KSHB Upgrades ENG with JVC GY-HM790U ProHD Cameras

JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., today announced that KSHB, the NBC affiliate for Kansas City, Mo., has purchased 21 GY-HM790U ProHD camcorders. Most of the new cameras are being used for ENG, but one is located in the newsroom for breaking news reports, and the other is mounted on a jib in the news studio.

According to Jay Nix, KSHB chief engineer, KSHB has been shooting HD in the field with JVC ProHD cameras for more than two years. The station initially began its migration to JVC by replacing its aging DVCPRO cameras with JVC GY-HD250U tape-based models, then later moved to solid-state recording. 

Nix said the new GY-HM790U cameras with Fujinon lenses have been solid performers in the field. “Our shooters like the size and the weight,” he explained. “We give them two batteries and three SDHC cards, and they can go out and shoot hours of video with no issues. I’m very impressed with the image quality, and we have not had any durability issues at all.”

Nix said JVC’s native file recording saves a tremendous amount of time. The GY-HM790U can record native Final Cut Pro files for immediate editing – no conversion or transcoding necessary.

KSHB also plans to purchase 11 KA-AS790G ASI modules, which Nix said will be utilized with the station’s long cable runs in Arrowhead Stadium for Kansas City Chiefs coverage and Kauffman Stadium for Kansas City Royals coverage. The KA-AS790G attaches to the back of the GY-HM790U (or new GY-HM750U ProHD camcorder) without external wires or adapters. Using the camera’s built-in encoder, the MPEG-2 signal is transcoded to DVB-ASI and outputs the live signal via a standard BNC connector.