Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh, New York has acquired four Hitachi Z-HD5000 HD studio cameras to produce local programming on the arts, culture, and public affairs.
"When it was time to retire our 22-year-old SD studio cameras, we needed to find high-quality, affordable, and reliable HDTV cameras for our studio productions," noted Charlie Zarbo, director of engineering for Mountain Lake PBS in a statement. "After evaluating the top HD camera systems on the market, I chose the Hitachi Z-HD5000 due to its exceptional price and performance."
A licensee of WCFE-TV/Channel 57, Mountain Lake PBS produces 2 weekly half-hour series, Mountain Lake Journal and Mountain Lake Journal EXTRA, as well as some long-for documentaries. Recent Mountain Lake PBS productions that have aired nationally on PBS are Cirque du Soleil: Flowers in the Desert, Dead Reckoning, and Champlain in America.
Zarbo noted that the new Hitachi cameras will also contribute to the quality of the long-form programming they produce for local and national audiences.
The cameras are switched by a new Broadcast Pix Granite 5000 2 M/E HD live production system and has integrated functionality that includes graphics, clip/still store, six keyers and fluent-view multi-image monitoring.
Z-HD5000s features also include 14-bit analog to digital conversion, advanced digital signal processing, and HD picture enhancement tools.
