LAS VEGAS, NV (April 23, 2006) – Here at NAB, Panasonic introduced the AJ-HPM100, a mobile P2 solid-state memory recorder designed to substantially enhance DVCPRO HD field production capabilities. This highly portable and lightweight recorder is ideal for numerous field applications including playlist editing, transferring and copying P2 content, backup recording for live broadcasts, and playback for transmission via satellite back to the broadcast facility.The AJ-HPM100 offers DVCPRO HD P2 solid-state memory recording without the moving parts of other tape, hard disk, and optical disc based systems. This insures the highest reliability, especially in challenging conditions of extreme temperature range, shock and vibration. The AJ-HPM100 also offers a significant reduction in maintenance costs, a longer useful product life, and immediate access to recorded video (no need to digitize, ingest or create proxy video files) and metadata.
Based on the same design concept as Panasonic’s popular DVCPRO laptop editors, the AJ-HPM100 is fully equipped for field work with a 9” widescreen LCD monitor, a six-slot P2 drive, an SD card slot, a jog/shuttle dial, P2 deck-like playlist editing functions, stereo speakers and AC/DC operation. The easily-transportable unit records in 1080i and 720p in DVCPRO HD and in 50Mbps DVCPRO50 and 25Mpbs DVCPRO. It can upconvert and downconvert between standard and high definition formats. With 8GB cards in the six P2 slots, the AJ-HPM100 can record for 192 minutes in DVCPRO, 96 minutes in DVCPRO50, and 48 minutes in 1080i and 720p.
The AJ-HPM100 has IEEE 1394 (AVC) and USB 2.0 interfaces, RS-422 for remote control, timecode in/out, and an array of input/outputs including switchable HD/SD SDIs, analog in/out, composite in/out, HD component output and four-channel analog audio in/out. Simplified Audio Split and Voice Over functions are standard.
The AJ-HPM100 offers independent (intraframe) encoding, 4:2:2 color sampling, and less compression, making HD content easier and faster to edit, more reliable, and better able to stand up to image compositing versus long GOP MPEG-2 systems.
Panasonic also announced it will offer a professional AVC-Intra (H.264 compliant) codec for the AJ-HPM100 in addition to its widely supported DVCPRO HD codec. The AVC-Intra (H.264 compliant) codec offers significantly better compression than older MPEG-2 codecs and can provide DVCPRO HD 100 Mbps quality at ½ the bandwidth. This bandwidth savings, without the compromises of long GOP compression, will offer advantages in storage and distribution as well as twice the recording time on a P2 card as DVCPRO HD.
The AJ-HPM100 will be available in November at a suggested list price of $12,000. The optional AVC-Intra (H.264 compliant) codec will be available in April 2007.
About Panasonic Broadcast
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The company is the North American headquarters of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC) of Japan, and the hub of its U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, access the company’s web site at www.panasonic.com/broadcast.