ENGINEERING TOOLS

Broadcast Engineering Calculators & Planning Tools

Practical tools for real production work.

Fast calculators, planners, and configuration helpers for A/V sync, IP video, timing, networking, and control-room workflows. Built to help engineers solve specific problems quickly and with fewer mistakes.

Need software context instead? Cool Tools is the separate curated software section.

Use these tools as fast engineering references. Where a result is estimated or model-based, that is stated clearly in the tool itself.

Trusted Core Tools

Start here when the job is to solve a real production problem fast.

Audio Buffer Latency Calculator

Convert known buffer stages and Dante receive latency into milliseconds and frame equivalents. Measure the full path before applying an offset.

Open Tool Fix lip sync in your stream

SMPTE Timecode Calculator

Frame-accurate SMPTE timecode math for runtime checks, offsets, and cross-rate validation.

Open Tool

NDI Network & Latency Planner

Estimate NDI bandwidth, signal load, and latency planning requirements for production networks.

Open Tool How much NDI bandwidth do I need?

OBS & vMix Streaming Planner

Plan bitrate, encoder load, and streaming settings for practical live production workflows.

Open Tool Fix vMix audio sync

Fiber Optic Link Budget Calculator

Validate optical loss budgets before install and reduce bad assumptions in the field.

Open Tool

Specialized Tools

For XR, deeper network design, control-room planning, and one-off engineering workflows.

Emergency Graphics Layer

Fast browser-source lower thirds, status labels, and timers for OBS, vMix, TriCaster, and failure-path graphics workflows.

Open Tool Need fuller graphics context?

Camera Depth of Field Calculator

Calculate near/far focus limits and hyperfocal distance for controlled camera setups.

Open Tool

XR Camera FOV Calculator

Match real lenses to Unreal Engine camera settings for XR and virtual production.

Open Tool

LED Wall Pixel Worksheet

Convert LED volume size and pixel pitch into an idealised raster, area, density, and total pixel count.

Open Tool

Genlock vs Timecode Visualizer

Clarify frame sync versus metadata sync in one of broadcast engineering’s most common misunderstandings.

Open Tool

Tracking Latency Calculator

Model total XR tracking latency and calculate compensation offsets across the chain.

Open Tool

Dante & AES67 Switch Configurator

Generate QoS and multicast configuration guidance for Dante and AES67 networks.

Open Tool

ATEM SuperSource Builder

Draft SuperSource layouts and reviewable position, scale, and crop XML for validation on the target ATEM.

Open Tool

SRT Latency & Buffer Calculator

Model an RTT-based SRT latency starting point, then validate it against jitter, loss, and the exact endpoints.

Open Tool

ST 2110 Video Capacity Worksheet

Estimate uncompressed active-image payload and per-fabric capacity for ST 2110-20 video flows.

Open Tool

Signal Path Planner

Choose the sane signal path first for camera, laptop, local distribution, or internet transport jobs.

Open Tool

AV Sync Reference Loop

Use a practical flash-and-beep reference loop to compare lip sync through a real screen, camera, and microphone chain.

Open Tool

Beta Builds

Experimental tools that are still useful to test, but are not positioned as part of the trusted core tools surface.

Companion Quick Builder

Experimental Companion page-building workflow for supported systems and function blocks. Useful to test, still evolving.

Open In Beta Builds Browse Beta Builds

Studio Production Clock

Experimental browser-based studio clock and countdown display. Useful to test on real screens, still evolving.

Open In Beta Builds Browse Beta Builds

Experimental Tools

Useful in some workflows, but not positioned as core first-stop tools.

Audio Test & Tone Generator

Audio diagnostics and verification utilities.

Open Tool

ENGINEERING GUIDES

Technical Reference Articles

In-depth guides written for broadcast and XR engineers. Practical workflows, not marketing.

A/V Sync

How to Fix AV Sync in Live Production

Diagnose lip sync errors in OBS, vMix, TriCaster and Dante workflows. Includes EBU R37 tolerance values and per-system fix instructions.

Read Guide
NDI

NDI Bandwidth Explained

NDI High Bandwidth vs HX3 vs HX2 — bandwidth, latency and codec differences. Unicast vs multicast strategy and IGMP Snooping configuration.

Read Guide
XR / Unreal Engine

How to Match Real Cameras in Unreal Engine 5

Sensor matching, FOV formula, nDisplay frustum configuration, and tracking latency compensation for LED volume productions.

Read Guide

Explore Real Tools

These are real-world tools used in production workflows.

Browse Cool Tools

Essential Broadcast Engineering Tools and IP Video Calculators

Modern media production involves complex infrastructure, from baseband SDI routing to IP video protocols like SMPTE ST 2110, NDI, and SRT. These broadcast engineering tools provide transparent planning math, conversions, checklists, and starting points that must be checked against exact formats, devices, and real telemetry.

Whether you are sketching active-image capacity with the ST 2110 Video Capacity Worksheet, checking a public-internet plan with the SRT Latency Calculator, or planning optical runs with the Fiber Optic Link Budget Calculator, these tools provide transparent starting points whose assumptions remain visible.

XR and Virtual Production Planners

Virtual Production (VP) using Unreal Engine and LED volumes requires measured alignment between real cameras, lenses, tracking, rendering, LED processing, and timing. The XR worksheets provide transparent mathematical references for field of view, pixel count, depth of field, and entered latency contributions; they do not calibrate the stage.

Use the Camera Depth of Field Calculator for an idealised focus-range estimate and the XR Latency Worksheet to add measured or documented stage contributions. Confirm moiré, tracking alignment, genlock phase, shutter timing, and processor settings on the real stage.

Content Creators, Twitch, and OBS Studio

Streamers using OBS Studio and vMix face many of the same timing, encoding, and network-capacity questions as larger production teams. For a dual-PC NDI setup, use the NDI Bandwidth Calculator to compare the estimated stream load with the available link capacity. For lip sync, measure the real returned or recorded output before testing an OBS or vMix delay.

Audio over IP (AoIP) and Dante Synchronization

Audio-over-IP design depends on documented clocking, topology, capacity, redundancy, multicast, QoS, and endpoint behaviour. The Dante & AES67 Network Planning Checklist helps teams collect those prerequisites without generating switch commands. The Audio Latency Calculator converts known sample and buffer values; whole-chain alignment still requires measurement.