Drewry Doing HD With JVC Cameras

Lawton, Okla.-based Drewry Communications Group is adopting JVC ProHD cameras for ENG at all five of its TV stations as they make the move to HD news, according to JVC.

Last month, CBS affiliate KFDA  Amarillo, Texas (DMA 131) became the first station in the group to offer HD news and it did it with the help of seven JVC GY-HM790U camcorders in the field.

Later this month, KXXV Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas (DMA 89), will become the second. According to JVC, the station has purchased 10 GY-HM790Us and three GY-HM700Us with Canon lenses for its main facility in Waco and KRHD, its digital low-power satellite in Bryan-College Station.

Dewry opted for the JVC camcorders because it did not want to commit to expensive, proprietary recording media, JVC said. The JVC units use inexpensive SDHC media cards.

The current workflow at KXXV involves ingesting tape-based footage to its Adobe Premiere CS5 NLE systems for post, then dubbing completed packages to tape for playback, JVC said.

 With the move to a file-based HD system, the station will save on maintenance costs for its aging VTRs and camcorders, the vendor said. Plus, with JVC’s native file recording, there is no need for ingesting or transcoding footage.

“Better product and we save money — it’s a wonderful combination,” said KXXV GM Mike Lee in a statement.

JVC will demonstrate its full line of ProHD camcorders, including the GY-HM790U and the new GY-HM750U at the NAB Show next month.