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Reader SurveyCox’s WSOC-TV Broadcasts HD with Panasonic P2
Aug 27, 2007 3:14 PM
WSOC-TV, Cox Television’s ABC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., has deployed 25 fully equipped AJ-HPX2000 shoulder-mount, multiformat 2/3in. P2 HD camcorders for all ENG operations. WSOC-TV, along with its cable duopoly, WAXN-TV, has been broadcasting all local news in HD since April 2007.
Last year, Atlanta-based Cox Television announced that it would extend conversion of newsgathering operations at its 15 television stations to Panasonic’s P2 HD solid-state memory recording system.
“We made the decision to upgrade to P2 HD for all Beta cam SX replacements as we extend our transition to HD and 16:9 newsgathering capabilities,” says Sterling Davis, vice president of Engineering, Cox Broadcasting. “Cox has experienced very positive results with P2 and our stations have enjoyed P2’s exceptional reliability, improved image quality, and significant workflow benefits.”
“We currently shoot news in 16:9 at 25Mbps, then upconvert to 720p for broadcast,” says Dave Siegler, WSOC director of broadcast operations and engineering. “While we shoot news in SD now, when we upgrade to HD acquisition, we’ll be ready with the P2 HD cameras.”
News reports are edited in the field on Avid Newscutter XP systems; once material is sent back to the station, further treatment, if desired, is done on Avid Newscutter Adrenalines. WSOC/WAXN broadcast 33 ½ hours of local news weekly.
Earlier this month, WSOC-TV aired a 30-minute weather special, “Surviving the Storm,” shot in its entirety in P2 HD 100Mbps video with an HPX2000.
“Our photographers all love the cameras and the pictures,” says WSOC chief photographer Bill Bruce. “Our shooters had switched out all our Beta SX cameras by the end of May, and have adjusted to shooting 16:9 while protecting for 4:3, as well as the overall P2 workflow.”
“Each HPX2000 is assigned five 8GB cards, and because the cameras are hot swappable, one photographer can easily copy material onto a second photographer’s card when a crew comes in to take over a story,” Bruce continued. “The camera has 4-channel digital audio, and we really like the fact that we can monitor channels three and four, a noteworthy improvement over our former gear. The HPX2000s are proving easy to operate, and the picture is beautiful. With its crisp images and real, saturated colors, the camera has definitely improved our on-air look.”
Cox Television operates 15 television stations, three national television sales representation firms, and a Washington, D.C. news bureau. Cox Television is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, one of the nation’s leading media companies and providers of automotive services.
For more information about WSOC-TV, visit www.wsoctv.com.
