Sony IMX gear is being put through its paces by NBC's Fear Factor and, next season, will be deployed for Real World and Road Rules. Los Angeles-based rental company Wexler recently purchased $4 million of Sony IMX gear, replacing Betacam SP gear that was in use by its clients.
The new equipment includes 30 cameras and a number of recording decks.
"IMX gives our customer a better picture than Betacam SP, a lighter camera and a longer tape load," says Wexler President Chris Thompson. "It provides a variety of different wins for our clients. For example, the camera is a total win as the imaging is amazing and light-years better than Betacam SP."
Another attractive feature, he says, is that the tapes are inexpensive. In addition, the decks are legacy decks so, depending on the deck purchased, they can play back a variety of different formats. "Customers who have Betacam or Digital Betacam tapes alongside the IMX tapes that they want to load into their Avid editing system can use one of the J3 decks or 2000 decks."
Wexler purchased its first round of IMX gear in June, and the equipment is currently being used for Fear Factor.
"Using IMX allows the producers to keep their workflow very much the same as it is today," Thompson explains.
Also, he adds, it introduces new technologies that will offer advantages in the future. "The IMX deck can use Sony's eVTR card, which allows a file to be sent via FTP over an Ethernet network. Ultimately, you can create a network of these decks and, instead of shipping video over a cable, send an entire file."
