Digital Optical Fiber Routing System for Hitachi Cameras Using Multidyne Routers to be Introduced at NAB


WOODBURY, New York - Hitachi's popular SK Series of HDTV studio and field production cameras now significantly lowers the costs of fiber cable installation and camera equipment management. With the use of Multidyne's advanced EOS-4000 series optical routing system, Hitachi camera customers now have complete flexibility in assigning camera heads to CCUs. This is a natural progression from Hitachi's TCP/IP data network compliant control system, where any control panel can control any camera wherever there's access to a LAN, WAN, MAN or internet.

The HDTV camera optical routing system will be exhibited at the Hitachi Kokusai Booth (C4309) at this year's National Association of Broadcasters held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas Nevada next month.

"Today's modern stadiums, arenas, TV stations, production studios, universities, large churches and other HDTV camera installations all use digital fiber cable due to its superior ROI. Its low cost, ease of installation, seemingly limitless bandwidth, and ability to transport audio, data and video beyond 3Gbps make SM fiber the logical choice when deciding the cable infrastructure of a facility," explained Emilio Aleman, product manager for Broadcast and Professional products at Hitachi Kokusai America. "Previously, assigning camera heads to different CCUs was done manually by connecting and disconnecting fiber patch cables."

Hitachi's unique camera and CCU signal transport design utilizes the SMPTE-311M standard. With this design, camera power and digital optical transmission can be isolated without losing any function, operational benefit or picture quality. The total fiber optic distance that can be used with any camera and CCU through the Multidyne optical router is 10Km.

With the optical routing switcher, Hitachi can maximize CCU usage and offer the ability to connect studio and portable cameras moved around a facility for different production purposes and venues.

"It's very exciting to see the use of the EOS-4000 optical router continue to expand within the traditional broadcast market," said Fred Scott, Vice President of Sales & Business Development for MultiDyne.

Existing and new fiber infrastructures can be utilized to increase flexibility, offering multiple camera locations all linked via fiber back to the optical routing switcher. The optical router switches the two fibers from each camera and ensures that the SMPTE signal formats are maintained and assigns each camera to the desired CCU.

Any number of cameras and CCU units can be configured with the optical router. The router is easily controlled via a standard PC, Crestron or AMX control system. Installations involving multiple studios and groups of cameras in each studio can share a common set of CCUs and control panels at the control room, saving the user substantial costs in equipment (CCU's + control panels).

About Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 400,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2009) consolidated revenues totaled 10,000 billion yen ($102.0 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd. designs, manufacturers and markets video cameras, digital transmission, processing and recording devices for the broadcast television, cable, video production, and industrial vision markets. For more information, please call (516) 921-7200 or visit Hitachi's web site at www.hitachikokusai.us . Hitachi Kokusai Electric, Inc. (TSE, OSE: 6756), is a Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) group company.

About Multidyne
For more than 30 years, MultiDyne has been a leading provider of innovative video and fiber optic-based transport and routing systems for the broadcast, cable, pro A/V, corporate, government, military, and transportation markets. MultiDyne's fiber optic transport and routing systems include: HD-SDI, VGA, DVI, HDMI, audio, intercom, Ethernet, control data, L-Band, KVM interfaces and optical routers. These solutions are used worldwide by such industry leaders as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, RAI, BBC and the Department of Transportation.

MultiDyne, 191 Forest Avenue, Locust Valley, NY 11560
Tel: (516) 671-7278; Fax (516) 671-3362; website: www.multidyne.com

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