Autocue, which has long offered newsroom technology and video servers alongside its prompters, has now added a new workflow product, Autocue Production Suite. This is designed to replace conventional devices such as vision and audio mixers, video players, picture-in-picture inserters, caption generators, still stores, keyers, routers, output switchers and recorders with a one-box production system. The system will typically be controlled from Autocue’s Automation Control Centre (ACC) application. This provides an integrated workflow control panel driving a list of automation events from information entered into a newsroom system, either Autocue’s own newsroom software or another NRCS via a MOS interface. Once loaded, the system sets up all the switching and routing as well as the content, so to play a video clip to air takes just a single button press. ACC maintains a dynamic list of automation events for an entire show. Multiple users can collaborate on the running order, including writing scripts, which are fed automatically to the integrated prompter, as well as entering all automation events. Any authorised user can change any item from anywhere across the network, and that change is immediately reflected in the list of automation events maintained by the ACC. “Unlike other all-in-one solutions, our modular, software-based system allows us to include only the elements that are required for a particular workflow, and to distribute the control functions across a number of workstations,” said Neil Hutchins, CTO of Autocue. “This means we can cater for smaller TV and cable stations with a single operator.”
