University of Colorado’s BuffVision Engineers Pac-12 Broadcasts With Panasonic AK-UC3000 4K/HD Field Camera Systems

At the University of Colorado, the BuffVision team (the primary source for the athletic department’s video content) has recently added four AK-UC3000 4K/HD camera systems for broadcast support of several NCAA Division 1 sports.

Specifically, the Panasonic studio/field cameras are currently being used to feed the scoreboard shows at Folsom Field (home of CU football), the Coors Events Center (home to volleyball), and Prentup Field (home to soccer), and will be similarly used for winter/spring varsity sports (basketball at the CU Events Center, lacrosse at Kittredge Field). The AK-UC3000s are also supporting live, linear broadcasts of soccer and lacrosse on Pac-12 television networks, and live streaming of games on the university’s athletic site, www.cubuffs.com.

Andrew Borjon, BuffVision specialist, explained that the AK-UC3000s were a one-for-one replacement of prior Panasonic P2 HD camcorders. “The UC3000s have been absolutely plug-and-play for us,” Borjon said. “The camera’s biggest selling points were the jump to SMPTE fiber and support for 720p production, which is our current infrastructure format. But given the UC3000’s flexibility, we anticipate an upgrade to 1080p production within the next year, then making a further upgrade to 1080p HDR.”

“The camera delivers valuable flexibility in terms of inputs/outputs,” he added. “We recently handled a sophisticated Pac 12 broadcast with just two of the UC3000s, but outputting four strands of fiber to talent monitors, goal cameras etc. over the 1000Base-T LAN-Trunk.”