NAB 2016: Panasonic Touts University Tech Partnerships

Complete Coverage: NAB Show 2016

Las Vegas — Panasonic had plenty of 4K camera and IP delivery news to share at the NAB Show, but executives seemed most proud of where their technology has already been adopted.

Both Duke University and Florida State University have made major purchases of Panasonic equipment for their athletic facilities, with Duke purchasing new 4K and studio cameras, and both buying AK-HC5000 high-speed camera systems for 1080/60p production.

Both will use the new purchases for broadcasts at their respective football stadiums.

“The UC3000 future-proofs us for ultimate 4K broadcasts while at the same time giving us the 1080p acquisition we need today,” said Chad Lampman, executive director of video for Duke Athletics. “With the 10 cameras, we’ll be able to direct two large-scale events/games simultaneously, with each show having its own slo-mo camera.”

Duke is creating a new master control room at its stadium, where it will have three control rooms connected to five facilities over fiber. Duke is also now using a mobile truck with four Panasonic AJ-HPX600 AVC-Ultra camcorders.

At Florida State, Seminole Productions, the video production arm of Florida State University’s College of Communication, eight of Panasonic’s AK-HC5000 4X high-speed 1080p camera systems are now in hand, and they’ll be integrated into the university’s upgrade of Doak Campbell football stadium.

“We evaluated multiple cameras, and the HC5000 stood out on the basis of its stunningly beautiful pictures,” said Mark Rodin, executive director of Seminole Productions. “The fact that 240fps super slo-mo is built into the cost of the cameras was a huge selling point. And the CCUs are impressive, facilitating remote control for camera shading and engineering.”

In other Panasonic news, the company announced it’s demonstrating a new video over internet protocol (VoiP) technology, partnering with Canon, to deliver 4K and high-def content. Panasonic also announced it has officially joined the Alliance for IP Media Systems (AIMS).

On the camera front, Panasonic is developing two new UX professional 4K camcorders, the UX Premium AG-UX180 and UX Standard AG-UX90, both available this fall.

“With an increasing demand for 4K video content, Panasonic is introducing the UX series to make 4K acquisition even more accessible to video professionals,” said Steven Cooperman, senior product manager for Panasonic System Communication Company of North America. “UX camcorders will provide high-mobility shooting and workflow equivalent to our existing professional integrated-lens handhelds.”