New Jersey's Cablevision has upgraded to Panasonic's DVCPRO P2 solid-state memory equipment. DVCPRO P2 is a nonlinear acquisition system that allows users to capture images through memory recording cards.
Cablevision's local programming unit covers local news, sports, political elections and community developments throughout Essex and Hudson counties, with two stations located in Union City and Newark. The IT-based news system includes three AJ-SPX800 2/3-inch 16:9/4:3 P2 camcorders, an AJ-SPD850 DVCPRO 50/25 studio deck, and a five-slot P2 drive.
The company said it created a private network between the editing systems and the play-out server, so it can access and transfer files from any of the sources. Its computer stations are hooked up through peer-to-peer networking using Cat5 cables. All acquired footage is put on a local drive, and each studio location has access to the footage by transferring.
Forty 4 GB P2 cards are rotated among their reporters to acquire footage, which the company said allows them to cover every single game for highlights, interviews and host stand-ups with just four or five cards when on an assignment. A five-slot P2 card drive connected to the USB ports on the editing computers allows the download of footage into Harris/Leitch Velocity Q nonlinear editing software.
"We've seen a tremendous difference in workflow and the short amount of time it takes to do each project now," said Al Clarke, operations supervisor for Cablevision Local Programs. "Our reporters can actually review and mark the clips that they want before they even get back to the editing studio and we do not have to worry about digitizing. Before with tape, it would take our cameramen 45 minutes to go through captured footage; now it takes five minutes."
