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PsUK
04-23-2006, 05:31 PM
After reporting strong growth in HD products and their P2 product line as well as a strong story on their Plasma screens, Panasonic rolled into their new product annoucements. First off was a 103" 60P Plasma screen for fall this year. Panasonic will be, once again, showing this screen on their NAB Booth.

The majority of the presentation focused on their DVCPRO HD product line, which started with a review of the AG-HVX200. Panasonic reported selling 10,000 HVX200 units since shipping started at the end of December.

Joe Facchini, Director - Product Marketing, Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems, introduced the new products, starting with an update to their extremely poplular AJ-HDX900 to an HD-capable version.

AJ- HDX900 Camcorder (http://shop.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97314&modelNo=Content04212006112313957&surfModel=Content04212006112313957)

This revision of the popular AJ-SDX900, the AJ-HDX900 adds support for the DVCPRO HD codec and a multi-format recording system that supports 1080 59.94i/50i/29.97p/25p/23.98p/23.98pA and 720 59.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/23.98p.

The AJ-HDX900 features a native 16:9, 2/3” HD, 1-million pixel 3-CCD system with low light shooting down to 0.032 lux (at+62 dB gain). It is equipped with 14-bit A/D DSP circuits that provide optimum picture quality, color reproduction and luminance gradation. The camcorder offers three Cine-like gamma modes to replicate the look and feel of film. The AJ-HDX900 is compatible with a wide range 2/3” quality lenses and accessories.

The AJ-HDX900 will be available in July at a suggested list price of US$26,500 (plus viewfinder).


AJ-HD1400 HD VTR (http://shop.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97313&modelNo=Content04212006112029810&surfModel=Content04212006112029810)

This is the successor to HD1200 with all of the AJ-HD1200's capabilities but including Assemble and Insert editing, It pllays DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO 100, DV tapes as well as DVCPRO HD. This deck now comes with IEEE1394 and HD-SDI built in (no extra boards to buy) and will be available in July 2006 at a MSRP of US$25,000.

The AJ-HD1400 delivers all its predecessor’s capabilities plus comprehensive assemble/insert editing functions controlled by either the RS422 9-pin or IEEE 1394 interfaces. The VTR features HD-SDI in/out and SD-SDI out for applications such as line recording and in-studio production, and supports VANC metadata (UMID, CC, et al.) and also encoder remote control (component/composite style). It incorporates a built-in up/down/cross converter, so that users can play back DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV tapes and output a converted HD signal. Utilizing the advanced DVCPRO HD codec, the AJ-HD1400 supports superior 4:2:2 color sampling and independent frame compression.

All formats from around the world are supported inlcluding 1080/59.94, 1080/50i, 720/60p, 720/59.94p and 720/50p, and it can convert from an AJ-HDC27 VariCam 50p recording (over 60p) source to native 720p/50 or PAL output.


AK-0HC1500G multipurpose HD camera (http://shop.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97309&modelNo=Content04212006105032153&surfModel=Content04212006105032153)

The AK-HC1500G also debuts as the first multi-purpose camera to feature a variable frame rate functionality and cine gamma curve, features that have distinguished the company’s popular VariCam HD Cinema™ Camcorder including true 24P recording.

The HD production quality, high-performance AK-HC1500G incorporates proprietary Panasonic innovations, including new IT-CCDs, 14-bit A/D converter and digital signal processors to deliver crisp, sharp high definition images from dark to bright areas. The 1-megapixel, 2/3-inch 3-CCDs produce outstanding color accuracy, with improved on-chip lenses to achieve a standard sensitivity of F10.0 at 2000 lux and a smear level of less than -130 dB. The AK-HC1500 uses CCD accumulation and horizontal/vertical addition to create a gain increase of up to +68 dB (with a minimum illumination of 0.015 dB).

The AK-HC1500G offers both 1080 (60i/59.94i, 50i, 30p, 25p/24p) and 720 (60p, 59.94p/50p) high definition output. The camera boasts a wide range of variable frame rates (4-fps to 60-fps in single-frame increments) for “overcranked” and “undercranked” off-speed in-camera effects, and its CineGamma™ curve reproduces images that closely match the latitude of film stocks.
Other key features include a standard HD SDI output; a 12-axis color correction circuit for fine adjustment of saturation and hue; an Electronic Extender for magnifying the image by 2X; genlock; DC (+12V) operation; a mini 15-pin connector; tally function; and iris and zoom/focus controls. The camera has a low power consumption of about 18 watts and compact footprint of 3.5” W x 4.6” H x 6.2” D and weighs in at just 3.3 pounds.


