Will we be able to take MPEG2 files recorded on a Tricaster Studio v2.0 and drop them into the VS4 for playback?

Have you talked to Newtek about this? I think there may be a work-around for this. We are looking into this currently also. I believe they may have fixed this on the Tricaster Broadcast version. (by fixed I mean, made the file format more compatible with other machines)

Yesterday, I sent an email to Newtek's technical staff and I'm waiting to hear back. Your information is helpful though, as I wasn't aware of them flexing in that direction. Thank you for the follow-up. Tom

I was wondering about that - I recorded a MPEG-2 on the new Tricaster Studio, and while it played back fine in Windows Media Player on the Video Server, it didn't play the audio over the air.

I ended up taking the file into Premiere Pro, and exporting as an MPEG2 - then it recognized the audio tracks. I haven't played with recording changes on the Tricaster yet, but assumed in the configure menu there was a setting to pick audio types in recording.

It would be very helpful to have a way to drag and drop a file from the Tricaster to the video server without having to re-encode the file.

Tom

If enough of us talk to the folks at NewTek perhaps they will come up with a solution. I have heard that the problem is unique to the way the Tricaster creates files. It is a bit disconcerting if one cannot record a digital file in a format that is compatible with other systems such as FCP or Cablecast. I am in the middle of a couple of projects that were recorded on Tricaster FX and we have not yet been able to get them to play out of our SX4 and cannot import them into FCP either. I just haven't had the time to deal with NewTek on this yet. We are hoping to upgrade to the Tricaster Broadcast in the next month and I am hoping that this will solve this problem, but don't quote me on that.

John's initial response sums it up. There is a difference between Newtek's flavor of MPEG2 and TR's. Newtek wraps their SpeedHQ codec around their files--this is why they play on a machine that has Speed Edit installed, and play natively on the Tricaster. This info was sent to me from Newtek.
In order to view TC files elsewhere, you need to download or obtain the correct codec files from the TC--If the MPEG2 files were copied from the TriCaster then you need to download, and install the TriCaster Utilities. The utilities are located on the registration site (http://reg.newtek.com). You don't have to install everything in the utilities, just the codec pack...and I wouldn't install any additional codecs (on a TR machine) without first checking with TR support. Remember, the codec is for just viewing the file elsewhere--this doesn't alter the original file, so this will not make the TR server capable of playing a SpeedHQ MPEG2 file. I have not tested Newtek's recommendation for viewing their MPEG2 files..

I like the idea of talking with Newtek about adding recording "options" for their MPEG2 recorder. Simple codec options that facilitate later export to other programs and servers. As it is now, our only option may be to import the file into Speed Edit, and export it as the file that John describes above.

Have you guys tried the latest update that was posted on Sept 19th. ?

Just thought I'd follow up on this topic, as we have a TC Broadcast in our studio, and am looking at an SX2 server. I'd really prefer to just take the native file from the TC and put it into the SX2, rather than re-encoding it from Premiere Pro.

Has anyone had success playing Tricaster MPEG files in Cablecast?

We have not tried it lately, but I know it did not work previously. However, I know that they (Newtek) have changed some file formats in their upgrades. We have two Tricasters and an SX4 server and will try it and get back to you, unless someone else answers first. Thanks

We just upgraded to an SX2 and haven't tried putting any format other than MPEG2 into it. We're taking the long way around with realtime encodes to the SX2 from the Avid timeline. Avid won't play with MPEG2 anyways, and we never upgraded our TC Studio to v.2 MPEG. We do use Speed Edit to unwrap Newtek's AVI codec thus sending a recognizable file to the Avid for import. We're not using the full production capacity of the TC Studio-just offlining multicam shoots for posting in Avid. Having said all this, you should be able to export anything created with TC products using Speed Edit (as long as you unwrap Newtek's codec), and your exported file should play fine with a wide world of devices. Good Luck. I'll be following this, as we will at sometime be finishing shows with the TC Studio and be in the same boat with you!