Mountain Lake PBS—a PBS member station in Plattsburgh, N.Y. serving 3.9 million viewers in New York, Vermont, Quebec and Ontario, Canada—has selected four Hitachi Z-HD5000 HD studio cameras to produce local programming.
A licensee of WCFE-TV/Channel 57, Mountain Lake PBS produces two weekly shows: “Mountain Lake Journal,” a news and public affairs show that offers analysis of issues, and events impacting the region; and “Mountain Lake Journal EXTRA” covers arts, culture, lifestyle and entertainment in the region. The four Hitachi cameras will be used to produce stories for those programs.
“When it was time to retire our 22-year-old SD studio cameras, we needed to find high-quality, affordable, and reliable HDTV cameras for our studio productions,” said Charlie Zarbo, Mountain Lake PBS’ director of engineering, who added he chose the Hitachi Z-HD5000 due to its exceptional price and performance. “I was impressed with the picture quality these cameras produced and pleased that this robust camera package fit within our budget,” he said.
The cameras are switched by a new Broadcast Pix Granite 5000 2 M/E HD live production system, with integrated functionality including graphics, clip/still store, six keyers and Fluent-view multi-image monitoring.
The Mountain Lake PBS camera crew is reported to be especially appreciative of the Z-HD5000s 8-inch color viewfinder, which provides precision focusing of the HD image, according to Hitachi. The Z-HD5000s also incorporates 14-bit analog to digital conversion; advanced digital signal processing; and HD picture enhancement tools.
“Our local programs enable us to fulfill our mission to educate, inform, and entertain the viewers of this region,” said Zarbo. “These Hitachi cameras are now an integral part of our local production efforts.”
-- Government Video
