Entertainment Technology News

Six-camera package provides full production support to evangelist Franklin Graham's 'Rock the River' Summer Music Tour.

On location: Live event shot and recorded at St. Louis Rock the River stop; Photo courtesy of Special Events Services.

(Secaucus, NJ) Special Event Services (SES) of Winston-Salem, NC, one of the country's leading live-event production companies, has recently added a high-performance HD video package with six Panasonic native 1080i AK-HC3500 2/3" 2.2M 3-CCD HD cameras to its extensive roster of video equipment. The mobile trailer/fly pack also includes a Panasonic AV-HS400A multi-format HD/SD live switcher, three BT series HD LCD production monitors, two TH series HD plasmas and two AJ-HD1400 DVCPRO HD VTRs, along with requisite accessories and lenses.

On location: Cinematographer working behind the camera. St. Louis Rock the River stop; Photo courtesy of Special Events Services.

SES' diverse clientele includes the Franklin Graham, Joyce Meyer, David Jeremiah and Joel Osteen ministries, as well as Disney Live!, Hootie and the Blowfish, Darius Ruckus, the Country Music Association and many more high profile clients. Director of Live Video Production Ricky Spencer has already used the new 36' mobile trailer/fly pack system at a Charlotte, NC concert featuring young Disney Channel star, Demi Lovato (Camp Rock, Princess Protection Program), a Church conference held in Raleigh, NC for more than 2500 pastors, and a CC Winan weekend conference in Nashville, TN. SES is also utilizing the HD video unit in delivering full video production support to Rev. Franklin Graham's "Rock the River Tour," a high-energy music ministry outreach traveling up the Mississippi to multiple river cities this summer.

Live event shot at St. Louis Rock the River stop; Photo courtesy of Special Events Services.

At the Disney concert, SES shot in HD for the purpose of live IMAG projection and recorded footage for future promotional and editorial use. At the NC Church event, SES used four HC3500s to record straight to tape for the God TV channel programming schedule. For the CC Winan event, SES recorded the event live to HD tape while shooting the event live in HD IMAG. SES is bringing its full complement of six HD cameras on the Rock the River Tour to shoot the events live for IMAG, stream the events over the internet, and record to the compact HD1400 DVCPRO HD decks for further use of the material.

Inside the studio. St. Louis Rock the River stop; Photo courtesy of Special Events Services.

"Our original criterion for the new mobile trailer/fly pack system was a true HD professional package front to back," Spencer said, "and due to its design and flexibility, we can now deploy the Panasonic system in a hotel ballroom, convention center or stadium .We can get in and out of a venue quickly, saving the client on labor costs and keeping it simple enough that one technician can set it up within an hour. The beauty of the way the components interface and work together shows me Panasonic did the homework, which allowed us to meet our objectives exclusively with Panasonic equipment."

Live event shot and recorded at St. Louis Rock the River stop; Photo courtesy of Special Events Services.

"I'd never really worked with Panasonic before, and I was really pleased with their initial interest in our project. They were the only manufacturer who showed up eager for the business and prepared to demonstrate a broad product line to meet our needs," he continued. "I soon moved beyond being impressed with the people who represented Panasonic to seeing continuity across complementary product offerings."

The AK-HC3500, Panasonic's most advanced studio camera, is equipped with exclusive image processing and color reproduction functions for the highest quality in 1080/59.94i and 1080/50i image acquisition.

"I came up through the ranks as a cameraman, so I can truly appreciate what Panasonic has achieved with the HC3500," Spencer said. "The camera is very well balanced, not back or front heavy. You're able to control skin tone and smoothness in real time, and there's an adjustable skin-tone detail to easily tweak sharpness when focusing in various lighting environments. It has powerful, versatile gamma settings, such as real-time Dynamic Range Stretch that varies the gamma correction to match the contrast within the image."

"I admire the variable masking circuit that allows for separate and precise adjustment of hue and saturation. I'm also a big fan of the EBU color matrix preset," he said. "On the Rock the River Tour we have endured downpours, 90 degree temps and high humidity. The HC3500s have not missed a beat and are producing incredible pictures on the outdoor LED walls."

SES equips the HC3500 with an assortment of HD Fujinon lens including sport lens for front-of -house studio-configured cameras outfitted with the 8" color LCD viewfinders, Fujinon 18X HD lenses for hand-held cameras and a Fujinon HD 4.5 wide angle for jibs.

"Panasonic really stepped outside the box with the HS400A switcher," Spencer said. "I value its simplicity and diversity. It has a built-in, switchable 10-bit frame synchronizer for each input that is truly invaluable, along with an easily accessible menu that in show mode allows for maximum versatility, an important benefit as every show's needs are different.

"The list of options is well thought-out and can handle almost any situation. Again, on this tour we are up- and downconverting various inputs, and the HS400A has met every challenge with ease."

In terms of monitoring, SES uses two Panasonic TH-50PF11UK 1080p plasmas as the main multi-viewer for the HS400A. The company utilizes two BT-LH2550 25.5" HD LCDs as side monitors for clients, and a BT-LH1710 17.1" HD LCD with built-in waveform monitor/vectorscope as an engineering monitor.

"I love the built-in scope, which makes engineering convenient and easy as all the information is right there on the monitor," Spencer noted. "The plasmas and the BT-LH2550 have great viewing angles and full 1920x1200 pixel panels--the client is truly seeing what he's getting on record."

Spencer said SES intends to purchase the Panasonic's new AV-HS450 live HD/SD switchers (with 16 SD/HD-SDI standard inputs with built-in, dual-screen MultiViewer, multiple keyers and four aux busses) soon to meet clients' needs.

"Very few manufacturers listen and respond with product enhancements the way Panasonic does, and that speaks volumes to us who are out here using the products. SES cannot overestimate our overall satisfaction with our investment in Panasonic, and look forward to a long relationship," he said.

For more information about Special Event Services, visit www.specialeventservices.com.

About the AK-HC3500

The high performance HC3500 camera delivers the purest native image in its class. The HC3500 features three 2/3" 2.2-megapixal IT-CCDs with an advanced single-channel transfer system, 14-bit A.D converter, an advanced 38-bit digital signal processor LSI and spatial offset processing for exceptional sensitivity, resolution (1100 horizontal lines), as well as reduced aliasing. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.

About the AV-HS400A

The enhanced AV-HS400A offers an array of powerful features including a built-in MultiViewer image preview, full 10-bit HD processing, expandable HD/SD architecture, more than 40 digital effects and picture-in-picture (PIP) capabilities. As a compact, all-in-one mixer system, the HS400A easily integrates into existing HD/SD workflows, flawlessly mixing HD and SD video sources using a wide range of optional I/O boards. Its modular architecture comes standard with four HD/SD-SDI inputs and four HD/SDI outputs and can be expanded to support up to 8 inputs and 8 outputs with optional I/O boards. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.

About the BT-LH2550

With a full 1920 x 1200-pixel In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel, the BT-LH2550 25.5" LCD HD production monitor features an expanded color gamut, exceeding the NTSC standard, to ensure vivid, true-to-life color for critical monitoring at a cost far less than premium-priced reference monitors. The monitor's image processing engine has a three-dimensional look-up table (LUT) that calibrates it to reproduce content according to the specific color standard selected. With its advanced IPS panel, 1920 x 1200 resolution and 10-bit processing circuit, the LH2550 produces ultra-faithful color and exceptionally clear detail in any video format. Its high contrast and brightness, excellent motion response and wide 178� horizontal/vertical viewing angles make it the cost-effective choice versus more expensive reference monitors. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.

About Panasonic Broadcast

Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a Unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE Symbol: PC) and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.