Education Solutions

On-campus and on-line, more and more educational facilities are using Hitachi cameras to teach and communicate every day. From distance learning to college sports venues, Hitachi cameras have been playing a major role in equipping today's schools for tomorrow's learning environment. Hitachi's DK box cameras with PTZ are used everywhere from classrooms to courtrooms. From our cost-effective Z-HD production cameras to UHD/4K broadcast cameras, we are used extensively for teaching TV production and college sports acquisition.

"With the addition of the smaller studio, our plan is that the PGCC-TV studio will not only be for students, but also opened for the community to be able to learn how to use the equipment and to rent it for their community video projects," said PGCC-TV Manager Dr. Angela Mathis. While our external roll-out has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our goal is to continue expanding our partnerships with non-profits, government agencies - including our local county government, which provided the funding for our upgrade - and others in the community."

Having used Z-HD5000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai since their last studio renovation in 2012, PGCC-TV again looked to Hitachi to help achieve its latest goal of offering 4K acquisition and recording. "Prince George's Community College wanted to stand out in the marketplace by becoming the only institution of higher education to have a 4K studio in our county, if not the entire state," explained Dr. Mathis. "We worked closely with integrator Digital Video Group (DVG) to upgrade our equipment and infrastructure. I believe we are the only two- or four-year program in Maryland that can shoot and record in 4K, and people are looking at us as a place they can go for high-quality production."

The College purchased four SK-UHD4000 Ultra HD cameras for the PGCC-TV studio. While the educational channel is currently broadcast in HD, content can be recorded in 4K to an AJA Ki Pro Ultra unit and mastered to HD in post-production. "We can edit in 4K even though we are mastering HD, and I am very impressed with what it looks like," said Dr. Mathis. "The SK-UHD4000s have met or exceeded our picture quality expectations."

Hitachi cameras were also the preferred choice for the new educational studio, with the College purchasing three Z-HD5500 HDTV models for the facility.

Dr. Sherelle Williams, mass communications professor at PGCC also highlights the merits of the operational consistency between the Z-HD5500s used for instruction and the SK-UHD4000s used by PGCC-TV. "We value having some continuity between what we use for productions on the student side and what PGCC-TV produces on the professional side," she explained. "Students can train on Hitachi cameras in one studio and be immediately comfortable with them in the other."

Production Coordinator Marshall Johnson has been with the College for 10 years, and highlighted the role Hitachi cameras have played in the evolution of the PGCC-TV studio. "They have given us a level of professionalism we hadn't had before," he said. "We are always trying to grow with the times, and value technology that allows us to improve. Hitachi Kokusai has been very good in their ability to grow with us."

"From both an operational and instructional standpoint, I am very proud to use the Hitachi 4K cameras," concluded Dr. Mathis. "I think they were an excellent choice. They give a good quality image, they''re very easy to train on, and knowing that I am training students on products they will encounter in real-world situations gives the students and myself a lot of confidence."

We want to give our students hands-on experience on professional equipment like studios and TV stations in the area use, so they already know how to use it when they go out into the working world, said Felecia Casey-Hicks, NCCU TV Studio Manager. Our leadership wanted to get the best possible cameras so we wouldnt need to upgrade again a few years later. While were working in 1080p HD today, we chose 4K cameras so were ready to roll into Ultra HD when the time comes.

Systems integrator Digital Video Group recommended Hitachi cameras to Casey-Hicks, and she agreed they would be a good fit. The SK-UHD4000s seemed like they would give us very good bang for our buck, and Hitachi cameras are also a wise choice as far as their quality and reputation are concerned, she explained. Our Hitachi Kokusai representative was very knowledgeable and took the time to show me advanced capabilities I didnt even know todays cameras had.

Casey-Hicks appreciates the visual quality enabled by the cameras, while noting that it has forced them to pay more attention to surrounding details. The quality is amazing, and the cameras can show everything  even things I might prefer not be seen, she laughed. We have a large-screen monitor in the TV Studio lobby that we route our signal to, and the results look very professional. People are impressed, and it draws them into our studio to see whats going on, which is great for our program.

The Hitachi cameras short learning curve has also proven beneficial educationally, allowing students to master operation while still concentrating on the creative side of production. Were more concerned about the students being able to frame a shot, do a smooth zoom, do a trucking shot, and so forth than spending a lot of time to teach them camera buttons, explained Casey-Hicks. The ease of use of the SK-UHD4000s is very good, so once they are focused and white balanced, the students dont need to worry about anything but learning their craft.

From a feature perspective, Casey-Hicks notes the cameras flexible focus assist functions as particular favorites. The SK-UHD4000 has multiple ways of telling when youre in focus, from a color that highlights the in-focus area to an enlarged focus assist box, she said. I can have students use a different method on each of the three cameras for instructional purposes.

