Worldwide Filipino Multimedia Conglomerate Makes Major Commitment to Ikegami’s GF Series Total Tapeless HD Production Solution For News and Original Productions
ABS-CBN, the Philippine-based global multi-media conglomerate (with bureau locations in Asia Pacific, Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, the Philippines, the Middle East, and the USA), has purchased 75 Ikegami GFCAM™ HDS-V10 tapeless Flash RAM HD camcorders to deploy in its Philippine news network. This large-scale commitment to GFCAM™ makes ABS-CBN the latest production entity to adopt Ikegami’s tapeless HD production solution, following such organizations as the Univision Television Group, Canada’s Weather Network, Tulsa’s KGEB-TV, and Boston College. ABS-CBN has specified use of Ikegami’s GFCAM™ HDS-V10 tapeless Flash RAM HD camcorders for ENG, current affairs, and documentary-program production.
“The GFCAM™ was chosen for the superiority of its SD and HD images, the durability of the camera, and Ikegami’s excellent technical support,” explains Danton Wieneke, Head of Engineering, News and Current Affairs for ABS-CBN. “When it comes to imagery we love its wide latitude, and its super knee feature,” remarks Boying Palileo, Head of News Camera Operations.
The GFCAM™ is a rugged, broadcast-grade ENG camcorder that employs three advanced 2/3-inch AIT CCD’s and is available in native 1080i or 720p versions. The GFCAM™ records HD images in MXF-compliant MPEG-2 50Mbps Long GOP or 100Mbps I-Frame Only, now in a variety of frame rates, including 60i, 24p, 25p, and 30p.
The Ikegami GFCAM™ employs GFPAK™ media, a removable Flash-RAM pack with up to 128GB capacity, a high-speed S-ATA interface, and a convenient USB port for instant access to file-based video from laptop or desktop edit systems. Users can also choose Ikegami’s new CF ADAPTOR, a GFPAK™-style cartridge that can be loaded with affordable, off-the-shelf CompactFlash (CF) Type I media for “plug-and-play” use.
“The ease of accessing CF media provides workflow flexibility in the field,” Rupert Ambil, Head of News Field Operation for ABS-CBN, notes. “CF cards are great because they’re readily available anywhere in the world we may be deployed.”
Ikegami introduced the industry’s first tapeless camcorder in 1995. Drawing from its many years of experience, Ikegami’s GFCAM™ features such Intelligent Recording innovations as Retro Loop (so videographers never miss a shot) and a time-lapse function. Other tapeless recording advantages of the GFCAM™ include “Pakless” recording while exchanging media packs, proxy generation, and instant export of thumbnail clips via Bluetooth to laptops for fast logging, metadata insertion, and other workflow benefits.
GFCAM™ users can also opt to integrate Ikegami’s other GF Series products into their production environments. These include Ikegami’s GFSTATION™ GFS-V10 Flash RAM studio deck, a multi-task platform built around high-capacity internal Flash memory. The GFSTATION™ is equally at home in traditional HD video production environments or those with extensive IT integration. The GFSTATION™ can serve as a home for video sources transferred via a network to a non-linear editor, an import terminal for uploads from external sources, and an In/Out editor supporting instant direct editing during file transfer from a GFPAK™. In/Out editing is also possible during recording, via the GFSTATION™’s front-panel or its universal controller. Other Ikegami GF Series products include the GFSTATION™ PORTABLE half-rack-wide portable player/recorder, GFPLAYER desktop playback unit, and an adaptor providing direct plug-in of GFPAK™ media into tower PC’s with a fast serial-ATA interface. GF Series MediaManager software provides efficient GF Series integration with large server-based production environments.
Ikegami’s ongoing commitment to customer service was a crucial factor in making GFCAM™ HDS-V10 tapeless Flash RAM HD camcorders the right choice for ABS-CBN. “The engineers have been great these past years supporting our other Ikegami cameras,” Danton Wieneke concludes. “We expect this to continue.”
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.
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.
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