August 12, 2002

PANASONIC TO HIGHLIGHT IMPROVED ACQUISITION AT IBC

SECAUCUS, NJ - Panasonic will be at this year's IBC withproducts designed to help customers move to higher quality production, with HD and digital cinema being a key part of the process. Making its European debut will be the DV Digital Cinema camcorder with 24p film style output along with Panasonic's variable frame rate Varicam camera. The company is also launching a new generation of entry-level DVCPro50 equipment, a move that it hopes will help make it a production standard.

"We are seeing the start of a trend to higher quality acquisition, production and storage," says Panasonic Broadcast Europe managing director Ted Taylor. "Content owners and broadcasters are conscious of needing to extend the life of their valuable program archive and aware of increasingly enhanced display technology in the home and workplace, and its growing impact on archiving policy."

The Panasonic DV Digital Cinema (AG-DVX100) camcorder with 24p film style output enables material to be easily used with film and news documentary material. This unit is one of the first DV camcorders with 24p capability. The AG-DVX100 is a mini-DV 3-CCD camcorder with CineSwitch technology that supports 480i/60 (NTSC), cinema-style 480p/24fps and 480p/30fps image capture. The camera will be available on October 10th at a suggested list price of $3,795.

Panasonic is also introducing 24p capability with the AJ-SDX900 DVCPro cinema camera which has switchable 25/50Mpbs capability. The camcorder is part of a new range of DVCPro50 equipment that features a reduced cost of ownership. Enhancements to the range also provide easy steps to HD production at 720p.

Panasonic will also show a range of new display technology at IBC, including plasmas and LCD monitors.