Santa Barbara, Calif. - Iconix Video, a developer of advanced high-definition camera systems and maker of the world's smallest professional quality HD video camera, announced the use of the Iconix HD-RH1F camera system by premiere point-of-view broadcast company Broadcast Sports Inc. to capture high-definition, in-car racing video for NASCAR, IndyCar Racing, and the American LeMans Series.
Broadcast Sports, one of the first outdoor broadcast companies to employ POV cameras for auto racing, provides live feeds of POV racing footage to television networks including NBC, ESPN, Fox Sports, and the Speed Channel. Emmy Award-winning technical engineer Neil Ojason has worked with Broadcast Sports for more than 17 years, pioneering the design and installation of POV cameras within the racing environment.
Featuring a camera head about the size of a golf ball, and weighing a mere two ounces, the remote head system of the Iconix HD-RH1F can keep pace with larger HD video cameras, yet is versatile enough to offer 35 different format and frame rate combinations.
"Right now the Iconix is the most stable and flexible platform that I've seen for POV work," Ojason says. "Kudos to Iconix for making a camera that can be reconfigured to a number of different aspect ratios and frame rates that meets so many different production needs."
Broadcast Sports uses the HD-RH1F to capture a variety of shots that would be difficult or even impossible to achieve with a larger camera, including speed shots taken from low to the ground right along the raceway, and pit overhead views that capture the entire car along and crew operation within the pit area.
The HD-RH1F system captures and outputs video in 35 different format and frame-rate combinations, including all HD resolutions: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p while supporting frame rates of 24, 25, 30, 50, and 60 frames-per-second (fps), as well as NTS and PAL. The HD-RH1F incorporates an expansive array of features found only on top-of-the-line HD camera systems while utilizing an innovative signal processing architecture. This POV camera system, which includes a very robust separate camera head and processing controller unit, is the smallest high-performance HD camera in the industry. The lightweight HD-RH1F remote camera system is comprised of a POV camera head weighing 2.5 oz.; a 4.0 lb. universal HDTV controller unit; power supply, and 3, 6, and 10 meter cables.