TINY, UNBLINKING EYES CATCH ACTION.

Byline: Tom Hoffarth

In the back of his Burbank workshop, Randy Hermes opens up a large black metal cabinet and rummages around for a few seconds.

``This,'' he says, pulling out a white box labeled ELMO 411E, ``is the smallest camera we have.''

Hermes unravels what looks like a black piece of cable you might find connecting a TV set to a VCR. But on the end of the cable is a lens, no bigger than a plastic cap that seals the bottom of an ink pen.

``The problem is, it needs this battery pack and transmitter to go with it,'' he adds, producing something the size of a TV remote control.

Yeah, that would make it real bulky.

How this particular camera could be used in coverage of a TV sporting event, Hermes doesn't really know. It's more suited for James Bond. It could fit inside a drinking straw if someone needed it for that.

But if ESPN or ABC or CBS comes calling, Hermes is ready.

And they will call.

Hermes, who started Aerial Video Systems 16 years ago as a way to develop video technology for use in helicopters, has become the king of tiny cameras. When a network makes a big to-do about the latest ``(Fill-in-the-blank)-Cam,'' chances are Hermes' AVS workshop custom made it.

``The client has the honor of naming the camera,'' Hermes concedes.

After all, they spent the money for it.

Fox Sports gave AVS its latest piece of publicity, introducing the ``Catcher-Cam'' at last week's Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The contraption turned out to be such a success that on Wednesday, baseball approved the use of it in regular-season games. Fox reps were on the phone with Hermes on Wednesday afternoon trying to line up its use in its Saturday regional games this weekend, but AVS technicians probably won't have them ready to distribute for another week or so, which will also give Fox a chance to persuade a catcher to get comfortable with it.

John Filippelli, Fox's coordinating producer on baseball and a longtime producer of network baseball, called the ``Catcher-Cam'' experiment ``fabulous . . . beyond our expectations. We're happy that the viewers enjoyed it based on all the positive feedback we have received. It's an incredible device.''

But that kind of praise isn't new for Hermes and AVS.

Ever since ABC's ``Wide World of Sports'' asked Hermes to come up with a helmet camera to put on a rider in the Carlsbad Super Moto-Cross event in the mid-'80s, word of mouth has been just about all AVS has needed to stay ahead of the game in point-of-view technology.

A business that Hermes started out of a small office building and his garage has become an eight-man production team in a gray-colored nondescript two-story building on Main Street in beautiful downtown Burbank, near the Disney and Universal studios.

Hermes' philosophy has been to think big, then act small.

``We're a highly technical speciality company,'' explained Hermes, who applied a community college education in electronics to a specialized field of TV broadcasting.

``I like to be able to pick and choose the projects. We don't need to conquer the world. We don't advertise. We just quietly stay ahead of the game and develop new technology that can serve any purpose.''

An aggressive sports network like ESPN or Fox, which is always willing to take a chance with enhancing an event and has the money to spend, is the perfect client to test AVS' gizmo creativity.

AVS has been with the X-Games from the start, figuring out ways to attach cameras to the bottom of skateboards, wake boards and snowboards.

During the recent X-Games in San Diego, AVS combined with Planet Electric in Van Nuys to create a moving gyro camera that could follow the street lugers, going from 0 to 40 mph in just seconds using an electric-powered motor. For the Winter X-Games in Big Bear, it developed a ``Follow-Cam,'' shrinking a standard electronic news-gathering system (ENG) down to a 4-by-4 block that a cameraman could handle on a pole in front of him (while wearing goggles with a built-in monitor) and go full speed down a hill to follow a skier.

For Fox, AVS had to come up with two custom-made camera systems for the All-Star Game catchers to use.

The traditional catcher's mask was altered to include compartments that hold a 5-ounce camera on the right side and a battery pack/transmitter that weighs about the same on the left side. They were connected by a wire that ran through the top padding.

For the new-wave stealth catcher's mask, which looks more like a hockey goalie mask, they had to create an attachment on the top for the camera. The battery pack was affixed to the inside back of the helmet.

