Thank you to Film-TV Video for the original article – you can view it here
It was early 1983. I had just turned 21 when I joined Hitachi Denshi’s European headquarters as a service engineer for professional studio equipment. That marked the beginning of a long and rewarding career working with broadcast cameras – and with the many technical challenges, innovations, and changes that came with them.
At the end of August 2026, after 43 years and 8 months, I will be saying goodbye to my professional life and entering my (un)retirement.
I would like to take this opportunity to look back and share some of the highlights of those past decades, seen entirely from my own personal perspective.
The Early Years
When I started in 1983, virtually all professional studio cameras still used image pickup tubes. Plumbicon tubes, developed by Philips, were predominantly used. Philips was later honored with an Emmy Award for this development. At Hitachi, among others, the Saticon tube was used, an image pickup tube developed jointly with NHK.
These tube-based cameras required a relatively long warm-up period before they could operate with reasonable stability. At the same time, both the tubes and the camera electronics were subject to continuous drift. Maintaining consistently good picture quality therefore required regular checks and recalibration while the cameras were in operation.
The alignment of these cameras had to be carried out very carefully and according to a strictly prescribed procedure. If an adjustment was skipped or performed in the wrong order, it was often impossible to make up for it later without consequences. Servicing and aligning these cameras was therefore a demanding task that required not only solid technical knowledge, but above all experience and a very meticulous approach.
As a service engineer, I found these cameras to be a major challenge. At the same time, I was fortunate to have an outstanding specialist in television studio cameras by my side in the person of my then supervisor, Mitsuru Endo, from whom I was able to learn a great deal.
Another important opportunity to truly understand the technology and gain practical experience came from the acceptance tests that were still common at the time, carried out together with customers, as well as the technical specification tests at the IRT in Munich.
There, I had the opportunity to spend several days at a time, together with some of the best-known camera technology specialists of that era, measuring cameras in minute detail, discussing the results, and, where necessary, verifying improvements to the settings.
During those early years, I learned many of the fundamentals that have enabled me to assess a camera’s picture quality to this day, and to better understand the impact of faults or limitations on the resulting image.
Looking back today, those first years were undoubtedly one of the most technically demanding, but also one of the most educational, periods of my professional life. The cameras were complex and sensitive, and they demanded far more from a service engineer than technical knowledge alone. They required experience, patience, and an exceptionally meticulous approach.
The Beginning of the CCD Era
Around 1987/1988, the time had come: the first commercially available studio cameras with solid-state image sensors entered the market. Initially, these new sensors were predominantly CCDs (Charge-Coupled Devices), although the various manufacturers used quite different CCD technologies.
The Japanese manufacturers primarily used FIT-CCDs (Frame Interline Transfer), while Philips BTS opted for the FT (Frame Transfer) principle. At a later stage, the Japanese manufacturers replaced their FIT sensors with more advanced IT-CCDs (Interline Transfer). Philips BTS, on the other hand, continued to use the FT principle until CCD technology was eventually replaced by CMOS sensors.
For me personally, this technological shift opened up an entirely new opportunity. In September 1989, I was able to spend several weeks in Japan, where I learned directly from the developers at Hitachi’s camera factory in Tokyo all about the new CCD technology and the specific signal-processing techniques associated with it.
I subsequently passed this knowledge on to the RAI in Italy through several training sessions for their technical camera specialists. In this way, my role gradually evolved from that of a traditional service engineer into that of a trainer and technical advisor for the new camera technology.
In the summer of 1990, the FIFA World Cup was held in Italy. It was one of the first major international events to be produced entirely with CCD cameras. Half of the cameras used by RAI came from Hitachi Denshi, while the other half came from Philips BTS – the company that, just a few years later, would become my new professional home.
For the World Cup, I spent several weeks near Milan as a backup service engineer. In addition to providing technical support, this gave me a very special opportunity: I was able to watch several matches involving the German national team directly in the stadium. The German team would go on to win the tournament and become world champions – an experience that, for this personal reason as well, remains particularly memorable to me to this day.
From Analog to Digital
Technologically, however, we were still in a transitional phase at that time. The cameras continued to use fully analog signal processing. In terms of achievable picture quality, this was still outstanding, but it was subject to temperature drift and aging effects. Regular calibration was therefore still part of normal operation.
The first systems with digital signal processing were already possible at that time. The 8-bit A/D converters available then, and later the 10-bit A/D converters, were initially unable to match the quality level of the best analog cameras. Nevertheless, the early digital systems already provided a very clear indication of where the technology was heading. Above all, their greater signal stability and the significantly reduced need for regular calibration were decisive advantages.
Alongside the new possibilities offered by digital signal processing, a new picture format also entered the market during this period: 16:9.
