Press Releases

Amsterdam (September 9th, 2011) -- Panasonic Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the host broadcaster of the XXXth Olympiad, which begin on July 27, 2012, in London, UK, on the use of its AG-3DP1*¹ and AG-3DA1*² professional integrated twin-lens 3D camera recorders for 3D broadcasts of the event. As the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Panasonic will provide comprehensive support for first 3D broadcast of the Games, enabling viewers to experience the full excitement in their living rooms with a new level of immediacy.

Continuing a tradition that began with the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, the London Olympic Games will be the 10th Olympic Games for which Panasonic’s professional audio and video equipment technology has supported the broadcasting of the Olympic Games. At International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Olympic Park in London in July 2012, all international images will be produced and distributed in HD format (1080/50i). And the participating rights-holding broadcasters who are planning to broadcast in 3D will be supported by Panasonic 3D technologies and equipment to distribute high-quality Full-HD 3D image. The world audience will be able to enjoy the Olympics Games, the world’s largest sporting event with 640 sessions in 300 categories in 26 events over 19 days*³, with a new level of immediacy made possible by the superior picture and sound quality.

“The use of Panasonic integrated twin-lens 3D camera recorders at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the first to be broadcast in 3D, will enable us to contribute to bringing a new level of immediacy to viewers throughout the world through high-quality Full-HD 3D image. New AG-3DP1 is the first P2HD based Full-HD 3D camera recorder and P2HD’s ruggedness has been proved during the past Olympic Games. P2HD file based workflow has been accepted very well by many broadcasters and it will support quickly and steadily broadcasting at the London Olympic Games, too.” said Kunihiko Miyagi, Director of the Professional AV Business Unit of the Business Solutions Business Group at AVC Networks Company, which handles the development of broadcast equipment for Panasonic.

*1. AG-3DP1: A new integrated twin-lens 3D camera recorder for professional use. It delivers better picture quality and improved functionality compared with its predecessor, the AG-3DA1. It is scheduled to go on sale this winter.
*2. AG-3DA1: The world’s first Integrated Twin-Lens Full-HD 3D video camera recorder with solid-state memory for recording. It went on sale in August 2010 and was used on the final mission of the Space Shuttle.
*3. While the official Olympic Games period is 17 days, the soccer preliminary rounds start 2 days before, making it 19 days altogether.