digitalbuilt

With this latest release Tricaster owners can take full advantage of the latest Flash Media Live encoder, and more:

NewTek is pleased to announce the immediate availability of TriCaster Upgrade 2.5. This download, at http://register.newtek.com is free for TriCaster owners already using Upgrade 2.0. (Any TriCaster that records Live Production in MPEG-2 is utilizing the newer software). TriCaster producers can take advantage of the following benefits:

The ‘Regular’ encoder profile (when recording live productions and in Capture Media) has been dramatically upgraded. Doubling the base bit-rate reduces compression and, along with a number of other MPEG-2 encoding improvements, provides much improved image quality. The Regular Profile is an excellent choice for general purpose use, and is equivalent to or better than the common ‘DV’ file format in most situations

A new, even higher-quality option is now available for Record and Capture Media. The ‘Studio’ profile likewise cuts MPEG-2 compression in half and doubles the bit-rate. In addition, though, it also implements 4:2:2 color sampling. Enhanced sub-sampling reduces motion artifacts, provides better color registration and apparent sharpness, and most importantly ensures optimal results for chroma keying.

The resulting files fulfil the requirements for “High Profile” MPEG-2 encoding established by the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG). It’s worth noting that these files even exceed the quality of NewTek SpeedHQ files. Please note, though, that Studio Profile is ‘off’ by default. This maximizes file compatibility with external applications (some of which may lack support for High Profile definition MPEG-2 files).

TriCaster Upgrade 2.5 supports Adobe® Flash® Media Live Encoder 3. This important update offers H.264 streaming, offer simultaneous streams at multiple bit rates and improved compatibility with popular streaming providers, such as UStream.TV.

Several new streaming profiles have been provided in TriCaster’s Record/Stream tab to make it easy for you to access these new streaming capabilities. 

Source: http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96524

Full review in a few hours after I install the 333MB upgrade.

Update: See test stream here: http://ne.edgecastcdn.net/00025B/LivePlayer/testplayer/LivePlayer.html  H.264 512k, 480×270 (audio off).

Our friends over at Flashcomguru point out that both Flash Media Encoder and Streaming Server have been updated to 3.0 and 3.5 respectively.

While for many of us FMSS is something we leave to the CDNs (Akamai, Edgecast) there are some important new features that as content creators we can take advantage of.  Dynamic streaming, something Adobe talked about at NAB last year, is now fully implemented.  Essentially if you are running multibitrate streams fluctuations of the viewers bandwidth will not interrupt the stream, the switch from high to low  would be transparent.  That keeps the viewer watching, and happy.

The new FME lets you make use of the multibitrate feature, up to three streams can be encoding (example:  low, med, high).  Send that up to a CDN using FMSS 3.5 and you have your dynamic streaming. 

Perhaps you are using UStream, or want to, here is how: UStream help

Now if we could just get Newtek and their Tricaster to implement FME 3.0…