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Skyquest adds the missing piece to the HD jigsaw

Aug. 27, 2009 – Skyquest Aviation will unveil the first-ever production model HD (High Definition) video recorder at Helitech. Aimed firmly at the airborne surveillance sector, the world’s first lightweight HD recorder – a mere ten per cent the size and weight of the equivalent commercial device – allows a full mission’s worth of HD video to be stored on a standard compact flash card. Back on the ground, all that footage can then be burned onto a single Blu-ray™ disk.

Skyquest's HD Recorder

Technical director Anthony McQuiggan says that Skyquest is the first company to offer air units a compact, airworthy HD recorder. “Our sophisticated algorithms allow us to offer the highest quality 1080p HD images, compressed on to conventional storage devices. It’s a matter of using more efficient compression techniques – we can store up to ten times the amount of data onto a standard 32GB flash card than can our competitors.

“Not only that, but two cards can fit into the same device – when one is full, the other will automatically start recording.”

The Skyquest VRDV-5000 series recorder is interchangeable with its SD equivalent, the VRDV-3000. It has been tested with market-leading airborne systems and, as well as law-enforcement, is particularly suitable for SAR and border patrol operations. At Helitech (Booth 1112) the company will display the results of these tests: actual HD footage, taken with an HD camera, recorded on the VRDV -5000 series recorder and shown on a 50cm (20-inch) Skyquest HD display.

Says McQuiggan, “for the first time, observers can record and play back the full HD experience to their control rooms, with no loss of quality and while minimising weight and bulk in the cabin.” He adds, “as well as the 50cm display, we will be showing our airborne footage on a new 18 cm (7 inch) widescreen full HD video display.”