Overall, the SK-UHD4000 cameras are not only helping the school enhance student learning but are also attracting more students to the program. Just the fact we have these state-of-the-art cameras, people want to come in here and learn, said Casey-Hicks. The students are very excited, and some of our first group of students that used the cameras last year came back this past semester to help train the next students behind them. If theyre learning well enough to subsequently teach somebody else, then were doing our jobs right  and the Hitachi cameras are a big part of that.

When department chair Michael Taylor joined SAC in 2015, it was immediately clear that buying new cameras would be a high priority. When I came into the program, they were using very old SD cameras for studio production, he recalled. Everything starts with the camera, so I knew replacing them would be one of the first decisions we needed to make in terms of raising some grant money and elevating the standard inside our facility.

While the schools studios would work in HD in the near term, the department was interested in 4K cameras to future-proof their programs. We wanted to avoid needing to make another camera purchase in four or five years, Taylor explained. By going with cameras that could do both HD and 4K, we could be ready to basically flip a switch and move to a 4K production model when we upgrade the rest of the studio environment to 4K. We plan to do that when the overall television industry has greater adoption of 4K, since were preparing our students for careers in that field. 

The department invited major camera suppliers to demonstrate their offerings in SACs studio. Hitachi Kokusai stood out by offering a camera that was both 1080p and 4K-capable at an attractive price point, said Taylor. We saw the imagery that the Hitachi cameras could produce and what they were capable of doing in our environment, and it became a very simple choice for us.

The Hitachi cameras ability to integrate with Ross Dashboard was also compelling, as the department had plans  which they have recently implemented  to deploy the open control and monitoring platform to complement its existing Ross Carbonite switcher.

Students now use the SK-UHD4000 cameras to produce weekly newscasts and talk shows, as well as in dedicated studio production classes. In addition to providing hands-on production education that will benefit the students when they enter the job market, these programs are shown on YouTube and the City of Santa Anas public access channel CTV3  thus helping the department promote its curriculum and the college.

While learning studio production on the SK-UHD4000s provides valuable experience for students, the cameras also bring benefits to the college itself. We love that our students will be able to go lock step into their first job having worked on state-of-the-art, industry-standard cameras, explained Taylor. The Hitachi cameras have also helped our school, as we can offer exceptional experiential learning at a community college price point. People see that this is a competitive program that is well-equipped to get them ready for their careers. And for us as a department, we are really enjoying the fact that we are creating fantastic images and productions with these cameras.

Located just 45 minutes from Nashville, APSU Television (APSU-TV) operates 24 hours per day and features student-produced news, public affairs, sports and special event programming. The APSU Department of Communication also offers the only Sports Broadcasting major in the state of Tennessee, providing students with live production experience on APSU football and basketball broadcasts, as well as video scoreboard productions.

While APSU-produced programming can be seen on outlets ranging from the campus cable channel to the EPSN+ streaming service, the departments primary focus is on the educational experience. Even though our department does productions, they are all embedded within our curriculum, said Kathy Lee Heuston, professor and interim chair, Department of Communication at APSU. Even our sports broadcasts are part of the curriculum. We properly train the students, and then they apply those skills on actual productions.

That emphasis on experiential learning was core to the universitys earlier purchase of six Z-HD5000s from Hitachi Kokusai for its basketball and football venues, the Dunn Center and Fortera Stadium. Our objective was to have a professional camera to teach the students on, so they would be prepared when they went out into the real world, said Lee Heuston. The Z-HD5000 met all of the requirements while best fitting the budget, making it the first time the department was able to purchase professional-level cameras. When it came time to upgrade the departments educational television studio, the Hitachi cameras were again a natural fit. Our previous studio cameras were not professional-grade and were due for replacement, so we needed to upgrade to make everything function the way we wanted, explained Lee Heuston. Adding more Z-HD5000s gave us consistency, so once the students learn how to use them in the studio, theyre immediately able to use them in our other venues.

While streaming Ohio Valley Conference games on EPSN+ was not a consideration when we bought the Hitachi cameras, it was a huge benefit when we started with ESPN+ that we already had cameras that met ESPN standards, added Steve Sawyer, video production coordinator at APSU.

While the three new Z-HD5000s are deployed in fixed positions in the studio, the arena cameras are deployed in various combinations of tripod-based, ladder-mount and handheld operation depending on the sport. Sawyer highlights the cameras durability as particularly valuable for the rigors of their athletic productions. The Z-HD5000s are very rugged, he said. Were constantly setting up and tearing down the cameras and moving them across campus. Weve had absolutely no problems  theyre like tanks.

