UML Tsongas Center Upgrades With Ikegami UHK-X600 Cameras

The Paul E. Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell in Massachusetts has chosen Ikegami cameras for incorporation into its broadcast-quality television production facilities. Core elements of the project are four UHK-X600 studio/portable models that will be used to televise a wide range of activity including sports, stage performances and public presentations. The cameras together with lenses, viewfinders and control equipment, were provided via Little Bay Broadcast LCC, a New Hampshire-based broadcast systems integration specialist.

UML’s Tsongas Center has a potential seating capacity of 6,500 patrons. It is home to the NCAA First-Division UMass Lowell River Hawks hockey and basketball teams. The stadium has also hosted world-renowned musical artists and is a premier home for entertainment in New England’s Merrimack Valley.

“The new Ikegami cameras will help deliver the next level of video quality to the center-hung display we had installed last summer,” said Chad Fillion, UMass Lowell director of audio and visual services at the Tsongas Center. “Our coverage of the UMass Lowell River Hawks hockey, the Boston Fleet, and various University-related events, will have a much-needed boost for fans and attendees.

“The output from the new cameras has fundamentally improved the action displayed on the 3.8 mm pixel pitch HD video screens, enhancing the entire fan experience. The signal quality, the cameras’ 4K capabilities, solid construction and the ease of use for our CamOps team were all factors helping us to select the UHK-X600 models. Brian Raynes at Little Bay was instrumental in assisting us with the selection process, and Gordon Tubbs at Ikegami USA played a pivotal role in the acquisition and assisting us with our budgetary conditions.

“Once the cameras were installed and deployed, we noticed a great low-light response and dynamic range from the camera’s sensors. This provided us an impressive image quality from both the darker areas of the arena to the high-brightness glare of the on-ice action. Paired with the new 45x lens, we can now bring the action from the ice to virtually any seat in the house.”

Alan Keil, Ikegami USA senior engineering fellow, added: “A recent addition to our UNICAM XE line, the UHK-X600 is a Full-HD studio/EFP camera built to withstand the rigors of OB and EFP as well as studio operation. Designed for pedestal or tripod mounting as well as on-the-shoulder, it has a low vertical profile and comfortable light weight, just over 11 pounds, allowing truly portable free-style operation in practically any location. When combined with the Ikegami BSX-100 base station, the camera optionally supports simultaneous output in UHD and HD.”

The UHK-X600 delivers 1000 TVL resolution, minimal aliasing, plus 2000 lux sensitivity at f10, 60p. Global shutter imagers minimize artifacts when televising LED screen walls or flash/strobe-illuminated stage environments. The standard feature set includes full support for Hybrid Log Gamma HDR with the ability to select between BT.2020 and BT.709 chroma spaces.

Product-related features also include chromatic aberration correction, vignetting correction, ramping compensation, B4 lens mounting and remote control of backfocus-supported lenses. Core of the electronics is a power-efficient ASIC which encapsulates a wide range of high-grade video processing functions into ultra-compact component dimensions.

Future-proof options for the UHK-X600 include license-key based support for 2x, 3x and 4x high frame rate capture plus 4K processing delivering 2000 TVL resolution when operating in 2160p. Plug-in hardware-based options include a SMPTE ST 2110 compatible media-over-IP interface board and optional 12G output board.

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