Biggest functionality boost yet makes Buttons the perfect platform for broadcast and media management

Bitfocus, the specialist in media control and monitoring, are unveiling version 1.8 of Buttons, designed to respond to user demands with even more operational power and agility. The new release, which adds more functions than at any time since launch, will be showcased at IBC2026 (stand 8.D31, Amsterdam RAI, 11 – 14 September). 

Buttons is rapidly becoming a de facto standard in workflow design and operational control for broadcast and AV systems, because of its inherent agility and its ability to control virtually any combination of equipment from multiple vendors. The new functionality is all designed to make creation and execution of rich architectures and workflows even faster and simpler, building on the intuitive Buttons user interface. 
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Version 1.8 brings smarter routing tools, with automatic path-finding ensuring users need do no more than drag source and destination together, without needing to understand the underlying hardware of routers and tie-lines. Complex structures, like virtual camera channels, can be readily repeated to build big infrastructures. If any element on the signal path needs to be replaced, even during an event, it remains completely transparent to the user. And because all configurations can be tied to projects, closing an event releases all the resources, so no tie-lines or router paths are blocked unnecessarily. For IP networks, Buttons will incorporate its own NMOS registry server, making discovery and interoperability easier, and will manage multicast addresses based on stream type. 

Broadcasters using TSL tally management systems will be able to integrate them directly into Buttons, for fully smart, relation-aware labelling and tally resolution. Because of the user registration system in Buttons, controls follow the person not the panel or location: by logging on or using an NFC token everything is set correctly for the user and the tasks within the current project. It supports LDAP/Active Directory and OIDC single sign-on with smart role syncing. 

Additions to the workflows toolbox will include countdown and stopwatch nodes to trigger timed and conditional events. HTTP query and request nodes open the possibility of further automation from remote systems. With resilience and security the absolute centre of live media architectures, Buttons can run on triple-redundant hardware, and will include scheduled backups with version history and one-click restore. 

“We are so excited that Buttons has grown in popularity over the last couple of years,” said Ole-Andreas Løvland, Bitfocus CEO. “It means that our original ideas were right, but more important it means we talk to the people at the sharp end of the industry, who know what is really important in managing a live event. Their feedback drives us forward to even more flexible control. 

“A great example is a leading football federation, whose operators love the Elgato Stream Deck panels but, because they use the rotaries only rarely, would prefer them at the top of the panel not at the bottom,” Løvland said. “So version 1.8 includes the ability to rotate any panel and still have the dynamic labelling read the correct way. It sounds like a simple fix, but it makes a huge difference to operators in a busy and stressful environment.” 

Buttons version 1.8 is due for release by October and will be available to all Buttons licence-holders. Visitors to IBC2026 can see the new functionality in action on stand 8.D31, where Bitfocus is co-exhibiting with Elgato. Find out more at bitfocus.io.