Last but certainly not least, Sawyer compliments the intuitive nature of the Z-HD5000s as well-suited to their educational goals. The Hitachi cameras are very easy to teach, he said. Everything is very well-placed in the layout of the controls.

The department of Mass Medias TV & Film program offers an intensive, hands-on curriculum in which students work on a wide variety of programming that is broadcast on local television affiliates, streamed live on ESPN+ and entered into the universitys annual film festival. When the department needed to upgrade its cameras for Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) sports streaming and other television productions, it purchased four Z-HD5000 HDTV cameras from Hitachi Kokusai to meet its studio and remote video acquisition needs.

Within the universitys Holland College of Arts and Media, the department of Mass Medias TV & Film students gain in-depth experience in all aspects of television production while working on news, cultural arts, public affairs and promotional programming. This student-produced content is broadcast as SETV on the local CBS/CW and FOX affiliates in the 83rd DMA. Students also work as crew members to produce and stream over 100 OVC sporting events featuring the Southeast Missouri Redhawks each year on EPSN+, giving them valuable experience in the unforgiving, make-no-mistakes world of live, multi-camera production. Quickly outgrowing the initial equipment it used to stream OVC sports, the department looked for new cameras that could be used across all facets of its program.

When the OVC made it a requirement to stream sporting events, each school received a production pack with starter-level equipment including cameras, explained Dr. Jim Dufek, professor, operations manager and SETV director in the department of Mass Media at Southeast Missouri State University. After running into a variety of problems and limitations with it, we elected to purchase our own equipment that we could use for the Mass Media program as well as OVC sports coverage.

The department now uses a combination of cameras from Hitachi and another vendor, with students getting their first training on other cameras before migrating up to the Z-HD5000s. We looked at several cameras at the NAB Show, and at the recommendation of our trusted reseller Modern Communications in St. Louis, we chose the HITACHI cameras based on their quality, affordability and reputation of the brand, said Dufek. We chose the Z-HD5000s to match the local CBS affiliates in-studio cameras, enabling us to produce programs of the same quality while giving our students experience on the cameras that would help them make an easy transition into employment at the station.

The Z-HD5000 cameras are deployed on Vinten pedestals for in-studio productions and Libec tripods in the field, and are used in conjunction with Marshall monitors and NewTek TriCaster switching and graphics systems. While each camera is equipped with a remote control unit for shading, Dufek notes that the remotes are rarely used in their studio setting because once the cameras are set, theyre perfect.

Comparing the results from the Z-HD5000s to those from the departments previous cameras, Dufek highlights the new image quality as superior. The HITACHI cameras have elevated the quality of our productions, he said. In a way, its both a blessing and a curse  the cameras capture everything, but that includes bad make-up, dandruff, and dings or nicks in the props. The students need to pay closer attention to detail, and their overall product looks better.

The university had used older analog HITACHI cameras in the past, and the departments experience with its latest purchase has continued its satisfaction with the brand. The Z-HD5000 is a dependable, reliable and affordable product that provides excellent quality for all of our programming needs, Dufek summarized.

When the athletics department at New Yorks Binghamton University seized the opportunity to stream 30 of its mens and womens NCAA Division I basketball games over ESPN3  the online streaming service of sports television leader ESPN  it deployed four Z-HD5000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to provide the high-quality video acquisition required by the network.

Formally known as the State University of New York at Binghamton, the school is ranked among the elite public universities in the country, and offers students a broad, interdisciplinary education with an international perspective and one of the most vibrant research programs in the nation. The universitys Binghamton Bearcats teams compete across a wide range of sports in the NCAAs America East Conference.

With an agreement between the America East Conference and ESPN bringing live streams of all of the universitys basketball matches to the online service, the athletics department needed to upgrade its production capabilities to meet ESPN3s guidelines. Our existing equipment wasnt up to the task, said Dave Van Gorder, video production and multimedia coordinator for Binghamton University Athletics. We needed to create broadcast-quality video, and our earlier cameras were not capable of that. The HITACHI cameras are a huge step up from what we had previously, and the difference has been definitely visible in our productions.

Two of the Z-HD5000s are deployed on tripods in high-center positions at the Binghamton University Events Center, providing a wide game shot and a tight hero shot. The other two cameras are used in shoulder-mount ENG configurations on the arena floor, most commonly with one below each basket.

Upgrading to HITACHI cameras freed us from the HDMI connectivity of our old units, which limited where we could locate them and precluded on-floor shots, said Van Gorder. Now we have the flexibility to move the cameras around during games, such as taking the floor cameras to mid-court for announcer stand-ups during breaks.

In addition to ESPN3, live streams of the games are also available on the America East Conference website (www.AmericaEast.tv) for international viewers  an important audience given that the universitys teams include players from all over the world. The live feed and replays are also displayed on the arenas 14 foot wide video board, enhancing the in-venue fan experience, while archived footage and highlights are distributed to coaches, the conference office, and the schools social media channels.

