GE’s Technology Reveals Contents of Ancient Tomb

Billerica, MA, USA – February 27, 2007.

GE Inspection Technologies’ Everest Ca-Zoom PTZ100 camera successfully revealed the contents of a 2,000-year-old tomb in Jerusalem, Israel.  The experience was recorded for the documentary, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” which will air on March 4, 2007 on the Discovery Channel (U.S.A.) and Channel 4 (U.K.), and on March 6, 2007 on Vision TV (Canada).

“GE’s Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera is one of the only cameras in the world capable of performing this inspection and providing tape that is of broadcast quality, with images worthy of a high-definition, 90-minute film,” Bill Tarant, GE Inspection Technologies Ontario Sales Rep, said. Tarant traveled to Jerusalem with the documentary film team to perform the inspection.

For remote viewing in large areas, GE’s PTZ camera line is designed to withstand rugged, industrial conditions. Each system features a color zoom camera module, high-intensity lighting, pan-and-tilt mechanism and industrial waterproof packaging for protection from extreme environments.

The PTZ100 was inserted through the tomb’s only opening, which is a pipe that measures six inches in diameter and is six feet deep. According to Jewish tradition, the pipe serves as an airshaft to release the souls of the dead buried in the tomb..

Tarant encountered several obstacles during the inspection, including blockage in the pipe, but he was able to lower the PTZ100 camera to the bottom of the pipe.  He said, “As soon as the camera went down, we remotely tilted the camera 90 degrees and saw an ossuary. We knew we were in the unexplored tomb. It was pristine.”

The PTZ100 camera head can be deployed through 100 mm (4.00 inch) diameter openings and features a high-performance 10x-optical and 4x-digital zoom capability, high-powered LED lighting and advanced camera setup features with our exclusive iVIEW™ image management platform.

The Ca-Zoom 6.2 includes CompactFlash® removable storage media, the ability to record and playback over two hours of DVD format MPEG2 video and a USB streaming digital video port. The system will accept any storage capacity size Type I CompactFlash® (CF) card. It also features the ability to record digital still images and MPEG2 or MPEG1 video either on its internal 64MB flash memory or on removable CF cards.