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the field, everything connects easily. Sharing feeds and using the same monitoring tools across different sites, remote teams and home-based crews can work together as if they’re sitting in the same room,” he continues. “It effectively turns multiple locations into a unified production environment.” EVOLVING TOWARDS EFFICIENCY Over the past five-plus years, control rooms have undergone marked change. From IP infrastructures to cloud storage and from AI-driven automation to more intuitive interfaces, tech evolution has certainly made an impact on the operators who run the control rooms – and the engineers who design them. “Live production still relies on three elements: content acquisition, media processing engines and monitoring and control – the operator-facing layer that brings everything together,” states Godfrey. “At TSL, we’ve seen big shifts in where and how media processing takes place. Control surfaces are usually on-premises, but the equipment they drive may sit in the cloud, in a central facility or in a nearby rack room – increasingly, it’s a hybrid of all three. “As media processing moves towards flexible software and cloud deployment options, operators expect monitoring and control systems to keep pace,” he continues. “There’s a growing need to preserve a consistent workflow as those environments evolve; controls should feel familiar. The challenge falls to engineering teams,” Godfrey suggests, “who must maintain workflows while taking advantage of the agility that cloud and IP infrastructures provide.” “Transitioning to IP shouldn’t mean inheriting old inefficiencies,” argues Phillips. “Many teams struggle with latency and rigid monitoring because they’re still using legacy workflows. The aim is to clear those hurdles by providing a streamlined monitoring system that allows teams to share sources and swap layouts on the fly.” He suggests ultra-low latency should be a priority in ensuring sharp productions.
range of control surfaces,” bringing all elements of production tech under one singular umbrella. In any control room, Scheck notes that “a workflow system is indispensable to ensure that all required video and audio signals are available for processing and mixing. He adds that “a growing number of control rooms rely on IP-based signal transport, so a fundamental requirement is interoperability via NMOS (Networked Media Open Specifications) and SMPTE ST 2110” – the industry’s accepted suite of standards. REMOTE CONTROL Historically, common issues in control rooms have included cable complexity, limited space, lack of scalability and a lack of available staff. “The biggest challenge may be finding enough staffers and freelancers for live coverage of same-day events in different places,” says Scheck. The solution: remote production and remote control. With IP-based transport comes more opportunities for remote production, inviting mobile control rooms into the picture. “Functionally, mobile and fixed control rooms are very similar,” explains Godfrey. A key difference is that “Outside Broadcast (OB) environments will be naturally more compact, which can lead to consolidated monitoring and control system interfaces. For example, audio monitoring and intercom functions may be combined into a single workflow.” According to Scheck, “Lawo has been advocating for IP-based production scenarios where fewer key people need to be on site and the production proper is handled from a central location.” He encourages OB trucks to ‘travel lightly’, as these portable control rooms can use Lawo’s Flex licenses to monitor and process data from ‘thousands of miles away.’ Control rooms don’t have to be ‘fixed spaces,’ Phillips reminds us. “An IP-based set-up breaks that mould by allowing users to operate from anywhere. Whether users are in a permanent studio or a compact mobile unit out in
Due to IP adoption, control rooms have been expanding digitally and shrinking in physical size
Control Room (PCR), Audio Control Room (ACR) and Master Control Room (MCR),” he says. “The equipment varies – video- centric for the first, audio-centric for the second and signal checking and grooming for the third.” According to Ian Godfrey, CTO at TSL, “A typical control room will include a monitor wall and audio monitoring units for viewing and listening, along with audio and video mixers, servers and graphics systems.” A control room “also relies on intercom systems and a
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