SONY EXPANDS CAPABILITIES OF XDCAM PROFESSIONAL DISC SYSTEM WITH NEW PRODUCTS
PARK RIDGE, N.J., Feb. 20, 2006 - Sony is adding new products to its XDCAM ™ Professional Disc ™ product line that broaden the system's production capabilities.
These include the PDJ-A640 cart system, which has a capacity of up to 640 pieces of Sony's Professional Disc ™ media, and the PDW-R1 field recorder/player.
The new cart system can be used with up to four separate XDCAM decks at one time, in any combination of either the PDW-1500, or the recently introduced PDW-F70, which is part of Sony's high-definition XDCAM line.
The new cart system complements Sony's PDJ-C1080 cart machine, which can hold up to 80 discs and can be used with up to four of Sony's PDW-1500 decks.
"Since its launch, a key feature of the XDCAM system has been its archival and storage capabilities, allowing users to quickly and easily access data," said Bob Ott, vice president of optical and network systems for Sony Electronics. "These cart systems highlight these characteristics and also provide professionals with greater production flexibility."
Both robotics-controlled cart systems can be used for automated ingest and play-to-air transmission, as a short- to mid-term archival storage library, or for on- and off-line archiving.
The PDJ-A640 and PDJ-C1080 cart systems both feature a bar code reader and remote control interfaces supporting the RS-232 and RS-422A (VCC Cart control) protocols. Each system is compatible with Sony's PDJ-CS10 cart interface software, which enables connectivity between middleware application software and the XDCAM cart systems via the FTP/CIFS protocols.
The PDW-R1 field recorder can be AC or battery-powered, features a tilt-up LCD screen and a range of interfaces, including i.LINK ® (IEEE-1394) digital interface, Ethernet, SDI and composite inputs and outputs, and two-channel analog audio I/O.
The PDW-R1 has a low power consumption of 35W, and offers such features as audio monitor select and mix out select. The unit's video processing enables control over video level, chroma level, setup/black level, chroma phase and sync phase.
The PDJ-A640 cart is scheduled to be available in June. The PDJ-C1080 is currently available at a suggested list price of $72,500. The PDJ-CS10 software is planned to be available in June with a projected list price of about $15,000.
The PDW-R1 is planned to be available in May at a suggested list price of $10,800.
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