Training on NewTek’s 3Play? Read the Manual

By Carolyn Braff

Within staff-strapped collegiate athletic departments, the title of
producer is often bestowed lightly. Individuals with a wide range of
expertise populate a college control room, so equipping that room with
gear that is easy to operate- and easy to learn- is of the utmost
importance. That’s where the NewTek 3Play multichannel HD/SD
slow-motion replay system comes in.

The 3Play was first used commercially
less than a month ago, to live-stream the finals of the NBA Development
League. Roger Schroeder, a freelance EVS operator, was called in to
work the NewTek box, which he had never seen before, and was confident
that anyone, even without his 15 years’ experience working in the
truck, could pick up the box and run with it.

“All I knew,” he says, “was that it was brand new out of NAB and they
said it was going to be a different machine than I was used to.”

Instead of a tutorial on operating the 3Play, NewTek SVP of Strategic
Development Philip Nelson handed Schroeder a brochure. After reading
through the instructional pamphlet, Schroeder was easily able to run
replays and playlists through the 3Play.

“There are a couple of things that weren’t exactly clear to me as far
as trimming edit points on playlists, but, for the college market, you
can give anyone a manual, and this will be a very easy box for people
to learn to use,” Schroeder says. “Nobody understands what an EVS is,
and the easiest way I’ve found to describe it — which you’re probably
going to have to do at the college level — is that it’s a TiVo that can
edit and do slow-motion replay. It’s like a TiVo on steroids.”

With three channels of HD and four digital or analog audio streams per
input, the $21,995 price point on the HD/NTSC SD version of the TiVo on
steroids is particularly suited for college athletic departments.

Schools should be cautioned, however, that the 3Play should not be confused with an EVS.

“There’s a huge difference between the two units,” Schroeder explains.
“There’s an $80,000-$100,000 difference in price between an EVS and the
NewTek box, but there’s also a big difference in performance. The EVS
is like a Ferrari; it’s the best you can possibly get. The NewTek box
is for people who can get downtown comfortably in a Volkswagen.”

Most scoreboard operators do not need to have 100 playlists at their
fingertips, he adds, so having the capability to create five or six on
the NewTek model – as Schroeder did during the D-League game – is just
fine.

To learn more about broadcasting
solutions priced for the college market, come to the College Sports
Video Summit, June 9-10 in Atlanta. Priced at just $75 for college,
university, and conference employees, this event is the most important
investment you can make in your school’s video future. For more
information, visit http://csvsummit.com/.