Sony Announces Solid-State XDCAM EX

New SxS Cards Will Compete With P2, HDV Tape

Sony's XDCAM EX, which will record to ExpressCard-compliant SxS memory cards to be developed by Sony and SanDisk, is the company's apparent answer to Panasonic's P2 solid-state recording lineup. (The ExpressCard standard is a higher-performance successor to the PCMCIA interface; Sony said SxS cards are targeted to transfer data at 800 Mbps.) The three-chip, 1/2-inch camcorder is said to be intended to sell for less than $8000, making it a competitor to existing HDV models when it ships later this year.

The XDCAM EX has two card slots, allowing about two hours of recording time (using MPEG-2 compression) when loaded with 16 GB cards, Sony said. Of course, this means manufacturers will have to work the new spec into their editing systems — and Sony named a laundry list of NLE providers that it said are already heading down that road: Adobe, Apple, Canopus, Dayang, Main Concept, New Auto, Sobey, as well as Sony's own Vegas and XPRI NS.

In other news, Sony filled out its optical-disc XDCAM line with the announcement of several products due in September: the new PDW-F355 camcorder (featuring true 24/25/30p capture as well as overcranking and undercranking), the PDW-F75 deck, and a PDW-U1 external drive, as well as new dual-layer media with more than twice the storage capacity of first-generation discs. Per a Sony press release, look for the farther-future announcement of a camcorder (and companion deck) with 1920x1080 2/3-inch progressive CCDs recording up to 100 minutes of 1080p or 720p video in 4:2:2 at 50 Mbps on a dual-layer XDCAM disc.