Panasonic, FUJIFILM, FOR-A, Thomson Grass Valley, and Omneon
Panasonic and various broadcasting equipment manufacturers collaborate on "P2HD" compatibility
Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, has today announced that leading broadcast equipment manufacturers including FUJIFILM Corporation, FOR-A Company, Ltd., Thomson Grass Valley Corp. and Omneon, Inc. agreed to collaborate with Panasonic in the development of peripherals and systems compatible with Panasonic “P2HD” Series professional broadcast video products. The specific areas of collaboration are described as follows:

【P2-compatible Memory Cards】
・ FUJIFILM Corporation
FUJIFILM, a major media supplier for broadcasting industry, will introduce a series of P2-compatible solid-state memory cards for broadcasting purposes to USA, and European market, in Spring 2008.
* For more information about FUJIFILM, visit the website at: http://fujifilm.com/

【P2HD-compatible Media Management System】
・ FOR-A Company, Ltd.
FOR-A's proprietary media management system conforms to AVC-Intra codec, enabling the system to ingest and manage contents of P2 card as meta data. Expected for release in 2008, it can also be linked with an AVC-Intra-compatible non-linear editing system via network, to provide a shared storage for media materials, or function as an archive system.
* For more information about FOR-A's media management system, visit the website at: http://www.for-a.co.jp/

【P2HD-compatible video server】
・Thomson Corp.
Thomson’s Grass Valley video servers will be supporting DVCPRO HD and AVC-Intra. Combined with Thomson’s already completed AVC-Intra support in their EDUIS line of non-linear editors, Grass Valley will offer in the future a complete end-to-end workflow based on P2 from direct editing on P2 cards, to playout.

・Omneon, Inc.
Omneon, Inc. announced that the new 5600-series MediaPort modules for the Omneon Spectrum™ media server and the Omneon MediaDeck™ integrated server will provide realtime encoding and decoding of HD material using the AVC-Intra codec. Omneon is demonstrating direct recording and playback of AVC-Intra video through the MIP-5601 of a Spectrum™ server at InterBEE 2007. The complete MIP-5600 line will be available in mid-2008.

Now that these new partners have joined us, the P2 alliance partnership will shift into a new stage.
Having FUJIFILM as a partner enables more users to experience the P2HD. In addition to providing services with existing software, we hope to share the plenty of merits of the P2 derived from solid-state memory recording system with varieties of customers.
Broadcasting stations throughout the world are rapidly shifting into HD and tapeless production environment, and the demand for replacing the conventional tape-based system is increasing. In the meantime, the P2 series were introduced while leading the industry as fully-featured solid-state memory video recording system. Until today, over 60,000 P2/P2HD units have been shipped worldwide. The number of broadcasting stations employing the P2/P2HD Series is also increasing, as it has grown to 610 worldwide. (As of the end of August, 2007.)

【About P2 Card】
Developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. for professional broadcasting and production use, P2 card is a rapid-access, high-capacity solid-state memory card featuring the SD memory card technology. Similar to the SD memory card, the P2 card is resistant to shock, vibration, and harsh environment (temperature and humidity). It has proven to be far more reliable than any conventional VTRs, Hard Disk, and Optical Disc systems while enabling high capacity to store high bit rate, broadcast-quality digital HD videos, as well as to accomplish high transfer speed of up to 640 Mbps (theoretical value at the interface)

【About P2/P2HD Series】
P2 Series, Panasonic's solid-state memory broadcasting and professional video recording system, features the P2 cards, ensuring high reliability during coverage, as well as to enable total media cost reduction due to the card's reusability, and drastic reduction of maintenance cost due to the units' no-moving-part design. With fast data transfer and no need to digitizing, as with conventional systems, the P2 Series vastly reduces production time for a dramatic improvement in workflow efficiency.
The MXF (Material eXchange Format) employed by the P2 Series is an open file format made available to our partner companies. In terms of nonlinear editing and network servers, Panasonic continues its "open mind" policy of placing importance on compatibility with products from other manufacturers. In the process of developing the P2 Series, Panasonic actively sought an open exchange of information with other companies. The compatibility of the P2 with other manufacturers’ equipment continues to grow, with further growth expected in the foreseeable future.
The P2 Series was released in 2004, and now the P2HD Series for HD recording is marketed worldwide.