KCWC Upgrades Truck With Hitachi

Wyoming PBS affiliate KCWC Casper-Riverton (DMA 196) purchased four Hitachi SK-HD1000 multiformat HDTV cameras as part of the planned upgrade of its 32-foot digital production truck equipped with a 2.4-meter Ku-Band satellite uplink dish. The station is licensed to Central Wyoming College in Riverton.

The truck travels across the state, producing multicamera remote video productions, such as sessions of the Wyoming State Legislature in Cheyenne, political debates and sporting events.

“We chose these new Hitachi HD cameras because they produce beautiful pictures at an attractive price point,” said Kyle Nicholoff, the station’s production services manager. The SK-HD1000s replace four Hitachi SK-900 EFP SDTV cameras.

“In our experience with Hitachi cameras, they’re easy to operate and reliable,” Nicholoff continued.  “In fact, the older SK-900’s — which we’ve moved into our main studio — still produce wonderful pictures.”  They’re used for studio productions, including PBS pledge drives and a monthly public affairs show called Wyoming Perspectives.

Since the HD upgrade of the satellite truck is being implemented in two phases over the next year and a half, the Hitachi SK-HD1000 cameras are being initially used in SD mode with a Ross Synergy 2-M/E SD switcher. KCWC chose to outfit the four SK-HD1000s with Angenieux HD ENG lenses including:  two 19×7.3 AIF HD telephoto lenses, a 14×4.5 AIF super-wide angle HD lens, and a 26×7.8 AIF telephoto lens.

The top-of-the-line SK-HD1000 has three, high dynamic range 2/3-inch progressive scan 2.2 million pixel CCDs. These sensors allow the camera to produce an  image with 1100 TVL resolution, a quiet signal-to-noise ratio of 60db, and F11@2000 Lux sensitivity.  The camera system is configured with Hitachi’s fully digital HD triax transmission system whose performance is visually the same as the fiber cable transmission.

The SK-HD1000 camera also provides production features and functions such as 12-vector masking with preset colorimetries, 7-Ultra-gamma curves to dynamically increase exposure latitude, digital black stretch/press, two skin-tone detail memories with follow-zoom function, viewfinder linear focus assist with peak-hold, lens registration and TCP/IP compliant Ethernet ports on the CCU’s and select control panels to be able to assign CCU’s to controls over a standard 10/100 Ethernet data network.

Central Wyoming College offers a TV broadcasting curriculum that gives students the opportunity to gain real world experience in KCWC’s studio facilities. Adjacent to the studio, the control room houses a Grass Valley Kayak 2-ME HD switcher, Soundcraft Spirit 16-channel audio board, and Avid Deko 2000 live graphics system. After training on the equipment, students can then serve as cameras operators on the station’s local productions.