King World purchases Sony’s XDCAM Professional Disc system for “Inside Edition” EFP and archiving

PARK RIDGE, N.J., July 19, 2004 - King World Productions is upgrading the field production and archiving capabilities for its ‘Inside Edition’ program with the purchase of Sony’s XDCAM Professional Disc System. Next month, the company will begin using six XDCAM PDW-530 camcorders and more than 60 optical disc recorders between its New York and Los Angeles locations. These XDCAM systems, along with Sony’s PFD-23 Professional Disc media, will enhance image capture and quality and serve as an archive medium for preserving these higher-quality images for longer durations.

On the air for 17 years, “Inside Edition,” hosted by Deborah Norville, is the longest-running nationally syndicated TV newsmagazine. King World's decision to implement Sony's optical disc-based technology was driven by its desire to further improve image quality and get the latest-breaking news and footage to air in the quickest way possible.

“We’re always interested in getting the latest shot, latest sound bite, the most up-to-date video,” said Rich Cervini, vice president of production and technical operations for King World Productions. “This technology allows us to just push it to the limit for that whole process.”

Cervini added that the XDCAM system’s field editing and transfer of proxy audio and video capabilities, combined with the ease-of-use of the Sony Professional Disc media, were key factors in King World’s decision. Using the included PDZ-1 editing software, reporters and electronic field production crews can do “cuts-only” laptop-based field editing and browsing of proxy data captured by XDCAM camcorders. This lower-resolution, frame-accurate 2 Mbps, MPEG-4 proxy data can be transferred at up to 50x real time to a studio so producers can immediately begin assembling EDLs while the crew is still in the field.

“With the thumbnail views on the camcorder’s LCD screen, you can immediately see what you’ve shot and start the editing process even before the high-res version arrives back at the studio or is loaded into your server,” Cervini said. “Producers and reporters can start to make decisions in the field about what should be used and how it should be edited together. We are unique in that we cover a whole spectrum of stories from news to entertainment to human interest, as well as major national and international events.

“Our crews travel around the world to bring back stories,” he added. “Certainly, when you’re in remote locations either across the country or overseas, workflow enhancement features like those offered by the XDCAM system become very important to your newsgathering ability.”

Digital workflow

As a newsmagazine, spontaneity and timeliness are critical to “Inside Edition,” and the XDCAM’s built-in buffer feature allows crews to capture those “must-have” sound bites, even if the camcorder isn’t in record mode.

“Much of what we do involves capturing action or people arriving or departing venues, and you’re never quite sure when something is going to happen,” Cervini said. “This feature allows you to record it even if you’re not ready. It’s kind of a safety that gives you a little bit of an advantage when you’re capturing action or celebrity or newsmaker arrivals.”

The fact that the XDCAM system offered the ability to work in the digital domain from acquisition to archive was also attractive to King World.

“We wanted to maximize the quality of our video throughout the production chain,” Cervini said. “That’s always key to any decision we make with respect to equipment. A system like XDCAM allows you to capture, transfer, edit and playback digitally.”

That digital workflow not only enhances image quality, it also provides benefits from an archiving perspective.

“We regularly re-run video that we’ve shot over the years so, once you’ve got it in a digital format [using Sony’s Professional Disc media], the quality of that video is preserved longer,” Cervini said. According to Sony accelerated testing, data stored on the Sony Professional Disc can achieve a shelf and archival life of 50 years or more.

Other features of the XDCAM system that King World finds beneficial are the ability to shoot at different compression rates or in either 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios, and to achieve a 24P look, through the use of the camcorder’s optional 24P board*. The XDCAM system’s interoperability with Avid non linear editing systems was also important to King World since both the New York and Los Angeles locations store captured content in a central Avid storage system.

The XDCAM family includes the PDW-510 DVCAM and the PDW-530 MPEG IMX®/DVCAM™ optical disc camcorders, the PDW-1500 optical disc compact deck, and the PDW-V1 optical disc mobile deck. The system uses blue-laser Sony Professional Disc optical media, which can store 23.3 GB of content on one disc, making the XDCAM solution optimal for acquisition through production to archiving.

* In the US market, a 24P Card is available which offers a 3:2 pulldown for 'film-look' acquisition with NTSC Camcorders. In Europe, 25P capability is a standard feature on PAL Camcorders with no need for an optional card (see XDCAM Professional Disc Media & Products FAQ for more information on achieving a 'film look' with XDCAM).