MAYWOOD, NEW JERSEY, August 24, 2011 – Tennis lovers watching this year’s U.S. Open on TV will see all of the tournament’s unforgettable moments in brilliant HD, as captured by F&F Productions, a leading U.S. provider of mobile production facilities. Specialists in HDTV coverage of sports and entertainment events, F&F Productions will be using two of its state-of-the-art 47-ft. Double Expando mobile facilities – GTX-16 and GTX-15 – as well as a full complement of Ikegami HDK-79EC HD Native Multi-Format CMOS Camera Systems and the HDS-V10 tapeless GFCam™ HD Camcorder for maximum picture quality and production efficiencies.
“We’ve been using Ikegami cameras exclusively for many years,” states George Orgera, Founder and CEO of F&F Productions. “From image quality to reliability to service, we are very pleased with the performance of Ikegami. We have outfitted the GTX-16 and GTX-15 with the very best HD production equipment available to provide our clients and their viewing audiences with the ultimate in image quality, as well as the ultimate in audio quality, and a comfortable, efficient working environment for the production staff.”
A leader in the live location TV production business for nearly three decades, F&F Productions deploys its mobile vehicles nationwide. The GTX-16 and GTX-15 parked at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City for the U.S. Open are both capable of accommodating up to 24 CCU’s with three complete video positions. Both trucks also carry Ikegami SE-79D System Expanders to configure the HDK-79EC HD CMOS cameras as either “hard” or handheld units. Each System Expander includes a 9-inch 16:9 color LCD viewfinder with an especially wide viewing angle and low lag, which are critical for location use.
Cool, Multi-Format HD
The Ikegami HDK-79EC employs three 2/3-inch 2.5 Mega-pixel-specified CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductors) image sensors, which provide such advantages as reduced power consumption, multi-format HD video capture, and high-speed imaging capabilities. These 1920H x 1080V active-pixel CMOS sensors are switchable between interlace and progressive readout modes. Providing a full 16:9 aspect ratio, the HDK-79EC’s CMOS sensors can deliver 1080/60i, 1080/24p, and 720/60p HD. Also available are optional 50Hz formats, 1080/50i and 720/50p, and high-speed dual-link 1080/60p, and – for Super Slow Motion – 720/120i.
“Thanks to the Ikegami CMOS technology used in the HDK-79EC’s, all of these HD formats are native, which is fantastic,” Orgera notes. “Whichever one our clients want – whether for sports or for sitcoms or episodics – we can do it. Camera operators also love the HDK-79EC’s because the reduced power consumption of their Ikegami CMOS sensors makes the cameras cooler to the touch. They’re also lighter-weight.”
The HDK-79EC features a docking-style camera head that can be easily configured for use with either triax or SMPTE fiber cable from the same CCU for excellent flexibility in field-production applications. That CCU (model CCU-890M) is a full-digital camera control unit that includes a built-in broadcast down-converter and a simple front-panel switch for selecting camera-cable type.
Tapeless Production
The Ikegami HDS-V10 tapeless GFCam™ HD camcorder that F&F Productions has on hand at the U.S. Open serves as an ENG camera for interviews with players and coaches, local beauty shots, and other highly mobile applications. Using MPEG-2 compression and the MXF file format for an open-codec HD/SD recording architecture compatible with all leading edit systems, the GFCam™ is a rugged 2/3-inch three-CCD camcorder that records to non-proprietary removable GFPak Flash media. Part of Ikegami’s GFSeries workflow-efficient HD product line, the GFCam™ is the latest example of Ikegami’s long history of tapeless camcorder innovation, which goes back to its co-development of the industry’s first such camera, shown at NAB 1995. Ikegami shared a NATAS Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award this year for this singular achievement.
Other products in Ikegami’s GFSeries product line include the GFStation GFS-V10 Flash memory studio deck, GFS-P10 GF Station Portable half-rack-wide portable player/recorder, and the GFS-V10PL GF Player desktop playback unit. GFPak media provides up to 128GB capacity (for 4 hours of 50Mbps HD) and includes a convenient USB port for instant access to file-based HD video even when a GFPak isn’t installed in either a GFCam™ or deck or player.
“The Ikegami GFCam™ is fantastic, everybody loves it,” Orgera says. “We’re glad we have the GFS-V10 deck in the truck. We insert the GFPak into it for instant playback.”
Also employed by GTX-16 and GTX-15 at the U.S. Open are Ikegami HDL-50 compact full digital HD cameras for POV shots. These small, lightweight “box”-style cameras can be mounted atop high vantage points for unmanned “bird’s-eye-view” shots. A fully digital camera, the HDL-50 employs 2.5 Mega-pixel CMOS sensors for native multi-format HD operation, including 1080/59.94i and 720/59.94p directly from the camera head.
Inside GTX-16 and GTX-15, meanwhile, Ikegami HLM-1750WR and HLM-2450WB Multi-Format HD LCD monitors provide space-saving, color-accurate HD display brilliance in the video-control area. Lightweight despite their generous 17- and 24-inch wide-aspect-ratio 16:9 screens, both offer low power consumption and multiple signal inputs for versatile video monitoring.
“Ikegami support is the best,” Orgera states. “With Ikegami there are very, very few issues, but if there is one they’re right on it. I also can’t say enough about their service people. If we decide to try something different with a format that we’ve never used before they’ll send a guy down to help us with it, and that’s something we really appreciate.”
Ikegami Electronics (U.S.A.), Inc. is a leading supplier of professional broadcasting products in the Western Hemisphere. With U.S. offices in New Jersey, California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio, the Ikegami name is recognized worldwide for its state-of-the-art television cameras and closed-circuit TV equipment. Ikegami’s universal High Definition TV cameras have been widely accepted by the broadcast industry as it continues the transition to the High Definition Television Format.
Ikegami – “Tapeless Wireless Seamless”
For more information and the location of the Regional Office nearest you, call Ikegami’s Maywood NJ headquarters at 201-368-9171 or visit www.Ikegami.com.
For more information on F&F Productions, LLC call F&F headquarters at 727-535-6776 or visit www.fandfproductions.com .
Product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
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