Smithsonian Channel HD premieres with series hosted by Tom Cavanagh GROWLING FOR SEEING IN THE DARK HD CONCERT MARSHMALLOWS NEW PBS HD DOC FLITEPAK by Paula Lumbard by Timothy Ferris by Steve Syatt 13627HighDefMag.qxd 8/13/07 1:19 PM Page 1 contents FEATURE Smithsonian Channel HD Premieres 6 Interview by David Thompson 6 HD Beneath the Skin 12 by Dara Klatt HD Target Spots Hit Bullseye 14 by David Heuring VariCam Used to Shoot Earth 15 by Brian Cali 15 IT’S TIME TO ROLL CAMERAS. Seeing in the Dark 16 by Timothy Ferris THE FILMMAKER WANTS TO ENSURE THE MAGIC CAPTURED DI for 16mm Wide Screen 20 by Bob Fisher TODAY WILL MAKE AN IMPACT THAT TRANSCENDS TIME. HD Tips: 3D HD, Part 2 22 by B. Sean Fairburn 16 GUESS HOW HE DOES IT? Discovery’s New HD Simulcast Networks 23 by Clint Stinchcomb Growling for Marshmallows 24 by Paula Lumbard 26 HDTV Forum: Sony Pictures’ “Citizen Videographers” 20 by Steve Sechrist HD Tech: Color in a Projection Environment 28 by Lowell Kay HD Concert FlitePak 29 by William Wheeler HDTV: The Consumer Front 24 30 With film, that’s how. Only film has a richness, texture, and depth that you can feel. Only film by Dale Cripps portrays nuance and detail as your eye sees it. Only film enables a truly efficient workflow with maximum flexibility from capture through post. And only film, a proven archival medium, is 31 Christina Aguilera and AJA’s Xena futureproof. Shoot on KODAK VISION2 Motion Picture Film to achieve your best— creatively, by Jennifer Wolfe technically, economically. Learn more about our commitment to advancing film technology and to helping ensure what you envision is what you get at www.kodak.com/go/motion Front Cover: Tom Cavanagh is the spirited host of Stories From The Vaults, the new signature series of The Smithsonian Channel, America’s High Definition Storyteller. Photo by David Burnett Vol. 9, Issue 5 | HighDef Magazine is published bi-monthly, free for professionals in all areas of video and film production, nationally by American Press Services, 2247 15th Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98119. PUBLISHER: Conrad W. Denke EDITOR: David W. Thompson PRODUCTION: Gina Griffin Hanzsek DISPLAY ADVERTISING: Call David Thompson at 1-888-282-1776 or e-mail [email protected]. Deadline for advertising mechanicals is fifteen(15) days prior to publication date. Current and back issues and additional resources, including subscription request forms, are available on our website: www.HighDef.com. Send address changes to: HighDef Magazine, 2247 15th Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119. PRINTER: RR Donnelley, www.rrdonnelley.com ©Eastman Kodak Company, 2007. Kodak and VISION are trademarks. PBTS-0104 BT_Monitors_HD.qxp 6/14/07 5:44 PM Page 1 NEWS & PRODUCTS monitors gram produced in Chicago by Weigel booths, which are staffed by replay offi- rugged enough Broadcasting’s WCIU-TV. Distributed cials, a video technician, a video opera- daily to 90+ affiliate stations across tor and a communicator. Booths at the the U.S., First Business looks ahead at three remaining NFL stadiums, in New to take on the road the coming day’s trading. Kyle Walker, York, Dallas and Indianapolis, will go Weigel’s Director of Engineering, HD after those stadiums are renovated. also chose the GY-HD250s for the station’s new children’s series, Green Screen Adventures, which debuted on March 31, 2007. “We evaluated many cameras, most with higher price tags. BAND PRO DELIVERS F23’S TO The thing that impressed me about CLAIRMONT the GY-HD250 is that for the money, Band Pro Film & Digital has delivered the camera is pretty hard to beat,” Clairmont Camera’s first six Sony F23 commented Walker. The cameras are CineAlta(tm) cameras. Clairmont has equipped with JVC’s DR-HD100 hard offices in Hollywood, Toronto and disk recorders. Vancouver and is renowned for its IKEGAMI FOR SECOND extensive range of cameras, lenses, BAPTIST CHURCH and accessories. According to owner With Houston’s Second Baptist’s mem- Denny Clairmont, “Until the F23 came bership approaching 45,000, taped or along, cameras in the 2/3-inch chip live HD telecasts of Saturday night and world were designed very much like Sunday services originating from the ENG digital cameras. The Sony F23 has Church’s main 6,500-seat Woodway been designed like a film camera. It is campus or its 4,000 seat West campus very operator friendly. And all the test are captured by an array of Ikegami footage I’ve seen looks remarkable. HD cameras, and projected at all five of Second Baptist’s locations in wide- BEBOB BOX-HVR FOR SONY format IMAG (image magnification) for HVR-DR60 every seat in the sanctuary. With a long broadcast history that dates back to the 16x9 Inc. introduced Box-HVR from 1970’s, the Second Baptist video pro- Bebob Engineering, an ingenious duction team has seen a huge leap in Built