Hitachi Kokusai Unveils New HD Camera Package

Hitachi Kokusai will highlight a new live production package at NAB Show 2024 that bundles its Z-HD6500 HD camera with its CU-HD550 camera control unit. The package is priced for broadcast and production budgets of all sizes, providing customers with the industry’s best cost-to-performance value available for live content acquisition.

Supporting multiple HD formats to 1080p, the Z-HD6500 camera’s design reduces the costs and system complexity for content creators while incorporating the latest technical innovations from Hitachi. Its visual quality is enhanced through three 2/3-inch CMOS image sensors with a global shutter to enable the immaculate, crystal-clear capture of BT.2020 color gamut compliant video.  The global shutter technology reduces unwelcome artifacts such as banding and flicker that may occur when capturing video in houses of worship, event centers, and broadcast studios with LED lighting and large LED displays.

The Z-HD6500 also delivers exceptional sensitivity for HD production. The F10 sensitivity of 59.94 frames per second (fps) enables high-quality acquisition in reduced lighting, while a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 62dB delivers super-quiet images. The camera’s sleek, advanced design enables superior color reproduction, while its HD workflow enables seamless multi-format productions and supports both High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Standard Dynamic Range (SDR).

Hitachi Kokusai’s CU-HD550 camera control unit was re-developed as a companion for the Z-HD6500, enabling smooth and reliable remote control of key camera functions while maintaining image quality and consistency. The CU-HD550 can output HDR or SDR and provides camera operators with two return video feeds for live monitoring. The CU-HD550 displays that feed on the Z-HD6500’s viewfinder, which is enabled through the CCU’s built-in cross-converter and frame synchronizer.

The Z-HD6500, now shipping, was formally introduced at NAB Show 2023 to bring affordable multi-format HD production to a wider range of content creators. Discussions with customers and Hitachi Kokusai dealers on the floor inspired the Hitachi Kokusai team to create a complete professional camera system package that was truly priced to sell.

You might also like...

The Changing Face Of Live Sports: Part 1 - The Rise Of Nimble Production

Live sports broadcasting has always been the preserve of big leagues and big broadcasters with the infrastructure, the clout and the resources to match. But it is no longer the only game in town.

Virtual Production For Broadcast: The Magic Of Subframe Technology

Subframe technology solves a fundamental challenge in virtual production, enabling LED video walls to display different images to multiple cameras at the same time. This allows each camera in a multi-camera setup to see its own perspective-correct background on a…

Standards: Audio - High Efficiency Audio Codecs (HE-AAC)

HE-AAC builds on the foundations of AAC to deliver near CD-quality audio at bitrates as low as 32 kbps, making it the codec of choice for mobile TV, digital radio and low-bandwidth streaming. This guide unpacks the key technologies behind its…

IP Security For Broadcasters 2026 – The Psychology Of Security

As engineers and technologists, it’s easy to become bogged down in the technical solutions that maintain high levels of computer security. But as the boundaries between traditional broadcast engineering and IT continue to dissolve, the first port of call i…

Standards: Audio - Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)

AAC succeeded MP3 by delivering better quality at lower bitrates. This guide examines how it works, compares the leading encoder implementations, and explains where it sits within the broader MPEG audio standards landscape.