VIDEO CHAIN OF A DOORDARSHAN STUDIO AND OB VAN

Qimat Kumar ASSTT. DIRECTOR STI(T)

OBJECTIVES OF DOORDARSHAN STUDIO

1) To originate programmes from studios 2) To knit various sources of programs i.e., camera output, OB out, M/W, VTR out, video graphics and characters generator etc. 3) Processing / distribution of different sources. 4) Routing of programme for recording/ transmission via MSR and Micro Wave.

Activities in a Television studio can be divided into two major areas such as : 1) 2) Action area (Studio) Production control room (P.C.R.)

Action area
This place requires large space and ceiling as compared to any other technical area. Action in this area includes staging, lighting, performance by artists, and arrangement to pick up picture and sound. Typical size of TV Studio is 20 x20x8.5 cubic meters

REQUIRMENT OF TV STUDIO
Very efficient air conditioning Uniform and even flooring for smooth operation of cameras. Acoustic treatment

Effective communication facilities

Studio cameras (three to four) with teleprompter Tie lines for video and audio from C/R Cyclorama and curtain

 Luminaires and having grids.

suspension

system

Audio and video monitoring facilities.

Studio warning light and safety devices like

fire alarm system and fire fighting equipments. Digital clock display.

Production control area

Activities in this area are:1.Direction to the production crew by the producer. 2.Timing a production/telecast. 3.Editing of different sources available at the production desk. Monitoring of output/off air signal

Hardware provided in this area include:

1. Monitoring facilities for all the input and output sources(audio/video). 2. Remote control for video mixer, and special effect (ADO) etc.

3. Communication facilities with technical areas and studio floor.

4. Vision mixing and switching 5. Character Generator (CG)

6. Sync Pulse-Generator (SPG) 7. Camera Control Unit (CCU)

8. Light Control.
9. Audio mixing and control

10. Video Tape-Recorder

11. Electronic Still Storage System

12. Post Production Suites

CAMERA 1

Electronics & CCU

Patch Panel VDA

CCU

VDA

CCU

VDA

VCR

VDA

VCR

V I D E O

(Pre View)

P/V MSR

VDA S W I T C H E R

MW

ADO

STAB AMPLIFIER

CG

OBS

FS

SPG 1 C/O SPG 2

OTHER SOURCES

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF VIDEO CHAIN

 Operational requirement from the technical crew may vary from programme to programme. These requirements for lighting, audio pick up and special effects etc. depends upon the programme requirement such as establishing a period, time, formal or informal situation.

Vision mixing and switchingUnlike films, television media allows switching between different sources simultaneously at the video switcher in Production control room operated by the Vision Mixer on the direction of the program producer. The producer directs the cameramen for proper shots on various cameras through intercom and the vision mixer (also called VM engineer) switches shots from the selected camera/cameras with split second accuracy, in close cooperation with the produce. The shots can be switched from one video source to another video source, superimposed, cross faded, faded in or faded out electronically with actual switching being done during the vertical intervals between the picture frames. Electronics special effects are also used now days as a transition between the two sources.

In Video Switcher Mixing is possible

If the sources are having H timing accuracy between 50 ns to 200 ns
Burst phase for SC with an accuracy of 1.5 to 5 deg.

 VISION MIXER (or VIDEO SWITCHER) Though the video switching is done by the VM at the remote panel, the electronics is located in CAR. The vision mixer is typically a 10 x 6 or 20 x 10 cross bar switcher selecting anyone of the 10 or 20 input sources to 6 or 10 different output lines. The input sources include: Camera 1, camera 2, camera 3, VTR1, VTR2, Telecine 1, Telecine 2, Test signal etc. Some of the sources that have their sync coincident with the station sync are called synchronous, while others having their own independent sync are called non-synchronous.

 Ampex Digital Optics (ADO-2000) ADO is a very useful aid to production. 30 preset effects can be recalled through the keyboard. Various picture manipulations are possible. The picture can be compressed, size can be reduced and cropped into another picture. The principle of operation is that the input Video is converted in digital form using A/D and then the digits are manipulated to create the desired effects and then it is converted back to analog form using D/A.

 CHARACTER GENERATOR Characters Generators are provide titles and credit captions during production in Roman script. It provides high resolution characters different colors for colonizing characters, background, edges etc. At present bilingual and trilingual C.G are also being used by Doordarshan.

Sync Pulse-Generator
It is essential that all the video sources as input to the switcher are in synchronism i.e., start and end of each line or all the frames of video sources is concurrent. SPG is normally duplicated for change over in case of failure.

SPG provide the following outputs: -Line drive -Field drive -Mixed blanking

-Mixed sync
-colour subcarrier -A burst insertion pulse

-PAL phase I-dent pulses

GENLOCK (slaving)
In production it is necessary to mix between two sources which are not synchronized. This is possible when the local SPG has been synchronized with the external source. To overcome this problem, SPG is fitted with a GENLOCK facility. More than one sources can be synchronized by digital Frame synchronizer.

 ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC STILL STORAGE SYSTEM Some PCRs have access to the electronic still storage system. One replay remote control of the digital library system is mounted on the video production control table at the PCR. Still pictures stored in the library system can be recalled and used in production by selecting them by their addresses either from the local or from the remote control pannel after recomposing if desired.

Post production suites

Most of the present day shootings are done on locations using single camera. The actual production is done in these suites. The job for a post production suites is: a. To knit program available on various sources. b. While doing editing with multiple sources, it should be possible to have any kind of transition. c. Adding/Mixing sound tracks. d. Voice over facilities. e. Creating special effects.

Coverage of Outside events

Outside broadcasts(or OBs) provide an important part of the television programs.
Major events like sports and important functions are covered with an O.B. van which contains all the essential production facilities.

THANK YOU