“ Inside the Replay Ecosystem: From DreamCatcher and SimplyLive to EVS XT-VIA”
- szymborskipiotr
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
When we talk about replay systems around the world, it’s fascinating how regional preferences differ. Across much of Central and Western Europe — including Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands — systems like Ross Mira and DreamCatcher are not widely used.
As far as I’m concerned, they are much more popular in the Americas, especially DreamCatcher, which has evolved a lot over the years. Since I first tried it in 2016, it has made a real leap forward in both stability and functionality. Today, it’s used widely across the United States and Canada, and it’s definitely a system worth trying if you have the chance.
At the lower end of the replay ecosystem, you’ll find solutions like vMix attempting to act as replay systems — but they’re not truly built for that. Then come SloMo.TV, Ross Mira, and VizRT 3Play — affordable options but with workflow limitations, less ergonomic interfaces, and unconventional remote layouts.
In the mid-range and professional segment, we see Evertz DreamCatcher, Grass Valley Dyno, Grass Valley LiveTouch, EVS XT-GO — a server model that comes with either LSM-VIA or standard LSM-Legacy remotes, offering flexibility for operators and smaller productions that still demand professional replay quality — and Riedel SimplyLive, especially the SimplyLive Flex model, which stands out for its modular design. Grass Valley is also moving toward new cloud-based solutions, pushing replay production toward hybrid and remote workflows.
And finally, at the very top of the food chain stands EVS XT-VIA — the benchmark system, unmatched in scalability, performance, and dominance across the European rental and broadcast market.
If you want to explore this ecosystem further, check out the Broadcast Academy for replay system VODs, manuals, and hands-on training programs: