< Previous | Contents | Next >
92. When you click an icon on the ring (such as New or Open), that item advances to the front-most position.
Hint: Alternatively, you can use the keyboard’s left and right arrow keys to cycle through the icons on the ring.
Choosing an icon from the ring also updates the right-hand pane of the Home Page to
FIGURE 92)
FIGURE 93 (Multi-standard options shown)
provide options and controls related to your choice.
For example, the first thing you will likely do on launching a new TriCaster is create a session. In anticipation of that, the New icon is automatically pre-selected whenever no sessions already exist on TriCaster.
This results in the relevant session options being displayed at right, as shown in Figure 93 (Multi-standard TriCaster options shown).
As just mentioned, clicking New on the icon ring populates the pane at right with related options.
Principally, for each session you must designate (by selecting switches) your local video standard (Multi-standard model only – select NTSC, PAL or NTSC-J) and session format –1080i, 1080/24p, 1080/30p, 720p, 720/30p, 720/24p, 480/30i (16:9) or 480/30i (4:3). Multi-standard models offer PAL format equivalents.
SESSION NAME
You will see a name field for your session listed above the options pane at right (Figure 94). You can click in this field to modify the default name (the current date) using the keyboard.
TEMPLATE
The Template drop-down menu (Figure 94) lists all sessions currently available on the system. If you select an entry, the session you create subsequently retains all settings of the source session, but without content from its Media Player playlists.
VOLUME
A control labeled Volume appears just beneath the Session name. This assigns the hard drive the session (and its associated content) will be created and stored on.
Note: When using TriCaster’s IsoCorder™ feature to record multiple sources, you will likely assign more than one hard drive to capture duties. Session keep track of their recorded clips too, providing easy access to them for live use.
Suitable hard drives inserted in removable drive bays on selected TriCaster models are listed in a drop-down menu when you click on the Volume control. You can select any drive shown as the session drive.
Note: External drives are not recommended for active use as session drives. See Section
A.1.8 for hard drive recommendations for use in TriCaster’s removable drive bays.
FORMAT AND OUTPUT CONSIDERATIONS
Remember that for live production, TriCaster can simultaneously supply both SD and HD output for either SD or HD sessions. During an HD session, for example, you can output either (or both) HD or SD video, and SD video output can be either in a 16:9 widescreen format or cropped for display on a 4:3 television (see Section 8.1).
The session setting has some other significant ramifications, too. For example, if your session format is SD 4:3, this is the file format captured by the Record function when capturing Program output … even when the video cameras supplying your inputs are HD; the opposite is also true.
Note: See Section 8.1 for more information on Video Output configurations.
Having made your selections, you would normally click the Start Session button at lower right to launch TriCaster’s Live Desktop – but first, let’s explore a few other features of the Home Page.
EJECT
FIGURE 95
An Eject button at the top right corner of the page allows you to safely disconnect external drives. (Drives can also be ejected from the Live Desktop.)
Note: Media configured as Read Only is not shown for the New or Open (session) features, since they cannot be used for sessions. However, Read Only media can be used for import purposes.
If there are existing sessions on TriCaster, the icon ring on the Home Page will default to Open (Figure 96). Clicking Open causes the Sessions List to appear at right. This pane lists all sessions stored on qualified media currently mounted on TriCaster.
Available sessions are grouped under the names of the storage volume they are located on (Figure 97). The listing shows the Session Name and Format for each session. Let’s look at the Sessions List briefly before we open a session.
CONTEXT MENU
Right-click a session name to open a context menu with two items listed in it: Rename and Delete. Be aware that the Delete function should be used thoughtfully, as it cannot be undone.
All c ontent s tored i n the nam ed s es si on’s folders will be del eted, including clips, images and titles, and even LiveText title project files created within the session (unless you have deliberately saved the projects and related files to locations outside the session folders).
Note: Content that is not local to the session but which was used in it is not deleted. For example, you may have added still images to your playlist directly from a USB thumb- drive, doing so without actually importing the files into the session. Those external files will not be deleted.
RESTORE SESSION BACKUP
In another section of the Startup Screen (Session Page>Manage) there is a feature that allows you to back up the current session to another storage volume.
The Restore Session Backup link at the bottom of the Session List (for each drive) is provided to compliment this feature. To restore a session you have previously archived, click Restore Session Backup (Figure 98), and use the file explorer provided to select a .SessionBackup file.
Click Open, and a progress gauge will track the restoration process. In due course, the newly restored session will be added to the Session List for the specified drive.
Hint: Restoring a session that has a lot of content can take considerable time. Be judicious, then, if considering a restoration shortly before a scheduled live production.
OPENING A SESSION
Just as you were able to select an icon on the ring using the left and right arrow keys, you can highlight a name in the Session List using the Up and Down arrow keys; then press the Enter key to open it (or simply click the name of a session to open it immediately).
Selecting a session takes you away from the Home Page to the Sessions Screen.
This selection provides Restart TriCaster, Shutdown TriCaster, and Administrator Mode links. The first two options are presumably self-explanatory, but the latter deserves a bit more discussion.
