Broadcast Engineering Acronyms

Acronym Name Description
ABB Automatic Black Balance  
APR Automatic Pixel Restoration Sony's automatic RPN correction system
ARIA Automatic Restoration of Illumination Attenuation Sony's system to correct the F-drop and peripheral light loss by the lens in various zoom positions
ATW Automatic Tracing White 'Auto iris' for white balance
BFOC Bayonet Fibre Optic Connector See 'ST' for more details
BNC Bayonet Neill–Concelman RF coaxial connector
CAR Central Apparatus Room Server room housing noisy equipment such as CCUs and video routers. AKA Technical Apparatus Room (TAR)
CCU Camera Control Unit Power a camera and handle data sent to and from it
CRT Cathode Ray Tube  
EBU European Broadcasting Union Europe's broadcast standards organisation
ENG Electronic News Gathering See 'SNG' for more details
IBC International Broadcasting Convention September trade show in Amsterdam attracting 37,000 attendees
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network A set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network
LC Little Connector Small high-density square fibre optic connector. Two can fit into one duplex SFP
MCR Master Control Room AKA Lines Control Room (LCR)
NAB National Association of Broadcasters Spring trade show in Las Vegas attracting 100,000 attendees
OCP Operation Control Panel Grass Valley's acronym for RCP
PCR Production Control Room  
RCP Remote Control Panel Panel which controls camera lens/paint etc via a connection to the camera or its CCU. Acronym used by Sony, Hitachi and Wikipedia
RF Radio Frequency  
RPN Random Point Noise Bad pixel misbehaving. Correct manually or perform APR
RTS Royal Television Society  
SC Small/Square Connector Small square fibre optic connector which is larger than LC
SFP Small Form-factor Pluggable Compact, hot-pluggable, modular networking transceiver
SMPTE Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers America's broadcast standards organisation
SNG Satellite News Gathering Van with a satellite transmitter dish on top. AKA ENG
ST Straight Tip connector AKA Bayonet Fibre Optic Connector (BFOC) for it's bayonet locking mechanism similar to the BNC
TSG Test Signal Generator Electronically generated test pattern used for calibrating or troubleshooting the downstream signal path. Also referred to as a Test Pattern Generator (TPG) — Test card, EBU bars, SMPTE bars
TD Technical Director Operates multi-cam switcher, according to the show director's production cues
VL-90HP V-lock 90W/h V-lock 14.4V 90-W/h Li-on battery for camcorders
VT Video Tape These days it’s a file stored on a server