PBS station WETA (Arlington, Va.) has installed six Fujinon HA27X6.5 ESM premium HD studio lenses. The lenses are mounted on Sony HDC-1000L cameras and are being used to produce the PBS signature nightly news program “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”
“NewsHour” originates in HD from WETA studios outside Washington, D.C.
The new "NewsHour" studio at WETA.
WETA worked with Newington, Va.-based system integrator Communications Engineering Inc. to build a new state-of-the-art control room and HD-optimized set. The construction, designed to enable the HD broadcast of “NewsHour,” is serving other areas of WETA programming as well. The facility housed HD coverage of the Democrat and Republican national political conventions, as well as that of the 2008 presidential election.
According to Chris Lane, WETA vice president of technology and engineering, the Fujinon lenses represented a fiscally responsible choice for HD lenses that provided the utmost in quality imaging.
“Soon after we launched the show in HD, I had the opportunity to speak to my counterparts at other PBS stations receiving the NewsHour feed. All parties were very impressed with how pristine the images are,” Lane said.
