BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt has announced that the NewTek brand—which it acquired in 2019—will no longer be marketed under a separate brand name from Vizrt, but will be combined under one product line under the Vizrt brand, declaring that “the markets of broadcast and pro AV are converging, and the needs of customers and end users are changing.”  

While Vizrt had focused primarily on professional broadcast, NewTek was marketed more toward Pro AV, but with the continuing emergence of IP as a base production standard—as well as the impact on remote production imposed by the pandemic—the differences between the two have become blurred.  

“From transitioning to IP-based infrastructure, monetization, capturing audience attention, remotely producing content, driving remote collaboration, moving to the cloud, focusing on sustainability, security, and the skill gap—we found our customers across both sides of the portfolio are evolving and often need to do more, with less. Now, Vizrt is a one-stop shop to support it all,” said  Michael Hallén, CEO of Vizrt. 

In addition, as the company combined its R&D since the acquisition, Vizrt has found more success in combining the strengths of its NewTek IP with the Vizrt production portfolio, the company said. 

“After years of investment, we have expanded our customer success function, which includes service, and support, to be a 150-person strong, critical branch of our organization. Our R&D teams, spanning six global hubs, have over 250 engineers, and our product team has developed and released more than 20 innovations in the past year, with many more in the pipeline,” explains Hallén.  

Through the unified ecosystem of products, all partners gain access to the entire portfolio, the company said, and partners can certify as experts through Vizrt’s learning platform Viz University with new courses on studio, graphics, automation, live production, cloud, and more.  

Vizrt said it will extend its product portfolio and launch a new entry-level video production system for streamers and content creators, and new cloud live production systems. 

Announced earlier this year, NDI will remain a standalone brand, but supported by Vizrt as a key partner. Vizrt Group will now operate under the Vizrt name. Vizrt is still owned privately by Nordic Capital, and its board and leadership team remain unchanged.

Both companies will be in Stand A.41 at the 2023 IBC Show, Sept. 15-18 at the RAI Amsterdam.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—NewTek has introduced a significantly revamped version of its 3Play 3P2 replay system. 

The updates, which are available for free to all existing 3Play 3P2 users, and will be available with every new 3Play 3P2, are centered around delivering an easier and better experience for the operators and users of the replay system for sports broadcasters.

"A key part of developing products over time is ensuring that you listen to the people that use it day in and day out,” explained Chris McLendon, senior product manager, NewTek. "We have done that, working closely with operators to understand what really matters to them. We’re very proud to have introduced a raft of features that do exactly that – for free – to existing and new 3Play 3P2 units. We’ve been sure to focus on speed, efficiency, and usability – all the while ensuring the viewer experience is better than ever.” 

The improvements includes developments in these areas: 

• Capturing key moments and replaying winning goals or point-scoring plays during half-time is what sports fans live for. Offering fully customizable tagging workspaces to instantly create playlists, including the ability to change styles and sizes, 3Play 3P2 makes it easier than ever.
• 3Play 3P2 now offers operators the ability to design their own workspaces and access what they need faster than ever before. Drag and drop menus, turn elements on or off as needed, and even move them to touchscreens to give operators the ultimate flexibility of working.
• Making it easier to work across teams, 3Play 3P2 supports sharing clips, resources, and playlists between any 3Play 3P2 units on your network. This means efficient, speedy access to common content and consistency of output, and greater production value.
• 3Play 3P2 now empowers users to view, define and reshuffle all audio inputs alongside managing which channels route to which output during the recording as well as create individual audio output streams for NDI, Dante, or any unique audio workflow configuration.

The all-new features in 3Play 3P2 are available for existing users to download from newtek.com/downloads and will be available with every new 3Play 3P2, which has a MSRP of $26,995.

A limited-time offer is also available for any owners of 3Play 3P1, 4800, 440, and 425 models – trade in these units and purchase a 3Play 3P2 and we will double the trade-in value for your older product.

For more information on 3Play 3P2 visit newtek.com/3play/3p2/ .

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—The IP-based video tech provider NewTek has announced the appointment of Ninth Heaven Technology as a new distributor in China.  

NewTek, which is a member of the Vizrt Group, said that this strategic partnership with Ninth Heaven Technology is part of the company's plan to expand its presence in the growing Chinese proAV markets,  including enterprise, education, government, Esports, and more. 

The addition of a new distributor in China also reinforces NewTek's long-term commitment to delivering accessible, easy to use, yet cutting-edge solutions to customers and end users worldwide, the company said. 

"Ninth Heaven Technology has extensive experience and expertise in the proAV markets, and coupled with their strong network and dedication to customer satisfaction, they are an ideal partner for us," said Paul Dobbs, head of channel sales, APAC, Vizrt Group. "We are confident that this collaboration will expand our reach to new heights in the Chinese market,” 

Ninth Heaven Technology will provide NewTek with a wider distribution network and increased accessibility for its products in China. 

This move will also facilitate the growth of reseller partnerships and provide customers with more options to leverage NewTek's industry-leading solutions for their video production workflows. 

"We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with NewTek," said Song Wei, the general manager for Ninth Heaven Technology Co LTD. "As a leading distributor in China, we are constantly seeking state-of-the-art solutions to meet the increasing demand for high-quality live streaming and live production. Collaborating  with NewTek expands our product portfolio and offers our customers innovative solutions that empower them to achieve their creative visions. We are excited about the opportunities this partnership brings and look forward to delivering exceptional value to  our customers in the Chinese market.” 

To learn more about NewTek's live video production solutions, visit  www.newtek.com  

BARCELONA—At ISE 2023, NewTek introduced the Flex control panel that enables operators to control PTZ cameras directly, as well as audio connections, audio and video switching and talkback via NDI.

No other NewTek control panel builds in control over audio and video switching and PTZ control and talkback in a single unit, said NewTek, a Vizrt Group company.

"Over the course of the last several years, the demand for high-quality distributed production has grown beyond measure. We recognize the need for operators to be able to adapt to any workflow, and the Flex does just that – all with the power of NDI. Offering greater control and connectivity than ever before, it’s our most flexible and powerful control panel yet,” said NewTek senior product manager Chris McLendon.  

The built-in features offer operators greater precision and control. With the addition of audio I/O, Flex expands the on-board I/O of any NewTek TriCaster with the option to add external sources directly from the NDI ecosystem, it said.

Flex connects to a network via NDI, making unnecessary the physical tether to the video switcher with fixed cable runs and complex setups that are difficult to move to a new location, the company said.

The new control panel not only can connect to any TriCaster switcher on a network via NDI, but it also supports operators needing to work in a distributed production environment, it said.

Flex is available today with a suggested price of $9,495.

More information is available on the company’s website.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Covid has forced lots of changes in how live shows are produced, and it’s unlikely that we will completely go back to the way things were done in 2019. In this new era, it is common for live feeds over conferencing systems like Zoom to be fed into production switchers and mixed into programs on the fly.

A video feed from a computer running Zoom or even a computer running OBS, vMix or other videocentric conferencing software is just a video feed as far as a switcher is concerned. Still, there has been a lot of this going on lately, and there are some best-practices to be followed to get optimum results.

Grass Valley’s Agile Media Processing Platform (AMPP), the company’s production and distribution technology, can be run either on premise or in the cloud.

“AMPP is format agnostic, so it is easy to combine traditional SDI or IP sources with the streaming formats that can be generated from teleconferencing software like SRT, RIST and NDI,” said Peter Abecassis, senior product marketing manager at Grass Valley. “Just because it’s software doesn’t mean it’s not a professional broadcast tool. The K-Frame CS-X chassis has three M/Es and six keyers with 2D DPM per M/E, and can be controlled by any GV panel, such as the Kayenne.”

Zoom Rooms
Integrating Zoom Rooms (Zoom’s video conferencing app) or other conferencing feeds into a K-Frame CS-X chassis is straightforward, Abecassis said.

“Using Zoom Rooms, the app can be configured to output an NDI stream,” he said. “AMPP’s NDI Discovery Service allows operators to automatically find and list all NDI sources running on the available network. This includes ‘external’ sources that may not be currently loaded on any AMPP fabric. Any NDI source on the network can then be quickly added to an AMPP router panel or dashboard and routed, mixed, or processed like any other source.”

Tedd Tramaloni, business development manager for production switchers and video servers at Ross Video, said that almost any switcher will accept a range of signal types, so it’s better to consider other aspects of a switcher.

“Choosing the right switcher involves much more than simple I/O or transport stream compatibility,” he said. “Reliability, user experience, ease of operation, useful feature set, adaptability and manufacturing experience are all key factors to consider when choosing a production switcher.”

Depending on the specific model, Ross production switchers can accept SDI, NDI, HDMI, or IP transport streams.

“Connecting a Zoom computer to a Ross switcher can be a simple process depending on the specific Ross production switcher being used,” Tramaloni said. “Some models, such as Graphite or Carbonite Black Solo, have HDMI inputs that allow direct connection between a computer and the switcher, while other models, such as Carbonite Ultra, Carbonite Black or Acuity, can accommodate SDI signals that have been converted through external devices. If IP is required, either the Ultrix Carbonite or Ultrix Acuity switchers can be used.”

Frame Sync Capability
Tramaloni pointed out that signals from a mix of studio devices and conference computers will not be synchronized, so the switcher should have frame sync capability on every input. He added that most Ross Video switchers have frame sync capability built-in, but it’s good to check to be sure that the switcher can handle non-synchronous inputs.

Blackmagic Design’s ATEM switchers have an interesting twist if your goal is to “broadcast” your switcher output via a Zoom or other conference feed.

“All ATEM Mini and ATEM SDI live production switchers, ranging from the Pro to the Extreme ISO models, allow our customers to combine Zoom with local studio feeds,” said Bob Caniglia, director of Americas sales operations for Blackmagic Design. “All models feature a USB feed that operates as a simple webcam source. That means customers can plug into a computer and get working with any video software, like Zoom. The software is tricked into thinking the ATEM is a common webcam, but it’s really a live production switcher.”

CJ Kramer, president of Kolrom Multimedia Inc., a production company in Baltimore, uses Blackmagic ATEM switchers for its Zoom conferencing applications.

“When Covid forced our production into an all-virtual workflow, we used the ATEM switchers to also capture the feed of a Zoom/video calls to serve as additional inputs,” Kramer said. “Additionally, we would line-in animated or video backgrounds that we created to serve as the backgrounds for the respective key(s). The ATEM Minis completely changed and improved the service we were providing for our customers, who were just looking for simple, uncomplicated and inexpensive solutions.”

Conference-Friendly
Other manufacturers are also integrating conference-friendly features into their production switchers. One such company is NewTek, which has a long history of conference-friendly products.

“Our NewTek TriCaster 1 Pro, TriCaster 2 Elite (turnkey systems), and Viz Vectar Plus (cloud-based system), all support our Live Call Connect feature which automatically extracts callers from a range of video conferencing applications, not just Zoom,” said Liam Hayter, senior solutions architect at NewTek. “Currently, we support Zoom, Teams, Discord, Tencent, WhatsApp, Facetime and Messenger.”

Bringing feeds into the switcher is just part of what these switchers can do.

“Now, with every TriCaster and Viz Vectar Plus system supporting Neural Voice Isolation on all audio inputs, we can also clean up audio with air conditioning and general background noise,” Hayter said. “Our video inputs support procamp color correction, keying and cropping, which enables even remote guests with a green screen to join in on a virtual set.”

USB Webcam
If you already have a switcher or camera that you need to feed into a conferencing system, an easy way to accomplish that is to get a device that will convert the switcher’s output into a USB signal that resembles a webcam. (This is the feature that some Blackmagic switchers have, as described above.)  

I needed to do exactly this for one project, so I got a $20 HDMI-to-USB adapter that let me feed the camera’s HDMI output into a USB port on a computer. The computer accepted the signal as though it was a webcam, and using it with Zoom and other conferencing software was a breeze. 

At the receiving end, the picture and sound quality was excellent (by Zoom standards).

Suddenly, the remote participants went from peering at poorly focused and framed video from a laptop’s 79-cent camera to getting the output of an $8,000 studio camera. Everyone thought the $20 adapter was a fine addition to the studio’s equipment.

So many things are rapidly changing in the broadcast industry, including the products and techniques required to acquire and broadcast signals. Some old-timers might turn up their noses at the quality of a conferencing feed, but the fact remains that integrating conferencing feeds was impossible as recently as five or six years ago. In a couple more years, image and sound quality will only improve—then there will be no question about integrating such feeds as well as using conferencing systems like Zoom to broadcast out as an ad hoc network.

They will then have become an important and necessary part of the broadcast signal chain.  

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek, part of the Vizrt Group, has announced a partnership with AVA Distribution to broaden NewTek’s presence in Australia and New Zealand.

NewTek says it is expanding its partner portfolio because of “significant uplift in demand” from the proAV markets as video content creation, and video consumption continues to grow exponentially. 

NewTek’s latest partner is AVA Distribution (AVAD), a wholesale distribution company for AV products based in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. AVAD represents a wide range of consumer and professional AV products in the region. As a newly named NewTek distribution partner, AVA will help deliver NewTek products to regional customers faster alongside supporting customers with content creation efforts.

“AVAD has a longstanding reputation in ProAV markets in the region and adding NewTek and NDI® streaming solutions offer significant added value to their partners and customers. We are very pleased to add them to our growing partner ecosystem to further position NewTek as a leading and trusted tech vendor in the ANZ region and look forward to our collaboration with AVAD strengthening that position significantly.”

“AVA Distribution is delighted to be chosen by NewTek to distribute its products in Australia. We are now able to offer our Pro AV resellers a complete range of video production solutions to satisfy the growing demand from corporate, education, and government organizations producing professional quality video,” states Santo Pappalardo, Managing Director at AVA Distribution.

NewTek, a member of the Vizrt Group, has announced an exclusive free trial of Flowics’ HTML graphics for its TriCaster 1 Pro and TriCaster 2 Elite. 

The move follows the recent acquisition of Flowics by the Vizrt Group. TriCaster 1 Pro and TriCaster 2 Elite users will receive a 30-day trial of the Flowics platform, it said.

NewTek’s introduction of Live Link enables TriCaster users to take HTML sources directly into their production, rendering anything from whole web pages to web videos or HTML5 graphics as direct sources into their switcher. This reduces the complexity of setup and network pressure, the company said.

Flowics enables users to have simple control over the creation, integration and playout of HTML5 graphics, which is well-suited to fast-paced productions, it said.

“TriCaster users embrace the creation of motion media content and deliver it to anywhere viewers want to watch. The combination of TriCaster with Flowics by Vizrt makes this all-in-one system go a step further. With captivating graphics, it brings the story to life, making the creation and playout of interactive media experiences intuitive for mobile, the web, social media, and live streams,” said Barbara Spicek, president and general manager of NewTek.

The addition of Flowics by Vizrt to a TriCaster also enables users to access data-driven graphics, powered by a wide range of external data sources, including sports statistics, timing and scoring, betting, weather and finance information, in a code-free approach. As the product of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, Flowics graphics can be created and controlled from anywhere at any time.

More information is available on the NewTek website.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—NewTek today issued a call for entries into its inaugural TriCaster Director of the Year Awards honoring the innovation, technical skill and creative excellence of TriCaster directors from around the world. Entries open May 19.

“We are on a mission to honor the amazing talent that gives real purpose to our flagship product line. We want to recognize the visual storytellers that operate TriCasters and highlight how they artfully weave together video into impactful and compelling stories,” said NewTek president and GM Barbara Spicek.

“Cutting-edge content needs more than just technology, it needs talent," she continued. "With the TriCaster Director of the Year Awards, we want to give back to the TriCaster maestros who create magic and delight for audiences and the industry.” 

Categories include:

• The TriCaster Director of the Year – Universal best director chosen by the judges
• The ESG (Environmental, social and corporate governance) TriCaster Director of the Year Awards
• The Corporate TriCaster Director of the Year
• The Education TriCaster Director of the Year
• The House of Worship TriCaster Director of the Year
• The Sports TriCaster Director of the Year
• The Live Production TriCaster Director of the Year (music, events, awards and broadcast.)

