Tag: Newtek

New Tek Lowers the Price of the TriCaster 450: Are They feeling the Heat

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 7:01 AM on April 8, 2013

NewTek NewTek has lowered the price for the TriCaster 455 by $6000, it is now $9995. The TriCaster 455 is described as “the affordable, integrated solution to produce your 4-camera, 14-channel, HD live show with maximum creative firepower—but with minimal proportions.”-(NewTek) Within the podcasting community the TriCaster was made famous when it was first used by Leo Laporte and TWIT. For the longest time if you were a podcaster and wanted to do your shows live, the TriCaster was the way to go. Now though there is a new player in the field, LiveStream which offers the LiveStream Broadcaster, and the Studio Family of Products. The Livestream Studio™ HD50 is $6,999 and the Livestream Studio™ HD500 is $8,500. Both which offer similar options that the TriCaster offers for a much lower prices.

If NewTek the maker of the TriCaster is feeling the pressure than this is good for the live video podcasting community. True competition is always good, it leads to lower prices and better products. If this means a new TriCaster is on the way, well that is even better, either way it is good news. The TriCaster 455 is an excellent product and this offer is only good until June 27, 2013. If you are thinking of buying a TriCaster this is the time.

Tags: live-streaming, Livestream, Newtek, Tricaster, video

Posted in audio, Gear, Information, video

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Tricaster TCXD850 Control Surface Review

Posted by geeknews at 12:34 AM on March 31, 2011

Since getting my TCXD850 Tricaster back in November, I knew that it was going to be awhile before the control surface for the 850 would be ready, and that operating the new Tricaster with only a mouse, keyboard and their older LC-11 controller was going to be a challenge.

The overload of control options needed to manage the system through the windows interface for a single operator that was also the host, was nearly impossible. Being my operation is largely a one man show, I could not wait to take delivery of the new control surface. Late this afternoon UPS delivered the new control surface, and I have spent the last five hours getting familiarized with all the features.

All I can really say is how did I make it 4 months without this. The form factor is a bit overwhelming as you can see from the image below that it consumes my studio desk. Sometimes size does mater and in this instance Newtek has really delivered here in a big way. While the price of the controller will make you cringe the ease of managing the Tricaster is worth every penny.

The control surface is broken down into sections, Transitions, Media Player Control, Live Sets, Virtual Input Management, a positioner, record, and two huge sections used for control and organization of live set and standard non green screen views.

I caught my self saying wow a bunch of times, because in reality I have up to this point only used about 10% of the features of the system. The best part is that I now have two teenagers that want to get behind the controls. Nothing like a lot of lights and switches to get someones juices flowing. If you are considering purchasing a Tricaster and go with the TCXD850, add the control surface to the purchase order, because you will be glad you ordered both. Take it from a guy that has been running one without the new controller for the past 4 months. Also let me know if you are about to pull the trigger on a Newtek product, I will get you hooked up with one of their Platinum Dealers.

I will be talking about the features and showing them off in my next show, so do not miss the next episode of the Geek News Central Podcast. If you want a tour of my entire studio click here.

Tags: Newtek, TCXD850, Tricaster

Posted in Information

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Tricaster TCXD850 Unboxing

Posted by geeknews at 10:48 PM on November 7, 2010

My new Tricaster TCXD850 was delivered this weekend. Ironically I am on extended travel, so I had it delivered to my Hotel room. The maids already were a bit freaked out with all the extra stuff I brought in for this extended trip not sure what they are gonna think now.

The box contained a keyboard, mouse, some adapters, two power cables, a special tool to help with connector removal. I will follow up with a full system review in the next couple of weeks.

Tags: Newtek, Tricaster

Posted in podcasting

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Tricaster TCXD850 Delivery Delays

Posted by geeknews at 10:26 AM on September 16, 2010

As all of you know I have been awaiting on the delivery of theTricaster TCXD850 to date we are still waiting on delivery. Newtek has not been real public on what is causing the delays beyond heavy demand. With record pre-orders it is apparent that Newtek is having significant trouble working off backlog, as many of their dealers are still waiting on their initial demo units.

In an age of transparency no news is not necessarily good news and leads to speculation on why they are having so much trouble. They knew demand was going to be high, and should have been able to ramp up production prior to the delivery date. Hardware configuration has been locked in for months, as they have been demonstrating the unit since before NAB. Software updates are to be expected up to launch date, but updating hard drives should be a no brainer in that all the drives are externally available.

For many months the new Tricaster has been eagerly awaited by many production companies and small media productions like mine. How much longer we have to wait is yet to be seen. My only hope is that Newtek start feeding more information to the dealers so at least we can resume our business planning. Having this much cash outlaid, with this long of a delivery period may be ok for big companies but it really hurts small companies like mine.