This page describes the hold, which is a line that shows your hold image and waits. A hold is a pause that is built into the running order: the show reaches this point and waits until someone presses GO.
Adding a hold
Click Hold in the toolbar. A hold has no settings of its own, because it is only a waiting point.
What it shows
A hold shows what you set under Settings → Cue list → Hold image → Image shown during a hold:
| Option | What appears |
|---|---|
| (Black — no image) | Black |
| A scene that you choose | That picture, for example a card with a logo, or a slide with the text “we will start shortly” |
It is worth setting a hold image once, because a hold on black looks like a fault to the audience, but a hold on a card looks like part of the programme.
A playout can also have its own hold image. Go to Settings → Outputs, open the playout’s tab, and look under Options → Image shown during a hold:. The first option there is (same as the cue list), which uses the setting above. To give the playout its own hold image, choose a scene.
Standby picture while nothing is on air, in the same place, is a separate switch. When it is on, the output of the playout shows the hold image whenever nothing is on air, and not only during a hold. Without a hold image, the output is black.
When to use a hold
| Situation | Why a hold is suitable |
|---|---|
| Between two blocks, while you wait for the room | The list cannot continue past it by accident |
| At the top of a list, before you start | The first GO starts the show |
| After an automatic block, to return control to the operator | The automatic sequence ends on a visible picture |
A hold is not the only way to make the list wait, because a cue with the follow action pause also holds its last frame. The difference is what the audience sees: a paused clip shows a frozen frame of the clip, and a hold shows your hold image.
What a hold is not
A hold is not a stop. The playout stays live and only the running order waits, so a music bed continues to play and the output is not interrupted.
A hold is not always black. If people in your building say “put it on black” when they mean a hold, set the hold image to black.