The awards are open to any technical director or TriCaster operator. To apply, entrants are asked to submit a brief highlights video representing their top TriCaster content this year with a short synopsis and statement of support, the company said.

A panel of expert industry judges will review the submissions and choose an overall TriCaster Director of the Year.

For the ESG TriCaster Director category, the panel will select a shortlist of 10 entries. Those 10 will be voted on by the public, which will then be invited to share their perspectives on what creative director has made the most impact on the community with content, it said.

The winners will be invited to a one-of-a-kind NewTek gala ceremony in late November, where the winners will share in a $100,000 value prize pot. The awards show will also be streamed live on NewTek TV using a TriCaster to exhibit the production power of the product.

More information is available on the company’s website. Follow the competition at: #TriCasterAwards2022.

Last week, Grass Valley announced the appointment of Dr. Andrew Cross as its new CEO. Cross was most recently President of Global R&D for Vizrt Group where he oversaw product development. Prior to that he was CEO of Newtek, which was acquired by Vizrt in 2019.

We recently chatted with Andrew about his vision for Grass Valley and industry trends as well his thoughts about the upcoming NAB Show.

The following is an edited transcript:

TV Tech: Andrew, first of all, congratulations. What do you bring to the Grass Valley that you think is unique and will help the company thrive?
Andrew Cross: Good question. Obviously I'm coming from the IP and the software side of the industry, which is where things are going. [At Vizrt and NewTek], we always made hardware too which means that I'm not just a pure software guy

TVT: Are there approaches that Vizrt and Grass take towards current media production trends that are the same or do they differ in any ways?
AC: We have quite different businesses, but there are clearly some things that are very similar. I think most of the big players understand that we're going to move to the cloud and software. Vizrt are very much focused on the graphics and news side of the business, so there's very little overlap between what Vizrt products do and what GV’s products do. So I think that the overall direction of where they think things are going are both similar—but I think everybody thinks that— but in terms of product mix there is remarkably little overlap.

TVT: Do you think GV is on the right path with the changes that it's taken recently or are there other things that you want to change at this point?
AC: So first of all, I feel incredibly lucky that people made the right decisions several years ago. The reality is that GV are unbelievably well placed, they made the hard decisions. Three years ago they started to do all the right things to position the company just perfectly for where the industry is going. Obviously that makes my life a lot easier and it makes me far more excited about what the opportunities are, because we're already really well positioned for everything we need. So now we just need to make some really disruptive moves to the industry, which is what I love doing.

TVT: GV and Vizrt are both examples of “pure-play” media tech companies that focus exclusively on broadcast and media production, but over the past decade or so, we’ve been seeing more companies outside of media production get a foothold in our industry, AWS being a good example. Do you think that creates more pressure on companies such as yours?
AC: My background has been Newtek, and so I was with one of the companies that probably came from the cloud, non-traditional broadcast side. But my view is that this actually offers great opportunity to companies like Grass Valley and Vizrt because what's happening in the industry is more and more people are producing video, which creates more and more opportunities, and with that, expectations of quality have to increase because that's how companies differentiate themselves from the plethora of other content that's getting created, 

So the companies that have been the experts in how to build the tools that make great looking video are clearly where everything's going, so I think that Vizrt, Grass Valley, and others are going to continue to serve the big broadcasters as they move all of these secondary channels, digital channels, and beyond. I honestly think that it actually makes things a lot more exciting to look at all these new ways that we can expand our business out of just the tier one broadcasters.

TVT: Switchers have long been a staple of Grass Valley’s portfolio. The way Newtek approached the concept of switchers is perhaps a bit different than the way Grass Valley does. Do you want to bring more of a Newtek type of vision to Grass Valley switchers?
AC: I think both are different and since Grass Valley was such a serious player in switchers we had to differentiate ourselves. But if you look at the things that customers most value, GV has actually gone in those same directions as well. I think that all of us are driven by the fact that we want to make it easier to produce great looking shows, to make it easier to bring the content in and to bring the graphics in and virtual sets into an integrated production system and  production environment. And those are things that I think Newtek did well, but just as important, what we're working on here already.

TVT: When the announcement of your appointment was made last week, you mentioned that you wanted to emphasize the “GV Media Universe.” What sets the GV Media Universe apart from similar initiatives from other media tech companies?
AC: I think, first of all, our technology focuses on ‘the cloud’—but with an asterisk—because a lot of what we're doing can run on prem as well, and it’s far ahead of anything else that I've seen. So we are technologically really far ahead because three years ago, GV had the foresight to start building this. But it seems wrong that a single company should say ‘we're going to make every product, our products are going to be the best and you have to choose us or company B or company C, for example.’

We believe—and I've shown this multiple times in my career—that if we can work with others, and we can open it up, it's better for everybody. And so the GV Media Universe was developed so that it benefits the entire industry and not just us. So if we move the whole industry to the cloud, that is not only good for us, but it's good for everybody else as well. If you want a practical example of this, just look at what Newtek did with their API—Newtek made big products that were very API-focused, but we gave it to the rest of the industry and that has benefited everybody, and we want to do the exact same thing here, to help us all move into the cloud.

TVT: What impact have the events of the past two years had on the industry in general and based on what you currently know on the TV side in particular?
AC: In terms of technology, the events of the past two years have actually been just great for our industry because I think that two years ago, we all thought that it would take 10 years to get to IP, to get to cloud and software. And it's taken about two years, so it's more than doubled the speed at which we adopt new technologies. 

As an industry, we were all very set in our ways, just slowly moving forwards, but I think the pandemic forced all of us to take a step back and look at how to get there faster because we were forced to—and I think that that has been great for the industry as a whole. As I mentioned, GV had the foresight about three years ago to start looking at how  we move from just being a developer of traditional hardware equipment to build on that with pieces of cloud, pieces of software so that they could figure out the whole picture. This has meant coming out of the past three years, we're just perfectly placed to take advantage of this accelerated adoption of IP and software-based approaches.

TVT: Is GV being seriously impacted by supply chain issues?
AC: No company in the industry would say “no” unless they're lying to you. But.we're probably as well positioned as anybody and I'm taking this as seriously as possible. You can not imagine the effort we go to make sure that we have everything so that we can supply customers. But this is a very real problem, and I think that a lot of people who are insulated from it just don't realize the true scope of what is going on in terms of the heroics that are needed by companies right now to find and build and deliver products. We're doing well, but it’s a real problem. 

TVT: You brought NDI to the industry and it’s had a bigger impact I think than many people expected. Do you anticipate Grass having more of a partnership role with that standard?
AC: I am certain that we will. We want to support all the IP standards and NDI is an important one. And it's important for a lot of reasons, and because it is very software-centric, that makes it ideal for where the industry is going. 

TVT: For the upcoming NAB Show what is the size of your booth compared to in the past and what trends are you looking at?
AC: Our booth is not as big as in the past but we’re going to have a large presence at the show. We think the show's very important and for us this is going to be one of the most exciting NABs ever. It's almost a “perfect storm,” because as I said previously, we started making this investment three years ago and there hasn’t been an NABs since, so we get to come to the show and really show what our vision is and show what we're trying to change, and I think it's going to be dramatically different. You will see a vision of where this all comes together and I’m very, very excited about that. 

 MONTREAL—Grass Valley today announced that former Vizrt executive Dr. Andrew Cross has been named Chief Executive Officer of the company effective immediately. Cross was most recently President of Global R&D for Vizrt Group where he oversaw product development across all three brands (Vizrt, NewTek, and NDI). Previously, he was CEO of NewTek until it was acquired by Vizrt Group in 2019.

As CEO of Grass Valley, Cross "will lead the company through the next phase to power the digital transformation of its customers and support them as they transition to the future of media and entertainment through IP, software, and cloud-based technologies," the company said.

Cross's appointment comes amid some recent turbulence at Grass Valley as it went through several executive shakeups and a major rebrand after its acquisition by Black Dragon Capital in 2020. 

Last fall, CEO and president Tim Shoulders and Marco Lopez, GM of live production left, and Black Dragon Capital CEO Louis Hernandez Jr. (former CEO of Avid) was tapped to lead Grass Valley as executive chairman. A month prior to that, former Avid executive Jan Lange was appointed CFO and earlier in the year, the company announced a round of layoffs as it transitioned its global headquarters to Canada. 

In October, Grass Valley rebranded itself, launching a new corporate identity and marketing campaign, with a new motto, “We Love Live.”  

Last month Grass announced  24% growth in 2021 compared to 2020, spurred on, in part, by the media industry's rapid transition to the cloud in light of the increased demand for remote production brought on by the global pandemic.

Cross has had a distinguished career in the M&E tech industry, having revived the NewTek brand during the past two decades by developing the industry's first real-time integrated live production systems. He also led the development of its NDI video over IP and tansport-based codec, which has become the largest IP video standard for live video production, in use by thousands of companies and hundreds of millions of users, according to Grass Valley. 

“Andrew is an experienced senior leader with deep industry knowledge and a track record of successfully taking media technology businesses into the new era of software-centric, cloud-based video technology,” Hernandez said. “I’m excited to have Andrew join at this transformative time for the company and industry. I look forward to his direction and leadership of Grass Valley alongside the excellent executive leadership team already in place.”

Cross will lead the Grass Valley team as it emphasizes it GV Media Universe (GVMU), which the company describes as "a digitally connected community that enables media companies to combine on-premise, hybrid and public cloud technologies to build live production environments while adapting to future demands."

“I am honored to be joining Grass Valley at such an exciting time. Our mission is to be the leader in the transition towards software-based technologies—both on-prem and as media companies move into the cloud.” says Andrew Cross, CEO, Grass Valley. “My personal drive has always been to use technology to innovate within the video industry, allowing more people to produce more video; there is no better time for me than this next step to join the most influential and respected company in the industry.”

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—NewTek has launched the new TriCaster 1 Pro, a streamlined live video production system with support for 4K UHD switching, live streaming, recording, data-driven graphics, virtual sets, media publishing, and other features. 

In addition, NewTek, which is part of the Vizrt Group, has also added a number of new innovative features to its flagship TriCaster 2 Elite video production system.

Both the new TriCaster 1 Pro, and the upgraded TriCaster 2 Elite offer integrated flexibility of software and IP networks, providing the kind of tight NDI-native integration, available only in TriCasters, NewTek said. 

Both TriCasters also feature LiveGraphics, LivePanel, and Live Story Creator tools as standard offering automation, title and motion graphics, and bespoke control surfaces.

“Today’s producers have to keep up with an insatiable demand for video content while maximizing flexibility,” said Will Waters, NewTek’s head of product management. “TriCaster offers the only complete set of production tools while focusing on efficiency and flexibility only available through combining IP networking and software-defined solutions. The TriCaster 1 Pro is a welcome addition for the storytellers that need robust remote calling but don’t require an extreme quantity of sources and destinations. The update to the TriCaster 2 Elite serves to cement its position as a transformative platform that truly takes video production to another level.” 

Dynamic and powerful nested macros capabilities within the TriCaster Pro 1 and TriCaster 2 Elite allow operators to deliver complex productions effortlessly, NewTek said. Operators can send Alpha Channel through one of the MIX outs, bringing post-production closer to live. Users can also use the keying on TriCaster to feed graphics or real-time 3D creation tools. TriCaster 1 Pro and TriCaster 2 Elite support encoding of three channels.

They also offer improved features for integrating remote guests into productions. Both TriCaster models now offer the latest version of Live Call Connect, effortlessly integrating popular video communication applications like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom, Skype TX, Microsoft® Teams, Discord, Slack, and Tencent as video inputs. In addition, producers can turn any mobile device into a live production camera by using the NDI TriCaster Camera App - now available, for free, for Android and iOS devices. 

Audio capabilities have also been upgraded. Using AI, TriCaster 1 Pro and TriCaster 2 Elite help to maintain all important production quality by cancelling or reducing background noise from any source. The tool automatically detects voices and cleans the audio meaning remote callers in loud environments can be clearly and easily heard, just by the touch of a button, using the Neural Voice Isolation tool, NewTek said. 

NewTek TriCaster 1 Pro is available now at $21,995. International pricing may vary, NewTek said.  

The NewTek TriCaster 2 Elite update is free and available to download now for all existing TriCaster 2 Elite users. TriCaster 2 Elite is available to buy and priced at $29,995 

For more information is available at https://www.newtek.com/tricaster/1-pro/ and at https://www.newtek.com/tricaster/2-elite/ 

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—The World Literacy Foundation’s recent virtual global literacy awards were produced using NewTek’s TriCaster 2 Elite and Talkshow VS4000 as well as the NDI IP media protocol. 

The World Literacy Awards honor those who proactively foster literacy skills among the 773 million people worldwide, as estimated by UNESCO, who cannot read and write.

The awards presentation was done virtually online as many locations around the world continue to struggle with the pandemic. To accommodate participants from around the world in different time zones, the foundation relied on Vizrt, which has owned NewTek since April 2019. 

“When we first partnered with World Literacy Foundation in 2020, just before the effects of the global pandemic set in, we saw a philosophical alignment where the Vizrt Group could harness its technology and expertise in order to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds access stories and learning resources,” said Petter Ole Jakobsen, founder and chief innovation officer at the Vizrt Group.

“The fact that we have spent the past 18 months working on ways to keep content in production during the challenges of the pandemic meant we were able to offer an innovative solution for the WLF Awards, a key awareness raising event for the organization. We felt honored to be in the position where we could assist in making that happen,” he said.

For production of the awards, the TriCaster 2 Elite and Talkshow VS4000 were connected via NDI on the home network of Liam Hayter, senior solutions architect at NewTek. From his home, Hayter brought six Skype TX channels in for the host and guest presenter judges. 

Through TriCaster 2 Elite’s Live Call Connect feature, Hayter brought 50 nominees for the awards into the production as “virtual awards attendees.” Producers based in Luxembourg controlling Zoom could then spotlight the winners as they were brought on air.

“This kept the awards experience intact by offering the exciting element of surprise that is so often lacking with online ceremonies,” said Hayter. Being a single operator, Hayter leveraged TriCaster automation using its Macro engine and LivePanel custom web GUI to run graphics, switching and M/E layouts for rehearsals and the live show in a simple, repeatable manner, he said.

“It was a very exciting setup and a really thrilling outcome for all involved,” said Hayter.

The WLF Awards were live streamed to YouTube through the TriCaster’s onboard streaming encoders.

“We were able to provide a professional and engaging broadcast to our global audience thanks to the Vizrt Group team, and we feel the charitable partnership has been made even stronger in the process,” said Caroline Burkie, COO at The World Literacy Foundation.

The awards event is available online. More information about the World Literacy Foundation is available on the organization’s website. More information about NewTek is on its website.

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek has unveiled its latest product, the 3Play 3P2 video replay and telestration system that is built to produce 4K-quality instant replays for sports productions. With built-in NDI Telestrator capabilities, NewTek says that 3Play 3P2 is the first native IP and SDI replay system.

3Play 3P2 is a software-driven, network-based 10-channel replay system that offers eight external inputs and two outputs. The inputs can be any combination of NDI sources with four SDI connectors built directly into the chassis. The outputs can be independent or work together in a preview/program workflow, including live animated, 3D-warped visual transitions.

Also built-in to the replay system are zoom and tracking features, which allow operators to select multiple points of interest and zoom in and out to capture a play. There is a key-frameable feature to scrub clips so as to pinpoint timecodes of plays.

The system offers shareable playlists that allow NewTek TriCaster live production systems to work with 3Play 3P2 and create a collaborative experience that increases the speed and flexibility of sports production, per NewTek.

NewTek is offering to train purchasers of the 3Play 3P2 with a free NewTek University 3Play course. This offer is good until Sept. 30.

3Play 3P2 is now available at a price of $24,995. For more information, visit www.newtek.com.  

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek has announced its ProTek tiered support program that allows customers to select among four levels of coverage, thereby giving them a way to tailor support to meet their needs.

“ProTek is our commitment to customers to ensure that their investment is supported in whichever way they feel is best,” said NewTek President and General Manager Barbara Spicek.

The four levels include: Basic, Standard, High and Ultra. Each tier incorporates support elements under warranty, software maintenance, technical support and extended services, the company said.

