Camera operators at Broadcast Beat Studios, South Florida’s leading broadcast production company, utilize JVC GY-HC900 CONNECTED CAMTM cameras in the company’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida studio
How did Broadcast Beat Studios come about?
For close to a decade, I have produced “NAB Show LIVE” as part of my media company’s partnership with NAB Show. The production typically has 50+ hours of live shows and over 350 guests combined for live studio and show floor interviews/panels. After COVID halted NAB 2020, and later IBC 2020 and NAB New York, I began creating other types of content for broadcast manufacturers as well as for private clients. We ended-up purchasing a 15,000-square-foot building, which became home to my new business initiative, Broadcast Beat Studios. In addition, we just opened a second “Breaking News Services” facility in Downtown Fort Lauderdale.
As South Florida’s leading broadcast production company, Broadcast Beat Studios features four soundstages, six control rooms, multiple LED video walls, green screens, remote uplink to major networks around the world and has over 120 people combined at both Studios. We regularly handle live satellite uplinks for the likes of ABC News, Bloomberg TV, Paramount, FOX News, FOX Business, ITV and more. Recent live shot clients include The Dr. Phil Show and Good Morning Britain, as well as satellite media tours for the networks above.
What gear do you use?
As my company grew, I needed to find a reliable camera that delivered pristine images and delivered rivaled flexibility. My biggest concern was finding a camera that delivers broadcast television images and looks like a real studio camera of the style expected in a broadcast environment. While I do offer PTZ cameras as an option, the majority of my clients are looking for a broadcast studio experience with camera operators.
Having already integrated JVC into my workflow, I knew that the brand would be an excellent fit forour content and production needs. I fell in love with the GY-HC900 CONNECTED CAM after a demonstration at the 2019 NAB Show in New York (the last in-person NAB Show we’ve had to-date). Initially, I purchased two for the 2020 NAB Show, but we have since acquired a total of eight for daily use at Broadcast Beat Studios. Our JVC GY-HC900s are equipped with Fujinon 8.5BRM 20x ENG lenses.
How did you first learn about JVC Professional Video?
I’ve always known JVC to be a leading developer and manufacturer of sophisticated video products that use superior technologies to deliver high-quality images. I have become more familiar with the team at JVC over the years as a result of our NAB Show visits and have always been impressed with the incredibly innovative products the brand brings to the show each year.
Tell us about your daily workflow.
We are creating live, interactive content for millions of viewers worldwide in two of our studios. As a result, we are taking advantage of the eight GY-HC900’s connected functionality using SDI in the studios. Each of the two studios has four of the GY-HC900s. We have three camera operators in each.
Three use tripods, while another works with the camera as either a handheld or atop a Matthews Dutti Dolly. This gives the operator the option to use the Dutti Dolly, which is a hybrid dolly/slider, or on-the-go with the camera over-the-shoulder. The fourth GY-HC900 in the studio is a locked shot, which goes back to the control room via SDI. Our Data Center has five redundant fiber connections with dual-redundancy to Amazon Web Services through two redundant ZIXI Broadcaster servers. We then send it out to the masses via CDN.
When we go out into the field, we connect via ZIXI with the cameras to receive the feed. The idea is that we can feed a return back to the field for an anchor or reporter and then get their feed over ZIXI or SRT.
We are providing quite a few “Live Shots” for the major networks using services like LTN Global. So, we use GY-HC900 cameras in all three of our “uplink rooms” as well. The quality is fantastic!
What are some standout features about the GY-HC900 CONNECTED CAMS?
We love the flexibility and the quality of the cameras. They are much more adaptable than any other camera we have ever used, especially DSLRs. The jog and the zoom wheel focus are spectacular. The ability to use SRT as well as Zixi feeds from these cameras is wonderful. Having a return for IFB and return tally, and even return video over cellular, is just crazy. The camera has configurable buttons that allow you to program presets, and we’re using those to do fancy things like special zoom-ins, in addition to actually using the physical zoom controller. The camera also allows us to do high-quality broadcast graphic overlays, either lower-third or full-screen, which is especially important in professional broadcast settings. The GY-HC900 is really a versatile and fantastic camera that has been and will continue to be a huge part of our success.
Ryan Salazar is the President and CTO of Broadcast Beat Studios in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He is also the Editor-In-Chief and Publisher of Broadcast Beat and AV Beat digital media properties.
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