ICE Kraków Congress Centre Selects Ikegami Camera Systems

Ikegami camera systems have been chosen by the ICE Kraków Congress Centre for integration into a new studio and IP-linked production control facility.

This is equipped to allow high-grade television coverage of events ranging from corporate presentations to large-scale conferences, exhibitions, concerts and spectator-sports. System design and installation were coordinated by Shadok AV Group which provides a wide range of broadcast-related services from its base in the southern Polish city of Zabrze.

"During the Covid-19 pandemic, we tested a hybrid TV studio that we arranged within the ICE Kraków building," said Izabela Błaszczyk, President of Kraków5020 which operates the congress centre on behalf of the city. "Talks with representatives of the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions industry showed that this resource has great potential. With the help of the best technological solutions, it connects the offline and online worlds. Rental of the studio is now included in the proposals we send to potential customers of the congress centre. The studio is also being used to create content for the city's PLAY KRAKÓW video-on-demand platform which includes original, news, documentary and entertainment programmes."

"The studio is configured to allow recording anywhere in the ICE Krakow Congress Centre building via an Ethernet network spanning the entire site," adds Shadok AV Group President Grzegorz Piechuła. "Ikegami HD-73 camera systems were the logical choice for many reasons, not least because they allow easy interfacing of the camera control signals to the Ethernet standard. They also offer very high signal quality and versatile production capabilities as well as being attractively priced. We supplied five complete camera systems, each comprising an HDK-73 studio camera with an Ikegami VFL-P700 viewfinder, a BSF-300 CCU base station, an OCP-300 control panel and a BSH-300 Ethernet / ICCP command converter."

Ikegami's HDK-73 is a dockable multi-role high-definition camera designed for standard-dynamic-range and high-dynamic-range broadcast production. It is available as a complete system including CCU, connecting fibre, viewfinder and remote control. Image capture is to 2/3-inch 2.6 megapixel CMOS sensors, each capable of capturing full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution images with an extremely wide dynamic range of more than 600%, high sensitivity (F13 at 50 Hz) and low video noise level.

The HDK-73's sensors natively support 1080i/59.94 and 1080i/50, as well as 720p/59.94 and 720p/50 scan formats. Major features include full digital signal processing, advanced digital detail correction with independent horizontal and vertical correction of red, green and blue signals, and optionally-available anti-moiré filtering. HLG processing is operator-selectable for HDR picture origination, enabling high-contrast scenes to be televised with full detail across the entire brightness range from highlights to shaded areas. Full digital signal handling is performed by a processor operating at up to 38 bit depth.

The HDK-73's dockable structure allows studio configuration with fibre base stations as well as self-contained operation with a camera adapter for wireless or onsite recording applications. A fibre adapter can be attached directly to the camera head without need for external cables. External devices such as wireless transmission or a solid state recorder can be attached for stand-alone operation, making the camera suitable for live sports, news gathering or field production. Three high performance viewfinders are available for the HDK-73: a 2 inch LCD monocular and a choice of two 7 inch LCD viewfinders (VFL-P700 and VFL-701A).

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