Abstract: A video switching system particularly adapted for use in a small studio environment includes a group of independent selection switches that enables a user to select any one of a plurality of different input video signals and route that signal to a preview output for display on a preview monitor. When it is desired to switch the previewed signal to a program output for actual broadcasting, the user activates a take switch. The system, however, does not abruptly switch the previewed signal to the program output, but rather automatically generates a mixture of the previewed signal and old program signal and automatically adjusts the mixture so that the old program signal is uniformly faded out and the previewed signal is uniformly faded into the program scene. The effect of the transition to the previewed signal is thereby automatically softened.