Waterman Broadcasting has transitioned two Florida-based stations, NBC affiliate WBBH-TV and ABC affiliate WZVN-TV, to HD ENG with 21 JVC GY-HM790 ProHD cameras. Both stations serve the Fort Myers/Naples market and operate from the same facility.
According to Waterman Broadcasting director of technical services Dan Billings, both stations have made a gradual progression to full HD production. Both news studios were upgraded to HD in 2007 with JVC GY-HD250 cameras, which integrated well with existing Telemetrics robotics. In the field, photographers were shooting 16:9 SD, which was "quite noticeably softer" than the HD studio images, he said.
When it was time to upgrade to HD ENG last June, Billings said he wanted systems that worked with SDHC cards. "SDHC cards work great, we like them a lot, and they cost significantly less than the proprietary options out there," he said.
As part of its transition to full HD, Waterman also purchased nine GY-HM790 cameras for the WBBH and WZVN studios. "We were very happy with our GY-HD250s, but the more advanced GY-HM790s deliver even better color depth and resolution," Billings said. "It seemed prudent to make sure our studio video was at least as good as our ENG footage."
The company also purchased six JVC GY-HM100 compact ProHD camcorders for one-person ENG operations. Most assignments are covered with a reporter and photographer, but some basic stories are covered with only a reporter and the handheld camcorder.
Waterman owns WBBH and has a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WZVN, which is owned by Montclair Communications. Billings said sometimes footage is shared between newscasts, but each station has its own studio and news crews. The GY-HM790s in the field are equipped with Fujinon 17x HD lenses.
See JVC at 2012 NAB Show booth C4314.
