New P2 HD Mobile Also Provides "Bridge" for Transition from SD to HD

Panasonic announced today the availability of the AJ-HPM100, dubbed the P2 Mobile, the first portable P2 HD recorder/player. With its extensive functionality and the reliability of solid-state recording and playback, the P2 Mobile is the "bridge" that allows professionals to work in both the AV and IT worlds, or in high definition or standard definition, and links the P2 file format and base-band video.
In its compact, magnesium die-cast body, the P2 Mobile features multi-format recording and playback with a six-slot P2 card reader, versatile inputs/outputs (including HD-SDI, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0), an SD memory card slot, broadcast-level editing controls including a job/shuttle dial and audio faders, and a
9-inch widescreen HD LCD monitor with stereo speakers. The P2 Mobile offers the benefits of solid-state performance with on-the-go recording, editing and playback in the world’s leading video formats, including up/down/cross conversion between 1080i and 720p and between high definition and standard definition.

The P2 Mobile is ideal for newsgathering, field production and postproduction applications, because it is capable of play-list and cuts-only editing, transferring and copying of P2 content, backup recording for live broadcasts and playback for transmission via satellite back to the broadcast facility.

For recording flexibility, its six card slots allow the recording of continuous, extended clips in sequence onto P2 cards, or use of five of the P2 slots for recording and use of the sixth slot to output an extended play-list. Its 9-inch LCD monitor provides users with immediate access to recorded content, displaying content in manageable clip thumbnails for previewing, editing and shot marking. It also offers eight 16-bit digital audio channels with 5.1-channel surround sound.

P2 Mobile to Offer Highly-Efficient AVC-Intra Compression in Two Modes

The future-ready P2 Mobile supports a variety of compression options, from industry-standard DVCPRO 25/50/HD formats to forthcoming AVC-Intra (an optional board to be available in July 2007).The
AVC-Intra Codec Board provides highly-efficient independent-frame 10-bit encoding to offer comparable DVCPRO HD quality at half the bit rate while doubling recording time per P2 card and lowering media storage and distribution costs. The AVC-Intra codec will offer two modes: AVC-Intra 100 Mbps for highest HD quality and AVC-Intra 50 Mbps for more bandwidth-efficient operation while maintaining superb image quality.

The AJ-HPM100 weighs 14.4 pounds, folds like a laptop PC for easy transport, and operates on either AC or DC power.

P2 HD products offer solid-state high definition recording without the mechanical wear and environmental limitations of tape, hard disk, and optical disc based systems. P2 HD ensures the highest reliability, especially in challenging conditions of extreme temperature range, shock, and vibration. P2 HD products provide a significant reduction in maintenance costs, longer useful product life, and immediate access to recorded video (no need to digitize, ingest or create proxy video files) and metadata. P2 HD provides the reliability of solid-state production; the immediate connectivity to existing IT infrastructures; the speed, ease of use and portability of P2 cards; and the interoperability with leading NLE systems.

The AJ-HPM100 has a suggested list price of $12,000.

In addition to the AJ-HPM100 in its P2 HD line-up, Panasonic is offering the AJ-HPX2000, a 2/3″ HD/SD 3-CCD shoulder-mount camcorder, and the AG-HVX200 hand-held camcorder.