The AK-HC1500G is available now at a suggested list price of US$19,950.


Details of Pansonic's broadcast cameras and P2 worklfow accessories will be posted later tonight, but include:

A 720 P 1080i, 480i or 576i Progressive 2/3" CCDs - the AJ HPC2000 with sensitivity at really low light. Five P2 card slot, each hot-swappable to record up to 40 minutes continuous recording for US$27,000 in Jan 2007;
AJ HPM200, P2 mobile recorder based on the P2 laptop editor, with 6 P2 card slots, 9" widescreen LCD monitor, SD card slot. Jog/shuttle. $12K available in November;
AJ-HPS1500 P2 studio recorder - for ingest, up/down conversion and comes with five P2 slots, FireWire, USB 2, HD-SDI and 3.5" LCD. VTR coontrols with large capacity removable storage. January 2007 with a likely price of US$19,000;
AJ PCD20 Five Slot P2 drive - data transfer over FireWire or USB2 - Mac and PC available July $1980.
The other long term announcement was the use of an intra-frame version of the Advanced Video Codec (H.264) that will double the record duration of P2 media at the same high quality. More on that development later.

Jan Crittenden, Product Line Business Manager for DVCPRO, DVPRO 50 and DVCPRO HD will be interviewed on Creative Planet's Digital Production BuZZ on Wednesday April 26th at 3:15 pm Pacific Time.

Philip Hodgetts, from the Panasonic Press Briefing.



Click on black links to aditional info.

(FROM HERE (http://digitalproductionbuzz.com/news_cmp.php?newsid=817))

Erik Olson
04-23-2006, 05:38 PM
AJ HPM200, P2 mobile recorder based on the P2 laptop editor, with 6 P2 card slots, 9" widescreen LCD monitor, SD card slot. Jog/shuttle. $12K available in November

:)

e

PsUK
04-23-2006, 05:41 PM
The other long term announcement was the use of an intra-frame version of the Advanced Video Codec (H.264) that will double the record duration of P2 media at the same high quality.

Wow, he said 'intra' frame, not 'inter'... good panorma for Apple and Panasonic.

PsUK
04-23-2006, 06:05 PM
Here all news from Panasonic at NAB:

Panasonic Delivering AK-HC1500G, Industry’s First Compact, Switchable 1080i/720p HD Camera (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97309&modelNo=Content04212006105032153&surfModel=Content04212006105032153)

Panasonic Introduces BT-LH2600W 26” Widescreen High Definition Production Quality LCD Monitor (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97310&modelNo=Content04212006110041237&surfModel=Content04212006110041237)

Raycom Expands Roll-Out Of Panasonic DVCPRO P2, Makes Purchase To Convert 12 More Stations To Solid State Newsgathering (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97311&modelNo=Content04212006110706501&surfModel=Content04212006110706501)

Panasonic Announces Advanced AJ-HDP2000 2k Film Data Processor For The D-5 Universal Mastering VTR (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97313&modelNo=Content04212006112029810&surfModel=Content04212006112029810)

Panasonic’s AJ-HDX900 DVCPRO HD Camcorder Provides Full 4:2:2 HD Production Quality And Format Versatility (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97314&modelNo=Content04212006112313957&surfModel=Content04212006112313957)

Panasonic Debuts AJ-HPC2000 Full 2/3” P2 HD Camcorder, Offering Production Quality Video And Superior Reliability (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97315&modelNo=Content04212006112603805&surfModel=Content04212006112603805)

Panasonic Debuts AJ-HPM100 P2 HD Mobile Recorder For Field Use (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97316&modelNo=Content04212006112852798&surfModel=Content04212006112852798)

Panasonic AJ-HPS1500 P2 HD “Station” Bridges HD And SD Environments With Extensive Production Capabilities (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97317&modelNo=Content04212006115229484&surfModel=Content04212006115229484)

Panasonic Announces Enhanced Five-Slot P2 Solid-State Memory Drive (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97318&modelNo=Content04212006120807224&surfModel=Content04212006120807224)

