Company Looks Forward to High-Bit-Rate 'AVC Ultra' Format

Interesting that the biggest news of NAB for videographers may not have been word of a new camera or format, but a new wrinkle in an existing format and workflow – Panasonic dramatically reduced the costs of P2 acquisition by introducing the new "E Series" P2 card. Next month, 16 GB and 32 GB E-Series P2 cards are slated to be available for $420 and $625, respectively, with a $998 64 GB version to follow in August.
That may sound expensive compared to consumer-level SD-card technology, but each P2 card actually combines four SD cards in a single unit to greatly accelerate transfer speeds. And compared to the $1650 fetched by 32 GB P2 cards from the existing “A Series,” the new line-up represents a huge step forward in affordability for the P2 format. The E-series cards are only rated for a five-year life span with daily use at full capacity (they’ll last longer if the cards are only used to a portion of capacity, and a P2 camera or card reader will display a notification as a card approaches the end of its useful life), but, frankly, five years from now media costs should be low enough that the price or lifespan of a P2 card will be much less of an issue.

Panasonic officials have long held that, because the P2 cards are meant to be a reusable storage media, their hefty price tag represented a one-time expenditure and was not a significant barrier to entry for budget-minded shooters. However, using the pricey P2 cards efficiently has meant devising workflows that offload data and then wipe the footage from the P2 media completely so that the cards can be re-used.

Panasonic has been busy introducing products, like the $9,995 AJ-HRW10 rapid writer, that enable this kind of quick turnaround in the field. But some shooters have balked at the loss of a physical archival format like tape (or XDCAM disc) or blanched at the cost of the media. Panasonic’s NAB announcement doesn’t bring DigiBeta back, but it goes a long way toward soothing their pain.

As far as gear, the star of the show at Panasonic’s booth was the AG-HPX300 AVC-Intra camcorder (HD Studio, February 24). With a list price of $10,700, it represents an aggressive move at a very attractive price point. But the Panasonic exhibit also had some hints about the as-yet-unsettled “AVC Ultra” format, which Panasonic officials said is in the “conceptual” stage but will eventually not only enable higher quality video recording in Panasonic cameras, but also carry stereo imagery (see related story). Officials weren’t giving up many details, but suggested that bit rates of 200 Mbps and higher were under consideration.

And Joe Facchini, director of product marketing, described a new “flashband compensation” system that addresses a problem CMOS censors, like the “3MOS” chip inside the HPX300, have with footage that includes quick flashes of light. Because a CMOS chip is exposed over a short period of time, from top to bottom (or, conceivably, vice versa) there is a degree of temporal displacement between regions of any given frame. When a quick flash of light occurs, the illumination may end up being visible only in the top half or bottom half of the frame. A free firmware upgrade will be available for download this summer.

Three new AVCCAM products were announced. The AG-HMC40 (August, $3195) is a compact handheld camera with 1/4-inch 3MOS imagers that weighs less than 2.2 pounds. It records video in 1080p/24, 1080p/30, 1080i/60, 720p60, 720p30 and 720p24 as well as taking 10.6-megapixel stills. An XLR audio input module is optional. The AG-HMR10 portable recorder player (later this year, $2650) has HDMI and HD-SDI out as well as an HD-SDI input, which allows for tapeless file-based recording from any system that sends out HD-SDI video. It has a built-in 3.5-inch LCD screen. Presenter Robert Harris, VP of marketing and product development, suggested it would be a good match for the new AG-HCK10 compact camera head (later this year, $2100), which has 1/4-inch 3MOS imagers and can be remote controlled via cable connection.

Panasonic also debuted the AV-HS450, a live HD/SD switcher with 16 HD SDI ins, a dual-screen multiviewing system, and 10-bt 4:2:2 HD and SD quality targeted for mid-size and mobile studio applications. It will be available later this year.