WNYW joins KUSA in Denver and KABC in Los Angeles as the only U.S. television stations using helicopters equipped with the Cineflex HiDef HD system. (Photo courtesy Neville Dawson, HeliOps)
WNYW-FOX5 is the first station in the New York City market to offer airborne HD coverage of breaking news events, the station announced last week.
The SKYFOX is an American Eurocopter ASTAR B2. It provides multiformat helicopter newsgathering and is equipped with HD capability from the Helinet Aviation Service’s Cineflex camera system.
The station will offer enhanced service to its standard definition viewers while providing its HDTV viewers the utmost in image quality.
SKYFOX is equipped with the Cineflex HiDef HD camera system and multiple band microwave cabilities. The systems allow multifunctional HD capabilities. SKYFOX uses the same HD technology as the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Helinet/Cineflex HiDer camera system is built around the Sony HDC-F950 camera. Weighing 67lbs, the platform is significantly lighter and more compact than existing film-based systems and more powerful in its pan, tilt and zoom capabilities. The Cineflex HiDef camera system provides has enhanced zoom capabilities allowing, for example, a license plate to be read from thousands of feet away.
WNYW joins KUSA in Denver and KABC in Los Angeles as some of the only U.S. television stations using helicopters equipped with the Cineflex HiDef HD system.
