view leading into the detailed information in subsequent chapters TriCaster s Live Desktop is launched by creating or opening a session in the Startup Screen s Home Page then selecting the LIVE icon and clicking Start Live Production 6 1 DISPLAY REQUIREMENTS TriCaster s interface requires a minimum screen resolution of 1600x1050 or 1600x1200 1 Monitoring 2 Live Control i to A gt 4 LA 3 Tabbed Modules Figure 114 6 2 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 1 Monitoring e All Monitors tab all live inputs and internal sources such as DDRs etc e External Monitors tab Camera monitors e Internal Monitors tab Media Players and Network sources e Scopes tab source monitor along with Waveform and Vectorscope
307. tal clocks e External all 8 primary inputs plus large Program and Preview monitors e nternal all Media Players other than Sound Plus Net 1 and Net 2 e Program TriCaster s main Program output e Preview the Look Ahead Preview e FX the current FX source selection e Preview Program both video sources plus clock s e Waveform Vectorscope the current Preview row selection along with large Waveform and Vectorscope monitors Hint The External and Internal layouts complement Live Desktop monitor tabs and can be used to provide an all inclusive monitoring solution when the latter are used The VGA Output Resolution menu provides a long list of popular and useful options to allow you to configure TriCaster output to conform to your downstream external device Note that it is important to select the native resolution of the external display device monitor or projector for best results 7 1 7 GENLOCK TriCaster s Genlock feature allows it to lock its video output to a reference video signal house sync such Hint Genlock refers to generator as black burst supplied to its Genlock input ocking Professional video devices connector This synchronizes TriCaster output to Often provide a genlock input other external equipment locked to the same Which allows an external reference reference Genlocking is not an absolute signal often referred to as house requirement but
308. te list of possibilities e Input any primary Switcher source Camera Network or Media Player Figure 128 e Frame Buffer any individual Frame Buffer image e Preview the Look Ahead Preview display e Program TriCaster s main Program output e Program Clean TriCaster s main Program output minus the two primary Overlay channels and FTB e FX the current FX source selection Hint Remember than TriCaster s Record feature can optionally capture output from Aux providing many useful capabilities see Section 7 1 4 FORMAT The options in the Format menu actually control both video output format and Connection Type for the Aux video output The output options vary by session format e HD 1080i or 720p options appear only when the session format is likewise HD e SD output options are always available 480i or 576i for PAL sessions Multi standard model only e When you select an SD output option for an HD session you are able to choose between 16 9 widescreen or 4 3 cropped output e For each format option the appropriate Connection Type options are also shown 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 combinations e 1080i SDI Component 480i 16 9 SDI Component 480i 16 9 SDI e 1080 30p SDI Component Y C Composite e 720p SDI Component e 480i
309. ted at far right in the Audio tab Just above this is a simple level control for the Phones output Remember that both Aux and Phones outputs are affected by source So o switches When Solo is on for one or more sources only those sources will be sent to Aux in Solo mode and Headphones 13 4 ADVANCED AUDIO CONFIGURATION Each audio input including internal sources as well as every output sports a configuration button in their respective mixer panels Clicking the familiar sear icon opens the new Advanced Audio Configuration panel 13 4 1 EQUALIZER The seven band equalizer allows you to shape sound to taste accommodate sources with different acoustic characteristics such as mismatched mics minimize feedback and roll off unwanted parts of the audio spectrum Audio Configuration Enable or disable the Equalizer using the switch beside the label above its control group The sliders attenuate or boost the tonal range centered on the frequency shown at the top with the amount of effect applied falling off toward neighboring frequencies on either side Click Reset to return all sliders to OdB Figure 218 Hint Naturally reducing or increasing hanging the level of one or more tonal bands affects the overall output level as well This may call for you to trim the main level setting for the input or output involved 13 4 2 COMPRESSOR LIMITER The Compressor Limiter is capable of preventing clipping from unexpe
