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CBS News' 'The Early Show' Goes Digital With Sony High Definition Studio Cameras And Flat Panel Plasma Displays Purchased For New Studio
Continuing its leadership role in digital programming, CBS News has purchased Sony high definition cameras and flat panel plasma displays for its new weekday morning program, The Early Show, that made its debut earlier this week. The purchase of Sony's state-of-the-art equipment will provide maximum picture quality for The Early Show's onsite audience and television viewers today, while preparing the facility for future HDTV broadcast. CBS News purchased a total of nine Sony HDC-700 high definition studio and HDC-750 portable studio cameras, along with accompanying peripheral equipment, and 39 PFM-500A1WU 16:9 flat panel plasma displays for the program's new home, CBS Studio 58. This new studio is located in the heart of New York City at Fifth Avenue and East 59th Street. According to Frank Governale, vice president of operations for CBS News, the cameras will be used now for SDTV broadcast. Eventually, they will be used for HDTV. ""We have worked quite a bit with Sony's high definition equipment in the past year and have always been pleased with the image quality and dependability of the products,"" Governale said. ""Sony's studio cameras and multi-purpose camera units will give us the flexibility of simultaneous high definition, when CBS News decides to broadcast in HDTV, and down-converted NTSC outputs for SDTV, which is what we will feed to our affiliates for air."" The 39 flat panel plasma displays will be positioned throughout Studio 58, primarily located around the perimeter of the street-level studio for audience viewing in the 16:9 format. The studio will deliver a live feed to the flat panels during the broadcast of The Early Show, and display a variety of CBS programming throughout the day and CBS' high definition prime-time programming at night. Additional flat panel plasma displays will be positioned throughout areas within Studio 58, including home base, the primary anchor area; the news set; the interview area; the multipurpose area; and the demonstration area. ""We were very deliberate in the design of Studio 58,"" Governale added. ""We selected Sony flat panel plasma displays throughout the facility not only to provide video and graphics for onsite and our home viewers but also to deliver an innovative and futuristic look appropriate for The Early Show, a program created to bring us into the next millennium."" CBS News' purchase of Sony equipment includes five HDC-750A portable studio cameras, four HDC-700A studio cameras, nine HDCU-700A CCUs, nine HKCU-701A digital downconverters/NTSC encoders, two DVW-500 Digital BetacamÆ VTRs, a variety of Sony displays and peripherals for the control room and studio, as well as 39 PFM-500 series 16:9 flat panel plasma displays for audience viewing. Studio 58 will be interconnected to the CBS Broadcast Center at West 57th Street via fiber optic cable, to deliver the current SD feed and, eventually, the HDTV signal. ""CBS has consistently led the way in preparation for nationwide high-definition implementation,"" said Larry Thorpe, Vice President of Acquisition Systems for Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Professional Company. ""Leading the way in HD for dramatic episodic series, live sports or prime-time news magazine production, CBS has proven to be a trailblazer. Preparing The Early Show for high definition will contribute to the visual quality of the initial broadcasts and prepare them for the coming of widespread HDTV."" To date, CBS has used Sony high definition equipment to produce an episode of ""Chicago Hope,"" professional football games for ""The NFL on CBS"" and an episode of the CBS news program ""48 Hours."" In addition, post production work on CBS' HDTV prime-time programming is being done at Sony-equipped high definition suites at LaserPacific Media Corp., Encore Hollywood, Hollywood Digital and Modern Videofilm.