Sony has announced the PMW-500, the latest addition to its hugely popular XDCAM HD422 line-up.

“Since 2003, XDCAM has become an industry standard with over 150,000 units sold worldwide,” said Nick Buchner, of Sony Australia’s Business Solutions Division. “Customers have been requesting an XDCAM HD422 memory camcorder for some time to sit alongside the phenomenally popular PDW-700 Professional Disc camcorder. The PMW-500 represents the next step in the evolution of the XDCAM product range and IBC is the ideal place to launch it.”

The PMW-500 combines the exceptional picture quality of the PDW-700 with the operational flexibility of recording onto solid state SxS memory card.  The PMW-500 is equipped with three 2/3” Power HAD FX CCD image sensors and can record both 1080 and 720 HD pictures at 50 Mb/s. It is ideal for broadcasters, rental companies and freelancers looking for a versatile memory based camcorder. Major broadcasters, including New Zealand’s TVNZ, Belgium’s RTL TVI and Germany’s WDR in Europe are amongst the first to already have placed large orders for this camcorder

The PMW-500 has two slots for recording onto SxS Memory Card*. First introduced to the XDCAM EX range in 2007, the SxS memory card provides an extremely high level of reliability and fast access to recorded data, both critical in demanding professional operations.  At IBC, Sony is also adding a new higher capacity 64GB (SBS-64G1A) card which can record two hours of material at HD422 50Mbps MXF mode, or more than four hours of MP4 material and has an increased transfer speed of 1.2Gbps (SBS-32G1A & SBS-64G1A). The PMW-500 will begin shipping in October 2010.

Other key features of the PMW-500 camcorder include:

• XDCAM HD422 codec for exceptional picture quality at low data rate
• Switchable between MXF and MP4 for recording in XDCAM HD422, XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX modes
• Option to record MPEG IMX and DVCAM material allowing users to migrate to HD at their own pace
• Interoperability with major NLE systems enabling smooth workflow migration
• Lower power consumption for extended record time during shooting
• Four channels of uncompressed 48 kHz digital audio

Another major introduction at IBC is XDCAM Station, a family of professional media recorders that bridge the worlds of SxS Memory card and Professional Disc. There will be three models in the line-up:

• XDS-1000 – featuring an SxS Memory card slot and internal HDD storage
• XDS-PD1000 – featuring an SxS Memory card slot, a Professional Disc drive and internal HDD storage
• XDS-PD2000 – featuring an SxS Memory card slot, a Professional Disc drive and internal SSD storage

Depending upon the model chosen, users can copy material from SxS memory card or Professional Disc onto the Hard Disc or Solid State storage within the XDCAM Station. The material can then be accessed for non-linear editing or can be replayed under slow motion control.  SDI input and output and network capability allows the device to function as an MXF gateway linking XDCAM media, baseband video and networked operation. The Professional Disc based models will also be able to record and read Sony’s new higher capacity 128GB Quad Layer Professional Discs, PFD128QLW.

“These are extremely flexible devices offering yet more creative options for XDCAM users,” said Buchner. “We see applications within broadcast centres where customers can use XDCAM Station as an ingest gateway for their SxS memory card and Professional Disc media, and also on location for live applications and material sharing between camera operators and production staff.”

The XDS-1000 will be available from March 2011, with the XDS-PD1000 and PD2000 available in mid 2011 along with PFD128QLW.

By Press Release

If you see this as an author, it is because we have received a press release that we decided to publish verbatim as we consider it is of interest. We make no promises as to its accuracy in any way.