JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp announced that ABC affiliate WCFT/WJSU/WBMA in Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa, AL, has purchased 20 GY-HM790 ProHD camcorders for studio and ENG work as part of an overall transition to local HD news production.
The station began using four of the new cameras in its studio in SD mode last July, and then made the switch to HD production on Sept. 12. The integration between the new ProHD cameras and the studio’s Vinten robotic camera support system was described as “flawless.”
WCFT began using GY-HM790 camcorders in the field on Sept. 12 as well, replacing a fleet of aging Philips LDK 700 DVCPRO camcorders. Not only are the units lighter than the previous cameras, but also they balance well when paired with the station’s new Anton/Bauer DIONIC batteries.
Station personnel faced a learning curve when they moved from a tape-based workflow, and they quickly embraced the use of JVC’s native file recording on SDHC solid-state media cards.
WCFT is affiliated with Allbritton Communications Company, which is based in Arlington, VA, and recently standardized on JVC ProHD cameras for studio and ENG work at six of its stations. The new cameras are part of an overall transition to local HD news production for all stations in the group.
Ideal for multicore or fiber-based studios, the GY-HM790 offers an innovative modular design and a redesigned studio adapter sled. Its three, 1/3in progressive scan CCDs produce 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080 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 ideal 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).