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
NMOS	Networked Media Open Specifications	A set of standards for interoperability of media devices and systems over IP networks in broadcast and media production, providing guidelines for device discovery, control, and data transport for seamless integration
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