JVC Professional Products, division of JVC U.S.A., announced that Creative Group, a post-production facility based in New York City, is using the JVC SR-HD1500 Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HDD combo recorder to produce HD dubs of projects for its clients.
According to the statement, Creative Group purchased two SR-HD1500 decks through Excel Media Systems in New York City last month, and is already considering investing in more. Nick LaBorne, chief engineer, said the ability to produce Blu-ray dubs is important for screening purposes. “The evolution went from 3/4-inch tape to VHS to DVD,” he explained. “Now we’re seeing more and more demand for Blu-ray.” The quality of the Blu-ray dubs from the SR-HD1500 is “phenomenal,” according to both clients and HD experts at Creative Group, and the unit itself is feature rich and user friendly, LaBorne added.
Creative Group has three locations in the United States and one in China. The main facility in Times Square features 28 HD edit rooms and four surround sound audio mixing suites, as well as transmission and distribution facilities, broadcast design services, and more. Its largest client is ESPN, but the company services a variety of broadcast, cable, and industrial accounts.
The SR-HD1500 offers FireWire (i.Link), composite/S-Video, USB, and SDHC card inputs, as well as HDMI and component output and a RS-232C terminal for external control. Creative Group, which uses HD-SDI with embedded audio throughout its facility, uses the SR-HD1500 Blu-ray and HDD combo decks in tandem with the Edirol VC-50HD HD-SDI video field converter.
According to Bruce Adams, operations supervisor, the deck is being used daily to produce a Blu-ray copy of The Daily Show with John Stewart. The workflow is straightforward: The episode is copied from the HDCAM 1080i master tape to the SR-HD1500’s built-in 500 GB hard drive, then recorded to a Blu-ray disc. Adams said the entire process takes a little longer than real time – but without the SR-HD1500, it takes hours to author a Blu-ray disc.
LaBorne said the internal 500 GB hard drive was a major selling point. If he needs to make multiple dubs for a client, he can store the material on the hard drive and easily generate one copy after another. The deck can create professional BDMV (with menu) or BDAV discs, and can author discs with auto-start or repeat playback functionality.
The new JVC combo deck is bringing in new business, too, according to Adams. Because the SR-HD1500 makes it easier and faster – and, therefore, significantly less expensive – to produce a Blu-ray dub or a looping Blu-ray disc, it is attracting interest from several potential clients. “It saves times, which is good for me,” he said, “and our clients are happy, so it’s a win-win.”
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