NewTek’s TriCaster TCXD300 ignites 3rd multicam revolution, now in HD

Any video professional with a couple of decades of experience under her/his belt will remember the original Video Toaster, which was a card that ran in a Commodore Amiga computer, and (among many others) included the infamous Kiki wipe. Despite very minor defects, the original Video Toaster —in its era— represented a revolution for multi-camera live (or live-on-tape) productions. Now NewTek has given birth to the HD-capable version of the 3rd-generation product. The TriCaster TCXD300 is an amazing standalone box that works in either SD or HD, and can record internally or externally, in addition to encoding live webcasts in HD. It has a high quality character generator and includes virtual sets. After attending an intense, multiple-hour demonstration in Miami, conducting a radio interview for both of TecnoTur’s audio channels (the current Castilian channel, and the upcoming English channel) with two TriCaster team members, and a followup e-mail interaction with NewTek’s executive VP of engineering, I now know that there is no exaggeration in stating that the TriCaster TCXD300 is indeed the 3rd multicam revolution for HD live-to-disk, HD live-to-air, or HD live-to-web production. Experience many of the details in this article.

Podcasting has gone way beyond the Pod

The medium that most of us call podcasting has gone way beyond the Pod. When I say that, I am referring to both known etymologies of the term podcast: 1) The first, which refers specifically to Apple’s iPod devices. 2) The second, which states that the letters P—O—D in podcasting are actually an acronym for the words Portable On Demand. Of course, almost everyone knows that the programs which are popularly called podcasts can now be played on computers and multiple portable mobile devices, including iPads, iPods, iPhones, Blackberries and a handful of other portable audio players and other smart mobile telephones. But beyond that, some people are not yet aware that the market is now being flooded with many other devices that can receive and play these “podcast” programs directly, without any computer in the loop, including some HDTV sets, and even an in-dash car radio which connects to the Internet wirelessly. In this article, you’ll discover those, plus Internet table radios and inexpensive set top boxes which tune podcasts directly, without a computer. You’ll also get to reason with me about whether we should still be calling this medium podcasting, and keep calling the programs podcasts… and what this all means, both for content producers and for listeners/viewers.

JuicedLink launches benign method of defeating AGC in hybrid cameras

By introducing the DN101, any of the existing CX family of preamps from JuicedLink can now interface properly with the current audibly-challenged hybrid cameras and defeat their AGC (Automatic Gain Control) in a benign way. We know that the best way to record audio with these cameras is with a separate professional audio recorder. However, there are occasions when there isn’t time to sync separate audio in post (even when you have the help of a wonderful tool like PluralEyes). In those cases, we want the best possible audio available from the camera, even though it certainly won’t be as good as what an independent pro audio recording would be. JuicedLink has always shown a purist engineering attitude, and is known for their tutorial videos which successfully translate audio engineering terms and concepts for the layperson. In one of its latest videos called Tones are evil!, JuicedLink’s president and engineer explains why he believes that his method of defeating the AGC in cameras is superior to 20 KHz tone-based methods used by competitors like Beachtek. Learn more about this issue, the JuiceLink company, philosophy, and audio products in this article.

Vimeo finally goes mobile + adds 1080p and HTML5 (ßeta)

Vimeo, a leading video hosting/gallery site offering both paid and free models, has finally added mobile capability for its paying clients. This capability finally allows Vimeo Plus members to make their videos compatible with mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, Palm Pre, and Google/Android devices like the Nexus One. Vimeo Plus members can also now have the option to have web-based 1080p videos (although the wisdom of that today is debatable). Finally, all videos on Vimeo —whether from Plus members or standard members— will now have the option to be viewed either with the new HTML5 (ßeta) player (browser dependent), or the pre-existing Flash player (device dependent). This article will cover these three new features in more detail, and discuss their ramifications, both for content creators and content viewers.

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