 |
Cameras: News and Updates
| Barrington Broadcast Group Makes Large Purchase of P2 HD Shoulder Mounts, AVCCAM HD Handhelds and Remote-Control Cameras for ENG and Studio Operations at Five Stations By StudentFilmmakers.com posted May 17, 2012, 12:54 |
The Barrington Broadcasting Group (Schaumburg, IL) has made a large-scale purchase of Panasonic P2 HD and AVCCAM HD camcorders to support ENG operations at five of its stations, as well as remote-control HD cameras for studio use.
Altogether, Barrington invested in 19 AG-HPX370 P2 HD shoulder-mounts for newsgathering at stations WSTM (Syracuse, NY), WEYI (Flint/Saginaw/Bay City, MI) and KRCG (Columbia/Jefferson City, MO), 11 AG-AC160 AVCCAM HD handhelds for ENG at WACH (Columbia, SC) and WPDE (Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC), and five AW-HE870 2/3" HD/SD multi-purpose cameras for studio production at KRCG.
Barrington owns, programs and/or provides support services for 24 television stations in 15 geographically diverse markets. These stations are in DMAs ranked 69-199, and are affiliated with the NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and CW networks. Since its founding in 2003, Barrington has assigned newsgathering throughout the group to successive generations of Panasonic professional camcorders.
"Our stations and our top executives have a tremendously long history with Panasonic," said Keith Bland, Barrington’s Senior Vice President for Technical Operations."When equipment was aging out at various stations it was virtually a given we would turn to newer generations of Panasonic gear."
"The HPX370s are a perfect fit for stations like WSTM, WEYI and KRCG, which have established P2 workflows," he continued. "The camcorders are reasonably priced, and we like the detachable lens, variety of AV ins/outs and the ability to genlock the cameras. We have a number of one-man bands in the field, and they are finding the HPX370 really easy to operate."
Bland said stations WACH and WPDE, which have taken delivery of the AC160s, were already shooting with AVCCAM HD shoulder-mounts and have workflows based on SD card media.
The HE870s are a known quantity at Barrington, as they were previously installed in HD studios at WACH and KXRM (Colorado Springs/Pueblo, CO). "The HE870 is lightweight, very high quality and is moving KRCG into 16:9 production," said Bland.
About the AG-HPX370
The AG-HPX370 is an affordable second-generation, interchangeable lens camcorder with 10-bit, 4:2:2 , independent-frame full 1920 x 1080 resolution AVC-Intra recording. The HPX370 incorporates newly-developed 1/3", full-HD 2.2 megapixel U.L.T. (Ultra Luminance Technology) 3-MOS imagers and a 20-bit Digital Signal Processor to acquire native 1920 x 1080 resolution images. Rivaling the image quality and sensitivity of ½" imagers, the new U.L.T. sensor results in marked improvements in sensitivity, measured at F10.
About the AG-AC160
The AG-AC160 AVCCAM HD handheld camcorder incorporates top production features including variable frame rate recording in 1080p, Linear PCM audio, an HD-SDI output, and switchability between 59.94Hz/50Hz for worldwide use. The AC160 is equipped with high-sensitivity 1/3", full-HD 2.2 megapixel U.L.T. (Ultra Luminance Technology) 3-MOS imager as well as 22X HD zoom lens (the longest in its class), to offer a wide field of view and operability much like an interchangeable lens.
About the AW-HE870
This versatile AW-HE870 delivers affordable 2/3" quality acquisition for a wide range of applications. This HD convertible camera supports 1080i/720p HD and 480i SD capture and is compatible with most 2/3-inch motor drive zoom lenses.
Resources: