HIGH PERFORMANCE NTSC DIGITAL CAMERA SALES ARE ALIVE AND WELL Atlantic Video Purchases 10 New Switchable Ikegami NTSC Cameras       January 12, 2000, Washington, D.C. - It may be a new millennium, and high definition may be the talk of the day, but leading production management companies like Atlantic Video recognize the importance of high quality NTSC Switchable Cameras, as they anticipate conversion to HD. That's why they've just outfitted their 24/7, five stage, two facility company with 10 Ikegami Switchable Digital Cameras -- four HK-388Ws and six HL-V59s.      "When you're in business for the long term, you need to make long-term decisions like which technology to go with," notes Todd Mason, President of Atlantic Video. "Ikegami was able to provide us with great NTSC cameras that still meet our needs with a path to HD."      "Whether its TV-magazine style shows, news, information-based TV programming or corporate teleconferencing, HD is something that our customers need to plan for. With the switchable Ikegami cameras, we can shoot in 4:3 or 16:9."      "A lot of facilities need NTSC cameras now, but they're still faced with the eventual changeover to HD," adds Bob Estony, Director of Communications for Ikegami. "The HK-388W is a high-performance NTSC camera with the latest in digital circuit design that can accommodate this dilemma through the ability to upconvert their signal into an HD format at any time. This way, facilities like Atlantic Video keep their capabilities current, and maximize their purchaing power by remaining flexible for the variety of standards and formats in the future."      With newly developed digital processing Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs), Atlantic's new Ikegami HK-388W cameras achieve consistently a high level of picture quality and reliability. A 10MHz untra-wideband component triax system or a fiber optic digital transmission system is available with the HK-388W. The ability to select between 4:3 and 16:9 allows for total flexibility between formats.      For portability, the six new Ikegami HL-V59s, also with new ASIC design, delivers improved image quality, while providing greater reliability with superb performance of 900+TVL and a S/N ratio of +62dB. An all-in-one Betacam SP Camera/Recorder, the HL-V59 also makes switching form 4:3 to 16:9 easy. Canon lenses have been specified for the new units.      With major clients like Discovery, Home and Garden, and Good Life Television networks, Atlantic Video took an informal poll on camera performances that confirmed Ikegami was the favorite. "Something that's incredibly important was our customers' comfort feeling," Mason says. "So we asked the chief engineers of the networks that we deal with, and they all said 'Ikegami.' Network engineers have a long history with Ikegami."      After ten years of solid experience with their first set of Ikegami cameras, Atlantic's own comfort level was very high. "Service from Ikegami has been phenomenal," says Mason. "We've had excellent technical support, though we haven't had a lot of tech issues. With the cameras that we're replacing, we feel like we definitely got our money's worth."      When they hit Atlantic Video, the 10 new Ikegamis came straight out of the box and into serive for the 25-hour PBS Millennium Special. To Todd Mason, it's a great start for the cameras that he and his clients can have confidence in. "Because of the Ikegami cameras, we're now bringing our technology up to the level of our infrastructure, "Mason concludes. "That makes us very optimistic going into the year 2000."      Ikegami Electronics is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality professional broadcast television cameras, monitors, and accessories. The company's High Definition TV Cameras (HDTV) have become the broadcast industry leaders as the change over to the High Definition Television format moves ahead.