It was all about high-definition production, post and broadcast at the recent National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas, with cost and efficiency top of mind.

While high-end clientele tend to look at cameras from the likes of Sony and Panasonic, JVC had many attendees buzzing about its forthcoming economical HD offering.

Aimed at the news, documentary and feature film crowds, the new JVC model is a three-chip camcorder – the first for mainstream production and ENG users, according to the manufacturer – that can switch between HD and standard definition. JVC says the camera will be able to shoot 24p HD, which should be of particular interest to cinematographers looking for a ‘film-like’ look on lower budgets. It can record on either the HDV or miniDV formats.

The camera, tentatively known as the GY-HDxxxx, is the latest move in JVC’s initiative to bring high-end HD to a broader client base. The company sees the camera’s imaging chips as producing higher-quality footage on lower power than traditional CCDs. The chips, it says, easily adapt to 720p and 1080i scanning rates. Details of pricing and availability will not be finalized until a forthcoming meeting of JVC executives in Japan.

Meanwhile, Hitachi Denshi America was at NAB with its SK-3300 HDTV camera series, including the new SK-31B, which is aimed at robotic applications in the studio and in the field. The compact unit can be used in cranes, tracking systems, mobile vehicles and helicopters for live coverage. The camera, which offers 720p and 1080i outputs, is particularly suited to small-market TV stations and broadcasters of live sports events. Emilio Aleman, Hitachi’s product manager, broadcast and professional, says the camera is being marketed as an alternative to costlier systems from other manufacturers.

With HD infrastructures ramping up, broadcasters find themselves in the middle of a transition period in which a great deal of programming is originated in HD for future-proofing but currently aired in SD, or vice versa. Companies such as the U.K.’s Snell & Wilcox displayed new products at NAB addressing these issues.

Up, down and crossconversion

S&W’s HD5400 Upconverter makes 525/625 SD video compatible for the HD 1080i, 720p or 480p output formats, and can accommodate broadcasters’ required standards conversion, aspect ratio and color space conversions. It also supports embedded, AES and compressed audio formats as well as closed captions. The unit can also be upgraded for HD-to-HD crossconversion functionality.

The HD2300 Downconverter can convert certain HD formats to SD serial digital video, with audio processing provided. Closed captioning extracted from the HD signal is embedded in the SD output. The HD5400 and HD2300 are operated by S&W’s RollCall infrastructure control and monitoring network.

One of the HD stars of NAB2004 was Toronto’s Leitch Technology Corporation, which received one of the show’s 15 Awards for Innovation in Media. The designer/distributor was one of five companies recognized in the AIM category of content creation, for its VelocityHD HD/SD nonlinear editing system.

The NAB panel, consisting of editors of 20 industry publications, was impressed with how VelocityHD handles nonlinear HD editing as efficiently as SD. The system boasts full-quality realtime playback of both compressed and uncompressed HD video. VelocityHD was also a show fave of several publications in attendance, winning awards from the likes of Broadcast Engineering Magazine and Videography Magazine.

NAB organizers have released their figures to show that more than 97,000 people attended this year’s show, April 17-22, representing a 10% increase over 2003.

-www.jvc.ca

-www.hdal.com (Hitachi Denshi America)

-www.snellwilcox.com

-www.leitch.com