With the cameras typically operated by student volunteers, the Z-HD5000s ease of use has proven very beneficial. The HITACHI cameras have enabled student operators to get great shots with just minimal instruction, explained Van Gorder. Weve had more than 20 students using them over the course of the season. While we try to provide training in advance, sometimes students have had less than an hour before game time to familiarize themselves with the cameras, yet we still got good results.

Beyond their operational simplicity, the cameras have also proven quick and straightforward to deploy for each game. Its really easy to put everything together, configure them and set them up, said Van Gorder. I can have all four cameras set up and ready to go in under an hour.

The two fixed-position cameras are equipped with VF-701HD 7 color LCD studio viewfinders and mounted on Miller tripods, while the roving units are paired with VF-402 black-and-white ENG viewfinders. All four cameras are outfitted with Fujinon XA20sx8.5BERM lenses with 2x zoom extenders, and are linked to TU-HD1000 camera control units (CCUs) and RU-1000VR remote panels in the facilitys control room.

Building upon the success of their basketball streams, Binghamton University plans to expand their streaming coverage in the fall to include soccer matches originating from the Bearcats Sports Complex, as well as wrestling.

The Z-HD5000s have been great tools for us, and as a department we are very pleased with the results, summarized Van Gorder. The cameras are just part of creating the final packages that are our ESPN3 broadcasts, but its meant a lot to our department that we can now put out such high quality productions, and ultimately that starts with the HITACHI cameras.

Taking its first step towards a 4K production future, Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii) has purchased four SK-UHD4000 ultra high definition (UHD) studio and field cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to provide superior-quality video acquisition for its diverse projects and long-term content archives. Situated on the island of Oahu in Laie, Hawaii, BYU-Hawaii hosts approximately 2,500 undergraduate students who represent over 70 different countries and cultures. At BYU-Hawaiis Media Production Center (MPC), staff and students produce programming for use both within and beyond the 100-acre campus. Internal productions range from recruiting videos to the live, campus-wide broadcast of the universitys weekly devotional on topics relevant to the LDS Church. Original programs including educational shows, documentaries and live BYU-Hawaii Seasider volleyball and basketball games are broadcast on BYU Television, reaching more than 53 million U.S. households via cable and satellite, plus a global audience through its website, Roku channel and mobile apps.

With BYU-Hawaiis six-year-old HD cameras due for replacement in the universitys equipment cycle, they turned to the added resolution of 4K Ultra HD to future-proof their content for subsequent workflow upgrades. We are frequently asked by the Church or within the university to bring back historical footage, so the quality of our archives is very important, said Brenn Nakamitsu, MPC field production manager at BYU-Hawaii. The future of our footage all starts with the camera, so capturing and archiving it in 4K today will enable us to make the best use of it later when we move to full 4K production.

Very satisfied with the performance and reliability of the universitys earlier HD HITACHI cameras, BYU-Hawaii looked again to Hitachi Kokusai for their move to Ultra HD and found a great fit. The SK-UHD4000s gave us 4K at a price that fit our budget, while providing the same rich features we had in HD, said Nakamitsu. Their ability to directly use standard B4-mount bayonet lenses was also a significant benefit, as it allowed us to get started with 4K using our existing HD lenses until we have the budget to replace those too.

The multi-format flexibility of the SK-UHD4000s has proven ideal for BYU-Hawaiis transition from HD to 4K. For now, were continuing to shoot HD for sports, but for bigger events such as the inauguration of our university president, we shoot 4K, explained Nakamitsu. The camera systems concurrent output capabilities and built-in down-conversion let us archive in 4K while simultaneously broadcasting in HD.

Used for projects both in-studio and in the field, the SK-UHD4000 cameras are connected over the campus fiber infrastructure to CU-UHD4000 camera control units (CCUs) in the centrally-located studio control room, with 4K footage archived to Atomos Shogun standalone recorders directly from the CCUs. The cameras and accessories were supplied by Utah-based reseller RIA Corporation.

Building on the outstanding picture quality that HITACHI cameras are renowned for, the move to 4K acquisition with the SK-UHD4000s has further elevated BYU-Hawaiis visual results. We can definitely see the difference when we shoot 4K, even when were using our older lenses, said Nakamitsu. In some cases, were still using old SD lenses, not even HD, and we still get great quality.

Staff familiarity with operating HD HITACHI cameras made the transition to the 4K models straightforward, but the SK-UHD4000s ease of use is delivering ongoing benefits even for new users. 90% of our crew members are students gaining valuable work experience in broadcast production, which results in high turnover each year as they graduate, said Nakamitsu. The HITACHI cameras short learning curve minimizes training requirements, and theyre simple enough to operate that we can quickly trust the students to use them. Nakamitsus satisfaction with the new cameras extends to accessories such as the HDF-700H color LCD viewfinders, and is bound to grow even further as BYU-Hawaii transitions the rest of its production workflow to 4K. The SK-UHD4000s have met or exceeded all of our expectations, and we look forward to realizing even more of their benefits when we move our remaining equipment and infrastructure to 4K Ultra HD too, he concluded.

Public, education and government access (PEG) broadcaster Fitchburg Access Television (FATV) takes pride in bringing high-quality community programming to residents of Fitchburg, Massachusetts while also serving as a valuable partner to nearby schools. Unhappy with limitations of the HD cameras FATV had purchased from another vendor just two years earlier, the station replaced them with ten Z-HD6000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to improve productions, simplify operations and meet its educational goals.

FATVs extensive production capabilities span across studio and mobile facilities. More than 200 shows per year are produced in the stations two studios, while its mobile production truck powers live remote broadcasts for Fitchburg State University sports, high school and college football games, community events and more. The need to replace FATVs existing cameras first became obvious in field use.

The cameras we had initially purchased from another supplier when we upgraded to HD werent meeting our needs for on-site, live production, said Scott May, executive director at FATV. Not only were they proving cumbersome from an operational perspective, but the quality of our end productions was being compromised.

Four HITACHI Z-HD6000 cameras are now dedicated to FATVs mobile truck with a fifth unit deployed as needed and the improvements were immediate. My favorite benefit is probably the HITACHI cameras simplicity, explained May. Our previous cameras were complicated and time-consuming to set up in the field, requiring a lot of effort by our full-time technical staff. The Z-HD6000s make it easy for our camera operators to quickly do it themselves, freeing our technical team for other tasks.

Remote access to the Z-HD6000s extensive image controls is bringing both operational and visible benefits to FATVs mobile productions. Our previous cameras did not allow remote control of picture settings, making it difficult to adjust for changing conditions."

At James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the vision of the School of Media Arts and Design (SMAD) includes delivering innovative media education programs that integrate traditional concepts, values, and skills with new and evolving technologies. When the university undertook a major upgrade and refresh of the equipment in its television studio last year, it selected Z-HD6000 HDTV cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to give students valuable, practical experience while meeting the schools uncompromising quality, performance and budgetary goals.

Three Z-HD6000s are deployed in the SMAD studio for hands-on instruction in a broad array of multiple-camera production disciplines, from media arts fundamentals to filmmaking and television news. Weekly newscasts produced as part of the universitys Broadcast Journalist curriculum are seen live on its on-campus, HD cable network and online, while select programs from SMADs Studio Production class including variety and talk shows are also seen on the schools closed-circuit channel.

SMAD set out on its studio refresh project for both educational and practical reasons. We wanted to stay current with technology for instructional purposes, providing students with experience that will benefit them in their subsequent careers, said John Hodges, technology manager for SMAD at James Madison University. At the same time, much of our existing equipment was showing its age, and we wanted to avoid the expensive maintenance and parts costs that would have been required to keep it going.

When choosing products and vendors for the upgrade, the schools criteria were similarly two-pronged. We wanted high-quality equipment for the studio, but without spending excessively for an instructional environment, Hodges explained. With the HITACHI cameras, we were able to strike the perfect balance, giving our students real world, hands-on experience on high-quality gear, while fulfilling our duty of stewardship to the taxpayers of the state who ultimately pay for it. Great image quality is most important, but being able to get that in a cost-effective way is a tremendous bonus.

Hitachi Kokusais well-earned reputation for outstanding image fidelity was a key factor in his decision, and the video created by the Z-HD6000s 2/3, 2.6 million pixel MOS sensors lived up to his expectations. As technology manager, I always try to keep up with whats out there and what other users are saying, so I was aware that they were really good cameras, he said. I knew they would look great, so I had no hesitation whatsoever in switching to HITACHI cameras over our previous vendor, and they definitely did not disappoint. Im just thrilled with the Z-HD6000s picture quality.

Supplied by systems integrator Digital Video Group, the cameras are connected to HITACHI CU-HD500 camera control units (CCUs) using the studios SMPTE fiber infrastructure. Hodges points to the Z-HD6000s uncommonly rich array of built-in features  such as dual-channel communications, and prompter/floor monitor power and video at the camera head  as simplifying wiring while delivering additional benefits. Its so nice that we dont have a bunch of extra cables hanging off the camera that the students could get tangled up in, or even just looking unsightly on the studio floor, he noted.