“In the spirit of partnership, the higher tiers of our ProTek program also offer the ability to provide feedback and input into future product development,” said Spicek. “Few people, other than our customers, are in a better position to help us shape the future of our products than the people using them day in and day out.”

ProTek is available for purchase with NewTek producers across the four tiers. Each is priced differently depending upon the product being supported.

More information is available on the NewTek website.

MONTREAL—Matrox Video announced its Extio 3 IP KVM extenders are now compatible with the NewTek 3Play 3P1 IP replay solution and TriCaster TC1 live multicamera production system.

The support means broadcast facilities can create high-performance KVM-over-IP infrastructures that enable users to connect to and control the NewTek solutions and make it possible for next-level live event production from a remote 4K or multidisplay station via a LAN or a private WAN, Matrox said.

“NewTek is pleased with both Matrox Extio’s smooth integration with our flagship production systems as well as its enablement of productivity-enhancing capabilities at the user level,” says Will Waters, head of product management at NewTek. “Broadcast facilities will benefit from Matrox’s reliable KVM extension technology that ensures uninterrupted on-air operations while offering pristine-quality performance at the operator station for the same-level-quality productions.”

NewTek 3Play 3PI is a replay, slow-motion video solution used in live game coverage and for training and analysis. NewTek TriCaster TC1 is a full-featured production system offering hundreds of advanced live production features, including native IP processing.

Matrox Extio 3 IP KVM extenders deliver ultra-low-bitrate 4Kp60 4:4:4, dual 4Kp30 4:4:4 or quad 1080p60 4:4:4 video extension and switching via a standard Gigabit Ethernet network.

This KVM-over-IP technology enables users to access, share and manage one or more centralized servers and/or workstations—located in a different room, building, campus or city—from a single 4K/multidisplay station. Extio 3 offers advanced security features, ensuring secure and safe transmission of all audio, video and USB signals over the network.

“As broadcasters continue to incorporate a growing number of NewTek live production systems within their facilities, Matrox Extio 3 provides these environments with a simple, streamlined approach to KVM-over-IP infrastructures that facilitates the centralization of hardware assets while simultaneously providing operators with zero-compromise access to remote equipment,” said Francesco Scartozzi, vice president of sales and business development, Broadcast and Media Group at Matrox Video. 

More information is available on the Matrox website.

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek has begun shipping its new Spark Plus 12G-SDI converter that encodes and decodes 12G-SDI sources to and from NDI protocol IP packets at up to 2160 Ultra-HD.

“With Spark Plus IO 12G-SDI, we are able to support the full spectrum of video production needs with the groundbreaking benefits of NDI to save producers time and money while opening up new creative possibilities,” said NewTek President Barbara Spicek.

“This new product serves to cement the NewTek and Vizrt Group commitment to build products that allow our customers to make more stories, better told,” she said. Vizrt finalized its acquisition of NewTek in April 2019.

The NewTek Spark Plus 12G-SDI offers a quick, easy way to convert 12G-SDI UHD video for integration into an IP-based media production workflow. The product connects to 12G-SDI cameras and other devices and converts video to NDI and shares it with compatible systems, devices or applications anywhere on the network, including UHD screens, monitor, projectors and video walls, the company said.

It also can be used to turn any legacy 12G-SDI-enabled output device, such as a screen or monitor, into an NDI signal on the network using its decoding function, it said.

Setup requires a single Ethernet cable. A web-based interface allows configuration and monitoring from a desktop or mobile browser as well as tally support via NDI, the company said.

Available now, the NewTek Spark Plus IO 12G-SDI conveter is priced at $1,095; international pricing may vary, NewTek said. 

More information is available on the company’s website.  

WASHINGTON—Even in this COVID-crazy year, there is still lots of video creation that involves the use of production switchers. It’s easy to think of production switchers as being in the domain of studios, production trucks and other enclosed facilities that have shut down for the duration of the pandemic, but the ability to stream the output of switchers makes them key for delivering quality programming in a range of situations.

So not only are production switchers an active product category in this seemingly written-off year, they have thrived and continue to see innovation. One of the pioneers in combining switching with streaming is NewTek, which recently added the TriCaster 2 Elite to its family of software-dened live-production systems.

The TriCaster 2 Elite is capable of dual 4Kp60 mix outputs, a single 4Kp60 output with 4x 1080p60 outputs, or 8x 1080p60 outputs—all simultaneously delivered over SDI and NewTek’s popular NDI IP protocol.

“What sets the TriCaster 2 Elite apart is our groundbreaking ‘Live Call Connect’ feature that offers support for up to nine guests via Zoom, Teams, Tencent, Discord, Skype and more,” said Liam Hayter, senior solutions architect for the San Antonio-based company. “All run natively on the system with a dedicated multiviewer mode. Live Call Connect will also analyze the call and automatically separate out the nine callers into individual video inputs for use on the system, and this also includes talkback.”

Switcher manufacturers have embraced IP connectivity in addition to more traditional television standards such as SDI. One example is the Grass Valley Kahuna 9600 4K production switcher, which can be tied to other production resources using the company’s GV Orbit networking management.

At For-A, the company has seen good response to its HVS-490 3G/4K video production switcher. An ace at streaming applications, the HVS-490 packs a lot of popular streaming features into a small package.

“[The HVS-490] provides the most ‘bang for your buck,’” said Adam Daniul, director of sales for the southeast, south central and Midwest regions at For-A America. “It’s built for reliable 3G-SDI or 4K live production, and is ideal for image magnification [I-MAG] and live streaming applications. It’s easy to afford, easy to learn, and easy to use.”

LIVE & POST PRODUCTION

Blackmagic Design recently announced the ATEM Mini Pro ISO, a low-cost switcher that integrates live production into a post-production workflow. The ATEM Mini Pro ISO has a new livestream recording engine that allows all video inputs to be recorded, allowing a live production to be easily edited after the conclusion of the event.

“2020 has been an unprecedented year that has caused all of us to adapt to a ‘new normal,’ which for many of our customers meant pivoting from what once was a live event to now remote live streams or a hybrid model,” said Bob Caniglia, director of sales operations for the Americas at Blackmagic Design. “In that vein, we introduced the ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Mini Pro ISO as affordable live-production switchers that facilitate remote workows and make it easy for our customers to create professional multicamera productions for live streaming to Zoom, YouTube, Twitch and more.”

Panasonic recently introduced KAIROS, an IT/IP-centric platform that offers an open architecture system for live video switching with input/output flexibility, resolution and format independence, and unlimited ME scalability.

“Unlike conventional switchers, KAIROS isn’t restricted by the number of MEs or keys,” said Michael Bergeron, senior product manager for live production systems at Panasonic. “The platform achieves higher performance by using the power and flexibility of its CPU and GPU, balancing total processing loads without the configuration constraints of traditional hardware-based systems. It also incorporates software that processes SDI, ST 2110 and NDI streams of independent resolutions such as HD and UHD to support the transition to live IP workflows.”

12G SINGLE-LINK CABLING

Ross Video has a range of production switchers that meet the needs of virtually any television facility. One example from the company is the Acuity, which can handle signals from SD to 4K, and will accept up to 12G single-link cabling for uncompressed 4K.

Datavideo has found a niche among smaller users that need maximum features packed into minimum space. The company’s latest model is the KMU-200, a streaming-friendly switcher that can be fed 4K signals and provides an HD output that displays “regions of interest” from the 4K image. In other words, you can make two 4K cameras look as though you’re using several HD cameras.

The KMU-200 supports an additional HDMI input for a computer with a PowerPoint presentation to add to a user’s live production, according to Rob Read, director of business development for Datavideo US, adding that the KMU-200 also supports vertical video as well.

“This switcher also has built-in dual streaming to two platforms, and provides 9:16 and 16:9 formats directly to content distribution networks that support vertical streaming, such as Facebook or Instagram,” Read said.

8K CAPABILITY

Although most companies have products that can handle 4K, at least a couple are pushing into 8K capability.

“Blackmagic Design introduced the ATEM Constellation 8K in April 2019 as a solution for customers who are currently working in HD or Ultra HD but want to future proof their investments,” Caniglia said. “The ATEM Constellation 8K is designed as an 8K, Ultra HD and HD live production switcher with so many features that customers can combine them all to make an incredibly powerful 8K switcher. In 8K, it features 10 Quad Link 12G-SDI 8K inputs, 8K DVE, standards-converted 8K inputs, 8K SuperSource, 8K chromakey and 8K multiview.”

Other companies have 8K on their radar, but are focusing on providing more features at 4K than making the next resolution leap.

“Panasonic currently offers the AV-UHS500 video switcher which is a successor to the AV-HS410 that operates almost identically in 12G as it does in HD,” Bergeron said. “All the inputs and outputs are 4K capable... for use in a variety of live production applications. KAIROS is not limited to any format, as it can work with 720p, 3G, 12G or computer monitor resolutions simultaneously. KAIROS does not currently support 8K; however, given expected increases to bandwidth and GPU processing power, 8K support for KAIROS is inevitable.”

USER PERSPECTIVE

Perhaps the bottom line on the subject of 8K switching comes from a user, Brett Casadonte, president and co-founder at GlobeStream Media LLC in Dallas, which was founded eight years ago to support live production projects.

“We chose to build our business around Blackmagic Design’s ATEM production switchers because we felt they offered the best price/performance of the various offerings we considered,” Casadonte said. “About a year ago, we began engineering work on a small remote integration production facility. When we were considering what switching hardware we would use, it quickly became obvious the ATEM Constellation 8K was going to be the best choice.”

But that doesn’t mean that there is high demand just yet for 8K production.

“While we are not currently doing any 8K productions, it’s great to know that as the industry grows into 8K, we will already be positioned to provide this service to our clients,” Casadonte said. “In general, 8K production is still in the very early stages, and there is a lot that needs to be considered, not the least of which is transmission and distribution.” 

SIMPLE NO MORE

There once was a time when video production switchers selected on-air sources, keyed in titles and performed modest transition effects. Not anymore. Switchers today do all those things, plus act as storage for still images, graphics and video clips, as well as provide control for video playbacks from servers and dedicated players. How much more capability can be built into switchers without overloading the operators?

“With the NewTek VMC1 system—think of it as a super-powered TriCaster—we added the ability to route NDI signals downstream of system, and we’ve brought this to the TriCaster 2 Elite, too,” Hayter said. “The NDI output matrix enables operators to drive screens and video walls on set, on stage, even to distribute NDI video and audio around venues. Like every other aspect of TriCaster, this is macro-controllable. The integrated macro engine on all our production systems can create shortcuts and sequences of operation with a single keypress.”

Hayter says NewTek has delivered visual radio studios where PTZ cameras, robotic dollies and tracks, and real-time tracked virtual sets work in tandem from a single keystroke.

“In the corporate space, we have projects where lighting, in-room audio systems and video wall solutions are similarly controlled from simple webpage buttons through our LivePanel controls,” he added.

It has been a strange year, and we’re all still figuring out how to do the things we want to do in this new environment. However, one thing that’s clear is that well-designed products continue to be useful and in demand and meet the needs of real users.

Broadcast equipment manufacturers started building IP capabilities into switchers more than a decade ago, and that has given this product category a leg up in the bid to stay relevant during the COVID-19 lockdown. That said, I don’t think there’s anyone who wants this new status quo to go on indefinitely—just that we should be glad that production switcher manufacturers were among the best prepared for our current streaming reality.

SAN ANTONIO—It may be summer, but NewTek is in a school frame of mind, announcing the launch of NewTek University, a product training and certification program that is available for interested professionals online and on-demand.

NewTek offers all materials needed for its course online, which can be accessed at any time from anywhere. 

Currently, it is offering the following courses: Live Production with NewTek TriCaster class and exam; NDI and Performance Media Network class and exam; NewTek 3Play Operation class; and NewTek Production Automation.

More courses are expected to be added throughout 2020.

“NewTek University provides you with comprehensive training available nowhere else in the market. Certification in using, demonstrating and selling products from the very people who make them is truly valuable,” NewTek’s announcement reads.

Prices for the courses vary. For more information, visit www.newtek.com.  

MATAWAN, N.J.—My goal at Burgos FX is to help people be more creative with their live video productions. Among the services I offer are live production and training. And because of social distancing, these core competencies have become more challenging.

The tool helping me rise to the challenge? NewTek’s NDI KVM.

KNOWING THE SYSTEM

I’ve long been a NewTek believer. The company helped me build my business through its multiple live video solutions. In fact, the TriCaster line is such a key part of my workflow that I’ve worked hard to be recognized as one of the best trainers and operators of the device in the world. I am one of just three individuals to ever obtain the challenging certification of “NewTek Authorized Trainer.”

The invention of the free-to-use NDI protocol has been especially critical to my work. NDI is the network protocol allowing for a complete, end-to-end IP video production. It removes the need for legacy SDI components—and allows for KVM (keyboard, video monitor, mouse) capabilities across the TriCaster line. NDI empowers production systems at the software level. When we had to transition to distance production and distance training at our business, NDI KVM meant we were ready.

NDI KVM allows individuals to take control of the user interface on NewTek live production systems from anywhere on the network. Using NDI KVM, work is simultaneously output as an interactive NDI video source. This allows for anyone to take control of a production as is required, and—with some creativity—lets you craft a remote production workflow.

There are two ways I am personally utilizing NDI KVM right now. The first allows me to continue training. Even before remote work became common, if I couldn’t travel to a client, I was using NDI KVM with my local TriCaster and laptop. I then used computer sharing software to link up with those I train online. This continues today—in fact, with the growth of video conferencing software, the ability to provide this training tool has increasingly become the expectation.

The second use is in true production capabilities. I have had clients contact me for remote training. The working theory was that if I could offer this level of control in a training environment, I could also provide it during a live video environment. And because of NDI KVM, they’re right.

APPLYING LIVE

I continue to book clients for live video events and shows by crafting a remote setup with NDI KVM. We utilize the Skype integration of the TriCaster TC1 to bring on talent. An intercom system is built for the production team around Zoom and Microsoft Teams. With both of those video conferencing options I can offer directors and producers multiview access by sharing the NDI KVM output.

This sounds simple, but that’s the beauty of it. I achieved this capability without any extra hardware or a reduction in quality. It was a swift and effective pivot that kept business going.

These uses, admittedly, add some extra steps to KVM. However, they highlight the robustness and elegance of the NDI solution. If you use NDI KVM on a local network, you can have an incredible level of confidence it will perform for you there as well. I know this because I also utilize NDI KVM to bring web feeds into productions. It’s a less robust application, but it allows me to reduce the number of mice, keyboards and monitors I have to juggle, which can be a big deal for a lone content creator. So while that use alone will be a big deal to some, know that NDI KVM allows you to potentially get more creative than what you might expect.

I’m happy to report there are more productions on the horizon for my business. And I can say with confidence the NewTek TriCaster line of switchers with native NDI KVM components are the reason.

Jose Burgos is the owner of Burgos FX and an industry leader in live production and TriCaster. He can be contacted at joseburgos@burgosfx.com.

For more information, visit www.newtek.com. 

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek has announced the latest iteration of its flagship TriCaster live video production system, the TriCaster 2 Elite.

The TriCaster 2 Elite features new video production capabilities, including enabling users to leverage a multitude of the major video calling applications available and offering both future-proofed video over IP and traditional SDI support. NewTek believes this will provide users with a “better than broadcast” functionality and flexibility.

TriCaster 2 Elite supports Skype, MS Teams, Zoom Meetings, GoTo Meeting—nearly every web conferencing tool, says NewTek. It also supports all IP video sources, including NDI, SRT, RTMP, RTP, HTTP, SRC and smartphones. These, along with traditional SDI sources, can be used simultaneously.

A high-speed 60x45 video crosspoint that includes 32 external inputs is part of the TriCaster 2 Elite, helping to automatically determine video format and resolutions up to 4Kp60. Each input includes proc amp tools, independent keying and cropping, as well as triggers for automation. There are eight configurable mix outputs in HD or two in 4Kp60, direct NDI outs of media players, multiple streaming encoders, continuous NDI conversion of all eight SDI inputs and eight independently selectable recorders for immediate replay.

The platform’s flexibility enables content creators to produce simultaneous mixes, deliver multiple 4K streams to different places at once, feed video walls and accommodate separate branding and language packages and record program and line cuts.

