Keith PorterNEW HAVEN, CONN.
WTNH is owned by LIN TV Corp. and is the ABC affiliate here. We serve the New Haven area and share a production facility with sister station WCTX. Migrating to digital for our extensive news programming has required an upgrade of our ENG power sources. We produce 37 hours of news programming per week and are responsible for a special monthly sports report and the pressure is constantly on to stay on top of breaking news. To keep up with this demand we have an arsenal of 20 Sony DNW-90WS cameras for our ENG crews.
NEEDED BATTERIES FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
We all know that news never sleeps and our people have to be ready 24 hours a day/seven days per week. And they have to have batteries that can stand up to these demands.
Our capital purchase plans usually look five years out, taking into consideration where we are now and where we want to be in the future, and our future is centered around HD capture. So the problem became how to make an interim purchase of batteries to run our current gear with an eye to using the same batteries for the new HD gear later on.
The first step was a discovery phase—identifying our day-to-day requirements. It became clear that we needed a battery that would give us three hours of run time per charge, and we needed two batteries per camera in order to cover a full shift. The second step was to identify batteries that could give us the power we needed now and would also work with HD ENG cameras in the future.
We've had a long relationship with Anton/Bauer, even predating my 25 years at the station, and certainly knew the quality and reliability of their products and this played a big part in our decision to stay with that company's products.
HYTRON HAS PLENTY OF POWER
We purchased 40 HyTron 140 batteries, 20 Dual 2722 chargers and four Quad chargers. Anton/Bauer's HyTron technology is used in batteries that are designed to power vehicles and they've put it into a camera-friendly package. The 140 lets us run constantly for up to three hours with a 45 watt load, and up to four hours with a 35 watt draw. Our Sony cameras pull 31 watts, so two batteries really do give us enough charge coverage for each shift. Clearly, the HyTron 140 was what we needed for our application.
The 20 dual 2722 charger/discharger/diagnostic units allow operators to charge two batteries simultaneously and can also run diagnostics on each battery. An additional bonus is that the 2722 can power the camera from an AC source if necessary.
In preparing for our high-definition future, we have taken an early first step with the purchase of a power system that will be up to the demands of the new cameras. We're convinced there will be no battery issues when the HD switch is made. The world of ENG is about live action and there is no second take. We're ready with our Anton/Bauer batteries.
Keith Porter has been in broadcasting for the 27 years and has been the chief photographer/news operations manager at WTNH since 1999. He may be contacted atkeith.porter@wtnh.com.
For additional information, contact Anton/Bauer at 800-422-3473 or visitwww.antonbauer.com
