Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 16, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
2006 was Panasonic’s best year ever in sales of VTR machines, and according to company figures 25,000 customers now use the P2 HD system. At the press conference, the manufacturer announced a new P2 card with a capacity of 16 GByte that is to come onto the market in May 2007 for 900 US dollars. The price of the 8 GByte card will then fall to 700 US dollars. For the end of the year, Panasonic is also promising a 32 GByte card for 1,800 US dollars. Panasonic announced an extension of the warranty period to 5 years for all P2 HD camcorders and selected VTRs.
For customers with a small budget, Panasonic is offering the AG HSC1U, until now the most compact and lightest 3-CCD HD camcorder. According to the manufacturer, it is available immediately and costs 2,098 US dollars. Recordings are made in the AVC-HD codec on SD cards. A 40 GByte hard disk is included in the price.
Several new models supplements the camcorder range: the AG HPX500 has 2/3-inch chips, works in the DVC Pro HD format and is to be available from May 2007 at a price of 14,000 US dollars.
The higher-value AG HPX3000 works at the full 1920-by-1080 resolution. It is achieved by three CCDs with 2.2 million pixels each. The camcorder, which costs 48,000 US dollars, has five P2 slots and uses the new AVC Intra Frame Codec in addition to DVC Pro HD. This extended H.264 codec is said to have almost D5 quality.
The AK-HC3500 adds another high-end camcorder. It too works natively at a resolution of 1920 by 1080. The camcorder, presented as a multiformat HD/SD device, has a 14-bit A/D converter and is to cost 56.00 US dollars.
Panasonic is announcing the AK-HC1800 system camera for the 4th quarter. This camera, intended for fixed installations in the studio or outdoors, likewise has a resolution of 3 times 2.2 million pixels.
Further links:
- Panasonic Broadcast