The TriCaster 2 Elite is able to be integrated with existing equipment like control room systems, video walls, media platforms and more, says NewTek.

The system has eight mix/effects with four layers each, enhanced with integration with Adobe Creative Cloud tools. Visual storytelling automation tools with simplified teleprompter-based scripting with Microsoft Word document files are also included. In addition, virtual and augmented reality scenes can be rendered in real time from Adobe Photoshop files; there is support for non-standard framerate and aspect ratios; frame sync is available on every input; there’s animated GIF support in buffers; social media publishing; audio mixing and routing; and support for DANTE and AES-67, among others.

“TriCaster 2 Elite currently has no equal in terms of capability and value and I believe that it is the best product we have ever made,” said Dr. Andrew Cross, president of R&D for the Vizrt Group.

NewTek is offering the TriCaster 2 Elite for $27,995.

For more information, visit www.newtek.com.  

LOS ANGELES—When I’ve talked about being a certified NewTek TriCaster operator, I’ve likened it to having a bit of a “super power.” TriCaster has proven over the years to be a “dream catcher” of sorts. Many people have a creative project or vision, but they don’t quite know how powerfully or effectively it can be shared with the world. TriCaster gives you that power.

TriCaster is the technology on which I have built my business—Entertainment Services LA Inc. Since the beginning, I have produced a number of live music events, reality shows, game shows and network scripted television with TriCaster as the backbone. I’ve worked with Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, CBS, Viacom, NBCUniversal, the Oscars and even helped run a streaming channel for horse racing at one point.

Because TriCaster is a feature-rich video production powerhouse in a compact, mobile package, I’ve been able to flex not just creative muscle for clients,  but also offer creative reflex. I’m able to set up quickly in a small footprint within a club or venue, and use it to produce high-quality, multicamera video shows that stream to multiple destinations simultaneously, all without disrupting the patrons, performers or ambience.

And, as a “dream catcher” for clients, it’s been rewarding to make a lot of other dreamers’ visions come true.

However, as of writing this, a global crisis has shut down traditional production as we know it. Live events like music festivals have become non-existent. Television production has grounded to a halt. But, thanks to TriCaster, we are finding ways for the shows to go on.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

An example of this can be seen in a project I recently completed in partnership with the BeachLife Music Festival. Last year we streamed a three-day event featuring Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Jason Mraz, Ziggy Marley and the Blues Travelers. Using TriCaster live video production systems we were able to set up on-site and capture the performances from two separate stages on Redondo Beach.

With its incredibly small footprint, TriCaster provided the ability to set up exactly where we needed to be to effectively stream 13 hours worth of content on all three days.

This year we had to fundamentally alter the event due to the coronavirus. A remote setup was created, with talent performing from their homes and backyards. TriCaster remained core to the production. Located in my office, I was able to provide all the switching and graphics from my on-site TriCaster setup. We brought in talent using Skype—which integrates natively into the NewTek workflow—and allowed hosts to talk with musicians live. It also provided a high level of quality for both video and audio—critical for a music festival—all while enabling a completely remote production.

This workflow will be increasingly common in the coming months. I’ve already recorded segments for “America’s Got Talent” as the show ramps back up—again, completely remotely with the TriCaster serving as the production backbone. More shows are on the horizon, and will allow entertainment to more quickly return to us as we continue to shelter at home.

The versatility of TriCaster has proven to be impressive during this challenging time—but it isn’t a surprise. It is a complete system that offers creativity, flexibility and a bit of a super power for any job you might have in front of you.

Brian Sheil’s Entertainment Services LA has provided video and audio production services for more than 20 years. Clients include The MTV Video Music Awards, The Oscars Red Carpet, NBC’s Today Show Live, VH-1′s Critics Choice Movie & TV Awards and more. He can be contacted at info@esla.us. 

For more information, visit www.newtek.com or call 210-370-8000. 

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek’s TriCaster Mini 4K live multicamera video production system has received an update that is designed to help give lone producers and small teams the ability to produce network-quality shows.

Part of the updates for the TriCaster Mini 4K is an easy setup with live production capabilities, including broadcast-quality, fully customizable virtual sets. The system can deliver broadcast graphics, media playback, one-touch automated control, multichannel remote Skype video calling, integrated replay, social media integration and more in up to full UHD p60 resolution.

One of the new features offered by the update is Live Story Creator, which allows an individual to run an entire production from a Microsoft Word document, NewTek says. A script built in Microsoft Word includes trigger actions when loaded into the TriCaster Mini 4K.

There is also LivePanel, which introduces a customizable, browser-based remote control of the TriCaster Mini 4K from anywhere on the same local area network. This enables anyone to control live switching, compositing, mix/effects, media playback, audio, automation and more from devices like a tablet, smartphone or laptop. Configurable macros are also now supported.

TriCaster Mini 4K also has two channels of Skype input for simultaneous guest contributors to participate. It will also ship with two new Spark Plus IO 4K p60 encode/decode converters, enabling IP-based, NDI-first workflows using existing inputs and outputs.

NewTek is now offering the TriCaster Mini 4K for $7,995.

For more information, visit www.newtek.com. 

BERGEN, Norway & SAN ANTONIO—NewTek and NDI, each of which is part of the Vizrt Group, have announced some new offerings, including a new PTZ camera and temporary offers for free applications.

NewTek is launching the PTZUHD, a pan-tilt-zoom camera that transmits full 4K p60 video directly to NDI-compatible receiving devices across a standard network. With the new camera, content creators can capture UHD video with native support for resolutions up to 2160p 60 using a 30x optical zoom lens and a Sony CMOS sensor.

The PTZUHD implements NDI|HX technology, which results in reduced latency output at low bandwidth. It requires a single Ethernet connection for setup, power, operation and signal flow, and pairs with the TriCaster Mini 4K and TriCaster TC1.

The NewTek PTZUHD is now available at a price of $4,995.

PLUS: PTZ Cams Go Small, But Have Growing Industry Reach

Meanwhile, NDI is now enabling users to access its NDI|HX Capture for iOS and NDI|HX Camera for iOS applications for free for the next 60 days. Used in conjunction with free NDI Tools software, these applications help with the creation of content. The NDI|HX Camera app, specifically, allows for an iPhone to become a 4K broadcast quality camera. Each app uses the latest version of NDI 4.5.

The apps will be available for free download on the Apple iOS App Store until June 1.

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek has announced two new hires that it says will help in its plan for overall global growth, bringing on Barbara Spicek as the senior vice president of Global Sales and Paul Dobbs as the sales director of the Asia-Pacific region.

Spicek joins NewTek with more than 20 years of experience in channel sales for the software/technology industry. A primary goal in her position, per NewTek, will be to deepen channel partner engagements. She will be based at NewTek’s San Antonio headquarters.

Dobbs, in his role, will be tasked with leading NewTek’s growth in the Asia-Pacific region, working closely with new and existing channel partners. Dobbs will be based in Bangkok, Thailand.

NewTek is an IP-based video technology company that is part of the Vizrt Group

No matter the size of the story, the goal remains the same: You need to reach your audience and deliver your message. Today, video is the most powerful form of communication you can use. And you don't have to be a professional when you have the right tools.

Find out how NewTek’s Tricaster Mini can produce amazing content with hundreds of advanced production capabilities for video switching, playback, motion graphics, amazing virtual sets, and dynamic effects with an easy-to-use compact video creation system that helps you tell your story with professional results.

This video was sponsored by NewTek Inc.

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek introduced the latest generation TriCaster Mini, a compact video production system that brings UHD digital production to schools, businesses and professional AV users.

“Whether you’re a student, a corporate communications manager or a seasoned video professional, TriCaster Mini has everything to get you going and make broadcast-quality shows you can stream to all your favorite social media outlets,” said Andrew Cross, president of R&D for Vizrt Group.

TriCaster Mini is a plug-and-play system that allows new video producers to start quickly and work their way into more sophisticated productions with support for resolutions up to 4K and the ability to deliver to all screens, NewTek said.

“NDI is aspect ratio, resolution and frame rate independent,” NewTek product marketing manager Matt Allard told TVBEurope. “So basically with that capability I can set up a session and I can output it square, horizontal, landscape, portrait, something that can be very friendly to output into social media tablets, social media smartphone, anything like that.”

Leveraging the software-defined visual storytelling (SDVS) concept, TriCaster Mini is small enough to take anywhere and easy to set up and begin using in minutes. Hundreds of entry-level and advanced production tools, including built-in virtual sets, animated transition effects, replay support and one-touch social media publishing are included, the company said.

The new production system provides for eight external video inputs that support any combination of compatible sources in resolutions up to 4K UHD. Its four plug-and-play NDI connections with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) cut the time and hassle needed to power and control video, audio and tally. TriCaster Mini also offers two input modules with PoE that make it possible for users to connect existing HDMI devices as NDI-compatible sources, the company said.

The production system supports the NDI|HX Camera Application for mobile devices, available as a download from the Apple Store. The application allows users to transmit up to 4K UHD video from an iOS device via Wi-Fi as an NDI source that can be connected to TriCaster Mini systems on the network, making seamless integration of shots from iPhone-equipped teams possible, NewTek said.

TriCaster Mini will be available in November. Packages start at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $8,995.

More information is available on the NewTek website.

NDI –the open protocol NewTek developed to enable sharing video across an IP network, and now a distinct brand entity of the Vizrt Group—has evolved since its introduction in 2015 into something far more than an IP transfer mechanism for live production, says Matt Allard, NewTek marketing manager.

Continued developed has propelled the IP protocol into new applications and markets, ranging from multicamera-multilocation live shoots and post production to broadcast, mobile and a slew of Pro AV verticals, such as houses of worship, corporations, government and education, he says.

Join the community for IP production – NDI Central. A curated social media feed in partnership with NewTek.

A couple of things are helping NDI to gain traction in Pro AV applications. First, the protocol is software-based. While it can leverage an FPGA designed for it, NDI isn’t dependent upon the presence of special-purpose hardware to work, says Allard. That contrasts with other IP standards used to transport media in AV applications that require a hardware implementation.

(Allard notes this is also a difference between NDI and broadcast IP protocols that are dependent on having the right transmitters and receivers in place.)

Second, NDI may be a bit more robust than other IP protocols in use for AV applications, he says.

“Pro AV was very much more distribution-oriented, so more unidirectional,” says Allard. “Whereas NDI is much more bidirectional and multistream, so it is a little bit more robust.”

At the 2019 NAB Show in April, NewTek announced NDI 4.0, which expands the scope of the protocol beyond IP transport to enable recording.

When available, NDI 4.0 will make it possible for developers to wrap an NDI stream on the fly in a .MOV wrapper, says Allard.

“That makes it possible to lay it to any type of storage mechanism so I can archive it, store it, and of course, reuse it,” he explains.

This, combined with NDI’s new import tool for Adobe Creative Cloud, means Adobe Premiere users can import NDI content, store it in their bins and pull files directly onto their timelines to begin editing just as they would with any other type of media file, he says.

When they are recorded, NDI files pick up a computer time tamp for every frame –an “interesting twist,” in the words of Allard.

“If you have been recording multiple files and they are timestamped when you bring them into Premiere and lay them on the timeline they are synced up without the need for extra software,” he explains.

NDI uses the timestamp from a simple NTP (network time protocol) server, which makes it possible to sync recorded sources from multiple places and multiple systems, he adds.

Development of the NDI protocol is also keeping pace with the changes in the way people consume content. Specifically, the latest version of the protocol provides for non-traditional video aspect ratios, frame rates and resolutions to support the mobile devices people increasingly use to watch video, he added.

“As pretty much everybody knows mobile is and will become a more important aspect of production—both input and output,” says Allard.

“Now, you are no longer limited to traditional video screens and formats in terms of what you can get in and push out.”

NDI will also highlight support for mobile devices during IBC 2019 at Stand 7.C12 in Amsterdam. (IBC 2019 will be held at the RAI Amsterdam, Sept. 13-17.) 

For Additional Resource, click here.

AMSTERDAM—NewTek will demonstrate what it is describing as “breakthrough capabilities” that transform video production by enabling software-defined visual storytelling (SDVS) at IBC 2019, Sept. 13-17, at the RAI Amsterdam.

“It is clearer than ever that IP is not only the standard for video production, it is the future of video,” said Dr. Andrew Cross, president of R&D for Vizrt Group, the parent brand for NewTek. “Our mission is to empower video storytellers and expand their reach, making it fun and exciting to create shows and get your message out.”

Cross pointed to Live Story Creator, TriCaster 410 Plus and NewTek Spark Plus 4K as examples.

Live Story Creator, the latest addition to NewTek’s Premium Access software, automates production using scripts created in Microsoft Word. Triggers identified in a Word document automate execution of switches between cameras and other production actions when the script is loaded into TriCaster or VMC1.

Other Premium Access features include scalable NDI recording and replay with full synchronization for multi-camera production; support for various digital media aspect ratios and frame rates for content delivered to digital screens; and LiveGraphics NDI KVM, LivePanel, Advance Audio and Virtual PTZ.

NewTek’s TriCaster 410, the latest addition to its TriCaster lineup, is a rack-mountable system with eight external inputs, four M/Es and four mix outputs. It also includes real-time social media publishing, live streaming, multichannel recording, video playback, integrated multiviewers, graphics, compositing, virtual sets, audio mixing along with NDI integration for video, audio and data transmission over IP.

The NewTek Spark Plus is a high-bandwidth NDI device that supports resolutions up to 4K from HDMI-to-NDI with virtually no latency.

See NewTek at IBC 2019 stand 7.C12.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

BERGEN, Norway & SAN ANTONIO—Vizrt and NewTek will combine their IBC 2019 exhibition—the first joint exhibit at a major trade show since the Vizrt acquisition of NewTek earlier this year—to highlight the future of IP-based, software defined visual storytelling content production.

During the gathering at the RAI Amsterdam, Sept. 13-17, NewTek, Vizrt and partners around the show floor will be using the NDI IP-based video standard.

The Vizrt stage on its IBC stand will offer a variety of thought-leadership presentations, including The Big AR Sports show, which will demonstrate how Vizrt Sports software can be used for AR, play analysis and monetization of sports and other live events.

The Sports software will be an important part of the company’s IBC presentation for sports broadcasters and rights holders as they prepare for the Olympics, UEFA EUROs and other major sporting events in 2020.

Vizrt’s IBC presentation will also include:

• the launch of Viz Engine 4, featured throughout The Big AR Sports Show, as the cornerstone of future media workflows;
• newsroom and automation workflows presented in Connected Storytelling with new features in the company’s automation range aimed at enabling media companies to produce live productions easily and error free;
• the role of NDI as a key enabler of efficient IP-based production workflows, presented at “A New Era of Live Production;” and
• IP-based software defined visual storytelling (SDVS) production and SDI enhancements to production platforms to enable automation-driven storytelling capabilities.

See NewTek and Vizrt at IBC 2019 stand 7.B01. More information is available on the NewTek and Vizrt websites.

BERGEN, NORWAY & SAN ANTONIO—Prior to NAB we saw press notices concerning endless numbers of synergetic ‘partnerships’ between connectable vendors, then came a shock wave as Vizrt announced it had acquired NewTek in a deal minus any traces of weakness.

Both vendors were in rude R&D, technical and marketing health, with strong user bases across multiple industries, and they cited a common vision, complementary technologies and very little product duplication as three of the deal lockers.

To get behind what happened, Michael Hallén, the current president and CEO of Vizrt, who leads the new enlarged business, and Dr. Andrew Cross, president & CTO of NewTek, who assumes the role as president of R&D in the new company, talked to TV Technology sister publication, TVBEurope.

Thinking about all those Las Vegas wedding chapels and getting hitched, when did Vizrt and NewTek start dating?

“We knew each other well long before my time, and I have been heading Vizrt for nearly three years. The early dating started ahead of that,” laughs Hallén.

“I’ve lost track of how long we have been close partners and friends, but it has got to be more like four of five years. It goes back longer than most people realize,” adds Cross.

“What I have been attracted to, and we talked a lot about it when we briefed our internal people, is that our views of where the industry is going are very similar, and have always been so. We both believe in the IP transition and that software takes over the world, but we come from complementary angles. We are on the same path to the future,” continues Hallén.

