Hitachi DK-H100 HDTV box cameras selected for compact size and high-level technical spec, as the Assembly upgraded its equipment to HD.
Hitachi Kokusai Electric Europe has announced a significant win in the French market, with the recent deployment of its DK-H100 HDTV box cameras by the French National Assembly as part of a HD upgrade. The new cameras are being used to record the Assembly’s daily sessions at the Palais Bourbon in Paris. All footage is subsequently transmitted over a fiber optic connection to the master control room, located 350m away, for redistribution.
Following a call for tender, the French National Assembly purchased eight Hitachi Kokusai Electric Europe DK-H100 broadcast cameras through local systems integrator, Preview GM System. The Hitachi cameras, by replacing existing SDI equipment, become part of the first HD broadcast deployment within the bounds of the parliamentary ‘hemicycle’.
Christian Castelli, audiovisual system engineer at the French National Assembly, explained that the team started using the new cameras in September 2012. “Having examined cameras from various providers, we chose the DK-H100 model from Hitachi because of its size and the value for money it provided us”, he said. “The cameras are small and discreet and we are particularly happy with the outstanding picture quality they provide as well as their handy fibre optic connection.”
With 577 deputies and over 1000 hours of yearly debates, The French National Assembly is at the heart of the country’s parliamentary democracy, with recorded daily sittings which can often run into the night. The HD recordings from the Hitachi cameras on-site are immediately made available to the LCP-AN parliamentary channel and to the media. France 3, for example, offers live coverage of delegates’ questions to the government in a public service program called ‘Questions au gouvernement’ on Wednesday afternoons.
“This was a significant integration project in a prestigious location and a very historic building: it’s a project we are very proud of,” said Mikaël Graignic, French commercial director at Preview GM System. “We believe the DK-H100 Hitachi cameras offered the French National Assembly a different and compelling option during the tender, one which impressed the technical team at the Assembly because of the combined size and technical performance of the cameras.”
The DK-H100 is a multi-purpose HDTV box type POV camera that is ideal for applications such as graphics stand, point of view and remote observation. With a small light-weight head, the camera provides outstanding performance with its new 2.3 million pixels native 1080i 3-CCD. It offers sharper and cleaner HD images due to its 14-bit A/D converters and Hitachi’s latest digital processing technology. The camera achieves outstanding high sensitivity and low vertical smear specifications.
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