NewTek Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading video and 3D animation products, today announced the release of TriCaster^TM Upgrade 2.5, a software update to its TriCaster BROADCAST^TM, TriCaster STUDIO^TM TriCaster PRO^TM and TriCaster portable live production systems. This upgrade adds the ability to record all video in the broadcast industry MPEG-2 Studio Profile, capturing with full 4:2:2 color sampling, which is important when recording chroma key footage. In addition, enhancements to the real-time MPEG2 encoding technology yield significant improvements in quality with a lower compression rate for broadcast quality video recording.

This upgrade keeps TriCaster on the cutting edge of live streaming technologies and improves the user experience for both live and on-demand content with support for Adobe® Flash® Media Live Encoder 3. It also offers a greatly enhanced user experience with H.264 streaming format, simultaneous streams at multiple bit rates and improved streaming quality at reduced bit-rates.

"This upgrade to the TriCaster family of products further solidifies NewTek's leadership position in the video production marketplace," said Michael Kornet, chief marketing officer, NewTek Inc. "Now it is even easier to reach worldwide audiences with well-produced live content at an unrivaled price point."

NewTek TriCaster Upgrade 2.5 also offers a customized Flash® streaming profile for easier Ustream connectivity.

"Ustream.tv shares NewTek's belief that anyone with the desire to get content out to a wide audience should be able to pursue it without the traditional roadblocks of production costs and advanced technical experience," said Brad Hunstable, founder and president, Ustream.tv. "We are confident that producers will see the many benefits of choosing Ustream.tv and NewTek for their streaming projects."

TriCaster Upgrade 2.5 is available at http://register.newtek.com as a free download for TriCaster 2.0 users. This update, including all other 2.0 features, is available to TriCaster 1.0 users at http://shop.newtek.com, starting at US$495.

About TriCaster
With TriCaster, anyone can produce network-style live video, and distribute the event simultaneously to Web, video and projector. A single operator or small team can produce a live show while switching between as many as six cameras with two VCR's, multi-channel effects and NewTek's proprietary LiveSet^TM virtual sets. TriCaster is used by sports organizations, broadcasters, schools, government agencies, corporate communications departments and others to provide a new level of extended programming and content to their audiences.

Pricing and Availability
The TriCaster family of products in NTSC is available in North America starting at US$3,995. The TriCaster family of products is available in multi-standard internationally beginning at US$5,995. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, please visit www.newtek.com.

About Ustream.tv
Ustream.tv is the live interactive video destination that enables anyone with a camera and an Internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size. In less than two minutes, you can become a professional broadcaster by creating your own channel on Ustream, live streaming content through your own site, empowering engagement with your audience and building your brand. Click here to start a broadcast now or learn more about broadcasting. www.ustream.tv.