RTBF Belgium taps Panasonic P2 HD

By Kevin Hilton

The Belgian French-language broadcaster RTBF will use Panasonic’s P2HD
solid state camcorder format for its new production system, which is
based on IT-technology to enable material from its news and sports news
operations to be shared around different facilities and prepared
variously for broadcast, mobile and IP television as well as the Internet.

P2HD is the latest version of Panasonic’s flash-memory
camcorder, launched towards the end of 2007, and RTBF will put 60 AJ-HPX2100s into operation for its news gathering operation. The
broadcaster will use the format for both SD and HD shooting, with
the added ability to record in DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50 and DVCPRO HD.

Explaining
why RTBF opted for P2HD the broadcaster’s director of TV production,
C cile Gonfroid, says, “Using a solid-state recording medium we will be
able to streamline our operations by quickly and efficiently
distributing content over our network for editing and other functions.
This will provide significant time savings to decrease production costs
while ensuring the quality of our product.”