Panasonic Adds AVC-Intra to P2 HD Line

[Specialist]

The company will begin shipping the AJ-HPX2000 P2 HD camcorder, the first shoulder-mount camera in the P2 HD lineup, in January and will include 24p frame-rate capability in addition to optional support of AVC-Intra, a new advanced independent frame compression codec. The codec, based on the H.264 (MPEG-4, Part 10) standard, will be offered in an optional board that will be available in July 2007. Panasonic says AVC-Intra provides highly efficient independent frame 10-bit encoding and will effectively double the recording capacity of a P2 card. AVC-Intra will be offered in two flavors: 100 Mbps for highest HD quality and 50 Mbps for more bandwidth-efficient operation. Although Panasonic executives pointed out that AVC-Intra will co-exist right alongside the more popular MPEG-2 based DVCPRO format, they aren't shy about where they think the future of MPEG is. The H.264 standard "leaves MPEG-2 in the dust," said Steve Mahrer, Engineering Manager for Panasonic Broadcast and Television Systems.

http://tinyurl.com/y78tvc

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

StudioDaily has more about Panasonic's new AJ-HPX2000 here:

http://tinyurl.com/tn8n5

"To underscore the point, Panasonic displayed examples of footage compressed over multiple generations using both MPEG-2 and AVC-I side by side on a large flat panel."

"The results portrayed MPEG-2 artifacting in a poor light indeed."

"Interestingly, Panasonic executives did not take the opportunity to directly slag the rival codec, which is used in Sony's similarly tapeless XDCAM line-up, which records images to optical discs."

"Instead, that task fell to an actress on-stage during the presentation, playing a dingy but bubbly blonde newscaster who declared, loudly, 'It's toodle-oo to MPEG-2!'"

"Representatives from Avid and Apple were both on hand to pledge support for AVC-I in future versions of their NLE systems."

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

http://tinyurl.com/vfgn3

HDV is in trouble, I believe. Canon, JVC and Sony keep battling to win customers for their (too) many models of HDV camcorders. By the end of 2006, Canon, JVC and Sony will each have 3 HDV models, for a total of 9 (more or less) professional models. In addition, Sony offers several HDV models in the high-end consumer market. Panasonic will soon be in the driver's seat. Look for new semi-professional AVCHD models selling for as little as $3,000 from Panasonic. Should you buy a (semi) professional HDV camcorder? That's your decision. Would I buy one? Probably not. I'll wait until Panasonic and Sony clarifies their AVCHD (semi) professional product offerings, unless I really need an HDV camcorder now.

Interesting quotes from former broadcast industry executive Tore Nordahl.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net