As part of its mandate to ensure effective live coverage of Regional Councils and Local Authority Elections in Namibia, the country’s public broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), recently upgraded legacy camera equipment through their longstanding partner – Jasco Broadcast Solutions. Jasco supplied the NBC with Sony cameras and associated accessories.
“Ensuring quality broadcasts and coverage of live events requires up to date and effective electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment. Cameras are particularly important. With the elections looming, NBC decided the time was ideal to replace some of their ageing equipment with new solutions, not only improving the quality of election coverage but enhancing future news broadcasts as well,” says Hoosein Moolla, sales executive: Africa at Jasco Broadcast Solutions.
After going out to tender for the required equipment, NBC eventually selected Jasco Broadcast Solutions to supply the solution. Jasco was the natural choice, as they not only offered the best pricing on the required products, but are also a preferred Sony reseller in Southern Africa, with an accredited Sony service centre. In addition, Jasco has a longstanding relationship with NBC that spans more than two decades, and has in the past supplied the NBC with a variety of solutions and services. These include a Multichannel Transmission Control Centre monitoring for NBC’s Digital Terrestrial Transmission, Avid Media Composers for postproduction and Avid iNews for news gathering and editing, as well as on-going second-line support across a variety of equipment from studios to final control.
Jasco supplied the NBC with five Sony PXW-X160 ENG cameras and Miller tripods, along with associated peripheral equipment to enhance news gathering.
“Not only was Jasco able to supply high-quality global leading products at a cost effective rate, they also provide excellent service and aftersales support. This has lead us to utilise their services time and again over the years, and they have been instrumental in ensuring our broadcasting solutions remain world class and up to date, delivering the best quality for our viewers,” says Vincent Spiegel, Supervisor, Camera Operations at NBC.
“With the latest video recording technology from Sony, the NBC is empowered to move away from videotape-based recording to a tapeless environment. This ensures higher quality, greater stability, and easier transfer of digital footage, to name just a few advantages. The NBC will also benefit from enhanced audio with new microphones, while the elections were the primary reason for purchasing this equipment, it is in fact a long-term investment that will continue to pay dividends for the NBC for many years to come,” Moolla concludes.