Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I've been out on a job all day, so this is the first chance I've had to respond.
The camera is going to be permanently mounted center against the backwall of the theater, and will always be a wide shot and unmanned. This is for a highschool, and our resources are stretched thin as it is, therefore we can not assign someone to man the camera, or to man a set of controls for robotic cameras. This simply needs to be "turn on tv, and have video in the
lobby".
Budget wise - this is a higschool, and as you know schools are hurting for money right now. But I have 4 theaters that need to have the exact same setup (separate but equal) and have about $20,000 for all 4. Due to the large size of the
lobby walls (super high and wide walls) I think anything smaller then a 50"
LCD would get lost, and I have a really good price on 4 new Sony 60" for about $8,000. So that leaves about $10,000 for cameras, wires, and
etc.
A little background, 2 of the schools are new, and already have wires ran to center
lobby (an
MATV system) as well as a camera mounted center of
house. The camera is pretty bad, very grainy, and no auto-iris, so when
house lights go out and
stage lights come on everything get's washed out and is pretty pointless. Right now this camera is just being
fed to a
monitor backstage, but will also be feeding the
lobby. I would like to replace it with a better camera. Currently it looks like a basic security camera, but I'm sure if I asked the contractor they'd say it's a top of the
line expensive camera. Either way it sucks and I'm not happy with it.
At the other 2 schools, they have no camera, and no wiring. So I need to run wires. Luckily the camera will be mounted on the backwall, and the
lobby is right behind that wall. So it's basically mount the camera on one side, the tv on the other, and put a hole in the wall for the
wire. Of course it will be done nicely and professionally with the aid of our maintenance department. So the run for that is less then 6'. No problem for
HDMI.
I say
HDMI because I know it's HD, and it's just one
wire to run. No way to mess it up. I'm open to component as well, and would be to HD-SDI, but haven't seen a camera in a reasonable price range that's not robotic that offers HD-SDI.
I would like to go HD just because the
LCD will be so large, and will be widescreen. No letter boxing or black bars of any kind would be acceptable. I fear any SD or ED signal would be grainy and pixalated on such a large
LCD.
The
lobby already has an audio feed via 70v
speaker systems, so no need for audio.
I'm basically wondering what's the best camera to use. The best bang for the buck. Right now I have a Sony HDR-FX7 that takes beaitful 1080i video, but use it mostly outdoors. Have never tested it out in the theater. It's a great camera, and for $2,000 would be within the range, but I do not need the capability to record, so if anyone has another option that would be less money, I'm all ears.
Thanks for all the info so far guys, hopefully with the background information you can help me out some more. Specific camera recommendations would be great. Anything under the $2,000 per camera
mark would be great.
Thanks again!