Sony chose IBC to launch XDCAM HD, and immediately picked up orders with a combined worth of $2.5m from the European dealerships Visual Impact and Twentyfourseven.
Bridging the gap between its HDV and HDCAM lines, XDCAM HD introduces picture quality options in the form of three bit rates that users can mix on a single disc, and deploy for different types of production.
The MPEG-2 Long Gop recording structure was discussed at NAB, so senior marketing manager Olivier Bovis focussed on the picture quality options.
“It will give people the bit rates of 18, 25 and 35 Mbps, the 25Mbps being constant to sustain a bridge to HDV. The other rates are ‘variable’. The 18 Mbps gives you a recording time of 120 minutes, and the other two allow for 90 and 60 minutes respectively,” he said. “It is a matter of choice ‘ simple news quality pictures or more complex pictures for documentary or drama. XDCAM HD was the missing brick in Sony’s HD line-up.”
Connecting to HDV products via i-link will prove valuable for some productions but, as Bovis stressed, “There are significant audio differences to consider: HDV has two compressed audio channels compared with XDCAM HD’s four uncompressed audio channels!”
The first three products in the XDCAM HD line, the PDW-F330 camcorder and the PDW-F30 and F70 decks, will not ship in volume until Q2 next year. The camcorder, the first half-inch CCD HD camera, is almost identical in terms of feature set and appearance to the current XDCAM equivalent, but for the more backward positioning of the LCD screen and the very important option to use an auto focus lens.
The show demonstration highlighted the ability to use proxies in multiple third party environments, with Bovis confirming that 28 vendors had taken sample HD files and the format specifications.
“If they are going to support XDCAM HD, and Avid with Liquid was the first, they will need to put an MPEG-2 Long Gop codec into their platforms, but most have already done that for HDV anyway,” he said.
“The F70 deck has HD-SDI, plus features like slow motion, and it will be positioned at the high end of XDCAM HD for merging with HDCAM. The F30 is an entry level VT with i-link interface, but we are still discussing what other features it should offer the NLE community.”
Sony’s feature set plans for XDCAM HD will include utilising the IP address in the camcorder (as with the XDCAM 1.4 software) for live proxy streaming, but Bovis warns, “It is all based on using Wi Fi, so there are short range/bandwidth issues to worry about, and you can so easily lose the signal. Put simply, it is not up to broadcast work.”
Asked why he had ordered 100 units of XDCAM HD, Twentyfourseven CEO Peter Lundgren said, “Customer satisfaction with XDCAM SD comes through workflow benefits, less production time and cost savings, so it is very important that they can migrate easily to HD and see the same benefits.”
Sony’s first three XDCAM HD products, the PDW-F330 camcorder and the PDW-F30 and F70 decks, will not ship in volume until the second quarter of 2006. Quoting only European prices, Sony said the F330 will list for €20,000 ($24,500), and the F30 and F70 decks for €15,000 ($18,500) and €10,000 ($12,200), respectively.