South Carolina Educational Television/SCETV (Columbia, SC) is acquiring its premier production, the 23-year-old NatureScene natural history series, with Panasonic’s AJ-HDC20A DVCPRO HD 2/3-inch 2.2 million pixel FIT 3-CCD camcorder.

Just over a year ago, SCETV purchased the full family of Panasonic DVCPRO equipment, including 25 Mbps, 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps products, to support its statewide educational mandate. SCETV, South Carolina’s educational television network, uses a combination of 11 NTSC TV transmitters, one (soon to be three) digital transmitter, digital satellite, Instructional Television Fixed Service, fiber optic and microwave systems to cover all 46 South Carolina counties with open and closed circuit service. Every school in the state has a downlink dish and at least three receivers to access ETV’s 32-channel digital satellite system.

Since its inception in 1978, NatureScene has been overseen by Producer/Director/Director of Photography Allen Sharpe, who is also the Director of Field Production for the overall network. Ever popular with the viewing audience, the series went weekly in 1981 and expanded its scope beyond South Carolina locales in 1985, when it initiated an uplink to the national Public Broadcasting Service.

Sharpe described each 30-minute episode as “a field trip, a stroll in the woods, something you can do with your family” that is hosted by naturalist Rudy Mancke and his colleague Jim Welch. “NatureScene” specializes in visits to National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. Sharpe shoots 13 or more new installments each year; 20 episodes in the 2001 and 2002 (now in production) series will be shot with the AJ-HDC20A. The balance of the 2001 series (now airing) was shot with Panasonic’s AJ-PD900WA 480p DVCPRO Progressive camcorder prior to SCETV’s taking delivery of the DVCPRO HD camera.

Sharpe, who has now used the AJ-HDC20A for more than a year, has had the camera on location at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Rocky Mountain National Park (Denver, CO), Saguara National Park (Tucson, AZ), Congaree Swamp National Monument (South Carolina), among other sites, and is slated to shoot additional 2002 episodes in Acadia National Park (Mount Desert Island, Maine), the Denali and Wrangell St. Elias National Parks (Alaska), Yellowstone National Park (located in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) and the Grand Tetons (Wyoming), and Haleakala National Park (Hawaii).

SCETV airs NatureScene in widescreen on its 11 analog channels, with special DVCPRO HD broadcasts on WRLK-Digital. The network also has an agreement with Time Warner Cable to carry SD and HD programming simultaneously.

Panasonic’s DVCPRO HD format offers 1080i and 720p recording and eight channels of 16-bit 48KHz audio. DVCPRO HD is the natural extension of the DVCPRO format into high definition for studio, field production and post applications. DVCPRO HD is the new cost-effective format providing an effective path towards broadcasting of DTV and HDTV programming while remaining backwardly-compatible with all DVCPRO50, DVCPRO, DVCAM and DV formats.

The AJ-HDC20A 3-CCD camcorder offers high mobility, high-definition field acquisition. The 10-bit digital signal processing camcorder offers 46-minute recording in 1080i, two channels of 16-bit/48KHz digital audio, low power consumption of about 36 watts, uses standard 2/3-inch bayonet lenses, and comes equipped with an HD-SDI (SMPTE 292M) output for full-color live and tape playback, and a multi-media memory card for storing camera setups. Weighing 15 pounds in full operating condition, the AJ-HDC20A provides a wide range of field production functions including Super Gain to boost gain by a full +36dB for high-quality shooting in dim lighting, customized set-up buttons, and an electronic shutter (1/30 -1/2000 sec.) featuring Synchro Scan to reduce flicker when shooting CRT displays.