Volume -2
Issue -2

Spring 1999

1999 - Second Issue

More 1999 News For You

High Definition On The Air   - 1999-
It's Here.....

Any New 1999 Products?
YES!

This is the Second News Letter of 1999; The Pre-NAB News Letter. We are still doing very well as a non commercial site, considering we offer only advice and information, and we have only been on line since the 18th of March, 1998. Current additions, from last year, to the site include the BSC1-F1 section for the Film Look Gamma Curve chips for the DVW700 series from Sony, 16X9 information on camera resolution and how it effects your picture; a pair of free Broadcast Camera Forums, where you can write to your hearts content about your camera issues and comments, and our own Barnes and Noble.com link for your personal book or magazine searches and purchases.

The BSC1-F1 Film Look section includes updates on the NEW Sony Digital Betacam camcorders theory and setup information on the "Film Look" for your DVW700 or DVW700WS. The 16X9 section is an interesting section with some information not heard before regarding band width and resolution and how it relates to the Wide Screen Picture. The Broadcast Camera Forums are here for all to post their comments, suggestions or messages. One Forum is on InsideTheWeb.com; a separate domain and server. It's the easiest of the two to read and post on. As soon as you link to the new site, the messages are there from the most current to the oldest. The second Forum is on Delphi.com. Hopefully the link we have provided works for you. (Delphi may require some type of free membership to view the messages. Please give this forum a trial and see what you think about it. Mail your comments/suggestions to us and if you have trouble accessing the forum mail me. If we find that this link or forum does not work for us, we will remove it.) Also here is the Basic Setup section for those of us that would like to find some great looks from our analog cameras still. This is a great section to check out for suggestions for a specialized look for your camera, and to get some suggestions on how to make your own special look.

Take some time to check us ALL out, and, if you want, send us your comments in the NEW Comments section we have added. (It's a nice little place to give us some suggestions or comments or even any insight on our topics here on the Broadcast Camera Support Page site). This is the year for us to grow and provide you with more information! Please join our Mailing List, you will be one of the first to know when something new appears on our site. The mailing list can be accessed from the Home Page, next to the ListBot logo. (The mailing list is private and not given out to any other company. You can be assured that we will be the only ones that send you mail from the list.)

KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles (A WB Affiliate)is currently broadcasting reruns of The Rose Parade on it's high definition transmission. KCBS is broadcasting parts of the Nagano Olympics in high definition on its HD transmission. NBC is preparing the Jay Lenno show for high definition broadcasts. I guess we would say that the beginning has begun! Don't forget that one episode of Chicago Hope was shot in HD earlier in the fall (1998) and can be re-broadcast as a HD show. It would appear that high definition is here to stay now. The only question is what format will the broadcasters use? Rumor has it that the ABC people are holding out for a 720 line. progressive system, while the others are banking on the 1080 line, interlace system. More rumors have it that FOX will transmit in 720 P, but all production will be done in 1080 I. This probably because all the current production systems are using the 1080 I system. This includes the recorders, switchers and effects generators. And since it is all HD SDI (Digital) it can be easily converted to any type of transmission standard before it gets broadcast. To add to this we have heard of many more people going out and getting their HDW700 High Definition cam/corders from Sony. From what we hear, Sony will upgrade the current 1035 systems to the 1080 system when the new CCD imagers become available. We can't say if there is a cost involved as we haven't heard anything about that. It may be completely possible that a fee may be charged for the upgrade, or they may simply exchange the units. We have also heard some more rumors about the 24 Frame Version (Segmented Frame version of the 1080P system we believe)which is rumored to be coming some time in 1999.Apparently a mock up or something of that sort will be shown at NAB '99. It's supposed to resemble a film camera instead of a video recorder, and use Panavision Prime Lenses instead of television lenses. When we learn more, we will notify you right here. Some of our friends have purchased their consumer Hi Def monitors and satellite receiver systems. All of them are happy with them, but are waiting for some actual shows broadcast in High Definition. (You can only watch the Rose Parade so many times....)

Comments Section

It seems, that for a while, that News Formats were not being promoted. But now, with some great sales under their belt,
Sony is promoting their SX Digital Betacam format. Sony seems to be promoting it as a news format, currently, and as a replacement for the analog Betacam SP system. That means it might also be a production format. At this time it's very hard to tell exactly which way it will go. Most of the current SX product seems to be used for News (It appears to be replacing analog Betacam at some sites or another
manufacturers format at other sites.) One client did bring his DNW9WS in along with some documentary tape shot in South America. The actual images were
stunning, with none of the digital artifacts that others had hinted might be seen there. After seeing that tape, all of our opinions about the SX series have raised dramatically. As for the tiny, digital formats, Sony is promoting it's DV-Cam format as an acquisition/news format; Panasonic is pushing it's DVC-Pro format as both an acquisition/news format too. Is there really any kind of a "format war?" It appears that those who are used to analog betacam are upgrading to Betacam SX. Is the 1/2 inch digital HD Cam format the choice for the future or can one use 16:9 Digital Betacam? Will it be 1080I, 720P or 1035I , progressive or interlace, or even 24 frame 1080 progressive? Some of the networks are calling for 1080 interlace, while others are looking a progressive scan format. It's going to be a tough call to tell which format will be the one of choice. The good news: if you produce in HD Cam now, it can be converted to standard 525 4:3 or 525 16:9 very easily. After this NAB '99, we think that the HD Format War will be resolved. But what the actual format will be remains to be seen. Feel free to share your opinion in the comments section, or the forums or even mail us, and, if you allow us to, we will print it in these pages as part of the upcoming user comments section if you would like.

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