Where as TriCaster is able to produce a single stream of video content, albeit that with Advanced Edition, you can now send this single video streams to multiple destinations, the MediaDS is a dedicated real-time media encoding and live streaming video delivery platform, which is able to stream up to video channels to multiple destinations.

 

TriCaster also only supports RTMP/RTSP protocols where as MediaDS also supports Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), MPEG-DASH, and WOWZ as well as RTMP/RTSP. Both systems are able to record an archive of the stream, however the MediaDS can record all four channels, vs the TriCaster’s single channel.

 

So to quickly summarise, here’s a quick comparison between the three systems (TriCaster, TriCaster + Advanced Edition & MediaDS):

 

TriCaster

  • 1.5G/HD/SD (1080i50/60 or 1080p25/30) inputs
  • Single streaming channel
  • Single destination
  • 1280 x 720 @ 2Mbit

TriCaster + Advanced Edition

  • 1.5G/HD/SD (1080i50/60 or 1080p25/30) inputs
  • Single streaming channel
  • Multiple destinations
  • 1920 x 1080 @ 6Mbit

MediaDS

  • 3G/HD/SD (1080i50/60 or 1080p50/60) inputs
  • Four streaming channels
  • Multiple destinations
  • Built-in Wowza Streaming Engine media server software supporting LAN, WAN, CDN, and Cloud-based workflows
  • Multi-bitrate delivery to Wowza Streaming Engine, Wowza Streaming Cloud, Wowza CDN, all common streaming services and websites, and custom targets
  • Support for streaming to popular CDNs and new media platforms, with presets that include Facebook Live, Microsoft Azure, Ustream, Wowza and YouTube Live
  • NDI-based signal-sharing between multiple MediaDS systems to maximize resources, performance and delivery potential
  • Per-channel, customizable webpage for audience viewing with support for HTML and CSS editing
  • Embed codes to insert the hosted Wowza Player into existing webpages


So where as the TriCaster relies on having either a CDN or streaming server to publish the stream, the MediaDS is able to act as the streaming server or can of course stream to a CDN or server as well. Not only that but the MediaDS is also able to provide a per-channel, customizable webpage for audience viewing as well as embed codes to insert the hosted Wowza Player into existing webpages. Neither of these are not available on TriCaster.