The Telemetrics Coax Link System attached to a JVC camera
LOS ANGELES—As a television design engineer specializing in sports broadcasting, I've had the unique opportunity of working at every major league venue in the country during the past 15 years, and also at several high profile college fields and many large entertainment sites.
I've also used a variety of camera control systems, and at the top of my list for flexibility, reliability and ease of use is the Telemetrics Coax Link camera control system.
CONNECTIONS ARE A BREEZE
I recommend and use the Telemetrics Coax System whenever possible, as I know it's going to work every time. It's reliable, quick to set up and uses standard coax cable. There's no limit to where you can place the cameras or how much you can move them around. You just find the nearest coax drop and that's a camera location. It's design-agnostic and it doesn't matter whether the cable run is 50 feet or 500 feet.
One good example of this technology is associated with my work as a production engineer for a satellite uplink provider. We did setups for ball games at the old Yankee Stadium on game mornings using the Telemetrics system and just a few cameras. The cameras could be hooked up in the press box, locker room or almost anywhere in the stadium where there was a coax drop. The cameraman had about a 50-foot hook-up to the coax and could easily move from one location to another. Moving cameras around the facility made it look like we were using more cameras than we actually were and gave the feel of a much larger production.
On another occasion I was working on a satellite media tour, using only two cameras and the Telemetrics system. We had full camera control, including paint box, power, intercom, IFB, return audio, and more at any pre-wired facility in the country. There were no multiple cable/multiple harness configurations to deal with. If we hadn't had the Telemetrics system, it would have taken us more than a day to do the cabling at each stop, and even then we would have been very limited as to positions and wouldn't have been able to move cameras around.
TRIAX NEED NOT APPLY
Compared to triax systems, the Telemetrics coax system offers the same flexibility at a fraction of the cost. If some of the cables at the professional venues aren't working, it's simply a matter of moving to another drop. This is much faster, easier and less expensive than taking time out to repair multi-cable connections.
I've also recommended or used the Telemetrics coax system in systems that I've designed, as Telemetrics provides some of the best support in the industry. This even includes being able to send them the camera and paint box to make sure that the system will be properly optimized when installed. They've been around a long time and they know what they're doing. This shows both in their products and in their support.
Dwight Sturtevant is a television production and design engineer. He may be contacted at tvman@mapinternet.com.
For additional information, contact Telemetrics at 201-848-9818 or visit www.telemetricsinc.com.