310. tency audio SYNC oooooncccnncccnononononnnnnononononanananancnccnnnnnnnnos 317 Supplement Why does latency seem higher for certain video formats i e 24p 318 Why is my power supply beeping ccccooccncccocnnccnncnnnnnnonnnnononononcnnononcnnonanonnnnnnonononcnnnnananonos 318 Supplement Where can obtain replacement or spare Power Supply modules 318 Why do some thumbnail icons look WrONBT ooocccncccnocnnnnncnanonnnnnnanonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnannnnnnnnnncnnos 318 A 1 CONNECTIONS A 1 1 CONNECT CAMERAS 1 Connect video sources to the appropriately labeled BNC input connectors on TriCaster s backplate according to your camera s video output connection type see Section 3 4 Because of the busy nature of the backplate you may find the BNC removal tool provided with TriCaster helpful for this purpose 2 Open a TriCaster session or create a new one from the Home Page of the Startup Screen 3 Click the Live icon on the Session Page of the Startup Screen and press Enter or click the Start Live Production link 4 Click the All Monitors tab at the top of the Live Desktop roll the mouse pointer over the camera monitor you want to set up and click the Configure gear button that appears above it 5 Choose an appropriate Connection Type for your camera in the Input Settings tab see Sections 3 4 and 7 2 1 A 1 2 CONNECT FILL ALPHA SOURCES 1 Connect the Fill color sourc
311. tended to allow a restore operation of the system drive that the clone was prepared on It is not intended to allow restoration from a foreign TriCaster Using the Restore System Partition from User Backup Drive in the latter manner will almost certainly cause multiple problems In a dire emergency however such as if a system drive fails when no User Backup from the same unit has been prepared a User Backup created on a similar model TriCaster can be helpful as follows Install the foreign User Backup drive to replace the defunct system drive Power up and at the boot selection screen select Manage TriCaster Choose Restore System Partition to Factory Defaults and follow prompts It will be necessary to re activate Windows re enter the registration unlock code and possibly update the TriCaster software after the restoration process in this case Be aware that the approach above is not encouraged since minor hardware differences between the two TriCasters involved may well result in issues in the resulting Windows installation As well the new system drive will no longer have a factory restore partition Still it might be better than nothing in a crisis A 5 8 AVOID FILE PATH PROBLEMS DUE TO UNIQUE CHARACTERS IN SOME LANGUAGES Some languages employ characters and symbols that when used in session or project names can cause file path errors in SoeedEDIT and LiveText In such ca
312. teristics differentiate Frame Buffer content from other sources such as Media Player content First any possibility of accidentally displaying the wrong image or title as might happen if the current playlist item was not the correct one is eliminated In fact even when the original source file no longer exists on the system the Frame Buffer copy can still be referenced on demand Among other things this all means that you can effectively lock a specific title or graphic to one Virtual Input Second each of TriCaster s Frame Buffers is uniquely linked to one specific Overlay channel Selecting the Frame Buffer button labeled FRM BFR for any given Overlay channel reliably refers to the correct graphic for that channel This provides assurance when you might temporarily switch to another source and then want to return to the Frame Buffer Frame Buffers have another extremely powerful feature network sharing discussed next 10 3 2 NETWORK SHARING Another very useful advantage of this system is Tabs Follow Preview for All Inputs that if you wish you can share the Frame Buffer folder and its content across a network Tabs Follow Preview for Virtual Inputs Y Tabs Follow All 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 the Switcher beneath the local Transition Enable Keyboard Shortcuts controls Figure 181
313. 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 96 and use the file explorer provided to select a SessionBackup file Media 2 Restore Backup Session Figure 96 Click Open and a progress gauge will track the restoration process In due course the newly restored session will be added to the Session List for the specified drive Hint Restoring a session that has a lot of content can take considerable time Be judicious then if considering a restoration shortly before a scheduled live production OPENING A SESSION Just as you were able to select an icon on the ring using the left and right arrow keys you can highlight a name in the Session List using the Up and Down arrow keys then press the Enter key to open it or simply click the name of a session to open it immediately Selecting a session takes you away from the Home Page to the Sessions Screen 5 2 3 SHUTDOWN This selection provides Restart TriCaster Shutdown TriCaster and Administrator Mode links The first two options are presumably self explanatory but the latter calls for more discussion ADMINISTRATOR MODE Selecting Administrator Mode from the Shutdown menu on the Home Page icon ring exits TriCaster s live prod
