WRAL-HD Produces centralXpress.com in HDTV

centralXpress.com, produced by WRAL-TV 5 in Raleigh, has just added another milestone to its list of accolades by becoming the first locally produced drama to be produced in HDTV. The program has already won three recent regional Emmy awards and two national Iris awards. The episode "Down and Going Up" is the sixth in the series and the first to showcase the new 16 x 9 High Definition (HDTV) format.

Producer David Creech, who has also written, directed and shot five of the six episodes, says he loves the results of HDTV - "I finally can enjoy the detail of film while shooting in videotape." After this experience, he says that he doesn't want to shoot in the NTSC (the current standard) ever again. Creech believes HDTV is important for producers around the world. "Everyone will feel the impact, from the greatest filmmakers on down. Their masterpieces will be transferred to HD video without a quality loss. And those of us working in television and shooting in original HD will be taking a huge step up", he said.

Each episode of centralXpress.com is produced in an entertaining teenage style and involves stories about life, growing up and the teenage experience. The pilot episode aired in June 1997 and is produced quarterly for the Raleigh-Durham market by WRAL-TV 5. "Down and Going Up" is scheduled to air on WRAL-HD, channel 32, in High Definition television on Monday, June 7th at 8:00pm. The thirty-minute program will also be seen on WRAL-TV 5 this spring in letterbox form (retaining its 16 x 9 format on a 4 x 3 screen). The exact airdate for the NTSC version is still to be announced.

On Tuesday, April 27th, the press is invited in to watch a special viewing of centralXpress.com in HDTV at 5:00pm in WRAL-TV's Studio A on Western Boulevard, Raleigh, NC. Please RSVP to Susan Dahlin at 919-790-5720 to be put on the guest list.