Vermont Public Television—Vermont’s statewide public broadcasting network—acquired four new Hitachi SK-HD1000 digital high-definition television (HDTV) studio cameras as part of an extensive HDTV production upgrade at its Colchester, VT broadcast television facility.
“We chose the Hitachi SK-HD1000 after a year of exhaustive, comparative research and testing of all major HDTV studio cameras on the market,” said Joseph Tymecki, Vermont Public Television’s chief technology officer. “Since the cameras replaced four older analog studio cameras that’d been in service for nearly 20 years, we wanted to be sure we were ordering studio cameras that would serve us well into the future,” he said, adding, “We feel that these Hitachi cameras are the perfect fit for our facility.”
The Hitachi SK-HD1000 camera package is part of an extensive HDTV studio production upgrade that included a Ross Vision multi-format production switcher, Chyron LEX3 live HD graphics system, Omneon server, and Miranda router. The latest upgrade is the final phase of a four-phase upgrade that included four new digital television transmitters (Phase 1), master control room (Phase 2), and field production and NLE editing workflow (Phase 3), according to the broadcaster.
Photos courtesy Ron Clark, VPT
The new Hitachi SK-HD1000 cameras are outfitted with a complement of Hitachi accessories, including Hitachi TU-HD1000 camera control units, VF-HP840 8-inch color LCD viewfinders, and RU-1200JY remote control units, as well as the Fujinon ZA-22x7.6BERM HD telephoto zoom lenses with 2X extenders.
“The picture quality is just stunning,” Tymecki said. “After we first put them on the air to cover the inauguration of Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin in January 2011, some viewers actually called us to comment on how amazing our channel looked. They wondered what we were doing differently because they noticed a big difference.”
In addition, that the Hitachi SK-HD1000 cameras capture in native 1080i it was crucial to the decision to acquire them because PBS and its member stations have standardized on a 1080i HD workflow. Another factor is that the SK-HD1000 camera heads provide enough power to run their (Autoscript) 19-inch TFT-LCD teleprompters, a capability many competing HDTV studio cameras do not offer.
-- Government Video
