Ikegami Press News

IKEGAMI HD CAMERAS MAKE WINNNERS
EVERY WEEK AT THE CHURCH AT PINNACLE HILLS

Five Ikegami HDK-75EX Portable HD Cameras and Two HDL-40 POV HD Cameras
Capture and Deliver Stunning Images for Worldwide Weekly HDTV Worship Service

MAYWOOD, NEW JERSEY, May 7, 2007:
Every broadcaster believes that the messages they transmit are of the utmost importance. For religious broadcasters, however, belief is the message. At the Church at Pinnacle Hills, in Rogers, Arkansas, belief is powerfully conveyed in Winners, a weekly worship service featuring Pastor Ronnie Floyd that's carried on the Daystar Television Network, the second largest Christian television network in the world, reaching more than 60 million homes. Recently, the Church upgraded to a 2,400 seat, entirely high-definition (HD) facility, which is outfitted with five Ikegami HDK-75EXBF portable HD full-digital cameras and two Ikegami HDL-40 box-style HD cameras.

"When reaching out to such a large audience with such an important message, we felt that it was vital for us to have the best possible presentation for the program, which led us to upgrade to high-definition cameras," explains Bryan Bailey, the Director of Media for The Church at Pinnacle Hills. "Of the various manufacturers of HD cameras that we examined, Ikegami provided us with the best quality at the most affordable price."

Ikegami's HDK-75EXBF is an advanced technology, full-digital HDTV compact portable camera system that can be converted for studio use with either five or nine-inch viewfinders, and full studio lenses with the SE-H700 System Expander. Whether in a portable or studio configuration, however, the HDK-75EXBF provides superior HD image performance and sophisticated design, including an integrated fiber adaptor. Three 2/3-inch 2,200,000-pixel IT CCDs achieve superb image quality, with a horizontal resolution of 1,000 lines and a S/N ratio of 56dB. Using a down-converter incorporated into the base station (a standard feature), the HDK-75EXBF can also be operated as a high-end NTSC studio camera. Both HDTV and SDTV video are provided simultaneously from the base station and in both digital and analog form.

Ikegami's HDL-40 compact one-piece "POV" box-type HD camera also employs advanced 2/3-inch 2,200,000-pixel IT CCDs with matching image performance. Weighing less than 4.0 lbs., the compact HDL-40 features fully digitalized circuits with next-generation ASIC for advanced operations, and is controlled with identical OCP and MCP camera-control panels as the Ikegami's HDK-series studio cameras. The HDL-40 includes an HD-SDI output and is ideal for a wide variety of applications, including fixed or pan/tilt head installations for overview shots of worship services, news sets, outdoor traffic/weather observation points, and even goalpost and other sports-camera applications. The HDL-40 provides superb HD performance in a highly convenient form factor.

The Church at Pinnacle Hills' assortment and arrangement of Ikegami HD cameras has been ideal for the production of Winners. "Four of our HDK-75EXBF cameras are on floor level, on the stage and in the audience to capture the service, with the fifth configured for jib use," Bailey describes. "Our HDL-40 box cameras, on the other hand, are mounted on the edge of the balcony-one on each side of the stage-to shoot the baptisteries, which are up high. These cameras also allow us to get wide shots of the congregation and the choir."

A unique architectural issue facing the Church at Pinnacle Hills is that the back wall of the stage is a 6,000 square-foot window, which-although tinted-presented potential lighting and shading issues. The window is, however, no match for the highly adaptable Ikegami HD cameras, as Bailey explains. "Even with the tinting, there is still a noticeable difference on stage between a sunny day and a cloudy one, but the versatility of the Ikegami cameras has rendered the difference moot, and has allowed us to stabilize what we want to show to our viewers."

Ikegami's HDK-75EXBF incorporates next-generation digital process ASICs, newly developed full-digital process IC's with up to 38-bit internal digital-processing circuits. Sophisticated detail enhancement and color reproduction is accomplished in the digital domain, including Skin Detail tracking with the zoom and focus-follow signals from the lens. A Super Knee system makes exposure corrections without changing the hue of the highlighted parts of the video image, thus producing a more natural highlight appearance.

"The technical support that we received from Ikegami during the installation was tremendous," Bailey adds. "The custom nature of our room led to unique issues popping up, and we were able to call or email someone at Ikegami 24 hours a day and get whatever support we needed."

One of the major considerations Bailey had to consider when selecting cameras for the Church at Pinnacle Hills was their operation by non-professional staff. "My assistant and I are the only full-time tech staff at the Church," he notes. "The rest of the production staff is comprised of volunteers from the congregation. Since the cameras are being operated by novices, it was extremely important that the cameras be intuitive and user friendly."

The Church's volunteer camera operators are delighted by the ease of operation with the new Ikegami HD cameras, Bailey reports. "They absolutely love them. They're in heaven compared to what they were using before. Between the capabilities, the ease of use, the flexibility, and the support, our Ikegami cameras have been a Godsend."

Ikegami Electronics (U.S.A.), Inc. is a leading supplier of professional broadcasting products in the Western Hemisphere. With U.S. offices in New Jersey, California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, the Ikegami name is recognized worldwide for its state-of-the-art television cameras, closed circuit TV equipment, video and computer display monitors, industrial power supplies, and medical camera systems. Ikegami's universal High Definition TV 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, call Ikegami's Maywood NJ headquarters at 201-368-9171 or visit www.Ikegami.com.

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