Hodges also highlights the cameras seven-inch VF-701HDA high-resolution, color viewfinders as a significant upgrade from their previous units, and the ability to transfer setup parameters easily from one camera to another as both efficient and effective. Our students really enjoy having the menu-driven, color viewfinders, which are great for critical focus and adjustments, and make it easier for them to follow directors instructions, he said. And we really like that we can set up one camera and copy its settings to the others, so we get an absolutely consistent look across all three cameras.

The Z-HD6000s have proven reliable in their first semesters at the university, while delivering the quality and cost-effectiveness that Hodges had sought. Were a year in, the cameras havent given us a lick of trouble, and they look great, he concluded. I think it was a great decision. Bang for the buck is such a clich?, but its very true here.

Implementing its first broadcast-quality video production initiative to support new online and social media distribution opportunities, the Athletics department at the University of Maine selected Z-HD5000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to provide the pristine picture quality and outstanding ease of use they needed. Building on the benefits the cameras bring to their live sports productions, the university also plans to extend its use of Z HD5000s to the educational curriculum with new video production courses next year.

Located in Orono along the banks of the Stillwater River, the University of Maine advances learning and discovery through excellence and innovation in undergraduate and graduate academic programs, while addressing the complex challenges and opportunities of the 21st century through research-based knowledge. The universitys UMaine Black Bears compete in the America East Conference of NCAA Division I for all sports except hockey and football, which compete in the Hockey East conference and Colonial Athletic Association, respectively.

While the university had previously performed some live video production using entry-level equipment, the conferences agreement to bring Maine Black Bears basketball games to multi-screen sports network ESPN3 required the school to deploy higher-caliber workflows and solutions. For sports that are not shown on ESPN3, the school also wanted to deliver similarly high production values when streaming matches to social media platforms including YouTube.

Familiar with HITACHI cameras from his Communication Studies courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, University of Maine Athletics director of digital content Sam Hallett knew they would be an ideal fit for the project. I had worked with Z-HD5000s in my own educational studies, so I knew I wanted to go that direction and that they would be easy for the students to learn and operate, he explained. I dont need to spend a lot of time training the users. Within 10 minutes I can have a student ready to work the controls and knowing how to make any changes I might need.

The university currently uses two Z-HD5000s on tripods to provide main game and close-up shots, with a goal of adding two more as handheld cameras on the sidelines in the future. Video, audio and intercom signals are transported over a single SMPTE fiber cable per camera to half-rack width CU-HD1000 camera control units (CCUs) in custom flypacks, minimizing cable runs and speeding setup times as the equipment moves between venues.

The Z-HD5000s are super-quick and super-easy to deploy, said Hallett. The longest part is probably just carrying the equipment up the stairs. It takes us just 10 minutes to run the cable and set up, and its straightforward enough that I can trust the student operators to set up the cameras properly while I focus on other tasks.

Hallett also praises the quality of the video produced by the Z-HD5000s. The cameras dont need a lot of adjustment to look good in a variety of environments, which gives me peace of mind when I deploy them in the field, he said. The image quality is night and day compared to the lower-end cameras we had previously used, and the quality holds up very well even as available light diminishes, which is significant when we shoot outdoor sports such as baseball.

Initially used for basketball, baseball and softball, the cameras will shoot an expanded array of sports in upcoming semesters, including soccer and field hockey. Hallett also plans to bring the cameras benefits to a classroom setting, with a goal of teaching video production through new course offerings in 2018.

We rely on student operators for our productions, so in addition to giving students valuable hands-on experience they can use in the workforce, educating them will help provide an ongoing supply of crewmembers for our broadcasts, Hallett explained.

While that future looks bright, the cameras have already delivered the tangible benefits that the university had sought to achieve.

The Z-HD5000s have simplified the whole production process for us, taking a lot of the technical burden off the student operators so they can focus on the actual task at hand: great game coverage, Hallett concluded. From their visual quality and reliability to their ease of use, the result is that the cameras have made our overall productions much better in my book, so my hats off to Hitachi Kokusai for that.

Furthering its commitment to delivering high-quality entertainment experiences, the Tsongas Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell) has expanded its complement of Z-HD5000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to boost its live production capabilities and take optimal advantage of expanding distribution opportunities.

Owned by the university and managed by Spectra Venue Management by Comcast Spectacor, the multi-purpose Tsongas Center facility is home to the NCAA Division I UMass Lowell River Hawks hockey and basketball teams. Seating up to 7,000 visitors, the venue also hosts a variety of non-sporting events including concerts, job fairs, graduations, and major university activities.

An agreement between the NCAAs America East Conference and ESPN to bring live basketball games to multi-screen sports network ESPN3 created the need for the Tsongas Center to upgrade its video equipment roster. Previously using two HITACHI Z-HD5000s alongside other vendors cameras for productions shown on the venues in-house video boards, the university and Spectras on-site team chose to standardize on HITACHI cameras for their ESPN3 broadcasts, in-venue displays, and other distribution outlets.

