NewTek HD Rumors

Check out the updates at the end  of this post.

I was going through my logs yesterday and found that a bunch of people have been searching Google for "NewTek HD Rumors". I thought that was a pretty good topic for a post so here it is.

It's actually no rumor. NewTek's first High Def product will be shipping in the near future. It's called the 3Play and is a three channel instant replay box. It will do both HD and SD and is based on NewTek's new HD hardware. I've actually seen a prototype being waved around at last April's dealer meeting but not actually operating.

It was tentatively expected to be released by the end of the year according to NewTek insiders at NAB last April but that's definitely not a firm or even verified ship date. Retail price has not been announced but the 3Play will probably be the most expensive product in NewTek's history, I'm guessing between $12k and $14k but don't come yelling at me if I'm wrong. This may seem expensive but best as I can tell the next cheapest solution is north of $100,000.

I suspect that the only real difference between the 3Play and a TriCaster HD is the software so we'll probably see a TriCaster HD sometime next year, Hopefully by NAB.

2/2/09 Update: I was way off on the MSRP. It's $21,995. Still a good great deal for what it does.

2/12/09 update: More details here: http://newteknews.blogspot.com/2009/02/newtek-announces-3play.html and you can preorder and see pictures here. Or call 1-800-692-6442 to arrange a demo.

4/16/09 Update: TriCaster XD300 leaked: http://newteknews.blogspot.com/2009/04/hd-tricaster-news-leaked-xd300.html

4/24/09 Update: TriCaster XD300 Preview 
8/19/09 Update 3Play Hands On Review