What Is A CEV?

The Short Answer: A CEV Is a Certified Video Engineer

In this context, a CEV is a Certified Video Engineer: a professional who has met the Society of Broadcast Engineers' experience requirements and passed its video engineering examination. The credential signals that an engineer has years of hands-on work with video systems and can demonstrate working knowledge of operating practices, troubleshooting, theory, safety, and electronics fundamentals.

The acronym is used elsewhere for unrelated credentials, so it helps to be precise. Everything on this page concerns the SBE's Certified Video Engineer program only. If you are looking for a deeper walk-through of the certification as a whole, see our overview of CEV certification, or the related explainers on what CEV stands for and CEV meaning.

Who Issues the Credential

The Certified Video Engineer credential is administered by the Society of Broadcast Engineers, Inc. (SBE). SBE runs its own examinations rather than outsourcing them to a commercial testing network. Exams are delivered through approved in-person proctors, who are usually local SBE chapters. Where necessary, alternative or custom-proctored arrangements are available.

One detail worth noting: the fact that exam forms are computer-selected does not mean the exam is delivered online or remotely proctored. Plan on an in-person session unless SBE arranges something different for you.

SBE also reviews its examination questions at least three times a year, so the question pool is maintained on a regular cycle rather than left static.

Who Holds It and Who Hires Them

SBE is a broadcast and media engineering society, and the CEV sits in that world. The people who pursue it are typically working engineers in environments where video signals are created, processed, routed, and delivered. That includes broadcast stations, production facilities, and other organizations that depend on video systems staying on air and in specification.

Employers in these settings tend to care about whether an engineer can keep systems running, diagnose faults under pressure, and work safely around equipment. A certification does not replace a track record, but it gives hiring managers a standardized, third-party signal that the candidate's experience has been documented, referenced, and tested. For a closer look at the employment side, see our page on CEV jobs.

What It Takes to Qualify

The CEV is an experience-gated credential. You cannot simply study for a weekend and sit the exam; you must first show that you have worked in the field.

The experience baseline

The standard requirement is five years of suitable audio/video engineering or related-technology experience. Certain education and licensure can substitute for part of that time:

The important constraint: concurrent education and employment cannot be counted twice. If you worked full-time while studying, you receive credit for one or the other for that period, not both.

What the application requires

Application B asks for an experience history, three references (including a current or former supervisor), transcripts whenever education is being used in place of experience, and your agreement to the SBE Canons of Ethics. Assemble the supervisor reference early, since it depends on another person's schedule. A full walk-through is in our CEV requirements guide.

How the Exam Works

The CEV examination is compact and has some unusual features compared with most professional certification exams.

• 50 multiple-choice questions, with no essay component.
• Three hours to complete the exam.
• Each question is worth two points.
• The passing threshold is 70%.
• Results are reported as pass/fail, not as a detailed score breakdown.

Because every question carries equal weight, there is no way to hide a weak area behind a strong one with partial credit on essays. Our passing score breakdown goes through the arithmetic in more detail.

The open-book rule

The CEV is open book. Reference books, written notes, tables, calculators, and internet access are all permitted, and candidates are responsible for their own internet connection. That sounds generous, but three hours for 50 questions leaves roughly three and a half minutes each, and looking things up is slow when you do not already know where the answer lives.

Two restrictions matter. Scratch paper and any notes you make during testing must be surrendered at the end, and you must not disclose examination questions afterward.

The Five Published Exam Topic Areas

SBE's certification page for the Certified Audio Engineer and Certified Video Engineer exams lists the subject areas the CEV covers. They are issuer-published topic labels, not a percentage blueprint, so SBE does not tell you how many questions come from each. The five areas are below, along with what each means in practical terms for a video engineer.

A note on the topic list's history

There is a documented discrepancy worth knowing about. SBE's 2021 Certification and Membership Handbook lists only the first four topic areas. The current certification page adds basic electronics as a fifth. The current exam-specific page and Application B take precedence over the older handbook, so prepare for all five. If you have an old copy of the handbook, do not treat its shorter list as complete. Our complete guide to the CEV exam domains covers each area in more depth.

Fees and Registration Mechanics

Fees depend on your SBE membership status. The initial application and examination fees are:

Membership is optional. Application B describes an option that includes SBE membership through March 31 of the following year with the nonmember fee. Compare the member and nonmember columns against your own situation before deciding.

Retakes

If you do not pass, one retake is permitted at the next scheduled session for USD 46. Any attempts beyond that require a new application. This makes the first attempt matter, since a second failure resets you to the beginning of the application process.

Optional practice material

SBE offers a browser-based CertPreview practice product at USD 45 per examination level. Its practice-question count is separate from the real exam's 50 questions, so do not read it as a preview of exam length. The older downloadable CertPreview software is no longer supported or updated. SBE also publishes a suggested reference list for its engineering certifications, which includes Video Engineering (third edition) and Digital Television Fundamentals (second edition), though SBE states its exams are not specifically based on that shared list.

For the full financial picture, including renewal, see our CEV certification cost breakdown, and for scheduling, our page on CEV exam dates.

Sequencing Your Preparation Around the Five Areas

Because the exam is open book, the most useful preparation is building a reference set you can navigate quickly. This is the one place where a simple schedule makes sense, and it is tied directly to the five topic areas.

Because published guidance gives no domain weights, avoid over-investing in one area on the assumption that it counts more. Spread effort so that no area is a blind spot. For a fuller approach, see our CEV study guide and the one-page CEV cheat sheet. When you want exam-style repetition, our CEV practice tests let you drill questions by topic.

Keeping the Credential Active

The CEV does not last forever. Certification lasts five years, and there are two routes to renewal:

1. Documented professional credits: 20 credits drawn from at least four different activity categories.
2. Re-examination: successfully passing the exam again before your certification expires.

Renewal applications are accepted six months before expiry, so you have a window to submit rather than a single deadline day. The current recertification application lists USD 88 for members, USD 193 for nonmembers, and USD 303 for Non-MemberPlus. Holding uninterrupted SBE membership throughout the certification term qualifies you for a 10% discount on the member renewal fee. Keep a running log of qualifying activities across the five years rather than reconstructing it at the end.

Not to Be Confused With Neighboring Credentials

SBE offers several certifications, and they are separate programs with their own requirements. The Certified Video Engineer is a different credential from the CEA, CBTE, CBT, and CPT. The CEA (Certified Audio Engineer) shares a certification page with the CEV, which is why they are often mentioned together, but the CEV is specifically the video credential. When reading any source, confirm that it is describing SBE's Certified Video Engineer and not another certification that happens to use the same letters.

For other angles on the same question, see our explainers on what is CEV, what CEV means, and what CEV certification is. If you want to understand how the pass rate question is handled, our CEV pass rate article explains why published data is limited, and our CEV training page covers preparation resources.

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