Hitachi Kokusai Electric GmbH has completed massive projects to provide cameras to the leading Italian broadcasters.
The two long-term contracts provided cameras to upgrade all the principal production studios and outside broadcast units for HD/UHD capture. The latest deliveries complete a program which began in 2018 and was completed with the delivery of over 550 HD /UHD cameras including SK-HD1300 series high-end HD cameras and the newly developed SK-UHD7000 UHD/HD camera. The cameras were selected by the broadcasters after extensive testing and comparative trials with all the leading brands of studio cameras. Hitachi Kokusai’s cameras demonstrated excellent image quality as well as an attractive price point. Throughout the contract Hitachi Kokusai and the broadcasters remained in close collaboration, and Hitachi Kokusai gained invaluable feedback and guidance on the continuing development of the technology. “These have been tremendously exciting projects for us,” said Cemal Yilmaz, General Manager, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Europe GmbH.
“Working with the world’s most innovative and technologically advanced broadcasters, we gained a huge amount of practical experience and understanding of the real implications of premium content production in Ultra HD/HD.
“That knowledge fed directly into our rolling development program, which means that the latest iteration of our Ultra HD/HD system camera meets the real, practical requirements of broadcasters, not just in Italy, but worldwide.” The Hitachi SK-UHD7000E-S1 is a full 4k native, 2/3” global shutter CMOS three-chip camera with effective 3840×2160 pixels (total 24,882Mpixel), in a portable body with standard B4 lens mount.
The imager offers greater than 2000 TV lines resolution in 4k Ultra HD and more than 1000 lines in HD and 60% modulation depth, with a low noise floor of –62dB and high sensitivity at F11. The camera connects to the CCU over standard SMPTE fibre using 12Gbps transmission. It can also be equipped with COFDM HEVC wireless and 5G connectivity from Domo. The camera has a newly designed prism ensuring full-range compliance with the BT.2020 wide colour gamut specification. The camera provides BT-709/BT-2020 and HDR/SDR on all outputs as standard. The Italian broadcast contracts were negotiated in conjunction with Hitachi Kokusai’s local distribution partner CVE, who have offices in Milan and Rome to provide comprehensive support to the broadcasters.