Waterman Broadcasting Delivers Full HD Local News with JVC Prohd Cameras
WAYNE, NJ - JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., today announced that Waterman Broadcasting has successfully transitioned two Florida-based stations, NBC affiliate WBBH-TV and ABC affiliate WZVN-TV, to high definition ENG with 21 JVC GY-HM790 ProHD cameras. Both stations serve the growing Fort Myers/Naples market (DMA #62) and operate from the same facility.
"It's been a gradual progression to full HD production for us," said Dan Billings, director of technical services, Waterman Broadcasting. 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 using Panasonic P2 cameras and acquiring footage in 16:9, but Billings said the SD footage was quite noticeably softer than the HD studio images.
When it was time to upgrade to HD ENG last June, Billings said price, performance, and service made JVC an easy choice. "I was happy to move to ProHD, which records to SDHC cards, not P2 or any other large or proprietary media cards. That's what I wanted," he added. "SDHC cards work great, we like them a lot, and they cost significantly less than the proprietary options out there."
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. "The GY-HM100 delivers great shots, uses the same SDHC cards as the GY-HM790, and provides the same ProHD workflow," Billings noted.
Waterman owns WBBH and has an LMA with WZVN, which is owned by Montclair Communications, Inc. 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, and photographers from both stations get great results.
"There are much more expensive camera options out there, but we really like these new cameras," Billings said. "For the money, you just can't beat JVC's picture quality and workflow."
With an innovative modular design and a redesigned studio adapter sled, the GY-HM790 is ideal for multicore or fiber-based studios. Its three, 1/3-inch progressive scan CCDs produce 1280x720 and 1920x1080 images, and its proprietary MPEG-2 encoder supports 1080i, 720p, and even SD (480i) for operations that have not yet made the move to HD. The compact, shoulder-mount camera is also an outstanding choice for ENG use, with a dual card slot design that records to low-cost, non-proprietary SDHC media cards in ready-to-edit file formats for Apple Final Cut Pro (.MOV) and other major NLE systems (.MP4).
ABOUT JVC PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS COMPANY
Headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, JVC Professional Products Company is a division of JVC Americas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of JVC Kenwood Corporation. JVC is a leading manufacturer and distributor of broadcast and professional video and audio equipment. For further product information, visit JVC's Web site at pro.jvc.com or call (800) 582-5825.