Cross takes the shared view of IP and IT, computers, networks and pushing a new future for video creation further: “You can look at any market, even outside the video sector, and you can identify the long-term trends in technology. In our space there are a lot of traditional vendors that have grown up where the market was 50 years ago, and it is clearly changing in a significant way now.”

BRILLIANT MINDS

Building a significant presence in the market is what both companies bring to the party. And planet broadcast’s emergence from the strangulation of hundreds of unique standards and years of proprietary strife to become just another industry using the same technologies represents something of a goldmine to Hallén and Cross.

“When IP took off we both jumped in, so our position is that we are already there. Where a lot of the market sees this as change, these are principles to which we have dedicated our entire strategy individually for 10 years at this point,” says Cross.

Hallén concedes that in some respects the market is catching up. He explains: “At the inception of Vizrt 20 years ago, we focused on developing our software as hardware agnostic, which was not the norm then. As a software company with software architecture you are basically IP by definition.

“What we have been doing all these years is to back port our IP infrastructure to SDI to comply with the appropriate protocols. Now the market is catching up with us we can let that go,” he adds. “When we compile the brilliant minds of both sides, we are creating something that can make significant change. That is what the aim is for this combination.”

Does it pay to have a sophisticated Opex mindset for customers of everything Vizrt can now supply in the area of software-based content production? Subscription for software tools has grown rapidly.

“It has, but as vendors supporting users across the world in different industries and at different types of sites we have had to cater for both models. We have at Tier One level a significant number of huge companies that are not interested at all in going to Opex,” concedes Hallén.

Cross adds: “In the technology world, ‘subscription’ is a buzzword of the moment, but I still see a significant number of customers who do not want to go to Opex yet. It depends very much on business models, and it has not all gone subscription by a long shot.”

Proprietary things will be gone. At NAB Vizrt stated that it is now the biggest player in IT/IP based video production. Is this based on combined market shares, or maybe the expanse of what it now offers in terms of toolsets over wider areas?

“You answered the question,” laughs Cross. “We are probably the one single vendor that has committed to a truly IT-based set of content creation tools, from kids in a classroom doing video production right the way up to national elections or the Super Bowl. It is both breadth of market, and the number of product offerings.”

One of the key attractions of NewTek was its awesome presence in the North American market. Vizrt already had 30 offices across the world, and 500 employees. Cross suggested at NAB that the combined company is one of the “most disruptive changes for the video industry in decades” and Richter scale in its potency. Was he for real?

“I should define ‘disruption.’ Ten years from now the video industry is clearly going to be different, and I believe it is going to happen in the same way as the mobile phone market changed over 15 years to its computer-based iPhone/Android infrastructure,” he says. “People will say ‘wow’ because the days of proprietary things will be gone, and we will be looking at a world dominated by computer networks and IT technologies.

“When people look back at the big things along the way, I think our deal will be one of them, because it is the first time a big player in this market has said, ‘we need to build the next generation content creation company,” Cross added. “This will be one of the key steps along the way that were signposts for where the industry is going. And that is why I see this as disruptive.”

ADDING IP CAPABILITY

The responses from the respective user bases were a key factor during the NAB Show.

“The user reaction surprised me,” admits Hallén. “Obviously we realized this was a good piece of news, but when I spoke to the Tier One user base they were extremely supportive. A lot of them had already piloted or worked a little bit with NewTek products. A great number of them saw it in the way Andrew (just) described about 10 years time, and they said that in that context it is a clever move.

“In terms of craft thinking both our booths were extraordinary, and the user base sees that we are adding much more IP capability,” he added. “They are enthused about what is going to come out of this combination.”

Cross was also surprised: “The reaction exceeded what I could have possibly hoped for. I thought it might require more explaining than it did.”

The dream of software-based video production has been bubbling up as the industry goal for some years, with lenses and camera bodies being almost the last hardware. Many vendors have had to spend millions of dollars re-inventing themselves through software and the cloud, so is it true that Vizrt’s biggest competition comes from newer software houses and recent start-ups, and companies entering the broadcast market from other industries?

“That is a valid point,” Hallén admitted. “As we move forward into an industry that is moving over to IP, very naturally the competition will come from elsewhere. It will not come from the traditional hardware-centric broadcast companies that are trying to re-invent themselves by adding more software, because I think that they are in for quite a struggle. Potential threats will come from elsewhere.”

The holistic aspects of the full workflow that Vizrt gives its customer base are key. “That gives us a head start, and it is up to us as a combination to be more innovative and to embrace new technology as it comes around,” says Hallén. “We have been successful doing that in recent times and I do think we will co-operate with new and completely different players.”

A GOOD MERGING OF WORKFLOWS

Cross agrees with Hallén, adding: “The broadcast market, which now includes lots of things, is a weird thing because there are workflows that matter. People do expect to work in a set way to produce a show, and the way that shows and the formats of shows exist is something that has evolved over 50 or 60 years from film.

“So whilst a lot of the technologies that have been created have been changed, a lot of the basic formats of shows have not,” he adds. “While the way you need to work in production has not changed, we want to give people better tools to make more people able to give that message. To some degree, what this industry needs is both a good merging of workflows that people need, but with the modern technologies that are now available. To the sense that this is true, it does give us a head start and strong position regardless of innovations that are happening elsewhere.”

Both Vizrt and NewTek had many technology partnerships prior to the acquisition, so will anything change?

“We will look for the same thing we always looked for, which is innovation,” says Hallén. “We partner with companies we think bring something really good to the table. The combination of Vizrt and NewTek becomes a bit of a platform for new technology. Bringing small innovative partners onto our platform in different ways of arrangement gives us a bit of an edge.

“And with the global customer base we now have together in small, big, medium and different markets, we have become quite attractive as a kind of springboard into the broadcast industry,” he adds.

Cross continues: “It has to be said that we are two strong companies. This was not an acquisition of weakness, but of strength. Our number one goal, both internally and externally, will not see us looking to change everything around because we think we are doing a lot really well.

“What does happen here is that the combined technology and innovation pool within the new and larger company is much deeper, and it allows us to move technologies between fields where it might not have made sense before,” he adds.

Hallén had just the experience to illustrates Cross’s point: “When we presented the acquisition internally, I was in Norway where we have a large R&D site and the reaction from one of the engineers was, ‘This is cool, can I actually take a piece of NewTek software I know about and bring it into my product? That would be awesome.’

“That reaction illustrates what we are up to together,” he adds. Will NAB and IBC remain strong and relevant through the big changes coming? “Users are clearly feeling different market forces impacting around them, and it is exciting for those shows. In many ways it is going to continue making going to those shows even more exciting,” says Cross. “It is not just the same things we saw 10 years ago; we are not seeing version 15 any more thankfully. The shows are changing, and hopefully we are a part of that. It is our intent to help bring that change to these shows.”

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—It’s been quite a pre-NAB Show week for NewTek, and it’s only half way over.

Vizrt and NewTek jointly announced Monday, April 1, that Vizrt was acquiring the maker of products like TriCaster, IP Series and 3Play, as well as creator of the NDI IP protocol for an undisclosed price.

Despite choosing the first of this month to make the announcement, this was no April Fools prank. The very real deal brings together two formidable technology juggernauts—one focused on the higher-end video market with real-time broadcast graphics and workflow solutions, the other with a portfolio of IP-based video production technology frequently used in the middle and lower end of the market.

Originally, this interview with NewTek President and CTO Andrew Cross was scheduled for April 1 at 9 a.m. to discuss NewTek’s plans for the NAB Show. However, Cross had to postpone the Q&A due to a pressing matter. It wasn’t till late in the afternoon that that matter became clear. Cross was knee-deep in the deal.

In this Q&A, conducted April 2, Cross discusses why NewTek took the Vizrt offer, how the companies’ philosophies align and their products complement each other, what the acquisition means for the workforces of both companies and many other related issues.

He also discusses, as originally intended, NewTek’s plans for the NAB Show.

(An edited transcript.)

TVTechnology:I would imagine that over the years NewTek has probably had offers from other companies about a merger or acquisition. How did the Vizrt buyout come about, and why did NewTek take its offer?

Andrew Cross: Half of our company has been friends with Vizrt for years and years. I have been personal friends with their co-founder [Petter Ole Jakobsen]. We have a lot in common. I know people don’t look in the market and see that, but we are probably the two companies that made their bets on software-based, real-time technology on computers.

Going right back to their beginning days, they made their software on Silicon Graphics workstations. It was software. Back then that was as crazy as us making Video Toaster on an Amiga.

In many ways we share a common DNA and belief since our founding.

Both of us made the very same bets when 95% of the market didn’t see things the same way.

We have known each other for years, and we collaborate a bit, but we exist in different markets. Then about a year and a half ago my friend, who is the co-founder of Viz, came down to visit San Antonio—his first time here. We went out for pizza, and we were just sitting there thinking, “Gosh, we’ve got so little in common, yet the same philosophy. What would it look like if we put all of this together?”

Everybody looks at companies in mergers and acquisitions for an overlap, but by far it makes the most sense when companies don’t have that overlap. That way you don’t say, “We both have graphics solutions,” and work out which one has to die.

Here we have this situation where they do the high end and we do the low end and the middle. They sell direct. We have a channel. We are strong in video mixing; they are strong in graphics.

We started going through the thought process of all of the areas where we are just unbelievably complementary.

He told me they just got this new CEO. He only just started. My friend said, “How about if I go tell him that we should take a serious look at this?” I said, “What the heck? Let’s start that conversation.”

That is how it came about. They didn’t say, “We want to come and eat up NewTek and make you a part of us.” It really was like, “Wow, what would it look like if we really put this together?”

If you think about our market, there are a couple of really large players who have evolved out of businesses that are 50 years old and the way TV stations were run.

We thought, what would it look like if we made a business that was formed to serve the IT-based production, which is clearly where the future is. That is why this came about and why it happened. I find it super exciting.

TVT:Andrew, you will continue on as president of R&D of the combined company and Vizrt President Michael Hallen will lead the business. What about the rest of the employees at NewTek and Vizrt? Are layoffs planned? Or, do you even know yet?

AC: I absolutely do know, and this is really key. First off, just philosophically NewTek and Vizrt are very aligned. But this is an acquisition that is really based on the strengths of both companies, so this is absolutely not a situation where we say, “We’ve both got graphics systems so we are letting one of the graphics teams go.” We are in fact both strong companies. We are both very profitable companies, and it would be crazy to mess with that. When you think about what we have as a combined entity, it’s really quite mind-blowing.

TVT:Is there going to be a relocation to Norway or San Antonio? Or, are both operations going to stay put?

AC: Vizrt is very much an international company. So the answer is clearly no. NewTek is going to stay in San Antonio. Vizrt is going to stay in Norway. When it is really hot in the summer, it means we have a good place to visit. And, I can tell you that when it is cold and wet in Norway in the winter, they’ll want to come and visit us.

TVT:Can you tell me about the financial side of the transaction?

AC: I am afraid I can’t.

TVT:When will the deal close, or is it closed now?

AC: The deal is signed, and the deal will close on a date to be determined, but very soon. My head is spinning with the lawyers and accountants. But it is very soon.

TVT:What about Tim Jenison, founder of NewTek? Will he have a role in the combined company?

AC: Almost everybody knows he has not been directly involved in NewTek for years now. He is involved in that he created the concept. We grew up in his garage, literally. But he has not been involved in NewTek for many years. So he will be about equally involved in this, in that NewTek is very much part of what he brought to the industry, and he wants to make sure his child, NewTek, which is 30 years old, goes to a good home.

I look at this very much as "we are the kid that didn’t leave home and stayed in Tim’s garage, but now we are 30 years old and it’s time for us to leave home, but our parents still really care about us and have a vested stake in us being successful."

TVT:Will the acquisition have any effect on sales channels or service?

AC: I am hesitating. The short answer is absolutely not. We are both successful companies, and the goal is to continue to be successful and to use the things we can do together to make us more successful—not suddenly cut out part of what we are doing.

NewTek very much will continue to sell the way we sell. As a matter of fact, we are more dedicated to that now because Viz sells in a different way. In many ways, this leaves us more committed to our individual strategies. Our channel is almost like a part of NewTek. They have been for years. Some of these guys have worked with us for 20 years or more.

We believe in them. They are a part of what makes us successful. They are part of why Vizrt liked NewTek. So we have no plans on changing that. In fact, we see it as a way to allow us to focus on our strengths there.

TVT:One thing Vizrt is known for is its powerful, real-time broadcast graphics. I was wondering if there might be some synergy between that side of its business and technology and NewTek’s LightWave 3D.

AC: That is an interesting question, and I just have to be completely honest and say I don’t know. I think between us, we have incredible technologies of which LightWave is one, and it probably is one that few people in the video market even know NewTek has or know its power. How we take that and turn it into something that impacts the industry in a bigger way, I honestly don’t know. I do know we have the technology and pieces that are incredible, and we need to work out how we put those building blocks together.

TVT:What about NewTek and Vizrt’s presence at the NAB Show? Separate or integrated together in one booth?

AC: We will have separate booths, certainly, at this NAB. Who knows in the future?

TVT:Can I infer from the answer to that question that both companies will maintain separate identities?

AC: That is exactly right. I think that we both have extremely strong brands in different parts of the market, and we see that as a strength. There are very few customers who sit down and say, “Should I buy NewTek or Vizrt products?” We don’t plan on changing that.

TVT:Will you be overseeing research and development at both companies in your new role as president of R&D?

AC: Probably. The honest answer is that I am so totally invested in making this work, making it successful. I am excited about this project. Where I fit in is almost secondary in my mind to my excitement about the deal and the process. And yes, I think I will be involved in R&D at both companies.

TVT:The reason I brought that up is I was wondering if you have any R&D priorities for technology between the companies.

AC: I think both sides have very different strengths. If you look at the real-time rendering and graphics capability on the Viz side, they have some absolutely groundbreaking stuff. On the NewTek side, we have a really good understanding of how you merge usability with innovation. Bringing both sets of skills together will clearly be my key goal.

I think those are defining characteristics of both organizations, and if we can harness both of them that will redefine a lot of things in the market, and that’s very much our goal.

TVT:NewTek has developed and nurtured the NDI IP protocol. Vizrt has supported the suite of SMPTE ST 2110 standards. Does the acquisition bring opportunities for a bit of cross pollination?

AC: First of all, I personally and NewTek generally are supportive of 2110. We have always thought one of the great things about IP is that the real standard is IP in the same way that on the internet there are JPEGs and PNGs. They serve different uses, and nobody says, “Gosh, JPEGs vs PNGs, who’s going to win?” It makes no sense because they both exist on a web page.

This is one of the great things about the IP world, which is the real standard was never 2110 or NDI. It was IP itself. And these things serve entirely different uses.

I think NDI has and will increasingly become an important standard, and I also think 2110 has a very valuable place in broadcast. There is really no change in our view of that, and I think if you talked to Viz, even the day before the acquisition or a year before, they would have given you the same answer, which is there are different uses for these things, and both of them are important.

TVT:Shifting gears a bit, what highlights can the industry expect from NewTek at NAB?

AC: There are probably two distinct buckets of things that we are doing at NAB. One is obviously NDI. We are announcing NDI Version 4, which improves pretty much everything. It’s certainly the biggest release we have made with NDI since its launch.

It runs faster, so you can get more channels of video. It has better quality at that same bit rate. It supports 16 bits per pixel, so it offers higher color accuracy. So, it goes beyond what SDI did.

It moves to a really new, clever way of transferring data over a wire itself, which we are calling Multi TCP. That means it can share bandwidth along a lot of different paths through the network. It is very cleverly written so it can ensure the network cards on machines can hardware accelerate it all so that it causes a low CPU load. Remember, our goal is to make this work on any computer system out there.

That’s the easy stuff—kind of the bigger, faster, better kind of thing. But the things that we are doing that I believe are also very disruptive are, you know NDI has always been a compressed format. So if you think we have compressed data flowing around the network, and there is absolutely nothing that stops you from taking that compressed data and storing it on disk. It takes no CPU time. You are only limited by the number of streams you would be able to record if you did this. You are only limited by how much network bandwidth you’ve got into a machine or multiple machines and how fast the drives are.

