Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 17, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Following an EU-wide tender, Bayerischer Rundfunk has selected Sony XDCAM HD 422 as its future format for high-definition television production. BR has stated its intention to acquire more than 400 XDCAM HD 422 units over the next three years. These include 98 PDW-700 camcorders, 40 PDW-HD1500 studio decks, 192 PDW-U1 Professional Disc drives and 77 field recorders. Three PDJ-A640 XDCAM Cart systems are also planned for automated video ingest.
With its decision, BR is sending a clear signal that it intends to continue its long-standing and intensive collaboration with Sony. After positive experience with the XDCAM workflow in standard definition at several BR regional studios, and after the new HD format also passed extensive tests, the broadcaster again chose Sony. “After evaluating XDCAM HD 422, we are pleased to introduce another Sony format following Betacam and Digital Betacam,” explained Herbert Tillmann, Director of Production and Technology at Bayerischer Rundfunk. “This is especially true because we have maintained a regular dialogue with Sony in recent years—even with its engineers in Japan. This allowed us to contribute our own requirements during the format’s development.”
The first 20 PDW-700 XDCAM HD 422 camcorders have been firmly ordered and will arrive at BR in early 2009. The entire XDCAM HD 422 order will be delivered over the following years, no later than 2012. All devices will also receive an SD option, ensuring maximum flexibility during the broadcaster’s migration to HD.
“Sony introduced the XDCAM family in 2004 as the world’s first file-based, nonlinear production format for broadcasting,” said Goran Hantschel, Divisional Director, Sony Professional Solutions Europe. “The new XDCAM HD 422 product allows us to expand this leading position. Unlike purely solid-state storage solutions, the XDCAM HD format combines workflow efficiency, data security and cost-effectiveness in an ideal, uncompromising way in a future-proof medium.”
The camcorders include advanced features such as 2/3-inch CCD Power HAD FX image sensors, Full HD 1080i and progressive 720p recording options, and video data rates of up to 50 Mbps. The optical Professional Disc, with storage capacity of up to 50 GB, is used as the recording medium. The media can be recorded more than one thousand times and played back more than one million times, and offer production reliability, capacity and long-term archival capability.
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