With tube cameras, the new aspect ratio could be implemented relatively easily by appropriately readjusting the deflection. With CCD cameras, the situation was fundamentally different: the geometry of the sensor was fixed, meaning that new sensor variants had to be developed specifically for 16:9.
To allow flexible operation in both the traditional 4:3 format and the new 16:9 format, camera manufacturers therefore developed a variety of different solutions.
For example, Hitachi’s IT-CCDs featured what was known as the “Side-Panel” mode. Philips BTS developed its own solution, called Dynamic Pixel Management (DPM), which enabled lossless switching between aspect ratios with its FT-CCDs.
This marked the beginning of another phase of technological change. CCD technology not only replaced image pickup tubes, but at the same time created the basis for the increasing digitalization of the entire camera. And with 16:9, the next major transformation in professional television production was already taking shape.
My New Challenge
In March 1995, a new chapter began for me. When I moved to BTS in Griesheim – at the time a business unit from Philips in Eindhoven, which over the years would evolve into Thomson Broadcast and later Grass Valley – I effectively switched sides, so to speak: moving from engineering and regional sales responsibility, which I had already taken on for several years alongside my technical work, into marketing.
This move would shape my professional career far more than I probably expected at the time. Marketing, in many different forms and roles, would eventually become my professional home.
Technologically, the next major transformation was already on the horizon. In 1997, the availability of high-quality 12-bit A/D converters finally made it possible to develop cameras with fully digital signal processing that could achieve at least the same picture quality as the best cameras using analog signal processing.
However, the decisive advantage of digital technology was not simply the picture quality that could be achieved. The significantly greater stability of digital signal processing made the cameras much less sensitive to temperature changes and aging effects in practical operation. This marked the beginning of the rise of digital cameras, while analog versions were pushed aside within a surprisingly short period of time.
The New HD Formats
The next major technological challenge emerged around the year 2000 with the introduction of the new HD formats, 1080i and 720p.
The higher resolution required the development of entirely new CCD sensors with a significantly larger number of pixels. However, the resulting smaller individual pixels initially led to lower light sensitivity. At the same time, solutions for the different HD formats and the ability to switch between them had to be integrated into the cameras.
For Philips’ FT sensors, the Dynamic Pixel Management (DPM) technology already used for SD could be further developed. This made it possible to extend the principle of lossless 4:3/16:9 switching to the different HD formats and to implement switching between 1080i and 720p.
With the new HD cameras, however, the challenges were not limited to the sensors and signal processing. The transmission of the significantly larger amounts of data between the camera and the base station also had to be addressed.
Philips BTS initially pursued its own approach with HD Triax. The challenge was to meet the significantly higher requirements of HD signal transmission while continuing to use the Triax connection that had become standard in traditional studio technology.
Digital Cinematography
Another milestone came in the early 2000s with the introduction of the Viper FilmStream camera.
This made a digital cinematography camera available whose picture quality, in certain applications, could already match or even surpass that of the 35 mm film cameras commonly used at the time. For professional filmmaking, this was an important step in the transition from analog film to digital cinematography.
One of the Viper’s best-known early applications was the 2004 film Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.
Much of the film takes place at night, which was precisely where the Viper could demonstrate its particular strengths. Its high sensitivity and low noise under low-light conditions made it possible to capture images that would have been difficult to achieve with conventional 35 mm film cameras.
I found this development particularly exciting because it significantly expanded the field of professional camera technology beyond traditional television production for the first time. The boundaries between broadcast, digital cinematography, and traditional filmmaking increasingly began to blur.
Technological Dead Ends
While digital cinematography ultimately led to the complete replacement of an established technology that had been proven over many decades, there were also examples of developments that, despite generating considerable hype for a time, failed to achieve lasting acceptance.
3D TV is probably one of the best examples.
Towards the end of the first decade of the 2000s, it initially looked to many as though 3D could become the next major revolution in television. 3D-capable televisions were launched, the first 3D productions were created, and the new possibilities were also the subject of intense discussion in the live production sector.
In retrospect, it is of course easy to say, “It was never going to work.” At the height of the hype, however, this was by no means obvious. The technology fundamentally worked, there were interesting applications, and many companies invested substantial sums in developing the corresponding products and production processes.
Ultimately, however, 3D TV failed to establish itself as a sustainable part of everyday television viewing. Within just a few years, the subject had largely disappeared from the scene.
For me, this was an interesting experience because it demonstrated that technical feasibility and actual market success can be two very different things.
From CCD to CMOS
A very different technological transition began with the introduction of the LDX cameras at IBC 2012. These cameras marked the professional broadcast debut of Grass Valley’s new FT-CMOS sensor technology with Global Shutter.
