Issue: HD - Jun 29, 2005

BIRNS & SAWYER PURCHASES 25 P2 HD CAMCORDERS

HOLLYWOOD - Rental and sales firm Birns & Sawyer has ordered 25 AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD P2 hand-held cameras, Panasonic's 1080i/720p/480i multi-format camcorder.

The AG-HVX200 camcorder (www.panasonic.com/p2) provides 1080i and 720p recording with image quality of 100 Mbps DVCPRO HD. The AG-HVX200 inherits many of the functions of Panasonic's VariCam camera, including DVCPRO HD-quality images, variable frame rates to capture fast-speed and slow-speed action, and a cine-like gamma curve and color matrix to emulate the look of film.

According to Birns & Sawyer's COO, Steve Tobenkin, "The AG-HVX200, with its gamut of frames rates and looks, is a 'do-anything' camera. It represents an affordable path to HD, especially for television production that is currently shooting standard definition but has been weighing the move to HD. The HVX200 presents the opportunity to shoot true HD as well as SD affordably. This is a camera that is good for the interim, as well as being forward-looking."

Tobenkin sees the HVX200 as suitable for general TV work or as a B camera for VariCam shoots. "We plan to present the camera aggressively to directors of photography who do mid-range and higher-end work, and educate them in the improvements in their editorial workflow that the camera affords, specifically eliminating the need to digitize in post."

Panasonic's DVCPRO P2 series products are fully compatible with DVCPRO and provide a seamless migration path to DVCPRO HD. DVCPRO P2 offers nonlinear acquisition and instant access to material, high-speed file transfer, laptop field editing without requirement for proxy videos, and compatibility with off-the-shelf data storage drives for low-cost archiving, while eliminating traditional digitizing and ingesting operations.