Category
New studio technology
— HD
Submitted by Waterman Broadcasting/Montclair Communications Design Team The Express Group: George Andrus
Waterman Broadcasting/Montclair Communications: Bennie Barnes, eng.; Dan Billings, dir. of eng.; Mathew Gaige, eng.; Lori Grimaldi, marketing/design; David Hall, marketing/design; Bob Hannon, prod.; Samantha Howard, IT; Bill Maranto, eng.; Jeff Mayer, prod.; Kevin Scovell, eng.
Technology at work Brightline 1.4D lighting
JVC GY-HD250 cameras
Panasonic
PTDW5000UL DLP projector
TH-50PH9UK flat-panel displays
Samsung
HL-56187W displays
HD-57178W displays
Telemetrics camera robotics
Telescript FPS-200 prompters
Waterman Broadcasting delivers high-quality programming to its audience
Back in December 2006, Waterman Broadcasting, which owns WBBH-TV (NBC) in Fort Myers, FL, WVIR-TV (NBC) in Charlottesville, VA, and has a Local Management Agreement with Montclair Communications’ WZVN-TV (ABC) in Fort Myers, supplemented its ENG production with JVC’s GY-HD100 ProHD cameras. Today, WZVN-TV uses JVC’s GY-HD250 as its primary studio cameras.
WZVN-TV’s goal was to redesign its studio to give it a fresh, new look and provide a high degree of functionality and flexibility. The station’s engineering, IT, production and marketing departments worked with The Express Group to design a set specifically for the 16:9 aspect ratio. The set also had to stand up to the scrutiny of HD cameras.
Effectively shooting the new semicircular set would be impractical with only floor cameras. After examining options closely, the station operators decided that drop-down ceiling cameras could fill in the shots that they couldn’t get with the floor cameras. Telemetrics agreed to build the custom ceiling robotics, and the GY-HD250 cameras proved to be a perfect fit.
The lightweight, compact size and video quality of the cameras, along with the robotics system, has allowed WZVN-TV to create a highly dynamic news studio. The studio has three floor televators, which can pan, tilt, raise and lower. The CCU functions for the cameras are also done by the Telemetrics system. The station has two additional pan-and-tilt GY-HD250 cameras that can be lowered from the ceiling using custom-built Telemetrics hardware.
