Character generator

A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as news crawls and credits rolls) for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and can generate graphics as well as text. (The integrated circuit, usually in the form of a PROM, that decodes a keystroke in a keyboard, and outputs a corresponding character, is also referred to as a "character generator.")

The CBS Laboratories Vidiac, and the A. B. Dick 990 System, were among the earliest character generators for broadcast television. CBS Laboratories later developed the more advanced Vidifont system in preparation for the 1968 US presidential elections, where a rapid method of all-electronic character generation was required so that news outlets could identify unexpected interviewees on the spot. A similar generator using analogue electronics, Anchor, was developed by the BBC in 1970 and used in the general election later that year.

In the television business in North America, the digital on-screen graphics generated by character generators are also often called "Chyrons", after the Chyron Corporation, whether or not Chyron made the character generator. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, such graphics are often called "Astons", after Aston Broadcast Systems. These are examples of somewhat genericized trademarks. Even though genericized trademarks are present, it is generally known throughout the world that other character generator companies exist.

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