What prompted your search for better tools?
Several years ago, our Educational Access department expanded to include full-term classes in Finneytown and Winton Woods High Schools. Prior to that, we had active video clubs established at both the high school and middle school levels. Through this interaction with the local students, the Educational Access department was videotaping more events than could be turned around and aired. The summers became "shelf-clearing" time when these programs were finally converted, titled and aired. Most of the programs created by our center play on our channels within a day or two of the actual event (some are LIVE). This includes concerts, presentations and sporting events. With the number of programs generated by the students, we were looking for a way to do this for the class and school events as well.

Why did you choose TriCaster™?
TriCaster was the perfect solution. With its graphical capabilities, we were able to recreate standard graphics that we used in other CG programs in Video Toaster and DeKO and incorporate them into TriCaster. This allowed us to maintain a consistent look across our channel and within the first month, the schools have produced a dozen programs with TriCaster.

What benefits did TriCaster bring?
Our studio has been recognized nationally for our volunteer/student produced sporting events. One of the reasons is the consistency in the production values of these programs. The TriCaster has allowed our club students to hook up a full-scale production center at these venues within thirty minutes. We have used VHS, S-VHS and miniDV camcorders to shoot the games and with the built-in proc amp controls, matching the cameras was no problem. The CG even allows us to change scores LIVE on the screen!

How does TriCaster expand your live capabilities?
As we cover multi-hour events, the ability to roll in a set of public service announcements through TriCaster’s playlist enhances the professionalism of the program as well as providing needed breaks for set changes and crew relief. We can also utilize pre-produced show opens in the programs. TriCaster VM™ has also been invaluable by providing a "remote" control for the camera switching, graphics integration and key effects.

After only a month, the proposed use of TriCaster has expanded far beyond a simple "on-site" transfer station to a third multi-camera remote production studio, complimenting our production truck and "ROSIE-RACK" multi-camera system. We can already see the possibilities of adding future TriCaster systems to our studio in the future.

For more information about Waycross Community Media, visit www.waycross.org