I have spent some serious time working with my dealer demo TriCaster 450 EXTREME . . . and I love it!
The NewTek 450 EXTREME is a much more affordable version of the TriCaster 850 EXTREME ($19,995.00 versus $34,995.00) but offers most of the same features and capbilities. Both models are displayed on the left, with the TriCaster 450 EXTREME on top. The most obvious differences are four live video sources to switch with versus eight live video sources, two rows of video output connectors instead of three, no separate AES/EBU audio inputs or outputs, and far fewer audio analog XLR inputs and outputs. And the 450 series includes balanced phone plugs for some of its audio I/O.
The 450 EXTREME is also shorter (less taller) than the 850 EXTREME (but a little deeper or longer), has one versus two power supplies, and also weights a lot less, making it much easier to carry when going portable with your TriCaster. The image on the left shows the video and audio I/O on the back of the TriCaster 450 EXTREME.
Other differences include four versus eight virtual inputs, one switcher input for both stills and titles instead of the separate stills and titles switcher inputs found with the 850 series, plus the ability to record four instead of eight Iso-channels for recording the program, clean feed or video cameras to hard drive for later post-production editing if necessary.
I didn't read the included quick-connect guide and mistakenly connected the multiviewer to the second (horizontal) DVI port which prevented me from registering the system from NewTek! Ignore the horizontal VGA and DVI ports on the unit and stick with the vertical DVI and HDMI ports instead for connecting the main software interface and multiviewer monitors.
Once I fired up the 450 EXTREME, I found the software interface to be nearly identical to the 850 EXTREME, the obvious differences being fewer live inputs, fewer virtual inputs, and one combination stills/titles input on the virtual switcher. It's very easy to learn how to work with an 850 series TriCaster and then immediately start working with a 450 series TriCaster . . . the interfaces are that similar, thanks to NewTek's 3.0 software update for their hi-def TriCaster models. I really, really like the pull-down menus for the two DSKs which let you easily select what sources to use with each DSK (stills, titles, net, DDRs, video cameras, etc). I tended to fumble around before when using the delegate tool instead. I also found that finding your ISO-clips after capturing them to be much easier with the 3.0 software update. This is true for both the 450 and 850 series TriCasters.
Just like the 850 EXTREME, the 450 EXTREME (and also the TriCaster 850 and TriCaster 450) lets you select the session resolution to various flavors of 1080, 720 and 480 resolution but can bring in live video sources with different resolutions and the TriCaster 450 EXTREME will upconvert, downconvert or crossconvert the inputs if necessary. Because if doesn't matter if your video inputs match or not, this is a huge strength of the hi-def TriCaster models. Other video switchers require you to add converters to bring in your video sources at the same resolution.
A really nice feature is the auxillary video output, or second row of video output connectors. You can designate the output to be either hi-def or standard-def regardless of whatever resolution you are running the TriCaster at . . . obviously giving you the ability to output both HD and SD at the same time. What's really cool is the ability to output just about anything through the auxillary video output, program or clean feed, camera 1 or camera 2, etc. basically letting you send out two different video signals at the same time that may or may not be the same thing and at the same or different video resolutions.
I was asked to create a PIP effect for a customer. The customer didn't want to use one of the DVEs and have to pull the t-bar down halfway or use one of the DSKs to shrink and position the camera over the full-screen background. The solution was to create a dual-box set using NewTek's Virtual Sets Editor (VSE) software . . . I chose one of the template dual-box sets, deleted the background image, increased input A to be full size and scaled and postitioned input B to be a little larger and in the lower right corner of the screen. After saving the effect, it can be now loaded at the switcher as a virtual input that is always available and ready to be used. This keeps both DSK channels and the T-bar free to be used for other applications.
All in all, given its cost and capabilities, the TriCaster 450 EXTREME compares very favorably to other video switchers made by Blackmagic Design, Panasonic, etc. If you have any questions about the TriCaster 450 EXTREME, feel free to contact me via email at mdrabick@mindspring.com or simply post your questions at this website's forum at http://www.digiteksys.com/55034.html
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The NewTek 450 EXTREME is a much more affordable version of the TriCaster 850 EXTREME ($19,995.00 versus $34,995.00) but offers most of the same features and capbilities. Both models are displayed on the left, with the TriCaster 450 EXTREME on top. The most obvious differences are four live video sources to switch with versus eight live video sources, two rows of video output connectors instead of three, no separate AES/EBU audio inputs or outputs, and far fewer audio analog XLR inputs and outputs. And the 450 series includes balanced phone plugs for some of its audio I/O.
The 450 EXTREME is also shorter (less taller) than the 850 EXTREME (but a little deeper or longer), has one versus two power supplies, and also weights a lot less, making it much easier to carry when going portable with your TriCaster. The image on the left shows the video and audio I/O on the back of the TriCaster 450 EXTREME.
Other differences include four versus eight virtual inputs, one switcher input for both stills and titles instead of the separate stills and titles switcher inputs found with the 850 series, plus the ability to record four instead of eight Iso-channels for recording the program, clean feed or video cameras to hard drive for later post-production editing if necessary.