314. the 3 5 IRE and 7 5 IRE bars merge becoming indistinguishable from one another 5 You should be able to just notice the difference between the 7 5 IRE bars and the brighter 10 5 IRE bar 6 Raise the Contrast level brightening the 10 5 IRE bar quite a bit You may notice that the large white bar second from the left at the bottom Super White becomes overblown showing blooming into its neighboring color bars 7 Dial Contrast back down until the Super White bar is just white not blazingly so and does not bleed into the other bars The 10 5 IRE bar in the PLUGE should be just distinct from the 7 5 IRE bars again at this point 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 Tweak the Contrast watching the white bar carefully When it stops getting brighter in response pull it back slightly to the point where it just starts to have a dimming effect again C 3 4 COLOR ADJUSTMENTS Having set the black and white levels earlier let s continue 1 If your monitor has a Blue gun only setting enable it Depending on the brand of your monitor the alternating bars will appear either as light gray and black or blue and black Figure 270 Figure 270 2 If the m
315. thout interfering with your live production e Eject e _ x Exit button 6 5 1 STATUS BAR Figure 119 Figure 120 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 During this brief warm up period an initialization countdown is displayed Figure 119 in the Status Bar At the end of the countdown the status line is updated Figure 120 The display automatically clears itself a few moments later so as not to pose an unnecessary distraction 6 5 2 EJECT Figure 121 Clicking the Eject button near the titlebar s Exit button allows you to choose a drive to be safely disconnected from TriCaster 7 1 0 CONFIGURATION TriCaster provides extensive control over your video signal at both input and output stages C 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 TriCaster s plentiful configuration options ensure that you can match camera inputs to each other and that t
316. till 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 7 Hold down the Shift key and click the last icon in the playlist This will multi select all of the files from the first one you clicked to the last one the icons are given a lighter outline to show their selection status 8 Right click anywhere in the playlist and select Cut from the context menu 9 Right click in the playlist area of the second Media Player and select Paste Let s pause to review To this point we ve prepared two Media Players with similar playlists consisting of a series of still images Hint Still image files default to a fifteen second duration when added to a playlist Fine but what about the aforementioned fun you ask Indeed let us press on 10 Turn Single and Autoplay on and make sure Loop is off for both Media Players 11 Select DDR 1 on the Switcher s Program row 12 Select Graphics Still on the Switcher s Preview row 13 Click the first entry in both playlists to set the current position 14 Press DDR 1 s Play button and watch the hands free slideshow Let s consider what is happening e When playback of the first DDR playlist entry reaches its end o The DDR s Autoplay setting invokes an automatic BKGD layer t
317. tion whether SDI Component Y C S Video or Composite may require RCA to BNC adapter a SDI Attach SDI source connectors to upper row of BNC connectors in the Video In group marked SDI Hint If your equipment supports SDI this is your best quality I O option b Component Attach the appropriate BNC connectors from your sources to all three analog BNC connectors labeled Y Pb and Pr in each column in the Video In group c Y C If your S Video equipment and cabling has the usual 4 pin mini DIN connectors you will need an S Video to dual BNC adapter To connect Y C sources attach the Y luma connector of your source to the second analog BNC connector labeled Pb Attach the source s C chroma connector to the bottom connector labeled Pr d Composite Attach the composite source s connector may require an RCA to BNC adapter to the second connector labeled Y Note The video broadcast standard such as NTSC NTSC J or PAL of all video sources connected for a given session must be the same 2 To input analog audio along with the video connect the external audio sources to the XLR or connectors in the Audio In group box Two connectors labeled a and b are provided for each input group We ll discuss audio Connection Type options a bit later in Section 3 15 Note SDI video sources with embedded audio do not need a separate analog audio connection 3 6 GENLOCK CONNECTION The
318. to the point where it is not objectionable Use the Tolerance and Smoothness controls under Spill Suppression in similar fashion to the controls by the same name discussed earlier Endeavor to subdue spill without overdoing it which could result in an unsightly gray fringe around offending edges of your foreground 11 4 CROP It is very common for a greenscreen shot to have unintentional inclusions that remain after the base chromakey process is applied but which need to be removed along with the background Enable Crop Figure 189 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 from the scene or it can be used independently for other purposes such as to isolate some portion of the screen for use as a Picture in Picture overlay source Essentially the four numeric controls in this group allow you to define independent margins for the frame Drag left or right on the number fields to adjust the values interactively or double click a field to type a value using the keyboard The region defined by these four controls will be completely cropped Hint For added convenience similar cropping tools are available separately in the Position pane