production-tough with a die-cast new mounting system for Sony’s HVR- image quality with their upgrade to HD, DR60 portable hard disk recorder. aluminum frame, Panasonic’s lightweight BT which includes ten Ikegami HDK-79EXII Developed specifically to complement portable and three HDK-790EXII studio Series monitors deliver exceptional color reproduction and popular Sony camcorders like the full digital HD camera systems. HVR-V1U and HDR-FX7, HVR-Z1U and contrast with no motion blurring – and without the bulk of a CRT. WSOC-TV NEWS WITH P2 HDR-FX1, and DSR PD150/170, this CAMCORDERS compact, lightweight cage-style carrier Both the 26˝ BT-LH2600W and 17˝ BT-LH1700W feature a split-screen WSOC-TV, Cox Television’s ABC affiliate attaches unobtrusively underneath the freeze frame for scene comparison and color matching, built-in waveform in Charlotte, NC, has deployed 25 fully- camera between the baseplate and tri- equipped AJ-HPX2000 shoulder-mount, pod plate. The system’s smooth-glide monitor, two HD/SD-SDI auto-sensing inputs and 176º off-axis viewing. For multi-format 2/3” P2 HD camcorders drawer is tailored to cradle the HVR- productions, the 1700W is AC/DC capable, while the 2600W offers features like for all ENG operations. WSOC-TV, DR60 and hold it firmly in place. Fully along with its cable duopoly, WAXN-TV, extended, it provides fast and easy Pixel-to-Pixel mode for critical focusing and superimposed audio level meters. has been broadcasting all local news in access to the recorder’s display screen HD since April 2007. Last year, Atlanta- and controls. The rugged, portable 8.4˝ BT-LH900A and 7.9˝ BT-LH80W monitors pack versatile based Cox Television announced that 3w it would extend conversion of news- HARRIS GIVES NFL REFS HD features in a compact design, perfect for field or studio production environments. gathering operations at its 15 television INSTANT REPLAY SACHTLER FOR MINIDV, DV & stations to Panasonic’s P2 HD solid- NFL referees might botch fewer calls HDV In the studio or on the road, when your image counts, depend on Panasonic. state memory recording system. “We than ever this year, thanks to a new Sachtler, the tripod expert, is delivering made the decision to upgrade to P2 high-definition picture system they’ll two new fluid heads for MiniDV and HD for all Betacam SX replacements use when reviewing challenged rul- HDV camcorders. The Sachtler FSB 2 is 3w as we extend our transition to HD ings on the field or upstairs in the designed to accept payloads of up to when it counts 26˝ and 16:9 newsgathering capabilities,” booth during the 2008-2009 season. 4.4 pounds (2kg) while the FSB 6 sup- said Sterling Davis, Vice President of Powered by gear from Harris Corp. the ports 2.2 to 13.2 pounds (1 to 6kg). The 3-Year Extended Warranty Program - To demonstrate our Engineering, Cox Broadcasting. move to HD comes 21 years after the new heads are engineered to offer low- 3w 17 ˝ league first began the video review mass cameras the same smooth pan confidence in these production-tough monitors, Panasonic is JVC GY-HD250 CAMERAS FOR process and is the first such use of HD and tilt movement that operators have pleased to extend its one-year warranty for an additional 2 years to WEIGEL in any major sports league. The new enjoyed with larger camera packages customers purchasing the BT-LH1700W and BT-LH2600W production 8.4˝ JVC’s ProHD GY-HD250 was chosen for HD 7.9˝ HD instant replay systems have been on heavy-duty fluid heads. LCD monitors between June 1 and December 31, 2007. For more First Business, a syndicated news pro- installed in 28 NFL stadium replay information, please visit us at www.panasonic.com/broadcast 4 © 2007 Panasonic Broadcast Smithsonian Channel HD Tom Hayden, EVP & GM of Smithsonian Networks PremieresPhotos courtesy of Smithsonian Networks Inc. David Thompson, HighDef Editor interviews Tom Hayden of Smithsonian Networks. some other entertainment portals yet to be identified. Visitors will be able to view short video The docudrama The Hunt clips of our programs which will encourage them to go to our multi-channel video distributors For The Double Eagle What is your mission at Smithsonian Networks? to get the long form programming. tells the riveting story Tom Hayden: Our mission is to produce programming that can serve multiple platforms – from What was the impetus to establish the Smithsonian Networks? of the most valuable, High Definition linear networks to Video On Demand (VOD), both Standard Definition and and infamous, coin in the High Definition – as well as broadband content and anything else you can think of, here in the TH: An important part of Showtime’s growth strategy is to develop new and different entertain- ment television channels and, for about 10 years now, the Smithsonian Institution has been world - the 1933 solid-gold U.S.