Sony have announced a deal to provide 190 cameras to broadcaster ITV as it moves its regional news gathering operations to HD.
ITV has invested in over 190 Sony PMW-400 and PMW-200 cameras for its teams as well as accompanying field production equipment. The new XDCAM cameras and tools will be used across all of ITV News’ regional news gathering operations, allowing for workflow continuity and a seamless transition from acquisition through short-term storage and data transfer.
Paul Stevenson, Director of Technology and Technical Operations at ITV News, said: “Moving all our regional news gathering operations to HD is a critical step for us. In the fast-paced world of news, the ability to easily capture and transmit high quality content is essential and our deal with Sony provides our teams with industry-leading tools to consistently deliver the footage they need, as well as being able to seamlessly integrate their shots into our wider news production workflow.”
“Sony’s XDCAM workflow was one of the key factors in our final decision. By investing in this technology our teams will be able to easily ingest, edit, and export their content as data files, critical as we future-proof our news gathering tools and processes”.
The new kit also allows for the ability to shoot SD footage for use within ITV News’ existing DVCAM production environment. The PMW-200 and PMW-400 are both compatible with the DVCAM standard, allowing the news teams to use the new equipment immediately while the transition to HD is completed.
Chris Nairn, senior account manager at Sony Professional, commented: “We’ve worked closely with ITV as it moves its regional news gathering to HD, making sure we deliver the best equipment and support that we can. The PMW-200 matches the high quality needed for HD broadcast with the portability and affordability that makes it one of the best news gathering tools on the market. This investment in XDCAM will support ITV’s continuing leadership in this market, helping to set an industry benchmark for news production in 2014.”
ITV has also invested in Sony’s CBK-WA101 wireless adapters, which accelerate the news gathering workflow by enabling easy transmission of content over a wireless network from any of the company’s new PMW-400Ls. Connecting directly to the PMW-400L, the CBK-WA101 adapter enables the transmission of both proxy files and high-resolution content to a broadcast station, on premise server or cloud environment via 3G/4G/LTE/Wi-Fi.