You can’t prepare students for a future career in media and design if you aren’t providing them with opportunities to work with the latest innovative media technologies.
James Madison University’s School of Media and Design (SMAD) recognizes that its students need experience working with evolving technologies in order to receive a quality education, which is why it undertook a major upgrade and refresh of the equipment in its television studio last year.
One aspect of the school’s studio that needed upgrading was its cameras.
Hitachi Delivers Reliable, Cost-Effective Solution
SMAD chose to implement new Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. Z HD6000 HDTV cameras in order to “give students valuable, practical experience while meeting the school’s uncompromising quality, performance and budgetary goals,” according to a Hitachi news release.
“We wanted high-quality equipment for the studio, but without spending excessively for an instructional environment,” said John Hodges, technology manager for SMAD at James Madison University, in a news release.
“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.”
Three Z-HD6000s provide students with 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 university’s Broadcast Journalist curriculum are seen live on its on-campus, HD cable network and online, while select programs from SMAD’s Studio Production class including variety and talk shows are also seen on the school’s closed-circuit channel.
Jon T. Wenger, Chief Engineer for James Madison University’s School of Media Arts & Design, with one of the school’s HITACHI Z-HD6000 cameras.
Supplied by systems integrator Digital Video Group, the cameras are connected to HITACHI CU-HD500 camera control units (CCUs) using the studio’s SMPTE fiber infrastructure. Hodges points to the Z HD6000’s 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.
“It’s so nice that we don’t 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,” Hodges adds.
The cameras feature seven-inch VF-701HDA high-resolution and color viewfinders, which are a significant upgrade from SMAD’s previous units. With the new Hitachi cameras, students can transfer setup parameters easily from one camera to another, which Hodge says is 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,” said Hodges. “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 was looking for.
“We’re a year in, the cameras haven’t given us a lick of trouble, and they look great,” he said. “I think it was a great decision. Bang for the buck is such a cliché, but it’s very true here.”
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