WSOC, Cox Television’s ABC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., shot a 30-minute weather special, “Surviving the Storm,” entirely in P2 HD 100 Mbps video with an AJ-HPX2000 shoulder-mount, multi-format 2/3-inch P2 HD camcorder, Panasonic announced.
“Our photographers all love the cameras and the pictures,” said WSOC Chief Photographer Bill Bruce. “Our shooters had switched out all our Beta SX cameras by the end of May, and have adjusted to shooting 16:9 while protecting for 4:3, as well as the overall P2 workflow.”
WSOC deployed 25 fully equipped AJ-HPX2000s for all ENG operations. The station, along with its cable duopoly, WAXN, has been broadcasting all local news in HD since April 2007.
“Each HPX2000 is assigned five 8GB cards, and because the cameras are hot swappable, one photographer can easily copy material onto a second photographer’s card when a crew comes in to take over a story,” said Bruce. “The camera has four-channel digital audio, and we really like the fact that we can monitor Channels 3 and 4. With its crisp images and real, saturated colors, the camera has definitely improved our on-air look.”