Panasonic Upgrades Multi-Format HDTV Camera System By Making It Switchable Between 1080i And 720p (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97319&modelNo=Content04212006121017890&surfModel=Content04212006121017890)

Panasonic Debuts Compact Six-Input HD/SD Live Switcher (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97320&modelNo=Content04212006121206173&surfModel=Content04212006121206173)

Leading Film School, Chapman University’s Dodge College Of Film & Media Arts, Purchases $1.6 Million In Panasonic HD Digital Video Products (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97321&modelNo=Content04212006121418259&surfModel=Content04212006121418259)

Nexstar Broadcasting Group To Convert News Operations In 26 Markets To Panasonic DVCPRO P2 (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97322&modelNo=Content04212006121904543&surfModel=Content04212006121904543)

Panasonic’s New P2 HD Line-Up Offers Solid State Reliability And Full DVCPRO HD Production Quality Video For High Definition Applications (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97323&modelNo=Content04212006122329360&surfModel=Content04212006122329360)

Mac P2 Viewer For Panasonic AG-HVX200 Hand-Held DVCPRO HD Camcorder (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97325&modelNo=Content04212006123322903&surfModel=Content04212006123322903)

Panasonic’s New, Shoulder-Mount AG-DVC20 3-CCD Mini-DV Camcorder Offers Outstanding Performance For Entry-Level Videographers (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97326&modelNo=Content04212006123531520&surfModel=Content04212006123531520)

Panasonic HD Equipment, Featuring P2 Solid-State Recording, Selected for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=97327&modelNo=Content04212006123743143&surfModel=Content04212006123743143)

¿Anything else?... :D

PsUK
04-23-2006, 06:15 PM
All about HD Log (http://www.imagineproducts.com/hdlog.htm), from Imagine Products, Inc.

http://www.imagineproducts.com/images/LogDocument.jpg

PsUK
04-23-2006, 06:20 PM
Interesting, from one of the links above:


New P2 Drive Offers Enhanced Capacity and High-Speed Data Transfer via USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394b

The AJ-PCD20 internal/external drive is designed for high-speed file transfer of DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50 DVCPRO video into nonlinear editing systems and servers. A user can mount five 8 GB P2 cards (containing up to 160 minutes of recordings in DVCPRO, 80 minutes in DVCPRO50 and 40 minutes in DVCPRO HD) at the same time and have access to the contents on all five cards for continuous editing of recorded clips in sequence. With the AJ-PCD20, digitizing is eliminated, so that material can be accessed almost instantaneously.

As an internal drive, the AJ-PCD20 installs in a standard PC type 5.25” bay drive enclosure, and through its high-speed USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394b interfaces, connects to the host computer, and through that computer to a television station’s local area network (LAN). For in-the-field use, the AJ-PCD20 serves as a stand-alone external drive and teams with a notebook PC or Mac PowerBook for editing and playback. The drive offers
Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X compatibility.

The AJ-PCD20 card drive will be available in July at a suggested list price of $1,980.

unfiltered
04-23-2006, 07:41 PM
All about HD Log (http://www.imagineproducts.com/hdlog.htm), from Imagine Products, Inc.

http://www.imagineproducts.com/images/LogDocument.jpg
But $699?!? That's WAY too much.

http://www.imagineproducts.com/prices_mac.htm

HowdyDoo
04-23-2006, 07:52 PM
$699?! That is flat out RIDICULOUS for logging/organizing software. The company states that it doesn't tie up Final Cut Pro and will log clips in the background. Heck, I'd rather buy a whole new COMPUTER for that price. That won't tie up Final Cut either.

Anders Holck
04-23-2006, 08:24 PM
Lets hope Apple got something up their sleeve..............

nycfilmmaker
04-23-2006, 10:19 PM
these guys have to be smokin something to charge 700 bucks for a viewer.

Mike@AF
04-23-2006, 10:43 PM
$700 for something Windows users get for free!? They're nuts if they think anyone will buy it for that feature.

Barry_Green
04-24-2006, 02:02 AM
Panasonic reported selling 10,000 HVX200 units since shipping started at the end of December
If that's true, that's amazing. JVC is claiming 12,000 HD100's in nine months, and Panasonic's done 10,000 units in just three and a half, and the first month or so was completely backordered...

