NewTek TriCaster Studio - Manual (Page 254)

Page | 234
output. When you eventually encode it for streaming, you can choose streaming settings that
best suit the intended audience and streaming environment.
At the very least, if (perhaps to save conversion time) you capture video for Web distribution, it’s
best to capture it at (at least) the size that you intend for final output, to ensure satisfactory
video quality for your viewers. When video is compressed (as it must be for the Web) you can
lose important detail; compressing a full-screen video down to a quarter or a sixteenth of its size
is a lesson in humility.
OTHER FACTORS
Other variables to keep in mind when you’re creating video for the Web are contrast and motion.
During video encoding for Web distribution, a fair amount of video information and detail can be
lost. For this reason, good lighting of your source video is essential.
Also, web streaming doesn’t handle detail, transitions and motion all that well -- so your best
shots should be close up, and without a lot of movement.
Too, audio from cameras and camcorders is rarely as good as that from external microphones.
You should at least use a clip-on lavaliere microphone, if not a directional or shotgun
microphone, to be sure you record only the audio you really want.
11.7 CONFIGURATION AND TR OUBLESHOOTING
As technologies go, video streaming is still in its adolescent phase, at best. There are a lot of
different standards and diverse environments to consider. TriCaster gives you the necessary
tools, but there are still some teething problems you may encounter. This section will point you
in the right direction to overcome them.
11.7.1 TESTING YOUR STREAM
When it comes to using your TriCaster in a professional live production environment (i.e., your
bread and butter depends on getting it right, and now - not tomorrow), failure to test
beforehand is not merely unwise - it can be professional suicide.
You should already be aware of the need for redundancy in a professional environment (you
didn’t bring just one camera, did you?) As reliable as any device may be, Murphy and his Law are