Ikegami Press News

CLARK MEDIA DISPLAYS NEW MOBILE PRODUCTION UNIT
FEATURING IKEGAMI HL-60W CAMERAS AT NAB 2003

BETHLEHEM, PA - March 26, 2003: Clark Media, a leading rental house and provider of production support, has just rolled out a serious expansion with an all-new digital mobile unit. The medium-sized truck is based on the advanced capabilities of the new Ikegami HL-60W full digital camera, which will bring 16:9/4:3 capability and outstanding image quality to the truck's assignments in entertainment, sporting events and videoconferencing. The truck will be displayed at booth MM307.

"When we decided to build our new mobile unit, we knew we needed to install cameras that would provide the highest quality pictures," says Gary Snyder, President, Engineer and CEO of Clark Media. "We have been extremely happy with our inventory of Ikegami cameras, and once we heard about the HL-60W, we decided that we would purchase eight of them for our first mobile truck.

"The incorporation of AIT (Advanced Interline Transfer) CCDs in the HL-60W was of particular interest to us. This camera can now provide the exact same specs for vertical smear reduction as the more costly FIT cameras" savings which have allowed us to purchase additional cameras for our company."

Intuitive operation of the Ikegami HL-60W fits in perfectly with the needs of Clark Media's clients, many of whom need to be able to learn their gear on the fly. "The freelance engineers, who often recommend our gear to their clients, love the easy-to-navigate menu system," Snyder reports. "The camera people appreciate the sturdy construction and the incredibly high quality viewfinder, and the producers and directors simply love the stunning picture quality you get from an Ikegami camera. As we understand it, Ikegami uses the same DSP IC chip, with 38 bit internal processing in the HL-60W that they use in their line of HDTV cameras."

The new HL-60W extends Ikegami's long history of digital television advances with the debut of the 3-chip AIT 520,000 pixel CCD in an SD camera, using Ikegami's latest DSP ASIC with 0.18 micron design. Featuring 38-bit internal processing, 67 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 750 TVL resolution, high sensitivity of f11, and low vertical smear of -35dB, the HL-60W realizes high performance with outstanding specifications. Since all imaging is now performed by a single ASIC, the HL-60W digital processing system is extremely compact and efficient, resulting in a camera head weight of just 4.8 lbs. and a low 9.8W power consumption. Ideal for a wide variety of studio and ENG/EFP applications, the Ikegami HL-60W is available with either 10 MHz bandwidth component triax or cost savings 8 MHz bandwidth two-channel triax systems.

In Clark Media's experience, Ikegami has matched its reputation for image quality with rugged construction and outstanding support. “I’m sure the service engineers at Ikegami feel like the Maytag repairman "the cameras just don't break down," says Snyder. "That's very important to me, because a camera in the shop can cost me hundreds of dollars in revenue per day. From the support and feedback perspective, I feel like Ikegami is always ready to listen for new suggestions. I’m sure the HL-60W was designed from input from other customers like me "after we experienced it, we wouldn't change a thing."

"The incorporation of AIT (Advanced Interline Transfer) CCDs in the HL-60W was of particular interest to us. This camera can now provide the exact same specs for vertical smear reduction as the more costly FIT cameras "savings which have allowed us to purchase additional cameras for our company."

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.