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case study
Sony Helps WCTV Get More News on the Go
Customer:
• Gray Television CBS Affiliate WCTV,
Tallahassee, FL
Industry:
• Broadcasting
Challenges:
• Allow for field production with
a minimum of equipment
• Streamline operations and
manage content back at
the station
• Maintain high-quality video
standards
Solution:
• Acquire Sony Video Journalist
Backpacks
Benefits:
• Delivered video of equal
quality to that of much larger
camcorders
• Allowed for reporters to travel
much lighter in the field
• Was inexpensive to purchase
and easy to use
Sony has long been a leader in providing
high-end camcorders to broadcasting
stations. But now some of those stations
are in the market for a different type
of Sony product: the new Video Journalist
Backpack, which contains everything
needed for field production except the
pathway home for the video.
One of those stations is WCTV Tallahassee,
FL (DMA 106), which just completed
a month-long trial with the VJ Backpack.
When News Director Stan Sanders was
a photographer back in the 1980s, he
weighed 110 pounds and carried 130
pounds of gear. He would have loved
to have had the VJ Backpack then,
because it’s a complete ENG acquisition
package weighing less than 50 pounds.
“For today’s multimedia journalist,
carrying all of that equipment is
challenging,” Sanders said. “Most people
are familiar with backpacks, so this
makes maneuvering in the field much
easier.” The gear takes no longer to set
up than conventional equipment, which
can weigh more than twice as much.
Equipment for the One-Man
Photojournalist
The Backpack was developed originally
for education use, especially schools that
train TV journalists. According to Peter
DiIorio, Sony Senior Marketing Manager,
Systems Solutions, “We embellished
on it for news. We obviously had some
conversations with Gray, but we took
input from a bunch of our customers.”
The VJ Backpack contains Sony’s
HXR-NX30U HD camera, Xperia™ tablet,
and VAIO® laptop (loaded with Vegas
Pro® software); tripod; wireless UWP-V1
lavalier mic and handheld mic;
headphones; LED video light; and cables,
batteries, and chargers. All the gear fits
nicely into a custom-made backpack and
is also available without the laptop.
Introduced just before the 2012 NAB show,
the palm-sized NXCAM® camcorder at
the core of the VJ Backpack features a
1/3” Exmor® CMOS sensor and Balanced
Optical SteadyShot® image stabilization.
Using AVCHD recording, the camera
has 96 gigabytes of internal memory
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“Most people are familiar
with backpacks, so this
makes maneuvering in
the field much easier.”
Stan Sanders,
News Director, WCTV
“The homerun for
us was when people
were watching
our on-air content
internally, and
nobody could tell
the difference
between which
camera was being
used. The quality
is definitely there.”
Stan Sanders,
News Director, WCTV
(approximately 40 hours of HD content),
with a slot that accepts either SD or
Memory Stick® media cards for additional
recording capacity, plus an audio pod
with two balanced audio inputs.
Equipped with the Tiffen prompter app, the
Xperia tablet allows reporters to review their
video on a screen larger than the camera’s
viewfinder and to work with a teleprompter.
In the accompanying instructional video,
it’s recommended that the reporter stand
about seven feet away from the camera
when using the tablet as a teleprompter to
make the broadcast look natural.
A Month-long Trial
Stan Sanders stated that the Backpack
more than lived up to Sony’s promises
during the trial. “The homerun for us was
when people were watching our on-air
content internally, and nobody could tell
the difference between which camera was
being used. The quality is definitely there.”
Outside of its portability, Sanders said the
biggest appeal might be the familiarity of
its camera and functions for new reporters.
“This camera mirrors what many young
journalists used in college. Being that we’re
the 106th market, we’re going to have
some people that start their careers with
us. That’s exciting because the transition
will be much easier.”
DiIorio reported the Backpack has been
available since November 2012, and
that interest has been high. He expects
orders for another 100 units, mostly from
other broadcasters.
Jim Ocon, Vice President of Technology,
Gray Television, stated that he worked
closely with Sony in optimizing the
Backpack for broadcasting and believes
it is a significant development, citing
its capabilities and low price. He expects
many of the Gray stations to adopt
the Backpack along with the Sony Media
Backbone™ production system for
ingesting and moving video onto various
distribution platforms.
There are further plans for the Backpack
to evolve according to broadcasters’
needs. Mike Berry, who works in strategic
business development at Sony, said a
telephoto converter will likely be part of the
unit in the future. “The whole concept
of the backpack journalist is getting out in
the field and being the one man to
get the shot and the story,” he said.
DiIorio reported that Sony is working with
Gray on a backpack version that would
include bonded cellular technology from
TVU Networks, Gray’s preferred vendor.
“We’ve always been about the news,” said
Jim Ocon. “The payoff is that we want
to see higher story counts, and we want
to be able to know what our content is
and archive it properly.
“It’s a turning point for great television in
the sense that we can equip all of
our reporters with cameras and editing
equipment and then back at the station,
we’re going to be much smarter about
how to get this content in and send it
back out,” said Ocon.
Sony Electronics Inc.
1 Sony Drive
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
sony.com/videopack
V-2579
© 2013 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Sony, Exmor,
Media Backbone, Memory Stick, NXCAM, SteadyShot, VAIO, Xperia, Vegas Pro, and the Sony make.believe logo are trademarks of Sony.
All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Printed in USA (9/13)
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