319. ty Here is a short list of its benefits e High quality and high performance designed to be read and written to disk very efficiently This permits most systems and video applications to handle it with relative ease e Can be read on all common computer platforms and OSes without any need for transcoding of intermediate file formats a codec pack installation is required for standalone Windows systems e Compatible for uploading to virtually all social media and video hosting sites e g YouTube You can even upload files to web sites while they are still being actively recorded e Supports embedded timecode e Play back clips in a DDR even while the files are still being recorded e Fault tolerance TriCaster will generally auto repair any incomplete files that might result from issues such as an intermittent power supply For all of these reasons we strongly encourage use of Quicktime for recording ALTERNATE ENCODING FORMATS TriCaster features a number of additional file formats that you might consider for specific recording needs These optional selections are discussed next MPEG 2 TriCaster s double rate I frames MPEG 2 format produces excellent image quality Two variants are provided e MPEG 2 Compatibility encoding invokes 4 2 0 color sampling similar to that of the popular DV and HDV formats e MPEG 2 High Profile encoding raises color sampling to 4 2 2 These files retain more colo
320. u ve been following along beneath the Clips header in the left hand column of the Media Browser 4 The file pane at right displays icons for recordings made in the session It should list the file you recorded earlier in Section 4 7 1 under a group header labeled Capture click the icon to select it and then click OK 5 You may wish to add several more files to experiment with DDR 1 and 2 also support most popular audio file formats Hint See also the sub heading entitled Section 10 2 1 regarding per clip audio levels The playlist of the two DDRs as well as Sounds has 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 63 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 This results in an improved match between the default playback level for captured audio and imported sounds or music for which nominal levels are unknown Figure 64 6 Click the newly added icon in the playlist and press the Play button in the player s footer Figure 64 a 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 Click the Stop button Noti
321. u as part of his pre delivery service When you see the Welcome to Windows screen Click Next at lower right Choose your time zone Accept the license agreement Enter your 25 digit key generally the sticker is affixed inside the front door of the case Decline automatic updates by clicking not right now YS oe we Ye Give TriCaster a distinct computer name for networking You can authorize your Windows installation by network or by telephone Assuming you have an Internet connection available and have connected TriCaster to it with an Ethernet cable the Internet is the fastest method of activation See Section 3 17 and Chapter 14 for more on network connections 1 Click Obtain IP and DNS automatically Agree to activate Windows This activation is permanent and you won t see these screens again Registration with Microsoft is optional 3 Assign a name to the administrator account You may type your name company or perhaps simply TriCaster A Click Finish and TriCaster will re start After restarting and accepting NewTek s User Agreement the interface will load automatically 3 3 TRICASTER LICENSE AND REGISTRATION Register TriCaster On launch TriCaster presents an End User Registration is required in order to use this product Please follow the steps outlined below License Agreement dialog After you accept this i the Registration dialog shown in Figure 13 is Enter your 15 digit
322. u by the streaming service and are specific to your account Location also referred to as the Server Address is the address TriCaster will send the stream to this is supplied to you by the service provider The Stream ID may or may not be provided depending on the service provider in some cases you can simply enter a custom ID number Many service providers will supply you with a streaming profile in the form of an XML file for use with Flash Media Encoder If this is the case you can click the button labeled Import Settings From File navigate to and select the XML file and TriCaster will automatically import the Location and Stream ID values for the Connection Note By design the Import feature does not automatically change the Resolution profile you have selected at left You should ensure that this setting is compatible with your service BROWSE IMPORT A CUSTOM PROFILE A related function involves the ability to directly import a custom Resolution profile You might create such a profile for a specific purpose using either the Adobe Flash Media Encoder or Windows Media Encoder application installed on your TriCaster The Browse item at the top of the Configure Stream Connection Resolution menu Figure 242 allows you to select an appropriate file in a system ef li file explorer which is then copied to the correct location for it to be listed in the PE menu for your use in future Note the nearby Delete butt