We were very pleased with the quality and reliability of the existing HITACHI cameras wed been using to drive our scoreboard productions, so when we looked to increase our production flexibility and ensure visual consistency for our new ESPN3 streams, the Z-HD5000s were ideal for our upgrade, said Ben Jewart, director of audio visual services at Tsongas Center. We did our due diligence and evaluated all of the other major camera brands too, but everything led us right back to Hitachi Kokusai.

Four HITACHI Z-HD5000s are now used for the universitys live hockey and basketball streaming broadcasts. Two of the cameras are stationed in fixed positions capturing high and tight shots, while the other two Z-HD5000s are operated handheld at ice or court level. While the schools ESPN3 broadcasts typically use freelance crewmembers, other event productions often use current and former students as camera operators, making the Z-HD5000s short learning curve valuable.

The great usability of the Z-HD5000 makes it an excellent teaching platform, said Nolan Mercer, AV manager at Tsongas Center. It is a huge benefit to have cameras that we can quickly show students how to use, and to have the students jump right in and immediately understand their operation. The industry-standard nature of the HITACHI cameras has also been helpful in attracting volunteers, as the students know they are getting practical experience on equipment they may encounter professionally.

Jewart also touts the video quality produced by the HITACHI cameras as a major boost for the centers broadcasts. The Z-HD5000s low-noise, 2/3 chips and digital signal processing gave us a significant improvement in quality over the other camera models we had used, he explained. The colors really pop, and we get consistently high image quality even under dramatically changing lighting conditions, such as when we darken the arena for effect before games, or when we chase the lights when goals are scored.

Sports from the Tsongas Center are now streamed live on ESPN3, the America East Conference website (www.AmericaEast.tv) or the universitys own GoRiverHawks.tv site. Beyond the streaming broadcasts, the shooting flexibility provided by the HITACHI cameras and accompanying Fujinon lenses has elevated the centers in-venue productions and raised fan involvement. Whether shooting all the way across the court or further into the crowd, were now able to get great-quality video at angles we couldnt capture before, said Jewart.

This enables us to incorporate more interactivity with the crowd, which has increased fan engagement and excitement, added Mercer. Our mission is to create memorable fan experiences, and the HITACHI cameras play a key role in doing that.

Sebouh Majarian, assistant director of new media at UMass Lowell, echoes the positive impact that the new cameras have had for both the Tsongas Center team and its audiences. Our experience with HITACHI cameras has been tremendous, he said. They have been easy for our operators to use, and helped shape and advance the quality of both our in-venue and broadcast productions. Our job is to put on a good show for our teams fans, and the Z-HD5000s have helped us achieve that.

Radford University has a rich history spanning well over a century, and has earned a strong reputation for its use of technology in the learning environment. When the school recently upgraded its educational television production studio to a fully HD environment, it purchased four Z-HD5000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to provide reliable, high-quality video acquisition while giving students valuable, hands-on experience with professional equipment.

Serving the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation through a wide range of academic, cultural, human service and research programs, Radford University is a comprehensive public university with more than 9,400 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students. As part of the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, the universitys School of Communication offers a choice of Communication or Media Studies majors, within which students can focus on particular concentrations.

The Production Technology program prepares students for positions in creative production in corporate, industrial and other professional environments, as well as working in the areas of Web, multimedia, radio and television and field production. With construction of the Colleges new building completing last year, the School of Communication was looking to update its production abilities.

Our objective was to upgrade our studio to a fully high definition setup, explained Michael J. Meindl, assistant professor of media production in the School of Communication at Radford University. The systems integrator for our new studio, Digital Video Group (DVG), suggested the HITACHI Z-HD5000 cameras to us, satisfying our specifications including quality standards and expandable optical fiber connectivity.

The Z-HD5000s are now used for experience-based student education in many of the schools video production courses, which explore a variety of production types ranging from sitcoms to newscasts. Three of the Z-HD5000s are manually operated on tripods and used in classes spanning on-camera performance, electronic field production  teaming up with electronic news gathering students in the schools Journalism concentration  and TV studio production. The fourth camera is deployed in a robotic configuration with a Ross Video CamBot pan/tilt head, with the robotics, zoom and focus controlled over a TCP/IP network.

Productions created by the students are distributed online, with a new on-campus television channel in the process of being deployed. Students also film stand-ups in front of a green screen for background compositing, with the results used to promote various programs around the university.

The new environment and new cameras allow us to give students a better idea of how real-world television studios work, and enable the students to produce high-quality videos for their portfolios, said Meindl.

