WCFT Launches Local HD News With JVC ProHD

Allbritton Communications-owned ABC affiliate WCFT-WJSU-WBMA Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa, Ala. (DMA 39), has purchased 20 JVC Professional Products CoGY-HM790 ProHD camcorders for studio and ENG work as part of an overall transition to local HD news production.

Ron Thomas, the stations’ director of engineering, said the station began using four of the new cameras in its studio in SD mode last July, then made the switch to HD production on Sept. 12. “The picture quality has been great, a drastic improvement,” said Thomas, who noted the integration between the new ProHD cameras and the studio’s Vinten robotic camera support system has been “flawless.”

WCFT began using GY-HM790 camcorders in the field on Sept. 12 as well, replacing a fleet of aging Philips LDK 700 DVCPRO camcorders. Not only are the units lighter than the previous cameras, but Thomas said they balance well when paired with the station’s new Anton/Bauer DIONIC batteries. “Our shooters really like the cameras,” he added.

While Thomas admitted station personnel faced a learning curve when they moved from a tape-based workflow, he said they quickly embraced the use of JVC’s native file recording on SDHC solid-state media cards. “It has really made it faster for our news department to turn around news, especially breaking news,” he said.

Allbritton Communications recently standardized on JVC ProHD cameras for studio and ENG work at six of its stations. The new cameras are part of an overall transition to local HD news production for all stations in the group.

Ideal for multicore or fiber-based studios, the GY-HM790 offers a modular design and a redesigned studio adapter sled. Its three, 1/3-inch progressive scan CCDs produce 1280×720 and 1920×1080 images, and its proprietary MPEG-2 encoder supports 1080i, 720p, and even SD (480i) for operations that have not yet made the move to HD.

The compact, shoulder-mount camera is also designed for ENG use, with a dual card slot design that records to low-cost, non-proprietary SDHC media cards in ready-to-edit file formats for Apple Final Cut Pro (.MOV) and other major NLE systems (.MP4).