ITV 'Reports' On Sony

ITV News has announced that it has armed its globe-trotting reporters with 68 HDV-Z5Es, Sony's innovative and flexible hybrid broadcast camera.
Described as being lightweight, unobtrusive and intuitively operable, Sony's hybrid cameras are said to offer users the choice of tape or solid state recording and are perfectly designed to adapt to the volume and variety of projects the news teams must tackle on any given day.
ITV News has also deployed a number of HVR-Z7Es, which complement the HVR-Z5Es and feature the added benefit of interchangeable lenses.
Paul Stevenson, Director of Technical Operations and Technology for News Operations at ITV explained: "The diverse and reactionary nature of field reporting means that versatile and lightweight kit is essential for our reporters.
"For ITV News, the Z5Es Z5s from Sony were the obvious solution. We are hugely expanding our reach for news coverage by equipping our reporters with comprehensive camera kits.
"The Z5 rollout has provided our news teams with a high quality, unobtrusive and high quality acquisition capability.
"The hybrid tape and solid state capability enables a smooth progression from DVCAM to commodity-based solid state production," he explained.
Meanwhile, Rob France, Product Manager for Sony Media and Broadcast commented on the ITV equipment: "The compact Z5E camcorders from Sony have had phenomenal sales since they started shipping in December.
"These professional camcorders address the need for fast paced, high quality, capture and import, while maintaining the editing compatibility provided by the HDV format," he said.
Indeed, according to ITV, the Z5Es from Sony proved easy to deploy, and is very similar in operation to its predecessor the HVR-Z1E, a well established product in ITV News.
In addition, comprehensive operational and set-up training was provided at the ITV central facility in Birmingham.
The HVR-Z5Es were jointly supplied through Sony specialist dealers Visual Impact and TopTeks as part of a complete field camera kits, including microphones, lights, tripods, batteries and Avid equipped laptops.
(BMcC/JM)