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Panasonic offers new options for sports Apr 9, 2008 - 11:56:13 AM

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Sports broadcasters looking for high-quality HD-acquisition options have a new choice in Panasonic’s AK-HC1800 HD multi-purpose camera (priced at $28,000) to be introduced this April at NAB. This addition to Panasonic’s line of cameras is equipped with three 2.2-megapixel CCDs, which provide native 1080i video capture for high-level, high-definition production.

An attractive feature for sports networks and venues that might mount it in a remote location at an event is an “intelligent” function that, when enabled, automatically adjusts color temperature response and such image settings as iris control, variable gain, and ND filters according to changes in the environment.

Also new is the AG-HMC70, an AVCHD shoulder-mount camcorder, at a suggested price of $2,495. With sports networks and rights-holders increasingly turning to the Internet as a means of low-cost distribution, finding a low-cost production solution is paramount, and the AG-HSC1U handheld is designed to meet that need.

According to Robert Harris, VP of marketing, Panasonic Broadcast, the second-generation HD format uses MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression and offers significant improvements in bandwidth efficiency and image quality over older MPEG-2–based systems, such as HDV.

“Unlike HDV, AVCHD content can be captured on a standard SD card and played immediately in a growing number of inexpensive consumer products, such as Blu-ray players, game machines, computers, and plasma displays,” Harris adds. “Now supported by most of the leading NLE products, AVCHD content can also be edited and rendered to almost any format or media.”

And P2 users can expect a 64-GB P2 solid-state memory card from Panasonic this fall, doubling P2-card storage capacity from the current 32 GB and providing dramatically greater HD-recording time than any tape- or disk-based system. A 64-GB P2 card can store more than four hours of DVCPRO footage, more than two hours of DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50, or 64 minutes of AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD. With five 64-GB P2 cards installed, an AJ-HPX3000 P2 HD camcorder can record for 320 minutes in AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD.

NAB attendees looking for new monitoring technology will want to check out Panasonic’s 17-inch LCD monitor with 120-Hz refresh, priced at $5,000. The company says the LH1760 offers wide off-axis viewing and color reproduction and provides the motion handling and latency advantages formerly available only in CRT monitors. Other features include a built-in waveform monitor and vectorscope that display all picture lines for signal-level monitoring. Input/outputs include DVI-D input, two auto-switching HD-SDI/SDI inputs, component video (Y/Pb/Pr), RGB, PC RGB, external sync, speaker and headphone outputs.