TriCaster 460 alternative/replacement

Our high school has just been informed that our TriCaster 460 will is no longer eligible for NewTek's extended warranty (for which we pay $3k/yr). They advised us to purchase a new TC1 instead.

Backstory: before I was hired the previous teacher could not learn to use a Broadcast pix switcher that was in our TV studio, and therefore, could not teach the students how to use it. As a result, the school purchased a TC 460 the year before I was hired to address this. The benefits of the TriCaster are: easier to use for HS students, virtual sets are easy to set-up and use, built in DDRs and internal storage, and the ability to stream to directly to Youtube without the need for an external encoder/streaming.

Here's the issue that I have with this: 1. the old 460 control surface is not compatible with the TC1, which means that we would have to spend a minimum of $7K for a new one plus $15K for the TC1, for a total price (before taxes) ranging between $25-40K depending on the options. I am not too crazy about the TC. Our unit has had to be returned to Newtek twice due to malfunctions, it only does HD (4K with NDI, which I would not use), and the price is, in my opinion, absurd. The problem is that the TC is convenient and easy to use for our HS students, some of which I know for a fact might not be able to learn/use a more traditional switcher, so that presents potential problems so we can't just ditch the TriCaster without thinking about these potential issues. We had a Grass Valley switcher at my previous employer, and it was a challenge to get HS students to be proficient using it, so we switched to an ATEM switcher and set up separate components for playback and an encoding video for live streaming.

Can anyone recommend:
(a) a switcher/control surface:
(b) that is not be too complicated for HS students to learn how to use,
(c) a DDR system for video playback,
(d) able to use virtual sets, and
(e) a live streaming/encoding system?

With the ATEM system at my previous employer we had external/separate components to do (b)-(e), but that was a long time ago and I would appreciate any up to date info on these that anyone can offer.

I know that if I put an ATEM system together to do all of this the cost would be well below $25K. I really wish that BlackMagic would make a self-contained system like a TriCaster since a lot of educational institutions use it just because of the simplicity and convenience.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated since I have about 1 month to make a decision on this. Thank you

Up until mid-2019 we used to use a Tricaster 460, but ditched it because of a) frequent overheating. b) Despite automatic updates being switched off, Microsoft somehow snuck in an update when we were setting up for a live sports event, which caused a serious rehearsal delay and we nearly lost the client over it. c) Over a 12-hour period we would have at least one system freeze and have to perform a power down re-boot.

So we bought an ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K, ATEM Camera CCU and an UltraStudio 4K Mini, which then streams via the Lightning port on a Dell G5 laptop. We also run the ATEM software from a cheap desktop touchscreen PC. This we use to run the ATEM Fairlight audio mixer page.

The streaming software we use is the HD version of vMix, in which you can create all your titles, key overlays, green screen and importantly for you, has a facility for virtual sets. It also has NDI ins and outs. You can get vMix free for two months and it's outright purchase, not subscription. It's very easy to learn & use, the streaming quality is spot-on and vMix has a huge number of YouTube tuition vids.

The whole Blackmagic system cost us around a third of the price of the Tricaster 460, it's never locked-up and when combined with vMix, it's very quick from out of the cases to being ready to stream.

(BTW with the ATEM TSP 4K you can put any mixture of resolution inputs in and it'll convert to whatever the main O/P resolution is, which we simply couldn't do with our old Tricaster).

Since my day job is managing a public access facility that is located in a high school, I can at least tell you about the set-up that we have, since most of the productions we do every year are crewed by HS students. And they are happily comfortable using an ATEM 2 M/E with the 2 M/E Broadcast Panel on a daily basis.

Over the years, our station has fallen for a few of the all-in-one solutions that have been offered by Newtek (and its former employees!) such as the Toaster, Play Trinity and the 1st generation Tricaster, all of which did a lot of things and none of them well.

So, I constantly find myself going back to having individual components for each part of the production. To be honest, I think it gives the kids a better understanding of the process and it allows more kids to be involved in every program. And in all of my years of freelancing in the professional world, I have yet to work on a production that is using an all-in-one solution, so I still feel like we are giving the kids a glimpse of "real-world" production.

As far as the switcher, we have used just about every iteration of the ATEM with different models in different parts of our operation. So, they've controlled the ATEMs with laptops, desktops with a mouse a keyboard, touchscreens, and, most often, with the Broadcast Panels (both the 1 & 2 M/Es). Right now, our main switcher is the 2 M/E ATEM, which we hope to upgrade to a Constellation soon, with the 2 M/E Panel.

I'm not sure how many cameras and other inputs that you have and may plan to have. Personally, I like the separate switcher and panel. But, you could also look TV Studio that has the full-sized integrated panel.

For video playback, we're currently just using ProPresenter. What I really like about ProPresenter is that you can integrate graphics really easily (we use it to create openers and closing credits sequences, in addition to normal video playback), many of the kids are already familiar with the software if they help out with video production at their churches, and the newest version that was just released eliminated the need to buy any additional modules. So, now you can alpha key, use SDI, etc. right out of the box if you've got the appropriate video card.

Sorry, I can't help you out on the virtual sets. I have a certain disdain for them, so we've never used them.

And for streaming, really all you need is a computer with a capture card. In our set-up, we do have the Blackmagic Web Presenter attached to a desktop that's running OBS and sending it to YouTube Live, but just about any capture card or device will get the job done.

Certainly, you know your HS students better than I do, but I think that HS kids, after being initially intimidated by some of the gear, get pretty good at it pretty quickly.

Hope that helps a little.

I operate and use a variety of atems the newest being and television 4k pro. I have also helped a local high school operate their stadiums videoboard using their 460. It crashed last year. The stuck with a tricaster as a replacement but the cost for the tricaster, a replay system, etc was crazy. I think Ryan is absolutely correct. I do miss the ddr on the tricaster for playback of commercials, billboards, etc. I would like to see BMD improve this aspect of the atem or give us a poor mans chryon machine.

Thank you Ryan and Thomas for your replies.

I do miss the ddr on the tricaster for playback of commercials, billboards, etc. I would like to see BMD improve this aspect of the atem or give us a poor mans chryon machine.

This is the advantage of the TriCaster: it's has a lot of functionality built into to it so it's convenient. It would be awesome if Blackmagic developed something to compete with it. As I mentioned, a lot of schools use it because of the convenience and relative ease of use. I think BM could really make a dent in that market if they chose to, but as Ryan mentioned, these all in one systems do a lot of things but usually none of them very well. I do not want to continue using TriCasters, but our entire studio is wired around it.

Thanks for your response Ryan. I forgot to mention that when I was hired I replaced two analog video routers with a Smart Videohub 40x40 and that I got rid of a TriCaster mini that was being used for remote productions and replaced it with an ATEM 2/ME that we have in a carrying case. We need virtual sets because the entire studio is one giant green screen, and keying out the green with a normal background doesn't look that great.

Thanks again

I have no experience working with virtual sets, but I'm wondering if simpler ones might be possible to manage using the SuperSource feature on some of the larger ATEM models?

Actually, BMD advertises the ATEM Constellation as being optimal for this due to its having 16 "advanced" keyers available... https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... stellation


I notice that the Production Studio 4K also has 16 "advanced" keyers (but only one SuperSource vs. two on the Constellation) - https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/atem/features