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Made in Vermont: Cool Cameras

Jacksonville, Vermont - July 7, 2006

Two Emmy awards for technical achievement sit next to an old varsity letter at Jeff Silverman's home office in tiny Jacksonville. Silverman earned that letter for video taping Wilmington High School's girls' field hockey team in ninth grade, back in the late 1970s. Little did he know it then, but that early sports gig was the start of a career. Silverman says, "People find it amazing we work in Jacksonville, Vermont to do jobs of national significance."

His company, Inertia Unlimited, designs very small point-of-view cameras that bring TV viewers the close-up action from the football field, the ski slopes, or the poker table. Secret glimpses at poker players' cards helped inspire a flurry of card game shows. Silverman says, "None of us had any idea at the time of where it would lead us and it's exceeded all our wildest expectations of where it's gone."

While other companies sell Silverman the cameras, many units used to house the devices are Made in Vermont. Seeing them in use on TV is a real thrill. Machinist Bill Spirka, who helps drill and assemble cases for the lenses, says, "I always look for what I did. But they hide it well. These things are not meant to be seen."

The shows incorporating this tiny technology take Silverman all over the world. He guesses he flies two hundred thousand miles a year. But Silverman points out, "We do shoot a little in Vermont. The XGames were shot here, and the US Open at Stratton."

Inertia Unlimited rents its cameras to the television producers for up to three thousand dollars a day. Silverman jokes, "That doesn't mean we're driving around in a Lexus." That's because the cameras cost so much to buy and assemble. But TV shows seem willing to pay if they think edgy video will lure in viewers.

Silverman says, "The goal of what we do for someone at home is to make them feel they were at an event."

The advent of high-definition television poses serious challenges for Inertia Unlimited, because the HDTV cameras and transmitters are not yet small enough for point-of-view applications. But Silverman expects, as with everything, the technology will surely improve very quickly.

And to think, it all started with a simple field hockey varsity letter.

Jack Thurston - Channel 3 News