323. uction environment and takes you to a new screen Figure 97 that offers various functions and settings having to do with TriCaster system maintenance and management Browse Settings Web Region and Language Files On Disk Advanced Keyboard Date and Time Configure Network Display Fonts System Name System Utilities Register TriCaster Update TriCaster Defragment all Drives Backup or Restore System Shutdown Command Window Exit to Windows Swap Primary Monitor Back to TriCaster Figure 97 Administrator Mode options are grouped under several headings as discussed next BROWSE e Web Opens the default system Internet browser e Files on Disk Opens a system file window SYSTEM UTILITIES e Register TriCaster 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 The steps in the registration process were outlined back in 3 3 so we won t repeat them here e Update TriCaster NewTek may periodically provide software updates for your TriCaster Updates can enhance performance security or even add useful new features If TriCaster is connected to the Internet clicking Update TriCaster will automatically check for a more recent software version and offer to install it This way you ca
324. udio When all Solo switches are off the combined audio mix from all sound sources is sent to the Master and Headphones output connectors Enabling Solo for a source sends its after fader sound to the Headphones output but removes any non soloed sources from that output Enabling Solo for a source sends its after fader sound to the Headphones output but removes any non soloed sources from that output Enabling Solo for a source also sends its after fader sound to the Aux mix whenever Solo is selected in the Source menu of the Audio tab s Aux control group Let s consider some practical applications using these options AUDITIONING AN AUDIO SOURCE It can be very useful to be able to preview one or more audio sources doing so without allowing the test sound to be audible on Program output Typically this need arises in connection with testing microphones or other audio sources that will be used in the production To audition an audio source in this manner 1 First Mute it to remove it from Program output 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 For instance some installations call for sending the output from one or more internal sources such as a DDR or the Sounds player to a secondary distr
325. ure 29 4 The default Reference Type in the Genlock settings is SD Bi level as this is currently the most common reference signal type However if you supply an HD reference signal to the Genlock input you may want to change the setting to HD Tri level Output Configuration 14 07 01 20 G4 imecode Configuration Timecode Restore Defaults Teese Production Time eference lype 3 00 00 PM Restore Default Figure 29 Figure 28 5 With the aid of downstream Waveform and Vector Scopes adjust TriCaster s Horizontal and Vertical Position and Phase settings in the Genlock section of the I O Configuration panel Ideally both the cameras and the TriCaster should be genlocked If they are not genlocked to the same reference signal as the TriCaster output a TBC Time Base Correction operation is automatically applied Time Base Correction may drop or insert occasional frames as necessary to maintain sync hence is a less desirable approach Note For a deeper discussion of genlocking please see Section 7 1 7 3 17 CONFIGURE TIMECODE TriCaster uses the system clock to generate local timecode for the time display shown in the Live Desktop and to be embedded in captured MPEG 2 video clips To configure timecode click the configure button gear next to the timecode display in the Live Desktop titlebar Please see section 7 3 for more detail If you have an external linear timecode LTC source you can use that timecode
326. ured or streamed as well as included in your presentation Note Gigabit networking is highly recommended and should be considered mandatory for HD sessions in particular 14 1 IVGA For an iVGA source to be recognized by TriCaster you must first install a small iVGA client program a computer on your network iVGA client programs are supplied for Microsoft Windows 2000 XP and Vista and Windows 7 or Apple OS X You will find the iVGA installation files inside the C TriCaster Extras folder or on the supplied iVGA disk 14 1 1 IVGA FOR OS x The iVGA installation for OS X is supplied as a zipped disk image dmg file To install it first copy the correct file for the iVGA version suited to your Macintosh to its Desktop either using a network connection between your Macintosh and TriCaster systems or perhaps by using a USB thumb drive T 4 NewTek iVGA dmg zip NewTek iVGA dmg NewTek iVGA Figure 219 mounting the iVGA disk image NewTek VGA e Double click the Zip file to decompress it and 1 of 2 selected 4 3 MB available then double click the dmg file to mount it e The NewTek VGA icon shown above will be placed on your Desktop Open it by double Trill aster clicking and you will see two files in a Finder Turn It On Engage the World window the readme file and the iVGA client program e Drag the iVGA icon from the finder to your Applications folder iVGA ReadMe rtfd Drag iVGA t
