High-Definition Production Of ""The Tonight Show"" Running

Since the sneak preview of ""The Tonight Show With Jay Leno"" in HDTV on the NBC Network given at the May convention of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), NBC and Sony have completed the HDTV production facility in Burbank and the nightly show is now running in the 1920x1080 interlace widescreen format. NBC is using Sonyís multipurpose HDC-700 and HDC-750 studio cameras to shoot the program in both HDTV and downconverted SDTV simultaneously for content, which can be viewed by NTSC and DTV receivers. ""We wanted to get a fair amount of HD material on the air as soon as possible, and ëThe Tonight Showí represents five hours a week"" of programming, says Charlie Jablonski, Vice President of Broadcast and Network Engineering at NBC in New York City. ""Weíre making a statement that NBC is committed to digital and HD television.""The show is being produced at the new all-Sony-equipped recording and editing facility at NBC Studios in Burbank.""We will produce in 1080I, feed HD to those affiliates capable of HD transmission and downcovert to NTSC to feed our normal distribution to all of our affiliates,"" notes George Hamilton, Manager of Videotape Operations for NBC Burbank. ""We will extract the center 4:3 out of the 16:9 aspect ratio for what the regular audience see,"" Hamilton continues. ""Our camera people have to be cognizant of that fact, and e have electronic markers in the 16:9 (1.78:1) viewfinders to remind them. We need to keep the important thinks in the center 4:3, which is what most of the audience will see, and make sure thereís nothing in the side panels that our HD audience doesnít want to see.""Hamilton notes that ""anything going into the show has to be an HD source. Commercials on standard definition video, movie clips in various formats ñ everything has to be upconverted in the tape prep area and rolled in as HD."" The program is recorded live-to-tape on weekdays with just ""a two-hour window to turn it around and feed it to affiliates. We have no time to sit in post production.""""Getting the production folks comfortable"" with widescreen HD production ""is the hardest part"" of the changeover, remarks NBCís Jablonski. ""Itís a different look, a different technique, and what these folks do is on the air every night. Theyíve been superb about accepting the risk, embracing it and going forward.""""The Tonight Show With Jay Leno"" was considered by NBC to be the ideal example of how to economically implement HD production. ""Our task was to produce the show for basically the same cost ñ excluding the cost of new equipment ñ in HD and NTSC simultaneously,"" Hamilton says. ""We felt it could work on a live talk show; we could extract the center 4:3 and make both aspect ratios work. With other types of shows, youíd have to double shoot and process twice, which costs more and takes longer.""