Production Company Bennett-Watt to Use AJ-HDC20A Camcorder For Series

LOS ANGELES, CA (August 2000)  -- Noted television production company Bennett-Watt Entertainment, Inc. (Issaquah, WA) has purchased Panasonic Broadcast’s new high-performance AJ-HDC20A DVCPRO HD 2/3-inch 2.2 million pixel FIT 3-CCD camcorder and AJ-HD150 DVCPRO HD studio VTR to support production of a 13-episode travel series.  Production begins this month in Ireland, where the thirteen 30-minute programs will be shot.  Over the next two years, eleven more 13-episode series will be shot exclusively in DVCPRO HD, in such locales as Chile, Antarctica, Patagonia, the Caribbean, New Zealand, Spain, Greece, Italy and Vietnam.

Principal Jim Watt will produce and shoot the series along with his partner and wife, Kelly Bennett Watt, and assistant cameraman Martin Webb.  Bennett-Watt, in business since 1978, specializes in location video production, and is well-known for its long-established “Fly Fishing Video Magazine,” which has just moved to the Outdoor Life Network after several years on ESPN.  The company routinely shoots news packages for ABC News, and that network’s  “20/20” program, plus segments for NBC’s Dateline program.

Watt said that, as a longtime Betacam SP and DVCAM user, his logical choice in a HD camcorder might have been HDCAM.  “When I shopped equipment for the series at this year’s NAB exhibition, not only was I impressed with the DVCPRO HD offerings, but it was also apparent that Panasonic was far more interested in supporting the small television producer with HD equipment,” said Watt.

“I was particularly impressed with the ergonomics, compact design, low power consumption, small tape size and arresting image quality the AJ-HDC20A offers,” he continued.  “And I was thrilled that the AJ-HD150 VTR will play back any DVCPRO or DVCAM tape.  This was the route we wanted to take, and it’s been backed up with exemplary customer support from Panasonic.”

Watt explained that the AJ-HD150 DVCPRO HD VTR would be used to feed and record to a nonlinear editing system, and to make back-up dubs from the AJ-HDC20A camcorder.

After using the camcorder before departing for Ireland, Watt said,  “I don’t ever want to look at a NTSC picture again.  The images are stunning, the camcorder is easy to use, and you can change a seemingly infinite variety of settings with the flick of a switch.  The menu controls appear limitless, allowing a director or director of photography to customize the camera to a specific ‘look.’”          

He added, “While we expect more demanding environmental conditions on subsequent trips--Ireland being mostly wet, grey and green--I do anticipate that our shoot at the Waterford crystal factory will illustrate how valuable an HD image can be in selling a product.”        

Panasonic’s DVCPRO format has become synonymous with newsgathering and cost-efficient digital video with more than 115,000 units in worldwide use, and 100Mbps DVCPRO HD is the natural extension of the format into high definition for studio, field production and post applications.

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 30 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 PCMCIA 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.

The AJ-HD150 studio VTR delivers high-density 100Mbps recording in 1080i and 720p (720p recording will be available this summer), and breaks the boundaries of conventional VTR design with its playback compatibility of all professional DV-based formats, including DVCPRO Progressive, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO, DVCAM and DV.