ProHD in the Studio and Field at WKRC, Cincinnati, OH.
For Immediate Release
NEWPORT
TELEVISION UPGRADES LOCAL NEWS
OPERATIONS
TO HD WITH JVC PROHD CAMERAS
WAYNE, NJ (March 25, 2010) — Newport
Television, which owns and operates 50 stations in 22 markets around
the country, is upgrading its local broadcast news operations to
high definition with JVC ProHD cameras for ENG and studio
production. The station group is standardizing with GY-HM700
camcorders in the field and GY-HD250 cameras configured for studio
use.
Based in Kansas City, Mo., Newport has 14
stations supporting local news operations. According to Dione
Rigsby, vice president and director of engineering, Newport began
purchasing JVC cameras in late 2008. Four stations have already been
fully equipped with new cameras, and the transition is nearly
finished for four other stations. Rigsby
expects to have the company-wide conversion to JVC complete by 2011.
WAWS in Jacksonville,
Fla., WKRC in Cincinnati, WOAI in San Antonio, and KTVX in Salt Lake
City have a full complement of GY-HD250 cameras for studio
production and GY-HM700 camcorders for ENG use. Each station has at
least four GY-HD250s and 13 GY-HM700s. Stations currently upgrading
to JVC include WHAM in Rochester,
N.Y., KOKI in Tulsa, Okla., KLRT in Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Ark.,
and KGET in Bakersfield, Calif.
WKRC had its JVC cameras in place for months,
even though the station did not begin broadcasting its local news in
HD until recently. Rigsby said the GY-HD250 cameras improve SD
broadcasts while stations prepare for the inevitable local HD
transition. “We can revitalize a studio with HD cameras and
downconvert to SD,” Rigsby
explained. “We get a better look
with these great cameras.”
For ENG work, Rigsby is very pleased with the
GY-HM700 camcorder. “Price was key, of course, but our shooters
really like the ergonomics of the JVC cameras,” he said. He also
praised the use of inexpensive, non-proprietary SDHC cards as
recording media. “It’s a very, very inexpensive solution for
acquisition,” he noted, “and was one of the key selling points
for us.”
Beyond reusable solid-state media, Rigsby
said the GY-HM700s will require far less maintenance than tape-based
ENG camcorders, because they do not use tape heads or moving parts
for recording. “It will have a huge impact on overall operating
and maintenance costs,” he explained. “It will bring down the
total cost of ownership for the camcorders significantly.”
The move to JVC ProHD camcorders is also
helping Newport migrate to a tapeless newsroom. Rigsby said the
company is working with Bitcentral to create a file-based workflow,
complete with nonlinear editing suites equipped with SDHC card
readers that can instantly access the .mp4 files recorded by the
GY-HM700s -- no transcoding or ingest required.
ABOUT NEWPORT
TELEVISION
Newport Television is a television broadcast
company that acquired Clear Channel Television in 2008. The company
is comprised of a 50 station television group in 22 markets across
the country and Inergize Digital, the leader in fully integrated
digital management solutions that generate revenue for local media
companies. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Newport Television
operates stations nationwide with multiple network affiliates
including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, MyNetwork and Telemundo. For more
information, visit www.newporttv.com.
ABOUT JVC U.S.A.
Headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, JVC U.S.A. is
a division of JVC Americas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Victor Company of Japan Ltd. JVC distributes a complete line of
video and audio equipment for the consumer and professional markets.
For further product information, visit JVC’s Web site at
http://pro.jvc.com or call (800)526-5308. Visit JVC at the 2010 NAB
Show in Las Vegas, Nev., April 12-15 (Booth C4314).
