| PANASONIC AJ-SPX800 CAMPUTER™ DVCPRO P2 SOLID-STATE MEMORY CAMCORDER DELIVERING IN MAY |
| LAS VEGAS, NV (April 18, 2004) – Panasonic announced here at NAB 2004 that its next-generation AJ-SPX800 Camputer™ DVCPRO P2 camcorder begins delivering in May. The AJ-SPX800 offers the extensive benefits of solid-state memory recording and IT domain integration, elevating digital video acquisition to a new level of speed and cost efficiency. The AJ-SPX800 combines a high-performance 2/3” 3-CCD camera with 24fps and 30fps progressive and 60 fields interlace recording in 25Mbps DVCPRO and 50Mbps DVCPRO50 format on a P2 card. By eliminating all moving parts from the camera recording path, Panasonic has ensured the AJ-SPX800 is extremely reliable and resistant to environmental hazards, such as the shock, vibration, cold, dust, moisture and humidity that threaten camcorders based on mechanical recording transports. AJ-SPX800 images are stored on a P2 card using MXF file format to ensure IT compatibility for file transfer. “The AJ-SPX800 is a breakthrough in camera design,” said Stuart English, Vice President, Marketing, Panasonic Broadcast. “Quite apart from eliminating the mechanical transport, which provides vastly improved reliability under adverse operating conditions, P2 offers the fantastically high-transfer rate, IT capabilities, MXF file format and metadata support to optimize news workflow efficiencies.” Switchable between 16:9 wide and 4:3 aspect ratios, the AJ-SDX800 has three 2/3” 520,000-pixel, IT CCDs that delivers 750 lines of resolution, 65dB S/N ratio, a high sensitivity of F13 at 2000 lux, and minimum illumination of 0.09 lux (at +48dB), or 0.01 lux (at +48dB plus with +20dB Digital Super Gain). The camcorder is equipped with an advanced 12-axis matrix color correction system, and gamma curves specially optimized for the demands of field news acquisition. Its top-level audio performance supports four channels of 48kHz/16-bit PCM audio in DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV. The AJ-SPX800 features five PC card-sized P2 card slots, providing up to 80 minutes record capacity at DVCPRO and 40 minutes in DVCPRO50 with 4Gb P2 cards*. A unique advantage of the DVCPRO P2 series is that recording time increases as the capacity of available P2 cards increases. A sixth PC card slot is provided to accept a range of IT communications options, such as wireless LAN card or MPEG-4 Proxy Video Encoder. Proxy video and audio may be recorded to P2 card and SD Memory card, and subsequently viewed on a journalist’s personal digital assistant (PDA), while IEEE 802.11 wireless protocols provide a path for GSM cellular phone or other wireless internet media delivery. In addition to USB 2.0, the AJ-SPX800 offers an optional IEEE-1394 interface for connection to laptop computers running a range of popular NLE applications, thereby providing a self-contained field editing solution. The IEEE-1394 data interface also provides a path for extended duration recording to backup videotape or hard disk recorders to complement P2 card recording. The AJ-SPX800 starts recording from the moment it’s switched on, so users can feel confident that they won’t miss an important shot. Its hot swap function assures non-stop recording, because it allows a user replace any card (expect the one being recorded on) on the fly By inserting pre-recorded P2 cards directly into a PC card slot of a laptop, the AJ-SPX800 can be freed for additional image acquisition, while the P2 card mounts into a desktop laptop or additional drive. Because of its seamless integration with the IT domain, no digitization steps are required prior to editing, duplication or other image processing operations. . Reflecting on its IT domain flexibility, the AJ-SPX800 offers many new innovative functions:
The camcorder is highly customizable with features like four user scene files, three user setup buttons, and Camera Setup Memory (up to eight camera setups can be saved to a SD Memory card). |