HDTV TO GO

The first Hawaii-based high-definition television mobile truck has reported for duty with John Guild manning the controls

HAWAII'S FIRST locally owned high-definition television mobile production truck made its broadcast debut last week.

John Guild Communications Corp. put the truck through its first real workout Thursday night at Hawaii Theatre, for the KGMB-TV live telecast of a 90-minute forum featuring candidates for Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District.

"It went great," Guild said. "We had things to iron out, but we got them all done before the show."

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High-definition television, or HDTV, features strikingly sharper picture quality than standard definition, or SD.

HDTV production has been available from several Hawaii companies for years, but previously, HDTV mobile trucks had to be shipped in from the mainland.

Guild's truck is not as large as the 48-foot trucks commonly used at professional sporting events, but is more along the lines of a large van.

HD shows and commercials cost about twice as much to produce than SD, since it is a newer technology.

"The complexity figures into the cost (as well)," Guild said. The benefit, in addition to sharper image quality, is the increased longevity of that image quality, for archival purposes.

Think of the grainy appearance of old film or television pictures, versus today's crisp images in standard definition video. That gulf of difference is akin to the chasm crossed by HD, in comparison to standard definition.

Image quality during the KGMB forum appeared sharper than other shows, even on a standard-definition TV set.

"I think we knocked it out of the park," said Rick Blangiardi, senior vice president and general manager, echoing the assessment of Grant Morrow, the station's director of engineering and information technology.

"We delivered a flawless transmission from the theater to the station in collaboration with outside production folks and we were really very pleased with the technical execution," he said.

It was worth the extra cost "because we are, albeit taking small steps right now, but we are stepping into the future," Blangiardi said. He views HD production as another way to raise the bar and improve the quality of local television.

Such equipment investments by local production companies likely will benefit Hawaii's film industry, said Donne Dawson, manager of the Hawaii Film Office.

The new production tax credit of 15 to 20 percent that took effect July 1 has "attracted a lot more attention for Hawaii and it is going to draw more production to the islands," she said.

The Film Office's goal is to get the pipeline of projects, including feature films, episodic, commercial and other types of productions, full of fresh work that will flow in regularly.

Companies adding to the technology they already have, to service incoming productions with appropriate equipment, is "going to be really important in our overall ability to market the island as a production center."

"The main issue is that if you're going to be bringing in new equipment and enhance inventory, you want to keep that equipment busy, you don't want it sitting idle because of the overhead, so that's the point to be made in terms of keeping the pipeline full," Dawson said.

Guild's truck cost about $1 million and moves his small company "up into the broadcast level, which we've never been in," he said. "We could probably do a whole basketball game."

His company has specialized in providing video services for corporate events, the Sony Open and recording local concerts, at the Waikiki Shell, for instance. Guild believes his HD business will "blossom in six months."

The company has 5 HD cameras, but the truck has inputs for as many as 16 cameras. One of his HD camera lenses is a Fujinon 66 x 9 that cost $100,000, but lenses can cost up to $200,000.

A full-sized, fully equipped HDTV truck can cost $7 million, but "that's way down from the $13 million from years past," said Rodney Kobayakawa, Hawaii general manager for NEP Supershooters, a division of Pittsburgh-based NEP Broadcasting LLC.

The company has 13 HDTV trucks which have been used for broadcasts of events from NASCAR to the Super Bowl to the Academy Awards, he said.

The Hawaii operation covers two standard-definition trucks and whatever else the company ships over for client work.

While "there's a whole bunch of HD happening in the state right now," Hawaii is too small for any company to be able to support a full-on HDTV truck, Kobayakawa said.

Because HD production costs are high and the audience of HDTV viewers is small, it doesn't make sense for most advertisers to spend the extra money to create HD commercials, Kobayakawa said.

Therefore, it would be difficult to recover the cost of such an investment.

Mainland companies with state-of-the-art trucks equipped with more than a dozen cameras often have contracts with organizations such as the NFL, so the trucks will be in use, generating revenue 100 to 200 days a year, said Ruben Carrillo, co-owner of Honolulu-based Liquid Planet Studios LLC.

Liquid Planet is planning to buy a 48-foot, Expando HDTV mobile truck, that it will outfit with six full-size HD cameras, more in line with the smaller demand in Hawaii. It already has a 48-foot truck equipped for standard-definition TV.

Liquid Planet does work for local commercials and shows such as "Hawaii Stars," but it has also worked with national shows such as "29 Down" and "Beyond the Break." "We have our fingers in a lot of different things," Carrillo said.

Guild's company is smaller, but "we've always tried to be on the cutting edge and now we're on it again," he said.