Ikegami Press News

ATLANTIC VIDEO AT THE MANHATTAN CENTER DEBUTS WITH IKEGAMI HD CAMERAS AND MONITORS

Ikegami Is on the Set for New ESPN Shows,
"Cold Pizza" "The Sports Reporters 2" and "Cheap Seats"

NEW YORK, NY - October 15, 2003: The newest commercial HD-hybrid facility, featuring Ikegami full digital high definition cameras, is making it big in New York City. Atlantic Video at the Manhattan Center is providing production management, staffing and facilities for three new ESPN shows, "Cold Pizza" "The Sports Reporters 2" and "Cheap Seats" and has specified Ikegami cameras and monitors for their high-quality imagery and reliability. The array of Ikegami cameras on the sets include four HDK-720 HD studio cameras, four HDK-720P portable HD cameras and two HDL-40 CMOS one- piece full digital box-type HD cameras.

With Ikegami cameras, Atlantic Video at the Manhattan Center expects to have a lasting impact on HD and SD production values, both locally and all over the airwaves. "Ikegami and Atlantic Video, working together, have really set a new standard here in NYC for quality," says Todd Mason, President of Atlantic Video at the Manhattan Center. "If you’re a producer, you want a great-looking show that stands out. Content and talent is important, and Ikegami's technology definitely picks up the best of everything that you're putting in front of it."

A highly advanced new production center, Atlantic Video at the Manhattan Center joins Atlantic Video's Washington, DC facility, also equipped with multiple Ikegami cameras, as a premier provider of production management and original programming for broadcasters. Ikegami's deep experience with digital broadcasting and multi-format HD/SD camera design made them the obvious choice to help make "Cold Pizza" a daily two-hour weekday morning show broadcast in SD, stand out with a crisp look and attitude customized for ESPN viewers.

"The clients love the picture quality, and the viewer is definitely going to notice 'Cold Pizza,'" Mason says. "They have an enormous, beautiful set and the lighting is great. The Ikegami cameras pick up all the detail and it looks phenomenal."

With the HDK-720 and HDK-720P, Ikegami has opened up powerful new options to producers originating in the HDTV 720p format. Employing 2/3-inch one-megapixel FIT (720p) CCD image sensors for direct CCD readout with no converter in 720p progressive mode, the Ikegami HDK-720 and HDK-720P unlock the maximum potential quality of the 720p format with high dynamic resolution. Signal transmission and power feed between the camera head and CCU is communicated via fiber optic composite cables over a distance of up to 3000 meters (or 2000 meters for the studio type), while cutting-edge next generation ASICs ensure consistent digital video processing with low power consumption.

The cameras are accompanied by Ikegami's newest CCU, the CCU-790A, which comes with a multi-format converter that allows for maximum flexibility between HD formats, including 1080i, 720p and 24p. Working with all HDK-model 1080i and 720p native cameras, including the HDK-720 and HDK-720p, the CCU-790A uses Ikegami's new video processing ASIC, and introduces new features to the DTL enhancement, including wide-band and color DTL.

The award-winning Ikegami HDL-40 CMOS is a high-performance POV camera featuring three 2.1 million pixel CMOS sensors, Ikegami's new multi-format sensor which works in native 720p or 1080i formats. The HDL-40 achieves superb picture quality with an improved smear level, making it ideal for numerous POV applications. The HDL-40 weighs less than 4 pounds, and fully digital stream through the camera to the HD-SDI output assures signal integrity, repetitive high picture quality and stable reliability.

In addition, the new studio is outfitted with 100+ Ikegami monitors. All cameras are outfitted with Canon lenses, and visitors to the studio are greeted at the entrance lobby by an impressive array of 42"JVC plasma screens.

"Ikegami always exceeds your expectations," Todd Mason says. "Their cameras are very sophisticated, and Ikegami is one of the best when it comes to setting customer service standards. We are integrating a lot of new technology into our facility, and Ikegami has been incredibly helpful."

Ikegami Electronics is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high quality professional broadcast equipment. Ikegami offers a broad range of TV cameras for ENG, EFP, Studio, HDTV, CCTV and Medical Imaging. Ikegami products have received various Emmy Awards for Engineering Excellence. The company's universal High Definition TV Cameras have been widely accepted by the broadcast industry as it continues the change over to the High Definition Television Format.