NAB Diary: Super Tuesday
Page 2 of 5
My next visit was with Panasonic. I went originally to see the VX100 switchable prosumer camera, but instead saw my second wow product of the day. Panasonic has unveiled their Solid State Camera. Instead of recording to tape, the Solid State Camera records to a PCMCIA card that you insert in the back of the unit. Actually to there are five cards you insert into the unit, with a total recording time (at DV25) of 72 minutes.
 |
| This is the revolutionary technology that will change who video is recorded. |
In a nutshell the camera allows you record on these removable cards, and as one fills up, the recording moves to the next card. This is very much like the chained hard drives you use in your NLE systems. What’s more, as the technology improves to cram more record space on the card (currently at 4Gb each), you can increase your record time without having to get a new camera.
 |
| Video no longer recorded to tape. This will change the industry forever. |
The video and audio is recorded in an AVI format, so any system that can recognize this format can edit the audio. There was some discussion about editing on other NLE systems that didn’t accept AVI, and it is speculated that a card reader capable of reading all five cards at the same time would do some type of conversion to other systems.
 |
| Just another look at this great new camera from Panasonic. |
There was a lot of speculation about a lot of things with this camera, as the technology has just been invented and will not hit the market until 2004. When it does, I expect this item to be the hottest seller under the Sun. This is bad for companies like Canon, Ikegami, and Sony. Sony currently has invested huge amounts of time and resources into Bluewave technology that they hope will be placed in field cameras. If you are not familiar with Bluewave, it is a disc recorder that is using a blue beam of laser light instead of a red beam of light. If you remember your physical science days in high school, you know that blue light has a shorter wave length than red, and because of the space that is saved, more data can be written to the disc. The problem for Sony is that the camera that incorporates this technology will still be moving parts based. Further, it is my understanding that the current Bluewave technology needs to operate at a certain temperature to maintain a consistent data rate. This means that Bluewave cameras will need some type of heating element to function properly in the cold tundra.
Originally, the Solid State Camera will be targeted to the ENG market, which fits perfectly because of the fast pace needed in the news industry. Instead of digitizing footage from tape, the photog can insert the PCMCIA cards into the slot, edit the footage to the hard drive, or even edit directly on the card. With an I-O card the laptop could then be connected directly to the feed from a satellite truck and broadcast back to the station. Right now this is still speculation on Panasonics part, but I am sure this will be addressed in this manner.
This technology also represents a potential problem for Panasonic. With the introduction of this Solid State technology, who will need traditional tape VTRs in the future? The answer, according to an engineer/sales person in the VTR division of Panasonic is that there will be a market for PCMCIA VTRs in the future.
I asked Panasonic if this camera would be able to do variable frame rates and the response from the engineer, was interesting to see. At first he said, “No, the camera will be shipping with a 30fps rate.” Then there was a pause as he thought about it and said, “Well, since this is all software/hardware based and not taped based, you could theoretically just change the frame rate that the information is being recorded to the cards.” I like it when Joe-reporter can offer a suggestion and see a positive reaction on a companies face.
 |
| There is no doubt that solid state technology will filter into units like this... |
After the ENG/EFP version of the Solid State Camera hits the market, there will be a huge demand on the consumer front. You will see this technology go in future releases of Panasonic’s consumer and professional cameras, including the 24p vari-speed HD camera. It isn’t a matter of reconfiguring how data is recorded as much as it is replacing the portions of the system that does the recording. I for one am anxiously awaiting next year’s NAB just to see what develops on this front.
 |
| ...or units like this. |
Source: Digital Media Online, Inc.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