We are going to give away for free the ability to record any number of NDI streams straight to disk without any kind of recompression, which means CPU usage is zero. If you want to put a machine that just records all of your videos on the network, you can.

I think that disrupts the ingest market in a way, although I wouldn’t say it disrupts the ingest manufacturers. I hope we are making their lives easier by standardizing things. Making it so they have easy ways to integrate with IP that don’t involve needing lots of capture cards in a machine and lots of compression.

But we take it one step further because in the process of recording we support the process of synchronizing all of the streams. Even across multiple machines. This is really important because if you think about the progression in the industry, cameras have gotten cheaper and cheaper.

You and I can now afford to do multi-camera shoots, particularly with PTZs where you don’t even need operators. But the entertainment content you will get out of them is remarkably difficult because they are not synchronized.

So unless you genlock everything, you end up with four big files of some event, but you have to go through this manual process of resynchronizing everything.

By us putting the synchronization side of that into our recording, we totally solve that problem. So that you can record any number of streams, drop them onto a timeline and it is all synchronized.

We even allow you—if you use NTP [network time protocol], which is easy to use and free—to synchronize across multiple computers. Now the recording is done so the computers will even synchronize with each other.

You can be recording things one place in the world, another place in the world, any number of streams and things always synchronize. This is really important, so that in many ways NDI is not just applicable to people doing live video, but it is starting to become really important for those who want to do post-production as well.

Now, if you think about an NDI converter box, and we will be announcing some really cool ones at NAB, you just hook those up. You just record those streams, drop them into an NLE, and there is nothing else to do. It’s a groundbreaking workflow.

We will also have an Unreal Engine plug-in for NDI. We are putting in place a lot of the pieces for a broadcaster who wants to run in the cloud. It doesn’t rely on multicast. It can be used on Amazon Web Services.

TVT:You mentioned another bucket, not the NDI bucket. What is in it?

AC: Obviously we have the TriCaster, too, and we are really pushing the envelope there. Honestly, the thing we are showing, I think is so cool. It’s something we have been working on for years. It’s been my dream to make this work for years.

Here is the basic concept. TriCasters are used by people who want to make a show. But if you are really truthful about this, nobody creates their show on a video switcher. Everybody creates their show in something like Word—because you plan it and write out a script.

What we have done is make a system that allows you to literally bring in a Word document. It analyzes the document and then runs the whole show for you truly automatically. You can put your whole script—who says what, the title of the show, everything—into a Word document, import that into your TriCaster, and push everything to a teleprompter output and through the teleprompter feed automatically run the whole show.

TVT:That sounds amazing.

AC: It seems so obvious when one thinks about it. It’s such a cool way of working. Think about kids in a high school. How do they create a show? The school project is they write out the script. This means kids can now create and run an amazing looking show, and it does everything for them.

It means journalists can work with Google Docs to put scripts of their show that the editor can use. They can automatically bring that into the video system, and they can just run through that show.

You know how you put comments in on Word. If you want a clip to play while you are saying something, you just add a comment where you say it, and it just says play the name of the clip and we use AI to understand what is in the comment and then automatically play that clip for you.

If you want to switch to a camera, you just put in a comment that says “Show Phil,” and it will go through all of your camera inputs and find the one that is showing Phil and automatically show that camera. It makes making shows so much easier and so much more fun.

TVT:Anything else?

AC: The other thing is our IP Series higher-end video switchers. We are making them accessible to people who want to run them on their own servers, whether they are in the cloud or their local server rack. This is for people who want to virtualize, people who want to build productions where you can scale them up and down based on what shows you are running that day.

Think about it this way. We took our 44-input, 4K switcher and we allow it to be run on an off-the-shelf server for people. They can choose to run it in the cloud. That’s pretty groundbreaking and that is definitely where the industry is ultimately headed.

Those are the highlights for NAB, but I will tell you, right after NAB we have a whole bunch of other stuff coming. We’ve been busy.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, & BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt has acquired NewTek, creating one of the largest companies in the industry focused on making IT-based video production a reality. No financial details about the purchase, announced April 1, were immediately available.

“Combining our organizations allow[s] us to pursue our joint vision of software-based video production, leveraging the power and flexibility of computing and IT-based systems.” said Michael Hallén, Vizrt president and CEO. “The combined business will be very well positioned to deliver turnkey systems that give creative power to any organization that has ambitions of producing content for any output platform.”

The companies offer complementary software-based technology enabling an end-to-end workflow for content creation, they said.

Both also have focused significant effort and resources on the adoption of IP-based technology—NewTek with development and nurturing of its NDI IP protocol and Vizrt with its support for the SMPTE ST 2110 suite of IP for professional media standards.

Hallén will lead the business. Dr. Andrew Cross, current president and CTO of NewTek, will assume the role of president of Research & Development of the combined company.

“Taking advantage of computational, software and network technology to make video more accessible and fun to create has always been NewTek’s mission. These changes have revolutionized the way stories are told worldwide, allowing anyone to create and share a show.” said Cross.

“The combined company represents one of the most disruptive changes for the video industry in decades; however, the goal remains the same—to build a new world of IT-based video technology to grow the reach and impact for anyone with a story to share.”

Bariloche, Argentina, boasts some of the finest outdoor recreation in the world. Situated in the Andes Mountains, the Bariloche region is a tourism hotspot thanks to its vibrant forests, stunning mountain peaks, and—in the winter months—its fantastic snow.

The snow also comes with an opportunity for broadcasters to bring winter-themed broadcasts to Argentinians during the ski season. And, for the past decade, Buenos Aires-based production company Alma TV has done that through Winterchannel—a 24-hour live signal for use by Argentine television stations in Bariloche, Mendoza, San Martin de los Andes, Villa Langostura and Ushiaia.

However, Alma TV wanted to branch out and provide a bit more than just the live signal. It had a vision of producing editorial content live from the ski slopes. In 2018, the local Fox station hired Alma TV to produce “WinterNews,” a live program that airs from the mountain every weekday, as well as a “Winter Magazine” that shows news highlights on Saturdays.

The magic of "WinterNews" was that it would be broadcast on site, as close to the snowy conditions as possible. The production constructed a set in the middle of the Cerro Cathedral in the city of San Carlos de Bariloche. It was a stunning look into the winter action taking place on the mountain, but it also came with a major challenge: how to link up the multiple broadcast points to the master control room on site.

The control room would need to be set up off site, some 800 meters away from the studio in Cerro Cathedral. This was a major hurdle as the production crew worried a civil project might need to be conducted—if it was even approved—to break open streets and run optical fiber lines.

However, a much easier solution was found in utilizing NewTek’s NDI and a pair of 2.5GB Metrolinq antennas to build a wireless network to send video and audio over IP. No permits. No trenching. No long wait for the production to be up and running.

Six camera signals and eight microphones on the studio set were sent over NDI to the control room, where switchers and directors utilized a NewTek TriCaster TC1 and a NewTek VMC1 IP Series, both of which work natively with NDI.

Mike Morrison, technical manager at Alma TV, said the NDI powered solution not only “solved everything” in terms of routing the signal for the broadcast, but it also opened up previously unthought of camera angles.

“Using a combination of [NDI] and LiveU, I managed to distribute mobile phones throughout the sky centers not only in Argentina, but also in Chile,” Morrison said. “We can now receive signals from those mobile devices into our production. Topography and climate can often come together to complicate the work of a TV production. Using NDI simplifies the situation.”

To ensure that the feed from the cameras on the set ran natively to NDI, the production made use of three NewTek PTZ cameras. LiveU equipment and six DAHUA IP dome cameras were located at strategic points around the mountain to provide additional camera feeds.

“In the end we managed around 16 cameras, plus all the audio, intercom and much more thanks to NDI,” Morrison said. “The VMC1 is the heart of all this because of the number of signals it handles. Maybe this can be done differently, but surely it would not be so simple.”

The move to an end-to-end, all IP video workflow isn’t unprecedented in the industry, however Alma TV is using the NDI protocol to innovate in the way it produces its shows—especially in sport. The production company is responsible for broadcasts of some of the nation’s top flights of soccer, as well as international, multisport events and eSports and video game competitions.

It is in these applications where the NDI protocol shines—especially if the signal is being broadcast wirelessly. Camera operators at a sporting event can send the signal directly to a studio for switching and directing—no need for the outside broadcast truck nor the hundreds of feet of cabling.

With eSports and video game tournaments, the monitors themselves can be NDI compatible sources, allowing for a direct feed from the competitor to the switcher.

And, as Alma TV discovered on the slopes of Barlioche, the use of cellular phones using an NDI capable camera application can quickly bring in multiple new video angles.

“There will always be a need to define priorities and establish how to best undertake a production,” Morrison said. “But there is no doubt that NewTek’s solutions are very helpful in facilitating a good part of the process, because they are designed to serve the industry from a use perspective with rational technology, with knowledge, with vision and with a future-proof perspective.”

NANJING, China—Magewell today began shipping two new Pro Convert IP standalone encoders: the Pro Convert HDMI 4K Plus and a 1080p HD counterpart.

The encoders, which use NewTek’s NDI technology allow users to add traditional HDMI video signals into live, IP-based productions. The Pro Convert HDMI 4K Plus transforms sources up to 4K Ultra HD at 60 frames per second via an HDMI 2.0 input interface. The new Pro Convert HDMI Plus encodes HDMI source signals into full-bandwidth NDI streams up to 1080p60 HD. It can also accept a 4Kp60 HDMI input signal and downconvert it automatically to HD for encoding.

A third model is scheduled to ship in early 2019. Called the Pro Convert SDI 4K Plus, the new model converts 6G-SDI signals to 4K 30fps NDI streams.

All Pro Convert models are low latency and plug-and-play. They automatically detect the format of input signals and rely on DHCP-based network configuration, eliminating the need for manual setup. Greater control of the conversion process and device features is available through an intuitive browser-based interface. It provides access to status monitoring, advanced settings and FPGA-based video processing including up/down/cross-conversion, de-interlacing and image adjustments.

Magewell will exhibit at ISE 2019, Feb. 5-8, in Amsterdam.

More information is available on the Magewell website.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—The old saw is that if you build a better mousetrap, buyers will beat a path to your door. The question of the day is whether IP infrastructure is a better mousetrap for video production when compared to a traditional SDI infrastructure.

The answer seems to be that IP is better for video infrastructure, with the catch being that not everything plays well together—yet. Although there is a SMPTE standard for the transport of IP video (ST 2110) and this is excellent for interoperability, there is a bit of a learning curve and an adjustment period to get all the gear humming the way it should.

That said, there are many benefits to going the IP route for your in-house infrastructure and distribution. A big advantage is flexibility—SDI is a point-to-point one-way system, and IP is bidirectional and can carry multiple uncompressed signals at the same time. A notable future advantage may be lower installation costs, but that’s not necessarily the case today.

“I would say that at current time, an IP-based system is more expensive than an SDI system,” said Svein Henning Skaga, project manager for TV 2 Norway, the country’s largest commercial broadcaster. “We need to do a lot of training since this is new technology, and we need a lot of services from our vendors. But in the long run, we expect it to have lower costs as changes and expansion are less complex.”

Skaga said that the production staff does not see much difference in how operations are conducted, as their systems are much the same as before.

However, for operations and support there is a big change, he said. “They now need to relate to computer network equipment and new [IP] technology.”

The TV2 Norway system relies significantly on Lawo production gear, and the bottom line for Skaga is how well the system runs.

“For a traditional broadcast guy like myself, I was concerned about the stability,” he said. “The IP system has been very stable, and we have full control over all our audio-and video streams.”

When building an IP-based system, Skaga recommends putting a lot of effort into designing the network infrastructure. Getting this right from the start will save you from a lot of trouble, he said, but don’t be surprised if you still have work to do.

“Physical installation was rather quick,” he said, “but configuration took a long time.”

NEW STUDIO USING IP

Celebro Media, a Washington-based studio facility that caters to international broadcasters, recently built a new studio facility using IP technology. At the heart of it is a NewTek production switcher connected throughout the facility using NewTek’s Network Device Interface technology, an IP-based solution that NewTek has shared with many other companies.

“We identified very early on that we needed to go down the IP route,” said Stephen Gaisford, director of US operations for Celebro Media. “We have a studio on the 10th floor and live positions overlooking the White House. Traditionally, broadcasters would be running SDI cables from source to destination all over the building, and we knew that wasn’t practical. We considered New-Tek’s NDI solution as a way to make every source a destination with its two-way connectivity. Everything connected in the in/out module in our rack room is a source that is available to us on our TriCaster switcher in the main studio control room.”

Gaisford pointed out that the NewTek production switcher has only four SDI inputs, and he has four studio cameras plus a host of other inputs—including international remote feeds.

“The flexibility that NDI gives us means that we can have a limitless amount of sources at our disposal,” he said. “We’re future-proofed by going down the Ethernet RJ45 route.”

Celebro’s system was not quite plug-and-play, and Gaisford echoed a thought that many television engineers share.

“Something that broadcasters have to bear in mind going forward is that your engineers are not just going to be television broadcast engineers—they need to have knowledge of computer networks,” he said. “The single biggest issue that we faced getting the bits of kit to talk to each other was making sure that firewalls weren’t stopping one item from talking to another. That’s something that we’ve only resolved quite recently.”

MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM

The engineering staff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, recently installed an IP-based video system from Ross Video that is used on game day to source and distribute signals used for broadcasts and in-park video.

One of the decisions was what speed to make the IP network.

“With a 10GbE network, you can send more signals—up to three 3G signals down on path,” said Ben Dolinky, a video engineer for AMB Sports + Entertainment, which operates the video systems at the stadium. “We couldn’t do that with an uncompressed HD-SDI signal.”

Dolinky had one operational note regarding an IP video system, as compared to a traditional SDI-based system: “It goes without saying, but in an IP facility it is very important to keep your server room as clean and dust-free as possible,” he said. “With an IP facility, there is more fiber cleaning and maintenance compared to an SDI facility.”

DAILY BLAST LIVE

To promote the second season of its syndicated daytime programming, Daily Blast Live (DBL), broadcast station group TEGNA conducted a live, point-to-point “media tour” from its KUSA Denver studio to 32 stations across the country. For six straight hours on one day, Daily Blast Live sent 32 different live shots about every 10 minutes featuring DBL talent to TEGNA morning and noon shows.

The number of shots, the total length of time, and the varying time zones that had to be accommodated made purchasing satellite time too cost-prohibitive, so TEGNA turned to TVU Grid, an IP-based switching, routing and distribution system from TVU Networks, to receive DBL media tour audio and video.

Each local TEGNA station receiving DBL media tour audio and media routed the signals through their own control rooms to air. Sharon Levy, DBL technical operations manager, received programming from each station via TVU Grid, using it as a confidence monitor and a source to record all DBL live shots that day. DBL anchors used IFB audio through the TVU Grid to have conversations with each of the stations.

“Distributing our feeds with TVU Grid required no additional fees,” Levy said. “We had the TVU infrastructure in place already, and the technology is nearly as clean [as satellite] now. None of the stations had any issue finding us. All our stations received our output on TVU Grid. I recorded each shot live and archived them all. It went very smoothly.”

HD OR 4K?

Where does 4K fit into the IP video production picture? Gaisford said that all productions so far at Celebro’s Washington studios have been in HD, although the facility can handle 4K origination. It looks like the inherent flexibility of IP makes it a logical choice for systems that have varying needs up to and including 4K.

“One of the big advantages of IP is being able to maximize resources,” said Robert Erickson, advanced technology director for Grass Valley. “Software-defined applications running on IP infrastructures can be quickly spun up and taken down rapidly, allowing more efficient resource management. With IP, projects can be allocated resources as needed and re-allocated somewhere else during downtime. Additionally, IP is completely format-agnostic, enabling broadcasters to quickly respond to new business opportunities.”

A variety of companies now manufacture a wide range of SMPTE ST2110-standard products for IP video production. In addition to those already mentioned, Sony, JVC, Panasonic, EVS and Blackmagic Design all have an array of products that fit into IP production workflows. One example is the Sony XVS-9000 live production switcher, which can be used for 4K and HD productions, and features high dynamic range (HDR) capability.

