So I'm trying to model a high school TV studio after the GB studio a bit, and would like a bit of help....

I'd like to ask Drew directly, but didn't see his email anywhere so I figured I'd post an open topic on this.

I know about the Tricaster and want my kids working with one(we have a video switcher that does SDI, but the eventual goal is to do live broadcasts), but what type is it? I have a friend at another High School who uses a 460 but I wasn't sure if that was the model GB uses. if you have one of the 800 models, what's the advantage?

Do you think it's worth it to invest in a Mac Pro right now? We are running of some 2010 Mac Pro models and we're due for an upgrade, but I'm trying to weigh whether we should wait for a refresh or not.

Finally, Video Capture: what do you use to capture video from external sources? How do you link it into your system?

Last but not least, what's your cabling situation like? What type of cables do you use(BNC? SDI?) and what would you suggest for a fledgling studio?


I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks for anyone in the forums who can offer any sort of video tech nerd advice too.

-A teacher who has found the greatest high school in the world to work at.

Paging @drewbert, @unastrike and @vinny.

While you wait for @drewbert to answer, there's a ton of info in these behind the scenes videos:

You could also hit up the TriCaster forums over on the NewTek site. There are bound to be people there with similar situations.

(disclosure: NewTek pays me money (though I don't work on the video side of the company))

Thanks guys.


I just got a job at an awesome High School in Arizona being a Film/broadcasting teacher, and I want to give my kids a 4 year education that you'd get at most major universities(we have the funding, we just need to modernize the studio. I'm slowly dragging the studio into this decade, but I'm weighing what to buy). I've been a subscriber since the very first BLLSL, and figured if it's good enough for GB, it's definitely good enough for us.

well then @jarno, what tricaster would you suggest? We have a 7 camera setup feeding into an older video switcher and I'm looking to upgrade to a Tri-caster. Another school in the area has a 460, but what's the real difference between that and the 800 series? We are looking to do 1080p.

I can't really give you a suggestion, as I am but a humble software engineer in the LightWave3D division. So unless you want to model that TV studio in 3D I can't help much.

From what I understand the 800 series has been replaced by the 8000 series.

Sounds like a solid gig, congrats duder!

Does this mean we can get an edgy teenaged version of unprofessional Fridays?

I dunno if I'll ever trust my High Schoolers consistently enough to put them on live, but we'll see. It's going to be a simulation at the moment, and at the end of the school year in the future we're hoping to do some live streams. I'd eventually want to try some of the same things GB does for charity events and the ilk.

I can't wait to see Jack steal Becky's drawings.

@szlifier: Great list but you left out the most important part!

My job here is done.

Drew did talk a little about the Tricaster they've got during his Kiki Stockhammer story on Tested's Octobercast 2012. Starts about 14 minutes into this:

This makes me want a production team podcast. Do it like once a month and talk about some of the issues they ran into that month or what they're prepping for.

I'd be super interested in that. I don't do video and haven't been in a studio outside of the times I snuck in during my time in the military, but it's always been super fascinating to me. At one point I was seriously considering saving up to buy a video toaster without having any actual use for it, because I'm dumb like that.

@fisk0: Holy shit! You just blew my mind. Thank you!