SONY MIGRATES TO ALL-DIGITAL LINE OF ACQUISITION EQUIPMENT

Broadest Range of Digital Formats for Diverse Applications Extends from DVCAM to HDCAM

PARK RIDGE, N.J., October 22, 2001—Sony Electronics today announced that it has now completely migrated to an all-digital lineup of professional acquisition equipment. Sony's digital acquisition tools - which range from the -inch DVCAM ® format to the high-definition -inch HDCAM ® format - are the result of a carefully planned and executed development program that anticipated the diverse needs of a DTV era encompassing both digital high definition and standard definition television. The acquisition lineup offer significantly higher performance at lower price points then the analog camcorders they have replaced.

Sony's all-digital acquisition equipment is a key component of the company's "Anycast" theme. Sony's "Anycast" products are designed to help content producers and distributors originate and deliver the highest quality digital content over a variety of distribution channels - from televisions and PCs to handheld devices - to anybody, anywhere at anytime.

"For diverse applications, Sony's broad range of digital format's allow content creators to select a format based on many factors - from picture quality, to infrastructure, to post considerations, to budget, to distribution channels," said Larry Thorpe, senior vice president of acquisition for Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Professional Company. "As the digital television era comes closer, picture quality is becoming increasingly more important and Sony's digital cameras certainly provide a clearly superior picture quality then their analog counterparts."

"This is a testament to the prowess of Sony's DSP camera video processing technology, our mastery of digital compression techniques and our legendary digital recording technologies," added Thorpe. "Sony digital acquisition tools are used in a variety of applications, from event videography and corporate production, to electronic newsgathering (ENG) and broadcast studios and trucks, to feature and independent film production."

"Our carefully structured lineup of all-digital acquisition tools meets the needs of content creators across all market tiers," remarked Thorpe. "Our broad offering helps creative professionals harness the power of the digital era - from digital television to digital cinematography - empowering them with new and innovative creative flexibilities, higher performance and significant cost savings in the process."

Sony's complete line of digital acquisition products separate into two broad categories. The first encompasses a range of digital camcorders on the -inch platform - the DVCAM family - that are tailored to the contemporary needs of ENG, event videography, independent moviemaking and documentaries. Harnessing a range of Sony-developed CCD image format sizes (including -inch, 1/3-inch, -inch and 2/3-inch) Sony has been able to structure a family of five camcorders spanning miniature handheld for intimate unobtrusive shooting (the now-renowned DSR-PD100a) to the full-fledged widescreen high-performance DSR-500WS for digital cinematography. The second family is based upon the -inch platform and constitutes the product portfolio targetted for the multi-faceted mainstream world of DTV. Premised upon an extensive worldwide 18-year legacy of analog betacam that transformed ENG and EFP. This new digital lineup totally protects that legacy. For standard definition television the family includes three digital formats - all squarely based upon the well-established international 4:2:2 standard - that span all of the needs for creating the diverse programming genres of the digital era. This includes Betacam SX ® using efficient MPEG-based compression (according to the MPEG 422P@ML standard) to streamline the broadcast news operation. The new 50 MBPS MPEG-based IMX acquisition system joins the portfolio early next year as part of Sony's flexible MPEG system for high-end production. The camcorder directly originates this unique format - using I-frames with a data rate operating at the upper extreme of mpeg 4:2:2P@ml - is optimized for operation with a network-based broadacst system using this common algorithm for its servers, DDRS, and NLES.

For the very highest quality in SDTV production the Digital Betacam ® camcorders combine 12-bit camera a/d conversion, sophisticated DSP processing and 10-bit 4:2:2 recording to produce superior picture quality that in turn ensures a long shelf-life of valuable SD program masters. All three formats have associated VTR that playback analog betacam tapes and convert them to digital 4:2:2 for convenient incorporation into digital program creation. VTR are also available to playback the separate digital formats themselves, thus further enhancing programming flexibilities.

In the high definition realm, the now well-established HDCAM—also on the same -inch tape platform - has just introduced a second generation acquisition family that is smaller, lighter, lower-power, and bristling with features and facilities requested by the many worldwide pioneers using the first generation products. Dramatically extending the flexibilities of HDCAM was the year 2000 introduction of the HDW-F900 - under the brand name CineAlta ™ -- bringing into existence the world's first implementation of 24-frame video that achieves a common capture rate platform with 24fps motion picture film. Coincidently the 1999 seminal achievement of the ITU international body in creating the multi-frame rate ITU 709 standard on the unique 1920 x 1080 digital sampling platform - CineAlta incorporates five (24/25/30P AND 50i/60i) of the seven picture capture rates stipulated by that worldwide standard.

According to Thorpe, Sony's digital camcorders are ideal for both linear and nonlinear post-production environments with Sony's recent introduction at NAB 2001 of its XPRI HD 24P/60i non-linear editor. Because acquired content remains in the native digital format throughout post-production, generational losses associated with analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions as well as the subsequent dubbing processes are virtually eliminated. The DVCAM camcorders utilize i.LINK ® interface directly into the PC.

A broad base of customers embraces Sony's digital acquisition equipment. For example, Time Warner Cable is standardizing on DVCAM technology for all-digital ENG operations at six electronic news bureaus under development. And legendary filmmaker George Lucas is utilizing Sony's high-definition 24P CineAlta technology during production of Episode II, the second installment of the Star Wars trilogy.

Sony supports its digital acquisition formats with a number of synergistic digital production tools for use in creating all-digital, totally integrated production systems. These include the MVS-2000 multi-format VTR, the MVS-8000 digital switcher, the award-winning XPRI non-linear video editing system and the new BVM-F24U CineAlta monitor - all of which were highlighted at the NAB 2001 trade show in April.

"Sony is committed to helping customers migrate to digital technology while scrupulously protecting their legacy investments," Thorpe noted. "In fact, Sony will continue to offer playback devices, technical support and blank media to existing Betacam SP ® customers.

"Sony has a long track record of protecting legacy recordings," Thorpe added. "We will continue to support our analog based product lines far into the future so that they can play in the emerging digital era. At the same time we have carefully built bridges between all of our acquisition formats so digital program content can readily move from SD to HD and vice versa, and so a variety of migration paths to DTV can be supported."

# # #