Production control room

Production control room facilities

• A video monitor wall, with monitors for program, preview, VTRs, cameras, graphics and other video sources. In some facilities, the monitor wall is a series of racks containing physical television and computer monitors; in others, the monitor wall has been replaced with a virtual monitor wall, one or more large video screens, each capable of displaying multiple sources in a simulation of a monitor wall.
• A vision mixer, a large control panel used to select the multiple-camera setup and other various sources to be recorded or seen on air and, in many cases, in any video monitors on the set. The term "vision mixer" is primarily used in Europe, while the term "video switcher" is usually used in North America.
• A professional audio mixing console and other audio equipment such as effects devices.
• A character generator, which creates the majority of the names and full digital on-screen graphics that are inserted into the program lower third portion of the television screen.
• Digital video effects, or DVE, for manipulation of video sources. In newer vision mixers, the DVE is integrated into the vision mixer; older models without built-in DVE's can often control external DVE devices, or an external DVE can be manually run by an operator.
• A still store, or still frame, device for storage of graphics or other images. While the name suggests that the device is only capable of storing still images, newer still stores can store moving video clips and motion graphics.
• The technical director's station, with waveform monitors, vectorscopes and the camera control units or remote control panels for the CCUs.
• In many facilities, a lighting control console, used to control the lighting on the studio floor
• In some facilities, VTRs may also be located in the PCR, but are also often found in the Central Apparatus Room
• Intercom and IFB equipment for communication with talent and television crew
• A signal generator to genlock all of the video equipment to a common reference that requires colorburst

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