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
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
case study
Sony Helps WCTV Get More News on the Go
