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IKEGAMI CAMERAS AND SWEETWATER DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS GO LIVE "ON-AIR WITH RYAN SEACREST" Seven Ikegami HL-60W Full Digital Cameras Broadcast High-Impact Imagery

HOLLYWOOD, CA - July 01: One of Hollywood's busiest entertainers is hitting the airwaves daily with the exacting imagery of Ikegami cameras. "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" shows off its uniquely expansive daytime views of Hollywood with seven Ikegami HL-60W full digital broadcast cameras, specified for the show by Sweetwater Digital Productions, a specialist in creating entertainment production facilities.

"The high performance of the Ikegami HL-60W made it a requirement for 'On-Air with Ryan Seacrest,'" says Joe Shackelford, Partner and Vice President of Sweetwater. "One of the show's big challenges is its background, which features a huge glass window facing Hollywood and its famous sign. The dynamics of the studio stage lights and the light coming in the window are enormous -- Ikegami's new super KNEE system with super color saturation made it the friendliest camera to use for that application."

A number of features have helped make the Ikegami HL-60W's as popular with the show's camera operators as they are with the producers. "The cameramen have said that, equipped with the new TA-60 triax backs, the HL-60W is their favorite camera for broadcast use," Shackelford notes. "It has the best balance, it stays cool, and it has all the utility functionality for driving a prompter with aux power and full intercom dynamics control.

"In addition, the HL-60W has motorized filter wheels. Since they’re situated both inside and outside at Hollywood & Highland, the filter wheel allows the video controller to choose the correct filter without asking the camera operator to do it manually."

The fast responsiveness of Ikegami also made their cameras an important foundation for Sweetwater's facility design. "Ikegami supports their product better than anybody in broadcasting," Shackelford says. "The specs for the show changed daily. That was a big challenge for us and constantly impacted the equipment profile. I knew I could immediately get the cameras from Ikegami, because they support me any way possible."

Combining newly developed digital signal processing features with a compact size and low power consumption, the switchable 16:9/4:3 HL-60W brings crisp imagery and value to a wide range of production applications. It extends Ikegami's long history of digital television advances with its 3-chip AIT 520,000 pixel CCD's, and debut of Ikegami's latest DSP ASIC with 0.18 micron design. Featuring 38-bit internal processing, 67 dB signal-to-noise ratio, 75% modulation depth, high sensitivity of f11, and low vertical smear of -35dB, the HL-60W realizes high performance and outstanding specifications. Since all imaging is now performed by a single ASIC, the HL-60Wdigital processing system is extremely compact and efficient, resulting in a camera head weight of just 5.1 lbs. and a low 10W power consumption.

Ideal for a wide variety of studio and ENG/EFP applications, the Ikegami HL-60W is available with either component triax or two-channel triax configurations. With a wide sensitivity range and ten (10) gain settings, the operating range is greatly extended. The Hyper Gain of +48dB allows a minimum illumination of just 0.12 lx. Furthermore, an option allows the sensitivity to be increased up to 120 times by CCD charge accumulation over longer than the standard 1/60 second, for special operation in the dark. The color reproduction in high light areas is improved since the RGB signals are digitally processed with a super KNEE System after they are reconverted to linear signals. This system retains the color in the highlight area where it is washed out in conventional cameras.

Sweetwater is very pleased with the performance of the HL-60W's at "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest." "Ikegami cameras help us achieve fantastic picture quality on a daily basis," says Shackelford, "we wouldn't think of using anything else."

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.