The HDX900 looks pretty sweet. A high-def SDX "on steroids". Tape-based though. That will probably work for stringers and those who hand over a tape at the end of a shoot, but... well, I sure hope there'll be an HPX900 (assuming SDX/SPX naming) for P2 acquisition and a correspondingly lower price!

No news of a VariCam II, and from the people I talked to, there won't be a VariCam II anytime soon, the VariCam is still considered a current model.

The H.264 announcement is very cool too -- recording to a different codec doubles the card's capacity.

TC
04-24-2006, 03:11 AM
The HDX900 looks pretty sweet.Oh man, I can't wait to drool over that puppy at the Panasonic booth!

Aaron Koolen
04-24-2006, 05:14 AM
The H.264 announcement is very cool too -- recording to a different codec doubles the card's capacity.

Does anyone have any url's to any testing of h.264 vs DVCProHD. Since this announcement I've heard people saying, same quality, half the bitrate. Is this for real? Would like to see some info on this if anyone has it.

Cheers
Aaron

PsUK
04-24-2006, 05:28 AM
New H.264 codec implement in Panasonic will be at end of 2007... it's too soon for this :D.

Aaron Koolen
04-24-2006, 05:40 AM
Yeah, but H.264 isn't new, so I was thinking someone has some comparisons of the codecs somewhere?

Anders Holck
04-24-2006, 05:48 AM
I found this paper by Googling:
http://www.eg.org/EG/DL/WS/EGMM/MM04/077-086.pdf.abstract.pdf;internal&action=paperabstract.action
It compares interframe encoding with Intraframe using the AH.264/AVC codec

oneinfiniteloop
04-24-2006, 06:34 AM
New H.264 codec implement in Panasonic will be at end of 2007... it's too soon for this :D.

I think it said April '07. Seems like a long ways away, and a lot could happen between now and then.

Zim
04-24-2006, 06:34 AM
these guys have to be smokin something to charge 700 bucks for a viewer.

If someone will pay $2,000 for a P2 card then is seems like a good deal!

toke lahti
04-24-2006, 06:43 AM
I found this paper by Googling:
http://www.eg.org/EG/DL/WS/EGMM/MM04/077-086.pdf.abstract.pdf;internal&action=paperabstract.action
It compares interframe encoding with Intraframe using the AH.264/AVC codec Panny was talking about INTRAframe encoding.
AFAIK, AVC or even FRExt does not improve intraframe compression effiency much and there really is no intraframe profile in AVC at this time.
Wavelet should be the choise of this decade...

So what we are talking about is a codec that might start to exist 29th of December (like one camera model) 2007.
First software support for ntsc framerates somewhere in the end of 2008 and support for us Europeans somewhere in 2009.
I believe that most of us professionals will be shooting RAW by then, but then again Panny's "intraframe-AVC" might be RAW-compression codec...

mmm
04-24-2006, 06:51 AM
...No news of a VariCam II, and from the people I talked to, there won't be a VariCam II anytime soon, the VariCam is still considered a current model...

A pany rep told me that the Varicam would stay current until 2008!

EShy
04-24-2006, 06:57 AM
The AJ-HPC2000 looks good, H264 with 5 P2 cards (and by the time it's out maybe we'll have bigger capacity P2 cards), and support for for any format I might need

the only thing missing from the specs is variable frame rates, I think it's also missing from the HDX900 specs

Elton
04-24-2006, 10:00 AM
Panny was talking about INTRAframe encoding.
AFAIK, AVC or even FRExt does not improve intraframe compression effiency much and there really is no intraframe profile in AVC at this time.
Wavelet should be the choise of this decade...

Wavelet for sure. Cineform's wavelet codec is -visually- nearly lossless, intra-frame and yet variable bit rate. That's slick and full 1080 resolution is usually in the 15MBs ballpark.

I'm hoping it'll be integrated in FCP in the near future.

Terence Lehane
04-24-2006, 10:26 AM
Nothing from Panny about 16 GB cards.
Nothing about price reductions on the 4 and 8 GB ones.
I don't know whether to :crybaby: or :furious3: or :kali: !!!

DavidBeier
04-24-2006, 11:03 AM
Does anyone find these announcments kind of a moot point given RED? I mean, most cost around the same amount as RED is said to but aren't nearly as powerful or flexible.

