Solving Remote Camera Operation Hurdles With Smart Robotic Engineering
Distance is reshaping broadcast production. With IP-based workflows enabling studios and control rooms to operate miles apart, broadcasters need solutions that deliver precision and consistency remotely. Discover how WWTV achieved seamless camera control across 48 miles with MRMC’s innovative solution, the PM-1 PTZ Prompter Mover.
Distance is reshaping broadcast production. With IP-based workflows enabling studios and control rooms to operate miles apart, broadcasters need solutions that deliver precision and consistency remotely. Discover how WWTV achieved seamless camera control across 48 miles with MRMC’s innovative solution, the PM-1 PTZ Prompter Mover.
Designing a PTZ Prompter Mover for WWTV
Modern broadcast operations are being redefined by distance. While IP-based workflows enable separating studios from control rooms or even consolidating entire production teams remotely, broadcasters are facing a new set of technical challenges. Chief among them: how to maintain precise, consistent, and dynamic camera control when no operator is physically on the studio floor.
When northern Michigan broadcaster WWTV re-engineered its operation to connect two facilities nearly 50 miles apart, they needed a camera motion system that could seamlessly integrate with the new IP-based remote workflow, allowing direct remote control between its Traverse City studio and control room in Cadillac. It also had to work with their PTZ camera-based operations to maintain consistent framing and deliver the same production quality as a traditional studio.
A Custom, Engineered Solution: The PM-1 Prompter Mover
The solution was a custom-designed robotic pedestal from MRMC Broadcast that enables traditional broadcast prompters to be used with PTZ cameras, without replacing or adding hardware. Called the PTZ Prompter Mover (PM-1), the system’s clever design isolates the camera from the weight and inertia of the prompter using a two-part architecture: a base robotic pedestal that moves the entire assembly (camera + prompter) and a top-mounted PTZ camera that remains optically isolated from the heavy prompter hardware.
In this setup, the prompter is fixed to the PM-1 frame, not the camera itself. The PTZ camera “looks through” the prompter glass, just like a traditional studio camera, but doesn’t carry any of the prompter’s mass. The result is a perfectly stabilised robotics solution that operators 48 miles away can control in real time. WWTV can reproduce identical shots for recurring news segments, ensuring visual consistency regardless of who is operating the system.
This solution highlights MRMC’s engineering approach: design robotics as part of the broadcast infrastructure, not as an accessory to it, taking into account the key issues faced by the broadcaster. In this case, a need to use PTZ cameras and tie them into a broadcast-ready solution for its presenters, while maintaining efficiency within remote production workflows.