TriCaster TCXD850 Unveiled!

NewTek unveiled the newest TriCaster the TCXD850 at NAB. It's a pretty amazing machine; eight SDI/Component/Composite/S-Video inputs, two DDRs, three HD/SD SDI outputs, three HD/SD Component outs. NewTek hasn't neglected the audio section either with sixteen XLR mic/line inputs, eight AES/EBU digital inputs and up to eight embedded SDI audio channels.

The video is processed internally in 32 bit floating point 4:4:4:4 along with four channels of 32 bit floating point 96kHz audio. You can mix SD and HD sources and record up to 36 hours of 1080i HD video to the three removable hard drives.

The switcher also has eight virtual/mix channels that let you mix two sources along with overlays or virtual sets. The main DSK has two independent keys with positioning, scaling, cropping and 3D rotation. All sources have on-screen previews The switcher is rounded out with two iVGA inputs, a still store and titles.

The TriCaster TCXD850 includes SpeedEDIT 2.0 and the LiveText CG. It's all housed in a 4U rack mount box with all the I/O connections on the back. I got a peek inside and this looks to be the best built machine ever from NewTek, nice and tidy.

Oh, the price - $24,995. The projected ship date - July 15. That was a stunner. It doesn't look like we will have to wait six months for it ship.