In both, a special wide-angle lens was used. The picture signal was sent from the battery pack to a small satellite dish located in the Jacobs Field press box. From there, it was sent via cable back to the TV production truck, where Filippelli could watch on a monitor what catchers Mike Piazza and Sandy Alomar Jr. were seeing.

Hermes was in Cleveland during the telecast - he usually goes to all the events where his tiny cameras are being used - and heard nothing but compliments. Even if some of them were directed at how Fox used the pictures in the broadcast, rather than the quality of the pictures AVS was able to provide to Fox.

The network pays, the network gets the credit or criticism.

Another reason Hermes likes to attend the events is because tiny cameras have a way of getting smashed. Or dunked in water. Or lost.

(Hermes didn't want to reveal how much one of the cameras typically costs, but put it this way - it's much cheaper to buy a camcorder down at the local Circuit City and strap it onto whatever you want at home. You can save yourself about $10,000 to $40,000).

AVS is constantly coming up with innovations in its video toy store that sometimes don't get on the air. It prepared a ``Goalie Cam'' for a U.S. goalie to use during CBS's coverage of the '94 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, but at the last minute, the goalie decided not to wear it because of the possible distraction. The Kings had tested it out during exhibition games for then-Prime Sports.

The athlete's cooperation might be the major hurdle for a POV camera. Gary Stevens decided against wearing the ``Jockey Cam'' when it came to riding Silver Charm in the last leg of the Triple Crown at Belmont Park in New York. He didn't win, but imagine the excuse he'd have if he had been wearing the camera.

As the technology becomes smaller and more lightweight, networks are constantly trying to make the broadcasts more compelling by adding these tiny wonders.

``The cameras are really becoming more commonplace,'' said Hermes. ``They're almost to a point now where they're not just a niche, but it's standard equipment for a show. We're always trying to stay ahead, even though we often don't know what's coming up next.

``We always have to be moving forward.''

Familiarity with the cameras will likely lead to more athletes being willing to wear them, in exhibition games and eventually in regular-season games.

And who knows? If there's a Tyson-Holyfield III, Hermes may by then have developed a camera that Evander Holyfield could wear on his ear if Mike Tyson cares to take a piece of it as a souvenir.

``We've heard enough jokes about a `Bite-Cam,'' said Paul Tobyansen, the AVS general manager.

For future projects, AVS would love to work with Fox in doing something with the NFL. Other than that, the company would rather not talk. Why let the competition know what's going on in their laboratories?

Maybe the real shame in all of this is Hermes doesn't get to see his work put to use on the TV screen like everyone else. But there's a benefit to that, too.

``I used to watch TV all the time,'' he said. ``Now, I guess I'm too busy making it happen.''

AT A GLANCE

The company: Aerial Video Systems, the creator of tiny point-of-view cameras used in most TV sports telecasts since 1981.

Location: Burbank.

Sports TV innovations: ``Helmet Cam,'' used on World League of American Football telecasts on USA Network in early '90s; ``Catcher Cam'' used by Fox in the recent major league baseball All-Star Game; specialized cameras for ESPN's summer and winter X-Games (winning a sports Emmy in '96), ``Jockey Cam'' used by ABC on the recent Triple Crown horse races; POV cameras for ABC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in '84 and for CBS's coverage of the Winter Olympics in '94.

Other projects: Created surveillance cameras used by reporters on ABC's ``20/20'' and ``Prime Time Live'' and CBS's ``60 Minutes''; created microwave transmitter for ABC's ``American Sportsman'' first live broadcast from the summit of Mt. Everest in '83; U.S. military cruise missile testing; late-night shows by David Letterman (the ``Thrill-Cam'' and ``Monkey-Cam'') and Jay Leno; ``American Gladiators''; worked on music videos, commercials and interactive sports computer games.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos; Box

PHOTO (1--color) Randy Hermes, president of Aerial Video Systems, shows off the ``Catcher-Cam'' used in the recent baseball All-Star Game.

David R. Crane / Daily News

(2) To cover the street luge at the X-Games in San Diego, AVS created an electric ``Follow-cam.''

Aerial Video Systems