Rutgers taps Hitachi SK-HD1000's for Stadium Coverage


The Dallas Cowboys aren't the only football team with a huge HD screen in their stadium to show off to the assembled crowds. Even in the college ranks, bigger and better HD-centric monitors are popping up wherever new or renovated facilities are upgraded.

In the case of Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, its 38 x 112-foot HD screen (one of the largest of any NCAA stadium, the school said) has just concluded its first season — equipped with five Hitachi SK-HD1000 multi-standard, multi-format studio/field cameras (model SK-HD 1000) for providing live and replay game-day entertainment. The cameras provide 1080i video on a Daktronics video scoreboard.

The HD infrastructure upgrade is part of a $102 million capital investment for Rutgers by the state of New Jersey which includes a press box-area control room houses an Echolab HD switcher, Click Effects CrossFire and Flashback for instant replays, and a couple of Avitech multiviewer systems that display a total of 16 video sources on two 52-inch LCD monitors.

Jim Signorini, a media consultant, was contracted by Rutgers to design and install the stadium's new HD infrastructure for the facility on the Piscataway, N.J., campus.