Staging Techniques Produces Broadcast-Quality Event Video with IKEGAMI HDK-79EC Native Multi-Format HD CMOS Cameras

At todays live events, audiences fully expect to experience broadcast-quality video. For Staging Techniques, a full service production services supplier for business, entertainment, and special events, the key to getting the best possible imagery onscreen is their eight Ikegami HDK-79EC native multi-format HD CMOS cameras.

We start with image quality, and with the HDK-79ECs it is just superior, says Bryce Will, General Manager for Staging Techniques. Skilled engineers can debate the merits of various camera systems forever, but I can tell you that we get a lot more inquiries along the lines of, Your video looks great - what camera are you using? than we ever did before. That says a lot.

An Ikegami user for nearly 25 years, Staging Techniques looked again to the versatility of the Ikegami HDK-79EC when it became time for a camera upgrade. They were a natural choice for us, confirms Will. We knew we needed 1080i/720p multi-format cameras with the option for 1080p down the road, because the demands from our clients are ever-changing and they expect us to be ready. We also wanted the onboard down conversion option for integration into existing infrastructure. Flexibility is essential: it has simply become an expectation that we can ingest, reformat, process, record and display any signal format in any resolution that the client comes to us with.

In the challenging world of technical event support, making the right technology choices is critical for Will and his team. We have clients with broadcast-quality-and-beyond expectations, he says, but we work in constantly changing physical circumstances that are frequently not optimal from a production perspective. We also have significant time constraints to deal with on a regular basis and dont work in studios or trucks or in any environment that remains the same. The demand for delivering consistent results under these conditions is what keeps our job interesting.

With three 2/3-inch 2.5 Mega-pixel-specified CMOS imaging sensors onboard, Ikegami HDK-79EC cameras ensure that Staging Techniques delivers. In general high performance is important, says Will. People expect to see the same crisp, bright imagery on our events as they do from the major television and film outlets they experience everyday. The cameras we choose are essential, because our clients expect broadcast quality acquisition, record, and display in a variety of different formats.

For many of them the question of multi-format high definition isnt really a question at all anymore, Will continues. Once they see true, high performance HD on a screen -- in any display and on their webcast or other outbound feeds -- there just isnt much interest in going backwards.

With their intensive schedule, Staging Techniques counts on Ikegami cameras to work right the first time, and keep performing. We have many years of experience with Ikegami systems and they are very easy to use, notes Will. Our engineers and shaders jumped on the new cameras very shortly after delivery and went straight onto shows with them. From there, we have zero reliability problems with the new cameras, or the older ones for that matter: They come out of the road case and just work, which is what we like and expect from a camera chain.

Configurable for either portable use or as a hard field/studio camera, Ikegamis HDK-79ECs 1980H by 1080V active-pixel CMOS sensors are switchable between interlace and progressive readout modes. Providing a full 16:9 aspect ratio, the HDK-79ECs CMOS sensors provide 1080/60i, 1080/24p, and 720/60p HD as well as optional 50Hz formats, 1080/50i and 720/50p, high-speed dual-link 1080/60p, and Super Slow Motion, 720/120p and 1080/120i.

Incorporating Ikegamis sophisticated Chip C4 ASIC video processing technology, the HDK-79EC can be used with either triax or SMPTE fiber camera cable. Additional system components include the Ikegami CCU-890M full-digital camera control unit and SE-79D System Expander for studio camera build up. The CCU-890M supports multiple camera cable types with built-in triax and fiber cable transmission systems.

With event production always growing more competitive, Staging Techniques understands the edge that comes with having the right technology partners. Ikegami has always taken great care of us and their service and support is, in our experience the best in the industry by a very wide margin, Bryce Will says. When we do have a rare issue that needs attention they jump on it and help us. This sort of support is a huge benefit to us -- its one of the many reasons why Ikegami remains our camera supplier.

Ikegami Electronics (U.S.A.), Inc. is a leading supplier of professional broadcasting products in the Western Hemisphere. With US offices in New Jersey, California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, the Ikegami name is recognized worldwide for its state-of-the-art television cameras and closed-circuit TV equipment. Ikegamis universal HDTV cameras have been widely accepted by the broadcast industry as it continues the transition to the High Definition Television Format.

For more information and the location of the Regional Office nearest you, visit http://www.Ikegami.com.

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