Summary

Fox Digital purchased four Philips LDK 7000 digital cinematography cameras from Thomson multimedia for episodic television production using the 720p@24fps format. The system captures true 720-line progressive images at 1.5Gbit/sec, recorded via JVC D9 VTR, offering film-equivalent quality for electronic capture.

Source document circa 2001 preserved as-is

Tuesday, May 15, 2001

FOX AND THOMSON INK 720P/24 CAMERA ACQUISITION PURCHASE AGREEMENT

Burbank, CA, May 14 - FOX Digital has just completed the purchase of Four (4) Philips' LDK 7000 Digital Cinematography cameras for use in television productions by the Fox group of companies. The cameras were purchased from THOMSON multimedia Broadcast & Network Solutions, recently formed by the combination of the former Philips Broadcast organization, integrated with THOMSON Broadcast and Nextream.

This newly developed camera system fills the need for electronic capture in episodic television productions using the 720p@24fps format. This format provides the same dynamic range (latitude), overall quality, and look and feel that equal that of film for this application.

"Fox has been investigating and using 24p systems over the last decade, and we are excited about the LDK 7000 as an actual production 24p electronic camera, ready for use in our industry", said Jim DeFilippis, vice president, Television Engineering, News Technology Group.

The LDK-7000 uses patented Philips Frame Transfer (FT) technology CCDs that capture images at a true 720-line progressive rate, allowing for a higher quality over-sampled picture, achieving archival quality for these productions. The high quality images, transported as a 1.5Gbit/sec digital video signal, will be recorded using a JVC D9 VTR, with approximately one-hour of recording time per cassette.

"We are delighted to once again be chosen by FOX to work with them in developing new technology and applications for television." stated M. Michael D'Amore, Vice President of North American Business Development for THOMSON multimedia Broadcast & Network Solutions.

In conjunction with the News Technology Group, and continuing the work originally begun under the Philips Broadcast group, THOMSON multimedia and JVC have been perfecting the design and integration of 720@24P cameras and the D9 VTR, for use in multi-camera and single camera productions for television for the past 12 months. This project is the culmination of that development, and ushers in a new era of electronic capture for projects in need of a true progressive image, where previously only a film format would have been appropriate.

The 720P@24 format, using full 4:2:2 sampling of the 1280x720 image, requires only 540Mb/s. With JVC's D9 recording tape format it will be possible in the future, using the current 1.5Gb/s baseband transport stream (SMPTE292M), to have camera/recorder systems running at up to 72 fps for special effects and slow motion,


About THOMSON multimedia Broadcast & Network Solutions

THOMSON multimedia Broadcast & Network Solutions represents the interests formed by the acquisition by THOMSON multimedia of the former Philips Broadcast organization, integrated with THOMSON Broadcast Systems and Nextream.

THOMSON multimedia's professional broadcast activities and the Philips Broadcast organizations combined, form a world-leading provider of advanced digital broadcast solutions for content providers and broadcasters, offering end-to-end digital solutions that include innovative studio, production and distribution systems.

The established THOMSON professional broadcast product portfolio added to that from Philips Broadcast, offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of equipment and services from a single supplier. Capabilities of the combined companies extend from cameras and film imaging, through signal processing and media networking and control, to the acclaimed THOMSON Nextore media servers and distributions systems.