It is possible today to shoot live broadcast-quality programming using IP-connected equipment. Costs are competitive today with providing similar function using SDI architecture, with the added benefit that IP systems are both bidirectional and more flexible than SDI cabling.

WASHINGTON—The Government Video Expo, held Nov. 27-29, has an image of the U.S. Capitol building in its logo, but the reality on the floor is bigger than one building or just the federal government market alone. Indeed, a glance at attendee show badges on the exhibition floor or at the conference shows an eclectic mix of media professionals from many arenas.

While attendees included personnel from local, state and federal governments and all the agencies and contractors within that leviathan, this base was joined by representatives from state and local emergency personnel, defense-related contractors, educational institutions, houses of worship, and plenty of regional production types and broadcasters.

The conference schedule also reflected this. While many presentations and speakers were quite government-specific, broader topics such as live streaming, LED lighting advancements, SMPTE 2110, and high dynamic range video appealed to many modern media professionals.

TOPICS AND TRENDS

The SMPTE ST 2110 Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks suite of standards has been the hot topic at trade shows of late, and it was on the minds of many at GV Expo. The importance of the new standard was reflected in the addition of the day-long SMPTE in DC: Essential Technology Advances for Media Pros Conference, which attracted a number of local broadcast and media professionals eager to dig deep into the implications of IP on their media operations.

On the exhibit floor, the big buzz words were 4K, UHD and IPTV, according to Tommy Goodson, president of AudioVideo BrandBuilder (AVBB) Corp. “What we’re hearing at this show in particular is a lot about IPTV, with 2110 on the agenda … everybody who has come by is preparing for 2110.”

AVBB—a master distributor and manufacturer rep primarily for test and measurement specialist Phabrix and streaming company Teracue—said it was seeing great interest in the 2110-friendly Phabrix line, including the Sx-TAG model and the Qx IP, a fully flexible 2110 rasterizer.

Also popular was Teracue’s iCUE Grid Video Wall, is an IP Video Wall Presenter for multiple content sources within the video wall. It allows complete on-the-fly control over visualized live and/or on-demand content in any resolution.

AR/VR was present on the exhibition floor within products and at the conference, but the technology is a bit less in-your-face at trade shows now. The same can be said for artificial intelligence, which also had a decent presence on the conference schedule, but was not plastered on every booth on the exhibition floor as has been seen at events over the last few years. This may reflect the technology maturation, as AI or AR/VR are now established products or part of established products.

An example is Quantum’s StorNext media workflow file system. More than a year ago the company had announced it would offer Veritone Inc.'s multi-engine AI platform in a StorNext-managed environment. At GV Expo, the incorporation was a reality and AI is now just part of an overall system. There were no flashy robots on display representing the brave new world of AI, but representatives from Veritone did attend Day One of the show.

StorNext has applications across broadcast, security, defense and other environments that generate lots of data that needs to be evaluated and used. NewTek’s Tricaster multicamera production system also has a broad range of applications. It was on show at the booth of Washington Professional Systems, a dealer/integrator from nearby Wheaton, Md., that is also a NewTek Elite Dealer selling the systems across several market areas.

“The Tricaster product line is versatile enough that it is not just a broadcast switcher, there is so much more under the hood that allows it to be used in many AV environments,” said Jeremy Morris, Sr. Engineer & Certified Tricaster Operator with WPS. WPS’s booth also demonstrated products from Crestron, Christie and others.

WPS also had Sony broadcast and robotic cameras on hand, but the media world has seen a merging of the consumer and professional areas over the last several decades, so it makes sense that Sony had its own consumer electronics presence at the show as well. Highlights at this stand included still cameras capable of shooting some impressive video, and high end consumer camcorders such as the FS5 Mk II and the FS7 Mk II, both of which can shoot in 4K.

Sony professional cameras, along with units from Hitachi and JVC, were also present at the large, central booth of Digital Video Group (DVG), a supplier and system integrator of broadcast and production systems.

Alex Martin, DVG CEO, said the company was looking to expand its government business with its offerings, which also included asset management and shared storage from Avid, bonded cellular transmission units from LiveU, and more. Martin said show trends that cut across customers included the real need for 4K and preparing for SMPTE 2110.

PRODUCTION AS BREAD AND BUTTER

Whatever the resolution of the video is, and whether it is sent around a facility as an SDI stream or as an IP packet, production needs will always include camera support and lighting. These needs were front-and-center at Vitec.

On display was the Vinten flowtech 75 set of two-stage carbon fiber tripod legs with a removable mid-level spreader, rubber feet, and a 44-pound payload. This established unit was joined by the flowtech 100, which was only launched a few months ago. Compatible with all major 100 mm fluid heads, flowtech100 supports a payload of up to 66 pounds, making it ideal for heavy-duty ENG/EFP and a wide range of wildlife, commercial, and documentary productions.

Joseph Teodosio, Training & Product Specialist for Vitec, said the first day of the show drew a nice mix of local TV stations, government and military and house of worship (HOW) customers: “The LitePanels Gemini has been a real draw with its very high quality light, and the new flowtech 100 is also attracting people.”

Greg Smalfelt, senior cable television engineer, Communications Production Division, and Josh Bass, cable TV engineer, both with Fairfax County, Va.’s Channel 16, came to see the 100. “We’re an existing customer but we wanted to see the 100 for our bigger cameras, and get some questions answered,” said Smalfelt.

Panasonic was also out in force with a range of production kit for needs ranging from broadcast to HOW to government video entities. The AU-EVA1 compact cinema camera and a new class of PTZ remote cameras and controllers capable of operating in 4K 60 and 50p were joined by the AV-HLC100 small switcher, which is capable of direct streaming to YouTube or Facebook Live.

Smaller scale routing and switching needs were also key at AJA, where the company’s affordable Kumo routers and KiPro Ultra+ recorders were on display. Eastern region territory manager for AJA Dan Wingard said the duo were perfect for many of the potential customers walking the aisles. “We see everything from Federal, state and local government people through to community colleges, really a little bit of everything,” said Wingard.

Barbizon, a distributor of lighting, rigging, projection kit and more, said there was a lot going on in the world of LEDs in 2018. One of the big things this year is that a lot of the LEDs are now IP-rated, which has nothing to do with packets of data but is a measure of the protection an item will have against solid objects (dust, sand, dirt, etc.) and liquids, according to Kearston Dillard-Scott, Outside Sales representative for Barbizon. “Variety is also a trend,” said Dillard-Scott. “Many of the fixtures that were bi-color just from warm to cool can now do full RGB.”

Project Manager for Barbizon Sam Herbig added that the quality of an LED fixture’s light was increasing, and consistency within a product line has greatly improved from a few years ago: “It’s boring, but for anyone lighting to a level it is important,” said Herbig.

IP packets play a large role in an interesting product from Comrex that was on display, and due for shipping before year-end after being launched at the 2018 NAB Show: The VoIP-based Earshot IFB. The hardware-based system delivers live audio feeds to callers and is designed to provide telephone-based live studio program and IFB audio to field-based remote broadcasts, like TV ENG reports or in other applications.

Comrex also had an app called “FieldTap,” which allows a user to connect to Comrex codecs in studio from a cellphone with high-quality wideband audio.

According to Chris Crump, senior director of sales and marketing for the Devens, Mass.-based company, the Comrex LiveShot Portable IP video codec for live wireless newsgathering are in use across government sectors, particularly emergency management and security entities, along with community broadcasters. LiveShot delivers live, two-way, HD video and audio over a range of IP and cellular networks at latencies as low as less than 200mS, he said.

MISSION CRITICAL

Many government and defense video applications are defined as “mission critical,” a niche Oregon-based Planar covers with its narrow pixel pitch direct view LED and LCD panels. “These are purpose-built for mission-critical and mission-command applications, with higher image quality for indoor applications," said Alberto Reyes, director of federal business development for Planar. “We’re now finding other applications as well, any discerning 24/7/365 application in a signage environment really.”

Advances in projection display were evident at the booth of Christie Digital Systems.

“We’re trying to take a leadership position on RGB laser phosphor technology, said Jon Litt, senior manager, Business Development, Government, for Christie. “We’re also trying to bring it to a price point where it would work for more applications.”

Litt said the technology offered tremendous image fidelity, quiet operation, and the ability to run for years with little or no maintenance. Longevity is also a key selling point for the company’s DirectView LED screens, which Litt said had an expected lifespan of 100,000 hours or more while offering exceptional contrast.

HIGH SECURITY CAPTIONING

Captioning is often a government requirement and EEG has been offering encoders that connect broadcasters to iCap, the largest closed captioning and subtitle delivery network in the world, according to the company. While iCap provides 24/7/365 connectivity to thousands of certified caption partners around the globe, new at GV Expo was an option that allows customers to connect to an iCap network via a private VPN, with no public internet connection as part of the process.

“Some customers don’t want any public internet as part of the network, and now that is an option with iCap On-Prem,” said Dave Watts, marketing manager for EEG. iCap On-Prem is a companion product to EEG’s cloud-based delivery network, and it enables the deployment of iCap to private on-premises clouds for customers who require this configuration to accommodate extremely stringent internal security policies. Also on display was an automatic captioning product that relies on Ai and context recognition, and a SMPTE 2110 product.

Security was also key for IBM Watson Media, the end-to-end streaming platform formerly known as UStream: The tagline on the product’s data sheet is “Engage your employees with security-rich video.”

S. Scott Grizzle, WW Cloud Video Solutions Engineer with Watson, said the use cases between a broadcast customer and an enterprise or government customer were different, but there was a lot of crossover. He added that many customers across product sectors were become increasingly interested in video enrichment, where software can identify elements such as scenes, people, animals, etc. and place this information in to metadata.

Equipment aimed at consumers can do a lot of what many media pros need done in 2018. It is perhaps with this in mind that show organizer Future US just announced the launch of The Video Show, a new dual-event venture for December, 2019. The Video Show will pair The Photography Show, now an established U.K.-based event, with the iconic Government Video Expo, which celebrated its 23rd edition this year. 

The event takes place Dec. 3-5, 2019 at the Washington Convention Center. 

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek has announced the availability of LiveGraphics as part of its Premium Access monthly subscription service. LiveGraphics allows users to go directly to air with 10 channels of real-time animated graphics authored in Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe After Effects CC for live output from TriCaster TC1 and NewTek IP Series.

In addition to LiveGraphics, Premium Access gives subscribers five additional applications including LivePanel, NDI KVM, Advanced Audio I/O, Virtual PTZ, and NewTek’s entire Virtual Set Library. Premium Access is the gateway to new advanced software features; subscribers will receive automatic updates as new capabilities are implemented.

First demonstrated at NAB 2018, LiveGraphics allows users to replace text, images, and create links to live data, and then play those graphics back in real time. LiveGraphics does not require a proprietary hardware graphics engine and delivers on the promise of Adobe Creative Cloud in real-time.

“Our software-centric approach to innovating tools for live video production allows us to develop at a fast and relentless pace,” said Dr. Andrew Cross, president and CTO of NewTek. “Premium Access is an affordable and highly convenient way to make our current and future software innovations accessible and available to customers. We are proud to initiate this service with truly revolutionary features like LiveGraphics and a robust selection of other ground breaking advancements.”

Premium Access requires the latest version of TriCaster TC1 and NewTek IP Series software now available to all users. This free software upgrade includes more than 20 new features. Premium Access initially includes LiveGraphics along with these additional advanced software applications:

LivePanel allows users to create custom controls from a compatible desktop or mobile device anywhere on a network. Easily accessible through any Web browser or operating system, LivePanel includes production-ready control panels for remote video mixing, media playback, audio mixing, and macro automation. The LivePanel Builder tool enables custom panels geared toward automating and simplifying unique productions and workflows.

Advanced Audio I/O provides comprehensive support for 64+ channels of Dante and AES67 audio while extracting all incoming and outgoing audio channels, including embedded SDI and NDI audio channels, to allow for more sophisticated configuration and complex handling. Interface seamlessly with external routing, networking, and mixing workflows, incorporating compatible audio boards, consoles, and USB sound devices and more. 

Virtual PTZ expands shot selection and storytelling opportunities without increasing source count by creating and accessing multiple shots from any individual video signal. Virtual PTZ starts with a full-resolution camera angle or video source, allows user-defined distinct areas of interest, then stores as full-frame presets that can be switched to or transitioned from seamlessly. Virtual PTZ includes live virtual zoom and real-time pan and scan effects.

Virtual Set Library: Full access to the premium library of NewTek LiveSet virtual sets is included with Premium Access. Choose from an extended variety of simulated environments to suit any style or brand, while providing an instant professional touch that enhances the look and feel of any production.

NewTek Premium Access is available now for the limited time special introductory subscription price of $99USD per month, or $1,149USD per year. International pricing will vary. For more information about NewTek Premium Access, visit https://www.newtek.com/npa/

IBC 2018 opens in Amsterdam in a few days, and IP video transport and networking are sure to be on the minds of many attendees.

NewTek will be at IBC 2018 showing its latest NDI developments. Before the show opens, I had the chance to speak with NewTek President and CTO Dr. Andrew Cross about what the company has in store for the RAI.

Besides discussing the important additions NewTek is making to its NDI SDK, Cross offered thoughts on how the market has accepted NDI and the direction in which the video industry is headed.

(An edited transcript.)

Phil Kurz: What’s new with NDI for IBC 2018?

Andrew Cross: We are going to be announcing NDI 3.7 at IBC, and I kind of trapped myself by releasing 3.5 at NAB. I don’t want to call it 4.0, but it’s the biggest reasonable step I could think of. That’s why it got to 3.7.

It’s a big step forward. There’s a whole load of improvements. The first, which is probably going to have the biggest market impact, is we are announcing what we are calling the NDI Embedded SDK. It’s a version of the software development kit for people who wish to use NDI in hardware devices.

All along NDI has been great for software, and our focus –and this goes back to what our company does—has always been on making it accessible to software users. But that’s only half of the world. So, making NDI something that truly can be used in hardware products has been missing for some time and something we have been working to fix with this embedded SDK that allows people to build actual, real NDI hardware. With that we include the tools to run it on your own device, but we are also making available our own FPGA for NDI compression.

We are actually releasing what we use for our own NDI Spot Connect Pro, which is our own 4K-HDMI-to-NDI converter. We are making this so people can build their own hardware products around NDI. That fills a big gap.

What other NDI releases will NewTek make at IBC?

AC: We are also releasing something we have been asked for a lot, which is a utility called NDI Stream Analyzer, which allows people to get a lot of information about an NDI stream. Obviously, our goal with NDI has been to make it just work for everybody. But at the same time, there are a lot of people and a lot of setups that want more information about how well a stream is working, if there is something wrong with it, the bitrate and the timing information on the stream. So, we are releasing tools that do this for free. We are giving those away.

At the SDK level we are also making big improvements. Honestly, the biggest one –although it might not sound that glitzy, it is really important—is we have put a frame synchronizer into the SDK. You know, when people are building computer software, nobody even thinks about the concept of genlock. So, your computer is running at 60Hz on its monitor, but that almost certainly doesn’t match the 60Hz the camera is running at.

It is nontrivial to take the 60Hz the camera is running at and display it correctly on a computer screen. A lot of people think you just get tearing. But you get a lot of other problems that are related to the clocks not matching. And the same is true of audio, of course.

Our frame synchronizer takes all of the complicated work in analyzing the timing and taking the corrective steps for the timing differences between your local computer clock and the remote clock, and it does all of that for free for people.

This makes it possible to build computer applications displaying and using video and audio without having to worry about timing issues so much easier. This saves so much time for people, and putting it in the SDK makes the SDK much more usable for people.

Beyond that there are a lot of other improvements, such as significant improvements in the way we send data over the network, and personally, that’s been the bane of my existence for the last three months. That is finding better ways to do this because it turns out that a real-world network –like getting UDP with forward error correction working well—is really quite difficult.

There are all sorts of weird wrinkles in the real-world that books don’t tell you about. So, we have significantly improved all of that.

Tell me more about FPGA support and the SDK?

AC: You don’t even have to buy the FPGA from us. We will allow you to buy a Xilinx test board, where anyone working on an FPGA project probably would start –so they would buy a Xilinx or Altera development kits.

