ABC News correspondent Wonbo Woo is the first broadcast network correspondent with the title “wireless reporter.”
Woo carries a small video camera and tripod, microphones and a laptop with editing software, The Associated Press reports. Reporting in NYC, he sends his work to ABC’s control room in Manhattan via a wireless card installed in his laptop.
Because reception quality varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, Woo’s live reports must originate from areas with good wireless reception. Plus, wireless bandwidth isn’t large enough to transmit really good video images fast, so most of Woo’s stuff looks pretty grainy.
“At some point I wouldn’t be surprised if you could send pictures of near-broadcast quality,” Woo told AP. “But that’s a ways off.”
