HITACHI DELIVERS THREE SK-3020P HDTV STUDIO/EFP CAMERAS TO BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR NEW STUDIO

May 15, 2008

Source: Hitachi

Community College, in Paramus, N.J., recently purchased three Hitachi SK-3020P HDTV Studio/EFP cameras for its new production studio. Both the main production studio, control room and an adjacent student production studio and control room are located in West Hall, a new campus building designed to consolidate all arts and communications facilities under one roof.

While the three Hitachi SK-3020P's are native HD cameras, productions in the main studio are currently shot in SD because the switcher in the control room is SD only. When full HD production is required, Bergen Community College has the flexibility to switch the Hitachi SK-3020P's through a new Thomson Grass Valley Kayak HD switcher in the students' control room. And a second Kayak HD switcher is on order for the main studio control room.

"When we ran the Hitachi SK-3020Ps through the Kayak switcher and onto HD monitors, the picture quality absolutely bowled us over," said Jim Quimby, director of studio operations for Bergen Community College. "We're genuinely pleased with the cameras' picture quality, detail, and clarity, as well as the way they respond to varying lighting situations."

The three Hitachi SK-3020Ps are primarily used to produce public affairs programs for cable TV, such as "Suburban Trends" and "Inside Bergen," both of which focus on the workings of local government; and a half-hour series, called "World Beats," which studies the influence of music on world cultures. The main studio and control room are also booked occasionally by outside entities, such as national networks, that want to rent the facilities, and this revenue helps the College defray capital costs.

The new Hitachi SK-3020Ps replaced four Hitachi Z-4000 SD cameras, which have since been moved to the student production studio. They are used to train the students in production skills as part of the broadcast television curriculum. Also, students are often given the opportunity to operate the hi-def cameras in the main studio.

"We feel it's vital to provide our students with training on the kind of top-notch quality equipment they're likely to find in today's broadcast studios, such as Hitachi HD cameras, so they're ready to graduate into good production jobs," said Quimby. "Operating the 3020's is a great experience for our students. They especially like seeing their shots composed in 16:9 HD color video as opposed to a small black and white picture."

As a long-standing Hitachi customer, Bergen Community College has been buying Hitachi cameras for many years, going as far back as Hitachi FP-Z31P Plumicon cameras, which the school replaced with Hitachi Z-One-C's, followed by Hitachi Z-2010's, then the Z-4000's used in the student studio, and now the SK-3020Ps. With each successive camera generation they purchased, Quimby said that Hitachi greatly improved the picture quality and light sensitivity, while maintaining a familiar operator interface.

"While we wanted to have HD cameras in our new studio, we weren't sure our budget would allow it," said Quimby. "But Hitachi offered us an attractive promotional deal that put the cost of SK-3020P HD cameras—a higher end model than we originally planned to buy—within reach of our budget. The HD cameras arrived just as we finished wiring and cabling our new studio."

"We also just completed a 1,500-foot fiber optic cable run between our production studio and the campus theater. We can now setup the Hitachi 3020's at the theater, have our students run them and switch them remotely from one of our control rooms. This makes it easier for us to produce HD shows from the theater, such as bi-annual performances by the Bergen County Symphony Youth Orchestra, local political debates, and other events traditionally held on our stage," said Quimby. "Our plan going forward is to really maximize the use of these new Hitachi HD cameras and to strive for higher production values as we expand our HD capabilities."

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