Bitfocus Buttons makes complex OB production feel simple
Published on August 10, 2026ButtonsStories
Vivid Broadcast brings a quiet revolution to OBs
Today’s software architectures and IP connectivity have brought about a revolution in outside broadcasts. Increasingly the expensive kit stays back at base, where it can deliver very high utilisation, with the minimum hardware on site.
A new approach to outside broadcast
Specialist provider Vivid Broadcast is addressing this change with the first of a new sort of outside broadcast unit, Barra. Central to Barra is comprehensive control and workflow management using Buttons.
“For 20 years we have provided facilities to the top end of the industry,” said Rory Springthorpe, managing director of Vivid Broadcast. “We do a lot of sport, but we also do a lot of other things: red carpet, theatre, ballet, fashion, festivals and music, high-end corporate.
“One of our roles as an industry leader is constantly looking at how we can innovate,” he said. “How do we embrace change? What is right for us and what is not?”
Familiar control for a new workflow
Barra is designed to provide the right mix of functionality for today's outside events, linking back to a fully equipped gallery at the broadcaster or production company. But in a world largely crewed by freelancers, new concepts in technology have to be operationally familiar to the team on site.
Vivid was looking for a comprehensive control system to manage the truck and its interconnections with the remote gallery, and it was clear that the traditional broadcast systems were not up to the job. “But everyone was familiar with Companion,” said Francis Cousins, innovation lead for Vivid Broadcast, “and when we looked at Buttons and all the feature sets it could support, everyone hopped on board right away.”
“When Francis told me about this cool new thing that’s come out of the awesome guys who made Companion, I was initially hesitant. But we had a good look at it, and it was clear that this was serious,”
Sam Chilton is a key bridge between Vivid and one of its customers. He is technical producer for Aurora Media Worldwide, which delivers the Women’s Professional League football for Sky in the UK. “When Francis told me about this cool new thing that’s come out of the awesome guys who made Companion, I was initially hesitant."
“But we had a good look at it, and it was clear that this was serious,” he said. “You can control the whole system from a web browser – you don’t have to download random bits of software. It’s really intuitive, and the terminology is what you’re used to."
“You start putting a system together, and things start popping up,” he explained. “You look at a router panel and see all the ports are already there, then you start clicking some more, looking for the advanced stuff – and it is all there. This is a real broadcast control system.”
Simple control, wherever the technology sits
Rory Springthorpe put the technical benefits in perspective. “Wherever you are in the production chain, the way in which you interface with the kit should not be a block to telling the story. Our engineering team can put the right equipment together for the job, and the director can sit down and not know whether, say, the vision mixer is in the truck, in the next room, or in Las Vegas. As far as he is concerned, he’s pressing the same buttons that he does every day.”
Technical producer Chilton takes up the theme. “I can be in a gallery with a director who has a special request. I open my laptop, click two buttons and it’s done – that’s Buttons, and that’s awesome. We can put complete systems together in minutes not hours or days: that is just not possible in any other control environment.”
“I can be in a gallery with a director who has a special request. I open my laptop, click two buttons and it’s done – that’s Buttons, and that’s awesome.”
Creating a calmer production environment
One of the major underlying considerations behind the design of Barra is that it should create and maintain a sense of peace. “Working in a hot, noisy environment inevitably means lots of shouting and that raises the stress point when live television is already stressful enough,” Springthorpe said.
“Buttons is a critical part of creating an atmosphere that’s conducive to great work, to having time to think and engage with people,” he explained. “The way you speak to people in the truck and back at the remote centre is different because you’re not feeling stressed, you’ve got capacity.”
Collaboration, flexibility and value
Vivid also found the relationship with Bitfocus to be very rewarding. Francis Chilton said he had identified some devices for which they needed specific features. “We put messages in Slack, and the dev team worked really hard to fulfil these needs,” he said. “It is very easy to chat to and fro and bounce ideas around.”
Managing director Rory Springthorpe also underlined the commercial benefits of Buttons and its flexible, predictable licensing. “We are a small company, so we need to make every business decision based on the data. Our investment choices have to be cost-effective, and Buttons has certainly proved to be.”
In conclusion, Francis Cousins said “The whole system was extremely easy to implement. We are very impressed by the Elgato Stream Deck Studio panels: they are the best broadcast control panels you could want with rotary encoders and full colour screens, and they come at a fantastic price point.
“They take power over ethernet, so you just plug them in and they pop up,” he continued. “With Buttons, you find you have the ability to integrate bits of kit you didn’t think about controlling before. It opens up new avenues for streamlining operations and boosting efficiencies.
“This is the future of control systems,” he said. “Buttons redefines broadcast workflow and control, in line with modern IT systems.”
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