(Secaucus, New Jersey--February 20, 2009) Wonderdog Media (Tacoma, WA), one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier digital video production companies, has recently added Panasonic’s AG-HPX170 fully solid-state P2 HD handheld camcorder to its complement of P2 HD acquisition tools.
The award-winning facility, which specializes in corporate and commercial video, has deployed Panasonic’s AG-HVX200 as its mainstay camera since early 2006.
Wonderdog co-founder/producer/Director of Photography Scott Gribble is currently teaming the HPX170 and HVX200 P2 HD camcorders on a large-scale project establishing the Northwest Living and Wellness Network, a commercial-free service that is slated to screen in more than 150 screens throughout the Tacoma and Olympia markets by summer 2009. With a mandate to entertain, educate and inform viewers, the network focuses on “living the Pacific Northwest Lifestyle” and covers such topics as healthy families, homes and self.
Wonderdog deploys three reporters equipped with HPX170 and HVX200 camcorders on location shoots for Northwest Living and Wellness; the company is shooting 30-minute episodes that are already screening on LCD displays in close to 40 venues ranging from doctors’ offices to automotive repair facilities. The content is played back from a CompactFlash media hardware player output to the LCD displays.
Earlier this year, Wonderdog spearheaded a similar network, specializing in medical news, for more than 200 local physicians’ offices. Northwest Physicians Medical News, which premiered last October, is in ongoing production with the HPX170 and HVX200 camcorders. Gribble is also utilizing the HPX170/HVX200 combo to shoot a video for Habitat for Humanity, a disaster preparedness video for the city of Lakewood Fire Department, a recruitment video for the Mason County Fire Department, and a safety video for a large automotive repair facility.
“I love the options and the one-two punch these cameras offer us,” Gribble said, who plans to purchase a second HPX170 and more 32GB P2 cards later this year. “With the P2 HD camcorders, we are able to deliver a quality product and keep our operating costs down. I recommend the P2 workflow to anyone who needs to streamline production. An added bonus, P2 gear, small in size and with infinitely reusable media, is environmentally prudent.”
“I haven’t used the tape drive in my HVX200 since I bought additional 32GB cards, so we essentially utilize both cameras interchangeably on the Northwest Living and Wellness shoots,” Gribble said. “We also are creating special ‘profiles’ using the HVX200 outfitted with Redrock Micro’s M2 Cinema Lens Adapter (which enables 35mm lenses to be used with the camcorder).”
“We’re shooting one day at an artist’s loft, the next day at a small business, the next on location at a wine vineyard or bed and breakfast, and so on,” Gribble explained. “We have a special travel section, a segment called Scott’s Movie Minute’ where I review DVDs that are released that month, and lots of green screen work shot in our office.”
“In our artist profiles we make use of the off-speed capabilities of both the HPX170 and the HVX200,” he continued. “The HPX170 excels in low light, so if we know in advance that we have a challenging shoot then I opt for that. I have created a few custom presets and stored them to an SD card; we use those settings first on both camcorders.”
Gribble has 10 P2 cards of varying capacities, an AJ-PCS060G P2 Store Drive and a new Dell Precision M6400 Mobile Workstation. “The Dell has an ExpressCard/54 slot, so I can check playback and manage cards while on the road,” he said. “The computer also has Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Avid Media Composer on it, facilitating editing on the fly and making EDLs in the field. The 32GB P2 cards are big enough to allow us to shoot everything we need and bring the cards back at the end of the day. Some projects are edited off P2 cards in Avid using my P2 Store, and encoded without ever consolidating the media.”
Gribble edits exclusively on Avid Media Composers with Mojo SDI, and is currently evaluating Premiere Pro CS4’s speech to text function to support transcribing in the field. In post, he typically uses Red Giant’s Magic Bullet software suite, Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks Proanimator for 3D, Sorenson Squeeze 5 for compression, and deliver on Compact Flash cards to HD players.
Other assignments on Wonderdog’s roster include a magazine news segments shot for the “Montel Williams Show,” and documentary coverage of an Olympia air show broadcast on Comcast’s On Demand digital cable network, both shot with the HVX200. The Wonderdog principals—Gribble and his co-founder/wife Olga M. Gribble—previously shot several narrative features and shorts with the HVX200: one of these projects, An Army of Two, won the Grand Jury Award at a regional 72 Hour Film Competition. Scott Gribble was the DP on a full-length feature, Keep Your Day Job, Superstar, shot with the HVX200 and now playing on the festival circuit. For more information about Wonderdog Media, visit www.wonderdogmedia.com.
About the AG-HPX170
The AG-HPX170 is an ultra-mobile P2 HD handheld camcorder featuring full, 4:2:2 independent frame production quality HD and solid-state recording. Building on the AG-HVX200 series’ phenomenal success, the lighter HPX170 is fully solid state (no DV mechanism), and comes with a host of enhancements including a new 1/3" progressive 3-CCD imager system, wider Leica Dicomar 13X lens, an HD-SDI interface, metadata input and management, and a 5-year limited warranty (with registration). The HPX170 has two P2 card slots and records in 20 HD and SD formats - from 1080i, 1080p, 720p to 480i. Its newly enhanced 1/3" progressive 16:9 3-CCD imager delivers an excellent signal-to-noise ratio, lower noise/smear, and exceptional low-light performance. High-end features like Dynamic Range Stretch (DRS) allow for better control over highlights and shadows in run and gun situations. For more information on the HPX170, visit www.panasonic.com/P2HD.
About the AG-HVX200A
Panasonic recently introduced its new AG-HVX200A, an enhanced version of the HVX200. The 1/3” 3-CCD handheld P2 HD/DV camcorder now features improved progressive 3-CCD imagers, a DSP that increases sensitivity while lowering noise and smear, and a new 13X zoom lens. The ultra-versatile HVX200A records in 1080i and 720p in production-proven 100 Mbps DVCPRO HD quality, with the ability to capture images in 21 record modes. The DVCPRO HD format offers users cost-effective, intra-frame compression, where each frame stands on its own for editing, and its full 4:2:2 color sampling allows the image to hold up under color correction. The camera records video on a P2 card as IT-friendly MXF files in 1080/60i, 30p and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; in 50Mbps DVCPRO50 and in 25Mbps DVCPRO or DV. The HVX200A can capture fast or slow action in 720p at various frame rates: the shooting frame rate in 720p native mode can be set for any of 11 steps between 12fps and 60fps including 24fps and 30fps. For more information on the HVX200A, visit www.panasonic.com/P2HD.
About Panasonic Broadcast
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE Symbol: PC) the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
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