Sony's new ELC-MVS01 (ELC), Live Production Control Automation system advances the state-of-the-art in automated news broadcasting. The ELC Automation system consists of a suite of software, computers, operation terminals and control panels optimized for the specific needs of a live broadcast environment. By leveraging the program sequence information already contained in the station's newsroom computer system (NRCS), Sony's ELC Automation system is able to tightly choreograph the news production by controlling the production switcher, playback servers, electronic graphics, camera robotics, audio console and other devices. The result is increased efficiency and consistency of the broadcast "look and feel". In short, the ability to do more with fewer resources.

Highlights:
*-Sony and third-party hardware and the newsroom devices are integrated into a complete solution to provide event-based control of newsroom devices including camera robotics, transports, audio, switching, effects, and graphics
*-An NRCS centric operational philosophy allows events to be created, scheduled and edited via a NRCS rundown Active-X plug-in interface.
*-Convenient drag-and-drop operation for event scheduling and cue editing are provided via two user selectable views: Quick Cue and Cue Edit.
*-The Quick Cue view allows convenient drag-and-drop placements of existing cues. Cues containing multiple calls can be dragged and dropped directly into the NRCS rundown, and executed upon take of the event.
*-The Cue Edit view is used to create and edit cues. Cues can be created from scratch, or from templates
*-Playlist Viewer is available from the NRCS plug-in interface for confirming the Playlist sequence.
*-Resource management features based on known limitations of the system components such as camera shot conflict alarm, play-out channel conflict alarm, and switcher resource management are intended to warn operators of potential impending event conflicts
*-To secure on-air operations, a single On-Air Playlist interface is available for taking cues and monitoring the playlist events during the live production.
*-The MKS-8033A shot box is used to advance the playlist and provide programmable presets from a combination of the newsroom controlled devices
*-Deliberately break away from the playlist for breaking news or other live situations, and return to the playlist seamlessly at any time
*-The system can be configured with main and backup servers, each running identical ELC applications and a mirrored database.