GY-HM660U

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RAYCOM MEDIA STANDARDIZES ON JVC’S
NEW GY-HM660 AS PRIMARY ENG CAMERA

WAYNE, NJ (April 18, 2016) – JVC Professional Video, a division of JVCKENWOOD USA Corporation, today announced Raycom Media has committed to the new GY-HM660 ProHD mobile news camera as its primary ENG camera over the next three years, with an initial order of 125 cameras. Raycom Media began purchasing JVC cameras for local ENG in 2013, and standardized on JVC in late 2014.

The station group already owns more than 400 GY-HM650 mobile news cameras, which represent almost 65 percent of its ENG camera fleet. Ten Raycom Media stations use GY-HM650 cameras with JVC ProHD Broadcaster servers to stream live video-over-IP reports from the field.

According to David Burke, vice president of technology for Raycom Media, a committee spent several months evaluating cameras before selecting JVC. While committee members tested features such as optical zoom and low-light performance, they also considered file formats, video-over-IP capabilities, compatibility with current Raycom Media post-production and playout technologies, and overall costs.

“Across the board, each of the stations selected JVC over the competitors,” Burke said. “Our results reconfirmed the commitment we made three years ago.”

Since standardizing on JVC, Burke has seen reduced operating expenses with the use of non-proprietary SDHC and SDXC media cards, as well as reduced maintenance costs. Raycom Media has also moved away from shoulder-mounted cameras and adopted a multimedia journalist (MMJ) news model. “Now we have an affordable MMJ camera that we can give to every reporter,” Burke said.

Headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., Raycom Media owns or provides services for 62 television stations in 42 markets in 20 states, including 40 stations that produce local news. Burke said the new GY-HM660s will replace older cameras from various manufacturers within the station group.

“We’ve been enamored with the JVC platform for three years,” Burke explained. “It’s important to have those workflows established. JVC is extremely strong in that area, and we want to maintain that uniform platform moving forward. And we have a great partnership with JVC.”

“We appreciate Raycom Media’s commitment to JVC ProHD cameras for ENG across its station group,” said Joseph D’Amico, vice president, JVC Professional Video. “Today’s ENG cameras have to produce more than great pictures. They have to deliver value. JVC cameras offer the industry’s best digital workflows and video-over-IP technologies to make it easier for broadcasters to produce and deliver news.”

Announced earlier this month, the GY-HM660 is the industry’s first streaming camcorder with an integrated IFB audio channel. The IFB allows reporters in the field to communicate with the studio while simultaneously delivering video-over-IP HD reports. A replacement for JVC’s popular GY-HM650 mobile news camera, the new GY-HM660 also features new CMOS image sensors for improved F12 (60Hz) sensitivity and a brighter LCD display for improved daylight viewing.

When paired with a 4G LTE modem or hotspot, the GY-HM660’s built-in video-over-IP technology delivers high-quality streaming with a choice of resolutions, bit rates, and formats – no backpack transmission system or external encoder required. For more reliable streaming, it offers SMPTE 2022 or Zixi forward error correction (FEC), automatic repeat request (ARQ), and adaptive bit rate control. The camera also supports a direct connection to a number of content distribution networks (CDNs) including Ustream and YouTube.

Designed for news, sports, and independent production, the GY-HM660 features an integrated Fujinon 23x auto focus zoom lens, HD-SDI and HDMI outputs, time-code sync input, dual XLR inputs with phantom power, and 3.5-inch LCD display and 1.22 MP LCOS color viewfinder. It records HD and SD footage natively in a variety of formats to SDHC or SDXC media cards, and can record full HD on a memory card while providing video-over-IP footage for live broadcast.

JVC will demonstrate the new GY-HM660, along with the new GY-HM620, at the 2016 NAB Show (Booth C4314) through April 21 in Las Vegas, Nev.

ABOUT JVC PROFESSIONAL VIDEO

Headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, JVC Professional Video is a division of JVCKENWOOD USA Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JVCKENWOOD Corporation. The company is a leading manufacturer and distributor of broadcast and professional video equipment, as well as D-ILA front projection systems. For more information, visit JVC’s Web site at http://pro.jvc.com or call (800) 582 5825.

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