NBC affiliate WLEX-TV Lexington, Ky., has upgraded its news and production operations from aging Betacam SP gear to a full complement of Panasonic DVCPRO equipment.
WLEX-TV has upgraded its news and production operations with Panasonic DVCPRO equipment. The purchase includes 56 pieces of the small-format digital gear, including AJ-D610WA 2/3-inch CCD switchable aspect ratio (4:3/16:9) camcorders, AJ-LT85 laptop editing systems, AJ-D850 studio recorder/editors, AJ-D455 studio recorder/editors, AJ-D230H desktop recorder/players, as well as AG-A850 edit controllers.
The purchase includes 56 pieces of the small-format digital gear, including AJ-D610WA 2/3-inch CCD switchable aspect ratio (4:3/16:9) camcorders, AJ-LT85 laptop editing systems, AJ-D850 studio recorder/editors, AJ-D455 studio recorder/editors, AJ-D230H desktop recorder/players, as well as AG-A850 edit controllers.
WLEX-TV’s Chief Engineer Dave Powell explained that each of the station’s photojournalists have been outfitted with an AJ-D610WA camcorder, while one camcorder is used for general production of local programming.
At the station, the AJ-D455 studio VTRs are installed in the news edit rooms, master control and handle program playback, while the AJ-D850 VTRs are assigned to news playback. The half-rack AJ-D230 desktop models are utilized in conference rooms, as well as for logging tapes and the AJ-LT85 laptop editing systems are deployed in the station’s live ENG trucks.
“We were able to make a quick transition to DVCPRO, essentially changing over within the space of a day,” said assistant chief engineer Tony Michalski. “When we swapped out the tape machines, we were able to bypass all the converters in our digital system; as we’d purchased the SDI option [from Panasonic] for each VTR. That SDI option will ensure that we can stay all-digital, from camera to air, once the station converts to DTV operations.”
Among a number of key features, Panasonic’s DVCPRO format offers broadcasters a wide range of products and systems that provide an easy upgrade path to 4:2:2 production and HDTV.
For more information visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