ADMINISTRATOR MODE
Selecting Administrator Mode from the Shutdown menu on the Home Page icon ring exits TriCaster’s live production environment, and takes you to a new screen (Figure
99) that offers various functions and settings having to do with TriCaster system maintenance and management.
Administrator Mode options are grouped under several headings, as discussed next.
BROWSE
Web – Opens the default system Internet browser.
Files on Disk – Opens a system file window.
SYSTEM UTILITIES
Register TriCaster – TriCaster shows a watermark on output before registration, so we encourage you to register early.
Among other reasons, doing so will serve to identify the unit to NewTek as yours in case of theft, and will also allow you to check for software updates that may have been recently released. (The steps in the registration process were outlined back in Section 3.3, so we won’t repeat them here.)
Update TriCaster – NewTek may periodically provide software updates for your TriCaster. Updates can enhance performance, security or even add useful new features.
If TriCaster is connected to the Internet, clicking Update TriCaster will automatically check for a more recent software version and offer to install it. This way you can be sure the very latest *release version of the software for your TriCaster is installed.
Alternatively, you can go to the NewTek web site, click My Account, and use the login details you provided when registering your TriCaster to access your personal product page. Click the “my downloads” link at the top of the page, and check the list shown.
If you find an update, you can install it manually as follows:
1. Locate a suitable update in “downloads” and click on it.
2. At the dialog popup, choose Run.
3. Comply with any onscreen prompts that follow.
* Advance software releases are also sometime posted on the ‘downloads’ page for manual download and installation. These versions, listed as “Latest” on the web page, will be newer than those provided by automatic update and (although not yet approved for final release) might be well worth trying if you encounter an issue.
Hint: If you wish, you can instead access the same webpage from a second computer connected to the Internet, then transfer update files to TriCaster using a network connection or perhaps a USB thumb-drive.
Defragment all Drives
Over the course of lengthy use, data on hard drives devoted to audio and video storage tends to become fragmented, which degrades playback performance. Defragmenting will correct this condition.
You could think of your hard drive as being like a shelf in your library. As time goes along, the shelf fills with books. Some are quite large, others smaller – just as TriCaster media files may be larger smaller.
As time goes along, you decide to remove books you have finished using from the shelf, in order to make room for new additions. You remove a book here, another there, opening up gaps between the remaining books.
This makes some shelf space available by creating gaps between the remaining books. Sadly, another large new book may be too big to fit in any one of the gaps.
FIGURE 100
A foolish librarian might tear the new book into smaller sections, just big enough to fit into the open spaces on the shelf. This would obviously be unwise. When you wish to refer to the book later, you will waste a lot of time locating and assembling its sections before you can access it.
How much better it would be to slide the remaining books closer together, combining all the free space first. Unfortunately, computers are ‘foolish librarians’. They tend to want to fill in all the gaps in their storage areas, even if this requires literally shredding your ‘book’ (in reality large video files from your TriCaster sessions) into tiny fragments.
Defragmenting the storage volume has the same effect as sliding the books together, resulting in one or more larger gaps. The end result is that TriCaster doesn’t have to frantically search in many different places to assemble the video streams from your recorded session.
Hint: Defragmentation can sometimes take considerable time, so it’s not something you want to begin just before an important event.
Backup or Restore System – A complete set of Backup and Restore features are available to help in the event of an unforeseen problem.
We strongly encourage you to protect against any unforeseen occurrence by using the Backup feature soon after registering TriCaster. Please refer to Section A.5.7 in Appendix Chapter 22 for details.
Command Window – Open a system command line window, allowing you (among other things) to use advanced commands to manage your system and network settings.
Swap Primary Monitor – reverse the monitor assignments currently in use for TriCaster’s interface and Multiview displays.
SETTINGS
Regions and Language – Open the system language control panel.
Advanced Keyboard – Open the system keyboard controls panel.
Date and time – Open the system keyboard controls panel.
Configure Network – Open the system network controls panel.
Display – Open the system display controls panel (useful for configuring multiple monitors, among other things).
Fonts –Open the system font management console, allowing you to add that new font your client wants you to use for their title pages.
System Name – It can be very useful to modify the default name your TriCaster is identified on the network. This is especially true when more than one TriCaster might be on the same network. The System Name feature opens the System Properties console’s Computer Name tab. Click the Change button to modify the current name.
SHUTDOWN
Exit to Windows – Leave the Administration Mode screen and display the standard system desktop.
Back to TriCaster – Exit Administration Mode, and return to TriCaster’s
Startup screen and the production environment.
Select the Help icon to reveal links to open TriCaster manuals and other information.
The primary User Guide and Control Surface manuals are found here, as well as documentation for other TriCaster features, such as the LiveText™ manual. | FIGURE 101 |
Click the License Agreement link to review the TriCaster license requirements, or the About TriCaster link to list software version information, credits and acknowledgments.
NewTek offers additional software tools to expand the power of your TriCaster.
The icon labeled Add-Ons on the Home Page provides access to some of these tools. When you select it, links are displayed for installed software applications, allowing you to launch them. (For example, Figure 102 shows links to the included Animation Store Creator utility as well as a demo version of the optional Virtual Set Editor™ program.)