Home to the NFL’s Washington Redskins, FedExField (in Prince George’s County, MD) received a comprehensive upgrade to HD production this season. As part of the upgrade, the arena features three new Sony HSC300K cameras paired with Fujinon lenses. Models include the HA23X7.6BERM Premier Series HD ENG-style telephoto, XA50X9.5BESM HD box-style telephoto with 2X extender and XA76X9.3BESM HD telephoto.
The newly completed production gear enables the stadium’s control room staff to create original HD programming and transmit the signals to new HD LED video displays and stadiumwide video distribution systems. In addition to upgrading the video for fans, the HD video is also archived for promos and highlight reels.
System integrator Communications Engineering (CEI) handled all of the design and installation work for the video control room and stadium (fiber) infrastructure. Based in Newington, VA, CEI has provided systems integration and service for the Redskins for many years and handles game-day operations for the broadcast and A/V systems at FedExField.
The Fujinon XA76x9.3BESM telephoto HD lens is specifically designed for large venues and sporting events. The zoom and focus can be preset and memorized in advance at a selected position. One touch of the switch during shooting will instantly return to the memorized position for time-saving production. The lens also offers full remote control and diagnostics via RS-232, and a 13-bit encoder output is standard for virtual applications.