327. urself 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 Let s see how applying the concept of delegating controls affects their use Figure 155 e Assign something suitable to both DSK layers using the Utility row with FX delegated e Click the local Take buttons to hide both DSK layers if they are visible on output e Click the BKGD button in the Transition Delegate group e Click the main Auto button below the T Bar The result of the last operation is identical to what would have occurred had you pressed the local BKGD layer Auto button at right instead e Now hold down the Ctrl key and click the delegate button for DSK 1 Or if you have a TriCaster CS control surface press both the BKGD and DSK 1 buttons in its Transition Delegate group at the same time instead You have just delegated the controls below to two video layers You can likely guess what comes next e Press Auto or Take and observe the result e Now add DSK 2 to the delegate selection and switch again The BKGD layer is updated DSK 1 is removed and DSK 2 is displayed Hint The Look Ahead Preview monitor Section 9 2 reflects your Transition Delegate se
328. ut DSK Down Stream Keyer or overlay layers may or may not appear above or if you like in front of the Background DSK layers are typically used for overlaying graphics titles etc though they may serve other purposes as well In addition to BKGD three additional primary layers can contribute to TriCaster s final Program output at any given moment The Background BKGD layer supplies the bottom most video layer seen behind any other layers shown on Program Out At any given moment BKGD may consist of a mix of video streams from Program and Preview rows or even a more complex composition formed from the numerous sources of one or even more Virtual Inputs e Two overlay layers DSK 1 and DSK 2 are composed above the BKGD layer on output e DSK 2 appears in front of DSK 1 on Program Output that is closest to the viewer e FTB Fade to Black constitutes a final overlay layer one that obscures all other layers when applied Program Out 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 nput A B and the dedicated Virtual Input Overlay This being so the BKGD layer alone can at times actually comprise up to seven sub layers 8 3 TRANSITIONS Immediately to the rig
329. view are now also tinted red and green respectively THE UTILITY ROW Let s take a moment to discuss the Utility row now The steps we take here will come into play a bit further on in our exploration AUX OUT DSK1 DSK2 Figure 48 Notice that a group of controls labeled Utility Delegate is provided to the right of the Utility row as shown in Figure 48 The group contains buttons labeled FX AUX OUT DSK 1 and DSK 2 The selection you make here govern the Utility row buttons 1 Click the tab for the Graphics tab TriCaster 855 has a dedicated Title module you can use instead and Add a title to the playlist choose one that does not cover the entire screen 2 Adda different title to the playlist for DDR 2 or Still for TriCaster 855 3 Click the button labeled DSK 1 in the Utility Delegate group this delegates the Utility row to control the DSK 1 source 4 Click the Graphics or Title button in the Utility row note that the label above the DSK 1 delegate button updates when Figure 49 you do so 5 Click the DSK 2 button in the Utility Delegate group and use the Utility row to assign DDR 2 as the current source for DSK 2 4 6 2 TRANSITIONS Now we re ready now to try out the features in the Transition section to the right of the Switcher rows Main Layer Controls Local Layer Controls DSK1 DSK2 FTB Figure 50 As shown in Figure 50 the Transition section is organized into two groups
330. vision sets on a store shelf 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 Most cameras even inexpensive consumer models provide adequate controls for this purpose Some other video sources do not offer much if anything in the way of adjustment however You may need to adjust TriCaster s Proc Amp settings to improve previously recorded video played from a DVD player or a networked video chat system In both cases above the Waveform and Vectorscope monitors in TriCaster s Preview Scopes tab will help We also need to give consideration to downstream devices though Computer displays are inherently different than television sets Thus the video you see on your computer interface can vary quite a bit from what your viewers see on their televisions Too you will want to be able to correctly judge colors when preparing titles and graphics It will help you a great deal if your downstream from TriCaster video monitors are properly set up to allow you to make these judgments C 2 CALIBRATING VIDEO SOURCES The obvious disparity between neighboring televisions on display in a store amply d
