University of Portland Ramps Up Sports Media Production and Streaming with NewTek TriCaster 860

In 18 months, the University of Portland ramped up an in-house video department and delivered a Portland Pilots women’s basketball game live on TV. Using a NewTek TriCaster™ 860 multi-camera production system with TriCaster Advanced Edition, and a 3Play™ 425 slow motion/instant replay server, the department is on track to produce eight Pilots home games this season along with monthly 30-minute shows “Portside With The Pilots” for the Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

Led by Jose Nevarez, the 18-person Portland Sports Network team - consisting of mostly students – is able to deliver high quality professional coverage that would typically require a 40-person team from a production company. So whether it’s basketball games at the Chiles Center or soccer matches at Merlo Field, the Portland Sports Network catches all the action, making every full game available online, along with clips for the school’s YouTube and social media channels.

The department recently upgraded its TriCaster 860 with TriCaster Advanced Edition, enabling higher production quality and more automation to ensure every production runs smoothly.

The students also have professional instant replay and slow motion at the tips of their fingers with the NewTek 3Play 425 replay server. The simplicity of 3Play allows Nevarez to effectively train a student within an hour.

With such a successful program, other schools have reached out to find out more about their video program so they can implement similar solutions to garner media coverage for their teams. Nevarez credits his entire team and their student workforce with the success they’ve had getting games on Comcast SportsNet in such a short time period.

“All of the students are very intrigued by the NewTek TriCaster and 3Play, and have learned to use them quickly,” he says. “Some of these students had never touched a camera when they began, and now they can shoot and edit an entire show – it’s really incredible what our small team is producing.”

In preparation for expanded media coverage in the future, the university is in the process of building a control room and has already installed caging to provide a secure, enclosed workspace within the Chiles Center basketball and volleyball arena. The full enclosure is scheduled for completion in summer 2016.

For detailed workflow information and the complete story please visit the NewTek blog here.