KGTV relies on HVX200 for switch to video journalist newsgathering model

KGTV 10 News, the ABC affiliate in San Diego, has outfitted its new one-person digital correspondents with Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD P2 camcorders.

As part of an equipment upgrade and shift to one-person news crews, KGTV purchased 16 Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD P2 camcorders and five AJ-PCD20 five-slot P2 drives.

For more than 50 years, KGTV has covered major breaking news, weather and local events in and around San Diego. The move to one-person video reporting will increase its capability to offer more news coverage, according to station assistant chief engineer Michael Walborn.

"A two-person crew can only be at one place at a time," he said. "Instead of having two people on a given scene, you can split up the crew and capture more stories or get different angles of the same story, such as different interviews or B-roll shots."

Each KGTV video journalist is equipped with an HVX200, three 8GB P2 cards and an Apple MacBook Pro laptop. Captured DVCPRO footage is transferred into Final Cut Pro for editing, converted into a QuickTime movie file and then sent to the station's Grass Valley News Edit system.

Reporters write their scripts, pick sound bites and do all of the editing in Final Cut Pro in the field. Scripts are then sent to the Avid iNEWS newsroom computer system and only completed news stories are sent to the News Edit system, Walborn said.

For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/HVX200.