Religious Broadcasters Put Faith in JVC's DIGITAL-S; Support Continues to Grow for 4:2:2 Format.

ELMWOOD PARK--N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1998--JVC Professional Products Company announced that three more religious broadcasters have joined the growing DIGITAL-S family. DIGITAL-S, JVC's renowned 4:2:2 digital format, continues to make strong in-roads in major religious markets throughout the United States. Word of Life, First Baptist Church, and Son of Man's Mission are some of the latest users to embrace the cost-effective, high-quality equipment.

WORD OF LIFE, ST. JOSEPH, MO

Word of Life broadcasts its Charismatic church services to 11 million viewers in 12 major markets throughout the United States and Hawaii on the All American Network.

Recently, the church made major changes -- it migrated to a digital format and made the economical choice to purchase JVC's DIGITAL-S rather than continue to rent Sony 3-chip analog equipment.

"Our decision to buy rather than continue renting was cost-based. It made more sense for us to purchase more equipment rather than continue to rent," said Associate Pastor Jimmy Bratcher, who heads Word of Life's video department. "We chose DIGITAL-S because it was the best and most reliable digital format we could find."

The church purchased one DIGITAL-S BR-D40 Dockable Recorder; one DIGITAL-S BR-D750 Editor and three JVC KY-D29 Cameras. Word of Life has immediate plans to purchase a fourth JVC KY-D29 Camera for acquisition.

Word of Life uses DIGITAL-S to shoot church services and to create in-service announcements and product spots for its congregation of 3,000 and its millions of viewers nationwide.

"DIGITAL-S is a much better quality than what we were using. The sharpness of the image is better and the resolution of the picture is phenomenal. Plus, it's easy to use and there was no learning curve," Bratcher said. "So far, I've heard several comments from people in the church, who have no knowledge of video technology, but who have come to me to say the programming looks so much better. It's thrilled me."

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, SPRINGDALE, ARK.

For 128 years the First Baptist Church has called Northwest Arkansas home. Located in the nation's Bible belt, the church property was once a cow pasture. Now, the property is located in the 11th fastest growing region in the United States and certainly not immune to the sweeping technological change stirring today's broadcast markets.

For the last five years, First Baptist Church has broadcast its church services nationally on FamilyNet and the Odyssey Channel, two religious cable networks. Recently, First Baptist made the decision, like many other religious broadcasters, to migrate to digital. First Baptist's first digital step was the recent purchase of JVC's DIGITAL-S BR-D40 Recorder and a JVC KY-D29 Camera.

"Our goal is to change to a digital format and migrate away from being 100 percent analog Beta SP," said Chris Chapman, First Baptist's Minister of Media and Worship Associate. Chapman said First Baptist has earmarked funds to add two BR-D85 Editing Recorders with Pre-Read and four more JVC cameras to create a hybrid analog/digital system based in DIGITAL-S.

First Baptist uses its BR-D40 and KY-D29 combination to shoot video features shown to nearly 4,000 Sunday churchgoers and later broadcast along with church services to national markets via cable. Chapman explained that 10 foot by 13 foot screens in the worship center show feature videos shot using DIGITAL-S in the field that relay stories about congregation members finding Christ. Church video announcements and a video segment entitled "Around the Ministry in a Minute," are also shown to the congregation and recorded in First Baptist's studio using DIGITAL-S.

First Baptist has heavily used its DIGITAL-S equipment over the past four months. "I like it better and I don't get the same glitches I do with Beta. The sharpness we get from DIGITAL-S definitely makes a difference," Chapman said.

"And, for the applications we have here, DIGITAL-S was the economic choice," Chapman continued. "We didn't have the money to go to Digital BetaCam and 4:1:1 DV formats weren't even considered. DIGITAL-S is 4:2:2 sampling with a 1/2-inch tape format which I believe is more robust and dependable compared to the competition's thin little 6 mm tape."

Chapman said he knew he made the right decision, "Once I got DIGITAL-S into my facility and started using it. I realized then that not only was the picture quality much sharper than my old Beta, but the value was really tremendous. I would recommend DIGITAL-S to anybody wanting a strong economical digital format."

SON OF MAN'S MISSION, BREMARTON, WA

An interdenominational foreign mission, the Son of Man's Mission has for more than 20 years produced documentaries, Christian television programs and educational videos for South American viewers in Chile.

Director Jim Thurston, who lives in Santiago, Chile has produced videos for Son of Man's Mission since 1976 and most recently ascribed to JVC's S-VHS format. Six months ago, Thurston made the decision to go digital and sought out JVC's DIGITAL-S, a digital videotape format backwardly compatible with S-VHS that would also deliver the picture clarity he sought.

"I just really liked the DIGITAL-S standard of 4:2:2 processing and mild 3.3:1 compression, and the price was right," Thurston said. "Plus, the fact that DIGITAL-S machines can run S-VHS was a big factor. I hated to think that I would have to abandon my library of older tapes if I chose a digital format other than DIGITAL-S."

After seeing DIGITAL-S equipment demonstrated at NAB `98, Thurston purchased a DIGITAL-S BR-D40 Dockable Recorder, two DIGITAL-S BR-D51 Players with S-VHS Playback; a DIGITAL-S BR-D750 Editor, and two JVC KY-D29 Cameras.

DIGITAL-S will be used to record and produce religious television programs aired to 15 million viewers in Chile. The format also will be used to create documentaries and religious videos for Chilean schoolchildren, who by government mandate must receive religious education. Thurston also has plans to feed live DIGITAL-S tape over Son of Man's developing Internet site at www.intervizion.org

"This is really a very exciting time for us," Thurston said. "We are committed to continuing the digital migration with the hope that we will also archive and dub our hundreds of old tapes on DIGITAL-S," Thurston said.

JVC Professional Products Company, headquartered in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, distributes a complete line of broadcast and professional equipment including cameras, recorders and editing products. For more information about DIGITAL-S or any other JVC equipment, contact David Walton at 1-800-JVC-5825, or visit the DIGITAL-S web site at www.DIGITAL-S.com or the JVC corporate web site at www.jvcpro.com.

    CONTACT: R&J Integrated Marketing Communications, Parsippany
              Barbara Brown, 973/331-1070
              Fax: [phone]
                      or
              JVC Professional Products Company, Elmwood Park
              David Walton, 201/794-3900
              Email: [e-mail]