We are producing in the SDK an SD card image that you can put onto one of these dev kits, and it will include our FPGA SDK, so it will serve as a testbed for people to build NDI encoders. So, if you bought one of these FPGA dev kits and put the SDK on it, you would have the basics of a working piece of NDI hardware. Now obviously people will adapt that for whatever their actual project is, but you get a great starting point.

And we allow people to get the SDK and build NDI encoders pretty much for free. To take them into a commercial application, we need to work out a licensing agreement with them. But our goal is to allow people to build something, play with it and worry about the details when they want to go to market.

How would you characterize the demand from hardware developers for an NDI SDK solution?

AC: This is a common request and answers a good number of requests from people with interest in doing a hardware-based NDI product. But with so many people and so many requests we will be talking about an embedded SDK 2.0 and 3.0 here soon with all of the additional capabilities people will want.

We are basically a software-focused company, so I am really happy that we are taking the need to make NDI available to hardware vendors seriously here. That’s a good position to be in.

How would you assess where NDI is today among developers?

AC: I have lost track is the answer. What I mean by that is there are so many people using it for so many things that it’s hard to keep track.

Something I have seen is we are about three years in. In the first two years, all of the big software vendors were using it. But if I look at the people signing up for the SDK now, we are seeing more and more startup companies needing to interact with IP video and individuals who have cool projects.

So, it has gone from being something the big vendors use to something that’s the de facto way people quickly use IP video in their startups. It’s gone one tier further from this is what the industry uses to this is the way people experiment with IP video and build products –even at the lower level of the market—and I find that to be very cool.

Has NDI become a de facto standard for IP video?

AC: Obviously, it is self-serving to say yes. But I don’t just for the sake of marketing spin say yes. My sense is certainly that it has become very widely adopted, and I believe the answer at this point is yes.

If you walk around at IBC and in the media and product tools halls and you tick off the companies that support and don’t support NDI, you end up with more than 50 percent of the exhibitors supporting NDI, which is quite remarkable.

I am not saying –nor have I ever said—that it solves all problems for all people, but I certainly think it has become commonly seen as solving a good number of problems for a good number of people in the real world.

Are you or NewTek presenting any technical paper or speaking at IBC?

AC: Personally, I am giving a talk at the IABM meeting about IP video –more about IP video and the place of computers in that than NDI, although NDI is intertwined.

Can you offer a few details?

AC: I get asked a lot of smart questions by people, and that’s helped me to realize over the past few years that the real revolution going on in our industry is one not just about networked video. It is about a broader trend in the market and how computing technology –the combination of computer software and networking—have put together the pieces needed to produce video.

We have gone from a place where computers and the associated pieces of technology weren’t sufficient to produce broadcast quality video to one in which they are.

So, the real revolution going on in our industry, and NDI is part of it, is one in which we are able to use general purpose computing products to produce real-time video.

Our industry tends to look at that as –and I hope I’ve excluded NewTek from this—but or industry as a whole tends to say, “Look these computer things are getting fast, and you can do video with that. So, let’s steal the core things computers do and put them into our products.”

That’s the way many people think, but what I am encouraging is that people think the other way around. Instead of thinking “we’re from the video industry, how do we steal from the computer” think the other way around. The world is computing. We are computing people. How do we take all of this incredible technology and bring it into the video world?

The best analogy I can give is what happened in the phone market. When the iPhone came out, this was a computing company, Apple, which decided they could take a computer and turn it into a phone. At that time, the traditional phone vendors probably thought these guys have no idea what they are doing. This isn’t a phone. It can’t even dial 911 reliably. Nobody is ever going to use this.

But the computer industry said, “Let’s put cool screens on our traditional phones.” And a few years later the phone industry is dominated by computer manufacturers. It’s Google with Android, Apple with iOS and Samsung. Three computer companies own the phone industry now.

That is the exact same shift our video industry is going to go through. And the reason for it is technology has gotten cheaper and cheaper; computers have gotten smaller and smaller; and chip sizes have shrunk and shrunk. We can do more and more for less money, and it’s all connected together via Ethernet and the internet. We need to look as how instead of stealing the pieces of that that we want, we can take all of that and embrace it and build something that is newer and bigger than what the video industry can do on its own.

This is why we created NDI –to allow people to use software and their existing networks on computers they have today. That is where the future of the industry is going to be.

In TV Technology's latest guide to sports production, we profile the new Luxor Esports Arena Las Vegas, a 30,000 square-foot multilevel venue that can host every form of competitive gaming. The facility is fairly unique in that it was built for eSports, which means it was built for broadcast and video production. We also take a look back at NBC's coverage of this year's Kentucky Derby and preview the latest technology going into the new MLS D.C. United stadium.

To check out the digital edition of The 2018 Guide to Sports Production, click here.

LAS VEGAS—During last week’s NAB Show, TV Technology Contributing Editor Phil Kurz sat down with Newtek’s Rex Olson to discuss the technical and production opportunities for ATSC 3.0 (aka “Next Gen TV.”)

Fourteen leading developers of the NDI video/IP protocol joined together at NAB 2018 to exhibit their latest products and solutions. NewTek, the developer of the royalty-free standard, hosted the event from the NDI Central Pavilion. Those who couldn’t make it to NAB can watch the coverage on NewTek’s Twitch livestream. The stream showcases NDI developers and creators who are at the forefront IP video production.

Since its introduction in 2015, NDI has become a popular industry standard for sharing video on a standard Ethernet network. The protocol is now in use by thousands of products and millions of users worldwide and is potentially the most widely used protocol of its kind.

 “These fourteen companies represent some of the best innovators among the roughly 1,000 companies incorporating NDI into their products. NAB attendees will be able to explore the NDI ecosystem and discover the amazing devices and applications powered by NDI,” said Michael Kornet, executive vice president and general manager of NDI for NewTek prior to the show. “These developers share our vision of the end-to-end all IP workflow that is a reality today and we’re excited to bring them together at the NDI Central Pavilion.” 

· AJT Systems 

· Boinx Software 

· Changsha Kiloview Electronics 

· Production Bot LLC 

· Easy Media Suite 

· Etere 

· FingerWorks Telestrators 

· LiveXpert by 3D Storm 

· Medialooks 

· NewsMaker Systems 

· NIXUS · Panasonic 

· RT Software 

· Stream Circle

For more coverage on Newtek, visit the TV Technology/NDI Central Hub. 

LAS VEGAS—NewTek’s theme for the 2018 NAB Show may be “The Power To See Ahead,” but it has a definite idea about what that vision should be for broadcasters and video producers, alike: IP-based video production and distribution powered by its NDI IP protocol.

Since its earliest days, NewTek has been all about software-driven video production. Thirty years ago, that meant writing machine code to squeeze every bit of processing efficiency from NewTek’s Video Toaster and its Commodore Amiga host.

Today, it means software-driven IP workflows that offer a high degree of flexibility when compared to video production solutions based upon proprietary hardware. At the NAB Show, NewTek will emphasize this with IP-based video solutions that take a signal from acquisition, through the entire production workflow and ultimately to viewers as streaming IP packets.

NDI LINEUP

In practical terms, from NewTek’s point of view, that means acquisition with the NDHX-PTZ1 pan-tilt-zoom camera, across a typical IP network using the NDI protocol, to production equipment like its TriCaster TC1 production switcher and finally streamed to viewers via its MediaDS Media Distribution System.

The lineup of NDI products at the NewTek booth will include the new 3Play 3P1 replay device for NDI workflows as well as its new LivePanel IP-based control surface that enables video producers to control their NDI workflows from their tablets, smartphones, laptops and workstations.

The 3Play 3P1 is a four-input, two-output replay system with NDI IP connectivity. Together with NewTek’s TriCaster TC1 16-input, 4K-capable production switcher and NewTek-Vizrt NVG1 IP graphics server, the 3Play 3P1 is part of an NDI-based technology triumvirate NewTek calls the Dream Team, which packs all the muscle needed for network-quality sports production.

SOFTWARE-DRIVEN CONTROL PANEL

NewTek’s new LivePanel browser-based, software-driven control panel is compatible with any current OS and modern web browser. Users can define their own virtual control surfaces for LivePanel using the LivePanel Builder. More sophisticated interfaces are available on a contract basis from NewTek’s ProServ professional services division.

NewTek also will highlight its NDI HX products, including the NDHX-PTZ1 pan-tilt-zoom camera with NDI network connectivity, NDI HX HDMI and SDI converters, and a high-efficiency mode for NDI use in bandwidth restricted environments that allows 1080p video to be transported over Wi-Fi.

At the high end, the company will feature its flagship IP Series Video Mix Engine with 44 inputs and 35 outputs. Supporting video signals up to 4K/60p, the IP Series offers native NDI support as well as support for other IP protocols and standards, including ASPEN and SMPTE ST-2022, says the company.

NewTek has been shipping NDI, or Network Device Interface for about two and half years. In that time, there have been some 5,000 downloads of the NDI software development kit. A total of about 850 developers are actively creating NDI-based solutions for video production, and of those, about 400 to 500 are shipping NDI-enabled products, according to Brian Olson, NewTek’s vice president of product management.

[Read: NewTek Releases V3 Of NDI]

Fourteen NDI developers will be showing their products at the NDI Central Pavilion (SL5516), next to the NewTek booth.

The company will get the NAB ball rolling Sunday, April 8, with its NewTek Community Event. The event promises to give those who attend a preview of what the company has in store for them at the booth.

Kiki Stockhammer will host the shindig; NewTek founder Tim Jenison will speak, and Andrew Cross, company president and CTO, will present. The event will be held in the Congo Room of the SLS Las Vegas. Cocktails start at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 6:30.

NewTek will be in booth SL5016.

FREMONT, CALIF.—Lumens Integration is rolling out its new VC-A50PN Full HD PTZ IP camera, which comes with support for NewTek’s NDI | HX High Efficiency Mode technology built-in.

VC-A50PN, with the built-in NDI, provides video, audio, PTZ control, tally and power over a single Ethernet cable and can be recognized as a source by other NDI-enabled applications, products or devices. The camera also provides a full HD 1080p, 60 fps resolution and 20x optical zoom. HDMI and 3G-SDI inputs are also part of the camera.

Customers who have previously purchased the VC-A50P can upgrade and enable NDI capabilities through the NewTek website.

Lumens is offering the VC-A50PN for $2,799. It will be available during Q1 2018.

IVORYTON, CONN.—As a one-man band YouTube creator, operating a lean and efficient operation is key to my continued growth. I can’t afford the overhead of a crew so I need to do as much as possible during production to limit the time I have to spend in post.

The key to my workflow is the TriCaster Mini. It works with my HDMI-based consumer camcorders and computers, allowing me in real time to switch between multiple input sources and even layering them together as I review the latest consumer electronics gear for my audience. I control it all from a wireless keyboard on my desk while I talk.

SIMPLIFYING PRODUCTION
My workflow is pretty simple, I power up the cameras and TriCaster, sit down and get to work. An advantage of the Mini is it works with off-the-shelf consumer gear. While there are better options for image quality out there, the consumer gear automatically keeps me and the objects I’m reviewing in focus allowing me to avoid going through lengthy prep work.

With the TriCaster Mini, Lon Seidman can operate his YouTube channel without additional personel.

The real power of the TriCaster is its ability to layer in multiple video sources simultaneously. This allows me to show my fingers tapping on a smartphone while at the same time displaying a direct feed from that device on screen. I don’t have to sync things up in post-production or do anything other than just copy a completed video file to my editing software. Computers and other devices are connected via HDMI and are automatically scaled inside the TriCaster to work with my output format.

Because everything is shot live to disk, my post-production workflow usually consists of just stringing a few clips together in my editing software and uploading. The TriCaster records in a format that does not require my editing software to do any transcoding. In many cases I can shoot, edit and upload a video in under two hours with no crew.

SPECIAL FEATURES
I recently upgraded to the Advanced Edition software featuring Newtek’s NDI protocol. This allows me to use my in-home Ethernet network to transmit HD video back to the TriCaster like it was plugged directly in. I now have four NDI sources plus the four direct HDMI sources connected, which I use to bring in cameras from other portions of the house during production versus doing it in post later. In some cases I use MOCA network bridges to transmit the digital video back to the TriCaster using my cable television wiring.

What’s more I can take my program feed (including all of the multilayered effects, live sets, etc.) and stream it live from the TriCaster to multiple social media platforms. The TriCaster does it all and it’s small enough to be thrown in a backpack and taken offsite when needed for remote shoots and live streams.

I bought the TriCaster knowing if I could output more content my channel would grow faster. And grow it has. I have added more than 30 million views and 100,000 subscribers in less than two years without having to add a single person on staff. That speaks to the power this device can deliver to independent creators like myself.

It truly is a production truck in a tiny box and I couldn’t be happier with my investment.

Lon Seidman produces consumer-friendly technology reviews, commentary and how to’s on his YouTube channel athttp://lon.tv. He can be contacted by email atlon@lon.tv.

For more information, please visitwww.newtek.comor call 210-370-8000.

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek is ushering in the third generation of its NDI IP video technology. The new v3 provides new features, including support for multicast with forward error correction; a high efficiency mode for wireless or long distance transmission; PTZ camera control and tally; and improved encoding performance. In addition, NewTek has also collaborated with vendors for embedded NDI support for hardware devices, among them Panasonic.

Details of NDI v3’s new features include multicast support with forward error correction in NDI v3 allows a single NDI source to serve multiple destinations. The new high efficiency mode, NDI|HX offers full resolution, full frame-rate video that works with limited bandwidth wireless, remote and large scale networks. Support for PTZ cameras standardizes video, audio, tally and camera control and eliminates the need for separate control devices. And encodes on a modem i7-based machine at rates similar to 8K at 320fps, 4K at 1000fps and 1080p at 2500fps.

In addition to Panasonic, vendors that will utilize the new NDI v3 include BirdDog, Bluefish444, Microsoft Skype, NewBlueFX, OBS, PTZOptics, SplitmediaLabs – Xsplit, Broadcast Pix, Ross Video, Telestream Wirecast and Gameshow, vMix, NewTek and more.

NDI v3 SDK will be available for download starting in Q3 2017.

DALLAS—Osprey Video and NewTek have announced a collaboration that will see Osprey’s entire range of capture cards support NewTek’s Network Device Interface. With the integration, all Osprey cards will be recognizable as a source by other NDI-enabled applications and devices connected to a standard Ethernet local area network, allowing broadcasters to produce video over IP.

NDI is a bidirectional standard that enables facilities to share video and audio over IP by sending and receiving multiple input and output signals between devices on a network. NDI works independently of changing specifications and formats and supports integration with ASPEN, SMPTE 2022 and other standards.

The integration applies to all current Osprey Video capture cards, including its new 900 series.

SWANSEA, WALES—Software and hardware IP technology provider Quicklink has teamed up with NewTek, integrating support of NewTek’s NDI technology into its range of products. With NDI, Quicklink products are now able to support input and output over IP.

NDI Technology enables live IP production workflows over Ethernet networks. NDI connects any device to all other devices on the NDI network, providing access, control and creativity over IP.

NDI support will now be included on the Quicklink TX Multi and TX Quad, Quicklink Remote Communicator, Quicklink Mobile Encoder, Quicklink Standard and Enterprise Playout Servers and the Desktop to Studio system.

LAS VEGAS—The 2017 NAB Show served as the launching spot for a IP graphics server from the team of NewTek and Vizrt, the NVG1. The NVG1 – NewTek-Vizrt IP Graphics Server is a real-time 4K-capable 3D graphics system that offers deep integration with the NewTek IP series and the TriCaster TC1 video production systems.

NVG1 combines a NewTek 1RU server platform and NDI IP video connectivity with Vizrt’s Viz Trio/Viz Engine software. Through the NDI IP video standard, the NVG1 system can bi-directionally transfer video, audio, key, control and metadata on a single network cable over existing GigE infrastructures.

The system is available in either single or dual-channel configurations and can output in resolutions and frame rates up to 2160p60. The system will also include user customizable graphics packages for news and sports.

NewTek will plan to release the NVG1 system in Q2 2017 in the Americas region.