CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—JVC is going to Harvard, or at least a few of its camcorders are. JVC’s GY-HC500 SPC Connected Cam and GY-HM890 camcorders are part of Harvard University’s athletic department to help produce and stream its sporting events.

Harvard has 42 sports teams, including football, basketball, hockey, swimming, skiing and rowing. The university broadcasts 300 live and recorded events each year, many of which now stream on ESPN+, as well as its own social media channels.

The JVC GY-HC500 SPC and GY-HM890 camcorders are equipped with production-over-IP workflows to provide streaming and advanced graphics for the production of these sporting events.

In addition to the Connected Cams, Harvard is using JVC’s KY-PZ100 Robotic PTZ cameras and RM-LP 100 PTZ controllers, mounted at various fields and arenas. Other JVC cameras on-hand include the GY-HM250, GY-HM790 and GY-HM600.

Imry Halevi, assistant director of Athletics at Harvard, brought JVC to the campus when he arrived eight years ago, citing the look of the cameras and their ease of use for students.

When looking for a camera similar to the GY-HM890 that could also deliver advanced graphics, Halevi said he was directed to the GY-HC500 SPC. The camera has proved useful in many different circumstances, according to Halevi, even in -20-degree weather to capture a recent Harvard skiing competition.

“I expect them [the JVC cameras] to work at normal conditions, but when I throw unexpected conditions at them and they continue to work, we know we have a camera brand for life,” Halevi said.

For more information, visit pro.jvc.com. 

WAYNE, N.J.—JVC Professional Video, a division of JVCKenwood USA Corp., has expanded its CONNECTED CAM product line to include the new 500 Series of streaming handheld camcorders. The three new cameras — the GY‑HC500 base model, GY‑HC550 with advanced streaming and graphics and GY-HC500SPC sports production camera — will be introduced at NAB Show New York, which runs Oct. 17–18 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.

CONNECTED CAM models are designed to optimize both image processing and IP performance. Designed for live IP production and 4K acquisition, the new 500 Series cameras can record to SSD (solid state drive) media in a variety of formats, including 10-bit ProRes 422 at 4K resolution and 50/60p frame rates. A number of other codecs and recording formats are also available including H.264 and MPEG-2, ensuring a range of workflows can be supported.

All three 500 Series cameras also include dual SDHC/SDXC media card slots with redundant, relay, backup and proxy recording modes. Users can choose economical SD memory or SSD for production quality recording, or record to SSD in 4K while simultaneously recording HD or proxy files to SD media. Any or all clips can be uploaded via Auto FTP during production.

The company says for reliable 1080p streaming performance up to 20 Mbps, the 500 Series features SMPTE 2022 forward error correction. When paired with any ProHD Bridge product, all models provide bidirectional live streaming with low latency (less than 500ms) and return video and IFB. The GY-HC550 also includes dual external antennas with built-in wireless LAN, integrated GPS and Zixi error correction with automatic repeat request (ARQ).

The 500 Series cameras are built around a new 1-inch 4K CMOS imager and integrated 20x zoom lens with three-ring control and built-in ND filters. When shooting in HD, the company says lossless 40x dynamic zoom is possible. The cameras can achieve up to 12 stops of dynamic range with high sensitivity and low noise. Users can record HDR footage in the HLG (hybrid log gamma) mode or 10-bit J-Log mode, which expands dynamic range by 800 percent with film-like latitude. Plus, the cameras record in a variety of native 4K UHD and HD file formats, and support 120 fps slow-motion HD recording. The GY-HC550 adds MPEG-2 and MXF recording as well.

JVC will be on the show floor in booth N333.

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