NAB 2009: JVC Maintains ProHD Momentum
Nets news sale with CBS affiliate KYTX
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/22/2009 8:53:35 PM
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JVC is highlighting at NAB two new camcorders, the GY-HM700 and GY-HM100, which record video on solid-state memory cards in the same native QuickTime (.MOV) format used by Apple’s popular Final Cut Pro editing systems.
Richard Townhill, director of video applications for Apple, appeared at JVC’s NAB press event to speak on behalf of the camera. He recalled when JVC executives, which have had a long relationship with Apple, traveled to the company’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters to discuss its camera development plans.
“The conversation went very differently than previous meetings,” Townhill recalled. “They asked us, what formats would you like us to support?”
Townhill notes that the “Final Cut user base has reacted very positively” to the camcorders, which also give users the option of recording in the .MP4 format used by Sony’s XDCAM EX camcorders and solid-state SxS memory cards. Longtime ProHD customer Scripps has already committed to buy 100-120 of the shoulder-mounted HM700 cameras over the next two years, along with 37 units of the HM100 handheld model.
But JVC is also continuing to gain traction with its established GY-HD250 camcorder, which records in JVC’s version of the HDV compressed format and which many stations are repurposing as a cost-effective studio camera.
JVC announced that KYTX, the CBS affiliate in Tyler, Tex., has completely upgraded its news and production operations with GY-HD250 ProHD units. The London Broadcasting station, which produces 28 hours of news weekly, is employing the HD250s as its primary studio cameras by equipping them with KA-HD250 studio adaptors. It is also using them for newsgathering in the field in combination with JVC’s DR-HD100 hard disk recorder, and editing back at the station with Adobe Premier software.
JVC also introduced a new series of LCD HD displays for professional monitoring applications, the GM-F series, available in 42”, 47” and 52” models, and demonstrated a real-time 4K camera, the KY-F4000, displaying live 60p images on a new 56-inch LCD panel with 4K resolution.
The compact KY-F4000 camera features a single 1.25-inch CMOS image sensor of 3840 x 2160 pixels, capable of producing live images with 4 times the resolution of full HD, and includes a compact, lightweight camera head at 6.6 lbs, suitable for pan-and-tilt mounting applications. A CCU (camera control unit) processor can be separated from the camera head at a distance of up to 328 feet.
JVC, which already sells a 4K D-ILA projector for high-end display applications, plans to ship the KY-F4000 by April 2010 at a price under $200,000.a
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