331. w lagom nl Icd test http www jasc com support kb articles monitor asp http www photofriday com calibrate php http www onecomputerguy com windows7 windows7_calibrate_color htm C 3 2 PROGRAM OUTPUT MONITOR Again a search of the internet for video monitor calibration will yield a large number of resources both free and commercial If you have television monitors connected to TriCaster s outputs though you can make further use of the color bars The approach is somewhat similar to what we did for our video sources in that the first adjustments are to ensure that black and white levels are correct Color calibration is performed afterward First warm up your monitor for at least 10 minutes some sources recommend a half hour to stabilize its output Dim room lights and window light to eliminate light sources that might skew your color perception Pass the color bars from your camera through to program output or use a color bars image in one of TriCaster s media players for this purpose 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 NTSC color bars have a special group of grayscale bars designated as the PLUGE the acronym stands for
332. wise monitors the entire Program Output composition not merely the Program row selection e When FX is selected the scopes refer to the FX channel source providing a handy way to calibrate a single Switcher source 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 controls for the current Preview composition s background source only Note Adjustments you make in the source Configuration panel only affect the background source when the source is either Preview or Program To use Scopes to adjust a DSK source first delegate it to Preview by itself or consider using the FX bus for this purpose Additional titlebar controls above the scopes let you adjust the Brightness for their display Drag the slider left right or click the control to enter a value directly using the keyboard As usual you can also Shift double click to reset the slider to its default Right click inside the monitor display for either scope to show a menu that allows you to view the trace in full or solid color Hint Drag the dividers between the monitoring panes and Switcher or Preview Program pane to re size the monitors Double click a divider to reset it to its default position
333. yhttp freeimage sourceforge net LAME library http lame sourceforge net FFMPEG library http ffmpeg org For a copy of the LGPL licence please look in the folder c TriCaster LGPL Portions use Microsoft Windows Media Technologies Copyright c 1999 2008 Microsoft Corporation All Rights reserved VST Plugin Spec by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH This product uses Inno Setup Copyright C 1997 2010 Jordan Russell All rights reserved Portions Copyright C 2000 2010 Martijn Laan All rights reserved Inno Setup is provided subject to its license which can be found at http www jrsoftware org files is license txt Inno Setup is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY of FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE All other software with the TriCaster not expressly noted as free is proprietary and subject to NewTek s copyright rights or those of its licensors Trademarks NewTek TriCaster TriCaster XD TCXD8000 TriCaster 8000 TriCaster TCXD8000 TCXD850 TCXD850 EXTREME TriCaster TCXD850 EXTREME TriCaster 850 EXTREME TriCaster EXTREME TriCaster 850 TCXD450 TCXD450 EXTREME TriCaster TCXD450 EXTREME TriCaster 450 EXTREME TriCaster 450 TCXD455 TriCaster 455 TriCaster TCXD455 TriCaster 855 TCXD855 TriCaster TCXD855 IsoCorder TCXD300 TriCaster 300 TriCaster TCXD300 TCXD40 TriCaster 40 TriCaster TCXD40 TriCaster PRO TriCaster STUDIO TriCaster BROADCAST TriCast
334. ying a Stop action occurs when you change presets 4 8 2 GRAPHICS STILL TITLE TriCaster 855 provides dedicated players for Still and Title while TriCaster 455 offers 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 Whether your TriCaster has a combined Graphics player or individual Still and Title players the type of media files they support remains largely the same Each of these players regardless of title can display TriCaster title pages and popular still image file formats Hint The DDRs can play all of the above media types as well as video clips and sound files EXPLORING AUTOPLAY AND SINGLE The controls of the graphics players are identical to those of the DDR apart from the omission of a playback Speed control which would be superfluous and possibly confusing Rather than cover these again let s have a little fun 1 Click both DDR 1 and the Graphics or Still tabs so you can see both players TriCaster 855 owners can use Still and Title instead 2 Click any icon in the DDR 1 playlist and press CTRL a on the keyboard to select all of the playlist entries 3 Press Delete on your keyboard clearing out the entire playlist this is a non destructive deletion never fear 4 Repeat the two steps above for Graphics S

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