Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. announces the SK-HD1800 HDTV studio and field production camera, the latest model in its broadcast camera line. Combining the advanced CMOS imaging technology first implemented in Hitachi Kokusai’s award-winning Z-HD5500 camera with a motorized, four-position filter wheel for remote operation, the new SK-HD1800 is designed for mobile and event-based productions in venues with challenging LED lighting and displays.
The new camera is available immediately, and will make its exhibition debut in the Hitachi Kokusai booth (C4409) at the 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas from April 8 to 11.
The SK-HD1800’s global shutter, progressive-scan, CMOS imagers adapt to a wide range of LED lighting conditions, for use in TV studios, houses of worship, sporting arenas, concert venues and other facilities where LED lights or large LED displays are used. The advanced 1080p sensors combine with Hitachi Kokusai’s digital signal processing and low-noise circuit technology to deliver visual quality with sensitivity, color fidelity and a 62dB signal-to-noise ratio.
“The use of LED lighting and displays in live production environments continues to expand rapidly, and our Z-HD5500 camera has proven extremely popular for its ability to capture high-quality, rock-solid video in these often-challenging settings,” says John J. Humphrey, Vice President of Business Development, Hitachi Kokusai Electric America Ltd. “At the same time, features like remotely-operated, motorized filter wheel support have made our SK series of cameras a preferred choice for remote and mobile productions. The new SK-HD1800 offers customers the best of both worlds, and combines with the CU-HD1300 family of camera control units (CCUs) to flexibly support evolving industry trends including High Dynamic Range (HDR), 4K and IP-based workflows.”
The new camera supports HDR specifications including HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) and HPQ, which is compatible with the HDR10 open standard for consumer TVs.
Pairing the SK-HD1800 with a CCU from Hitachi Kokusai’s CU-HD1300 series forms a flexible camera system supporting a wide range of production infrastructures and output requirements. The new camera supports both SMPTE fiber and digital triax connectivity, and can be combined with a dedicated fiber or triaxCCU or with the dual-cable CU-HD1300FT for maximum deployment flexibility.
Bridging HDTV and Ultra HD production workflows, an optional 4K output module for the CU-HD1300 transforms natively-acquired 1080p video from the SK-HD1800 to 4K/UHD resolution and outputs the result over single-link 12Gbps SDI or quad-link 3G-SDI connectivity. Meanwhile, a SMPTE ST 2110 option for the CU-HD1300 enables integration of the SK-HD1800 camera system into next-generation IP-based production workflows, supporting broadcasters’ transition from traditional baseband video infrastructures to more flexible media networks.
Both the 4K output and SMPTE ST 2110 transport options support the HDR capabilities of the SK-HD1800. Further enhancing HDR production, a firmware option for the CU-HD1300 enables users to acquire optimized HDR and standard dynamic range (SDR) video simultaneously with a single camera by providing separate video shading adjustments for HDR and SDR outputs. This provides both creative and financial benefits compared to using separate cameras, enabling shot consistency while lowering equipment and operational costs.
