In television technology, a clean feed is a video signal that does not have added graphics and text. This video signal is used in sport production to allow different
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
s to add their own
digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic, digitally originated graphic (DOG, bug, or network bug) is a watermark-like station logo that most television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen area of their programs to identify the channel. They are ...
image on a common signal, or in
news broadcast
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televis ...
ing to produce two or more different streams, each one with the same picture but in different languages.
A clean feed is a signal which has not come from the main output of the
video switcher
A vision mixer is a device used to select between several different live video sources and, in some cases, compositing live video sources together to create visual effects.
In most of the world, both the equipment and its operator are called ...
, such as the output of a
vision mixer
A vision mixer is a device used to select between several different live video sources and, in some cases, compositing live video sources together to create visual effects.
In most of the world, both the equipment and its operator are called ...
before the downstream
keyer
A keyer is a device for signaling by hand, by way of pressing one or more switches. Modern keyers typically have a large number of switches but not as many as a full-size keyboard; typically between four and fifty. A keyer differs from a keyboar ...
stage - the clean feed is identical to the main program output but without any captions keyed into it. Modern production equipment can actually put different keys on multiple outputs, allowing them to go to the clean feed or not. The most sophisticated vision mixers (or production switchers, according to the American nomenclature) can generate a clean feed output for any of their mix/effects (ME) buses.
The term ''clean feed'' is also used to refer to
backhaul feeds of television programming sent via
communication satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...
or other transport (such as a national
fiber-optic network
Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modulated to carry information. Fiber is pref ...
) sent from another TV station or remote television
production truck
A television production truck or OB van is a small mobile production control room to allow filming of events and video production at locations outside a regular television studio. They are used for remote broadcasts, outside broadcasting (OB), ...
on-location, which does not carry any
television advertisement
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
s or
break bumper
In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper, or break-bumper (often shortened to bump) is a brief announcement, usually two to fifteen seconds in length that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercia ...
s, or in some cases,
lower-third
In the television industry, a lower third is a graphic overlay placed in the title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests.
In its simplest form, a lower third can just be text ...
graphics or superimposed
chyron text.
See also
*
Mix-minus
In audio engineering, a mix-minus or clean feed is a particular setup of a mixing console or matrix mixer, such that an output of the mixer contains everything ''except'' a designated input. Mix-minus is often used to prevent echoes or feedback ...
Film and video technology
Television terminology
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