Three New Stations Sign on to PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot Program - Apr 24, 2006 04:14 PM (PR Newswire)
'The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' to Become PBS' First Daily Series in HD WETA in Washington, D.C.; WQED in Pittsburgh and WYCC in Chicago are Latest to Make Transition to High Definition Production with Sony Broadcast Technology
LAS VEGAS, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NAB Booth SU107 -- The PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot is moving forward as three PBS member stations have confirmed plans for their transition to high definition program production. The cooperative program, which was created by Sony and PBS to cultivate high-definition television production by public television stations, will greatly enhance the HD services provided by public television -- including the production of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" in HD and the construction of a state-of-the art educational facility in Chicago.
Three stations -- WETA in Washington, D.C.; WQED in Pittsburgh and WYCC in Chicago have recently confirmed that they are moving forward with their projects; KQED San Francisco contracted with Sony in December 2005 and is almost finished with their facility upgrade for high definition production. Each station is installing a range of Sony high-definition broadcast and production technology, including multi-format cameras, switchers, VTRs and displays.
In addition to being a PBS member station, WETA is also the production home of the highly acclaimed series "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." For that program, WETA will be implementing Sony's new XDCAM(TM) HD system of optical camcorders to acquire material. For its full line-up of programming, WETA is installing several Sony products, including the HDC-1000 studio camera, which can handle both 1080i and
720P signals, an MVS-8000A multi-format production switcher and professional LCD and CRT displays.-