Teams Deploy AJ-D910WA Camcorders For Football Coaching Analysis

The National Football League's Buffalo Bills (Buffalo, NY) and Baltimore Ravens (Baltimore, MD) franchises have recently converted to Panasonic's DVCPRO digital component video format, purchasing AJ-D910WA DVCPRO50 2/3" 3-CCD EFP/ENG camcorders and AJ-D450 DVCPRO studio editing VTRs to assist in team training.

The Panasonic DVCPRO equipment, already put to use during the teams' training camps and preseason games, will be used to record football practices and games for coaching analysis during the 2000-2001 season. For both teams, the DVCPRO equipment supplants Beta SP.

The Bills and Ravens join a growing list of NFL teams utilizing Panasonic DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO, including the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.

Bill's Video Director Henry Kunttu said, "The AJ-D910WA offers us higher profile shooting and prepares us for the future, namely 50Mbps, 16:9 digital production.

"The camcorders are delivering sharper images with clarity far superior to Betacam. The DVCPRO format itself is notably efficient, particularly as we're acquiring in 25Mbps, which allows us to shoot an entire game using one 66-minute tape."

The Bills purchased three AJ-D910WAs and four AJ-D450 VTRs. The VTRs are used to digitize material into an Avid Sports Pro NLE editor, which outputs to a desktop PC at the coaches' stations.

Ravens' Video Director John Dube said, "Having made the switch to digital editing, the logical next step was digital acquisition. When we reviewed equipment late last year, we were particularly impressed with Panasonic's strategic relationship with Avid (Avid has endorsed DVCPRO as an excellent format for field acquisition for use with Avid systems). Ultimately, we expect we'll be able to use Panasonic's 4X transfer VTRs to download into our NLE systems."

The Ravens purchased three AJ-D910WAs and three AJ-D450 VTRs, as well as Panasonic's TC-7WMS1 7" color LCD monitors for use as large-screen viewfinders during games. Dube utilizes two of the AJ-D450 VTRs to digitize material into the Sports Pro system, and the third as a dubbing station. Dube added that he takes advantage of the AJ-D910WA's Picture Link shot logging system to record data for downloading into the Sports Pro NLE system. Like the Bills, the Ravens are acquiring in 25Mbps.

"We've had considerable experience now recording practices and games," he said. "We love being able to shoot an entire game with one tape. The equipment has performed smoothly all around, and produces beautiful footage. Panasonic has customized 'NFL settings' for the cameras, which are highly effective. We've already become very familiar with the filtering and color temperature."

The high-performance AJ-D910WA camcorder, with three 2/3-inch IT CCDs, is ideal for electronic field production (EFP) and electronic newsgathering (ENG). The camcorder features DVCPRO50/DVCPRO selectable record/playback in 16:9 and 4:3 wide aspect ratios, 33 minutes record time (66 minutes in DVCPRO), 10-bit digital signal processing, a high gain mode of more than 30dB, a signal-to-noise ratio of 63dB, minimum illumination of 0.2 lux and a high sensitivity. The AJ-D910WA weighs 15 pounds fully-operational and offers as an option Picture Link function, Panasonic's exclusive field production system which stores shot logging data in camera memory and records it on tape during the eject cycle.

The AJ-D450 studio editing VTR offers 184 minutes of DVCPRO recording, frame accurate editing, insert/assemble/split editing, and digital still playback for a range of applications. With analog input/output, SDI digital interface (optional), and versatile control interfacing via RS-422A and RS-232C remote, the VTR addresses applications in both nonlinear and linear editing and delivers DVCPRO, DVCAM and DV playback compatibility.

Panasonic's Emmy Award-winning DVCPRO format is the industry's standard for digital acquisition and recording, and the most rapidly adopted professional video format in history, with more than 115,000 units in use worldwide. and in the U.S., over 750 stations rely on DVCPRO daily for news, features, creative services, deep archiving and more. From 480 interlace to HDTV, DVCPRO has ENG, EFP and studio production tools within a single extensible format - from 25Mbps DVCPRO to 50Mbps DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO50 Progressive to 100Mbps DVCPRO HD.