At the University of Virginia, the second-highest ranked public university in the country, the athletics program combines a tradition of academic excellence with an uncompromising drive to succeed. When the department upgraded its live video production workflows to high definition, it chose ten HDTV cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) to provide the outstanding image quality and rich features it sought to meet both immediate and future needs.

The universitys Virginia Cavaliers compete across 25 NCAA Division I sports, and have captured 76 Atlantic Coast Conference championships since 2002  more than any other ACC school during that time. Until late last year, the athletic departments live video productions were seen exclusively on large video boards within on-campus venues, engaging and exciting fans under its Hoo Vision brand.

While our post production workflows included some HD elements, our live production capabilities were only SD, said Matt Uncapher, senior producer and engineer for athletics video services at the University of Virginia. Anticipating the formation of a new distribution partnership, we had held off fully transitioning to HD until we knew the specific technical requirements of our future outlets.

When the Atlantic Coast Conference reached an agreement to bring live streams of league matches to multi-screen sports network ESPN3, the time had come for the department to upgrade its production equipment and begin broadcasting in HD. The schools past success with standard-definition HITACHI offerings led it to consider Hitachi Kokusai again for the HD upgrade.

We had been very satisfied users of HITACHI Z-4000 cameras for the last seven - 2 - years, recounted Uncapher. We performed comparisons to other vendors cameras, but the quality, value and rich features of Hitachi Kokusais HD models combined with our positive experience to make our decision clear.

The university purchased nine HITACHI SK-HD1300 studio/field production cameras and one HITACHI DK-H200 compact box camera in September 2016 and went operational with them in November, starting with live streaming broadcasts of mens and womens basketball games. While ESPN3s specification called for 720p video, the school chose the 1080p-native SK-HD1300 and DK-H200 models in preparation for its future needs. We knew we would use the cameras for several years and would eventually take advantage of their full 1080p/60 capabilities, Uncapher explained.

Systems integration firm Comprehensive Technical Group (CTG) performed the entire upgrade project, from installation and commissioning of the cameras to the design and implementation of new control rooms, under very tight time constraints.

The cameras outstanding ease of use and our familiarity with the earlier SD models made the transition simple for our crew of freelance operators and paid interns, with practically no learning curve, said Uncapher. Meanwhile, the versatility of the SK-HD1300s enables us to deploy them in various combinations of handheld operation and hard camera positions on studio kits, letting us tailor each production to the specific sport we are covering.

Production teams move the cameras between the universitys many indoor and outdoor athletics venues, all of which are linked via fiber to engineering and control rooms located at the schools basketball facility, John Paul Jones Arena. SMPTE fiber connections from eight of the SK-HD1300s are interfaced to the campus single-mode fiber infrastructure using MultiDyne SMPTE-HUT universal camera transceivers, while the ninth SK-HD1300 is deployed wirelessly. The DK-H200 box camera is deployed on a new green-screen studio set, which uses a Ross Video Trackless Studio to create virtual camera moves.

The HITACHI cameras integration with the Dashboard open control and monitoring platform from Ross Video has also proven valuable for the university. For productions where the department does not have the budget or resources to send a dedicated shader to the venue, the Dashboard software platform allows a producer in the control room to handle shading remotely through an intuitive graphical interface.

We have now used the HITACHI HDTV cameras for over 90 events, and they have lived up to our high expectations, said Uncapher. Their robust durability has endured heavy usage by numerous operators, and they provide great image quality that is comparable to much more expensive cameras. HITACHI cameras deliver a lot of bang for your buck, and in my opinion would be a great fit for any venue looking for cameras to enhance their productions.

These UHD cameras will support educational initiatives in broadcast, journalism and more, as The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication finalizes the HD transition of its production studios.

The SK-UHD4000 is a multi-format studio and field production camera suitable for HD and 4K workflows, enabling users to gradually transition to 4K as requirements evolve. That flexibility was a significant reason for selecting Hitachi, according to Evan Cornog, Dean of The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University. We have set out to create the best possible HD facility with our infrastructure rebuild, said Cornog. Camera technology is well ahead of studio infrastructure equipment, and we saw an opportunity to leap forward on the content acquisition side as we finalize our HD transition.

Randy Hillebrand, training coordinator and professor of Radio, Television, Film at Hofstra University, envisions the 4K production and Hofstras proximity to the production hotbed of midtown Manhattan will be attractive to students.

These cameras will introduce us to that next level of 4K technology, said Hillebrand. This means we can absolutely proclaim to prospective students that we offer a state-of-the-art learning environment. We are excited about helping our 1200 dedicated students learn about the future of communication, and how the richness of the 4K environment can help them tell stories in new and innovative ways. We have a real opportunity to be explorers.