When the cameras were introduced, many initially questioned the picture quality of the then relatively unfamiliar CMOS technology. The fact that many competitors were still relying on the proven CCD technology at the time certainly played a role in this skepticism.
However, the first direct comparisons at customer sites very clearly demonstrated where the technology was heading. The new sensor technology not only delivered excellent picture quality, but also opened up possibilities that would have been very difficult – or even impossible – to achieve with CCD sensors.
Many of the challenges that lay ahead could be addressed much more effectively with CMOS. These included higher resolutions, higher frame rates, greater dynamic range, and new possibilities for processing and reading out sensor data. This marked the beginning of the final transition from CCD to CMOS – a technological shift that would play a major role in shaping the development of professional cameras in the years that followed.
2014 – HDR and UHD
In 2014, I faced two new and very different challenges.
The first was the first practical application of HDR in a live production, which I had the opportunity to support in August 2014 as part of an EBU test event at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
This event would have far-reaching consequences for me. It marked the beginning of several years of working with HDR in live production and, in the years that followed, took me to numerous sports productions in different parts of the world.
HDR was far more than just another technical improvement to the camera. The greater dynamic range also changed the way cameras, vision mixers, monitors, and the entire production chain had to work together. At the same time, the question arose of how the new technology could be integrated into existing production workflows.
The second challenge came in the fall of the same year: presenting my first technology paper at the SMPTE Conference in Hollywood.
The subject was the new UHD formats in combination with HDR and WCG (Wide Color Gamut), and their implications for camera technology.
For me, this was a completely new experience. Preparing a technology paper and then presenting it to an international audience of industry experts is quite different from explaining technical concepts in a direct conversation with customers or colleagues.
Without the support of my colleagues in the camera factory’s development department in Breda, this work would hardly have been possible. I would particularly like to mention Dr. Peter Centen, the sensor specialist at the time and later Head of Development. With his support, I was able to gather the necessary technical information and develop a solid understanding of the then still very new HDR and UHD technologies.
This first presentation led to a very interesting and personally important activity for me in the years that followed. At numerous SMPTE conferences in the USA and Australia, as well as at comparable national and international events, I was able to present additional technology papers. These included, among others, the annual FKTG conferences in Germany, the KOBA Show in Korea, and the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
Preparing such contributions was always a considerable undertaking. Technical concepts had to be researched, data collected, test results evaluated, and the findings ultimately presented in a way that was clear and comprehensible to an international audience of industry experts.
Despite the work involved, I always found this task extremely rewarding. Perhaps also because it represented an ideal combination of my technical background and my many years of experience in marketing by that time.
And this combination was to become even more important in the years that followed. The development of camera technology continued to accelerate – from HDR and UHD to increasingly powerful CMOS sensors, and ultimately to resolutions and frame rates that would have been almost unimaginable just a few years earlier.
A Look into the Future
The introduction of UHD, including WCG and HDR, already points to a new development, however: a technically superior solution no longer automatically becomes the new standard across all applications.
The transition from 4:3 to 16:9, or from SD to HD, also took a certain amount of time. During these transition periods, backward-compatible solutions or parallel distribution of programs in multiple formats were necessary. Nevertheless, it was ultimately clear that the technically superior format would eventually replace the older one completely.
With 4K UHD, however, the situation today is unfortunately different.
The first international sporting events were produced in 4K UHD several years ago. For later productions of the same or comparable events, however, production sometimes reverted to 1080p HLG. So, while higher quality is technically possible, it is not automatically adopted by the market or by the production and distribution ecosystem.
At least HDR appears to be becoming increasingly established on the production side. The situation is much less clear when it comes to delivery to the end customer. The technology is available, but its adoption is no longer determined solely by what is technically feasible or offers better quality. Costs, production workflows, distribution infrastructure, consumer devices, and ultimately viewer demand are playing an increasingly important role.
From my perspective, this represents a fundamental change. During the first decades of my professional career, the development of camera technology – and of television studio technology as a whole – could often be viewed as a succession of technological improvements in which, after a certain transition period, the new technology would completely replace the old one. Today, development seems to be shaped much more strongly by different applications and economic considerations.
Perhaps this is the most interesting insight after more than 43 years of working with broadcast cameras:
Technological progress no longer automatically means technological success.
Which of the technologies available today will ultimately establish themselves for the long term, and which may have disappeared again in a few years, is difficult to predict.
So, it remains an exciting time.
In Summary
After more than 43 years, it is of course difficult to sum up such a significant part of my professional life in just a few words. They have been years filled with technological change, new challenges, interesting projects, and, above all, encounters with many wonderful people.
I am very grateful that I was able to follow this development over so many years and, in many areas, to help shape it as well. Much of what I experienced and learned along the way will certainly stay with me as I enter my (un)retirement.
And when I look back, I can say: I would do it all over again.
