Collaboration Between Ikegami and Toshiba

At NAB Ikegami teamed up with Toshiba to announce the next step in its quest to get shooters off tape and into the edit suite as quickly as possible. The companies signed a collaboration agreement earlier this month in Tokyo.
The new flash memory recording system, called GigaFlash, includes a proposed camera (GFCam camera), record/source deck (GFStation) and field recorder (GFStation Portable) that will all be available by next year’s NAB.

Images are recorded to 16 GB “GFPAK” SATA storage cartridges that store up to 128 minutes of HD at up to 100 Mbps I-frame Long GOP. A 32 GB and 64 GB GFPAK will be available later. It also records SD at 32 Mbps. There will also be a 160 GB hard drive version of GFPAK.

The GFCam, priced at $25,000, features three 2/3-inch CCD imagers recording at 4:2:2. There’s a retro-loop function and thumbnail display of images on an LCD screen on the side for the camcorder. As the camera records high-resolution image data, it simultaneously creates MPEG-4 proxy video and other metadata (including time code) that can be used for fast editing.

The GFStation includes 128 GB (4 hours at 50 Mbps) internal memory, support for 1080i and 720p images, an upconverter/downconverter for playback and a color LCD screen for thumbnail display, jog/shuttle wheel and support for MXF files.

Ikegami said the 32 BG GFPAK, priced at $950, will hold one hour of HD at 50 Mbps, and is ideal for newsgathering applications.

The company’s existing Editcam, a disk-based camcorder with a data rate of 145Mbps, will be repositioned to high-end documentary and field production, company sources said.

For more information, visit http://www.ikegami.com.