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Compatibility of Anton/Bauer Helps Keep KHOU-TV News Team in Action

(Houston) Anton/Bauer®, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company and a premier global provider of batteries, chargers, lighting and other mobile power systems for the professional broadcast, video and film industries, has recently helped Houston-based KHOU-TV transition from using Sony SX, taped-based cameras to the new Sony memory card-based cameras like the PMW-350 and the PMW-500. An exclusive Anton/Bauer battery user for news operations since the 1990s, Rick Buffolano, ENG supervisor for KHOU-TV, appreciates the peace of mind and the quality that Anton/Bauer provides, noting that the gear has become an asset to KHOU-TV's photographers.  

KHOU-TV, a CBS affiliate owned by Belo, currently employs 22 cameras on the street. The station first started using Anton/Bauer batteries in the 1990s and continues to employ Anton/Bauer as the company develops new products. To help power cameras on the go, today KHOU-TV uses Anton/Bauer DIONIC® 160 and HyTRON® 140 batteries, as well as the T2 and QUAD 2702 chargers.  KHOU adapts to the Sony mount with the QR-SDH and the QR-DSR Gold Mounts®.

"From the start, Anton/Bauer batteries have proven to be more reliable with a longer duration," says Buffolano. "This is especially important with the newer cameras, as they have either memory sticks or optical disks that actually have video files on them. The camera needs to write an end-of-file marker when you are done with the clip you just shot, so if the power suddenly goes out, it doesn't have a chance to close the file out and therefore you risk losing the last shot and you can never recover it."

Anton/Bauer has long-term, collaborative relationships with key cell manufacturers to provide the highest cell quality for the latest cameras used in the broadcast industry. Delivering up to 10 amps of power, the DIONIC 160's configuration is constructed of specialized Li-Ion cells originally designed for high-rate military operations. Weighing 30 percent less than a NiCad or NiMH battery, the DIONIC 160 has 15 percent more capacity and will run a 30-watt camera for more than six hours. What's more, the HyTRON 140 is a high-power NiMH battery system suited to the power demands of today's high-definition equipment and on-camera lighting systems. In lower power applications, it can provide power for many hours without limits or travel restrictions. The HyTRON 140 also offers an excellent counterbalance to offset the weight of a lens. Buffolano and his team feel confident relying on the DIONIC 160 and HyTRON 140 batteries because they know exactly much power is left, since Anton/Bauer's patented RealTime® displays up to nine hours of run-time remaining.

To ensure all batteries are ready for superior performance, no matter where shooting the story takes the station's camera crews, Anton/Bauer's T2 and QUAD 2702 chargers have always performed very well for the team. The four-position QUAD 2702 PowerCharger is the most advanced power system available and will sequentially fast charge any combination of Anton/Bauer Logic Series Batteries. It does this by using the advanced charging techniques of the Anton/Bauer InterActive system in a package roughly the size of a notebook computer. The T2 combines two-channel simultaneous InterActive charging with a 70-watt 16VDC output for camera operation, making the T2 capable of operating power hungry cameras while simultaneously charging a spare battery in the fastest charge time possible. Click here for more information.

Resources:

www.antonbauer.com

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