This doesn't really affect me as I don't have 20k to spend on a camera (I'll be getting an HVX200 now) but it seems as all these potential great announcments from Panasonic have kind of had the wind knocked out of them.

HVXguy
04-24-2006, 11:30 AM
Last year when Pana had the Balsa Wood HVX I did not take the wind of Sony or JVC, they are still around. And Pana will be around
for awhile. Next year they will probably announce a real camera to replace the VariCam/HVX while Red is still Beta testing.

unfiltered
04-24-2006, 12:41 PM
If someone will pay $2,000 for a P2 card then is seems like a good deal!
I hope that was sarcasm. I paid $1300 for my 8gb card and I wouldn't even pay $50 for that software.

videomaniac
04-24-2006, 01:36 PM
I wouldn't even pay $50 for that software.

$100 seems fair for its purpose, BUT $699 I'm screaming rape!!!!!! :eek:

Zim
04-24-2006, 02:28 PM
I hope that was sarcasm. I paid $1300 for my 8gb card and I wouldn't even pay $50 for that software.


they card might be a better deal than the software, but I still think the cards are over priced.

But no it wasn't sarcasm. People won't care and they will buy the software too.

unfiltered
04-24-2006, 03:41 PM
they card might be a better deal than the software, but I still think the cards are over priced.

But no it wasn't sarcasm. People won't care and they will buy the software too.
The P2 cards being overpriced isn't the issue. The issue is charging $699 for a variation of what PC users get for free.

And having three different flavors is silly. Just make one. If you really have to have more than one, make a Lite version, as well.

HVXguy
04-25-2006, 07:25 AM
The P2 cards being overpriced isn't the issue. The issue is charging $699 for a variation of what PC users get for free.

And having three different flavors is silly. Just make one. If you really have to have more than one, make a Lite version, as well.

At that price you could buy a cheap PC laptop to review P2 footage???????

David Jimerson
04-25-2006, 07:37 AM
The P2 cards being overpriced isn't the issue. The issue is charging $699 for a variation of what PC users get for free.

Doesn't the Mac OS have drivers already built in for everything that ever has been or ever will be invented? Or have I been misinformed?

Sorry . . . :evil:

Please return to the conversation. Nothing to see here . . .

garyh357
04-25-2006, 07:53 AM
I'm not saying it's the best thing since sliced bread, but I don't want to see HD log slammed because of lack of knowledge either. It's a lot more than a viewer.

Among other things, it has a mode that lets you scan a tape at up to 5 times speed and it will automatically log a clip for each time the record button was pressed on the camcorder. Normally, I like to hand log the footage so I can learn exactly what's on the tapes, but I had to log 26 hours of footage for a job recently and it had to be done quickly. I used that auto-logging feature (called DV-Scan), and got all 26 hours logged in approx. 12 hours, including learning how to use the software.

It will supposedly capture as well, if you wish. I exported the logs, opened them in Excel, changed a couple of things, imported them into FCP and captured the footage from there. Worked like a charm. (You can modify anything regarding your log entries in HD Log, but I had to change the column headings in Excel for it to work correctly in FCP. Don't know why.)

If this type of logging would work in your workflow, then it is worth considering. Personally, I'd rather log only the clips that I wish to work with, but sometimes (as with that particular job), it just isn't as cost effective. I haven't used it since, but I consider it worth it even if I never touch it again, because of the time it saved me on that one job.

On another note, it isn't the most polished software out there. There are things that bugged me to death while trying to use it. Throughout my short time with it, I learned where the issues were and what to do or not to do to get past them. I'm sure with more use, it would all become second nature.


FWIW,
Gary

nycfilmmaker
04-25-2006, 02:26 PM
BACK to real news.

ok, anybody hear any great news on add ons to the HVX200?
like picts of the new HDD p2s

toke lahti
04-25-2006, 02:53 PM
Yep, where's CinePorter?

toke lahti
04-25-2006, 03:11 PM
Does anyone find these announcments kind of a moot point given RED? I mean, most cost around the same amount as RED is said to but aren't nearly as powerful or flexible.

This doesn't really affect me as I don't have 20k to spend on a camera (I'll be getting an HVX200 now) but it seems as all these potential great announcments from Panasonic have kind of had the wind knocked out of them.
Hmmm, who would buy eg. AJ-HDX900 if you can have RED cheaper and with RED's storage beeing a lot cheaper than p2's?