Sony PDW-700 XDCAM HD-Camcorder

Top-of-the-range XDCAM HD Camcorder recording HD material at up to 50Mb/s onto Dual Layer Disc

The XDCAM production system was first introduced in 2003, offering revolutionary file-based acquisition onto optical Professional Disc. In 2005, XDCAM HD was launched with camcorders and decks recording high definition pictures at up to 35 Mb/s onto the same 23 GB Professional Discs.

At IBC 2007, Sony demonstrated the latest development of products to expand of the XDCAM HD line up - the PDW-700 camcorder and the PDW-HD1500 deck.

The PDW-700 will take XDCAM HD performance to a new level. It will record stunning quality HD images at up to 50 Mb/s onto 50GB Dual Layer Professional Discs. The PDW-700 will use three 2/3-inch progressive CCD sensors each with full 1920 x 1080 resolution. 14 bit A/D conversion, 4:2:2 sampling and recording, and advanced digital signal processing will ensure superb picture quality.

The PDW-700 will also support recording in both 1080 and 720-line formats. The PDW-700 has been designed to increase the appeal of XDCAM HD for high-end applications such as drama, documentary and natural history and for mainstream entertainment programmes that required a prestige quality look.

File-based acquisition onto Professional Disc, with thumbnail and proxy operation will also make the PDW-700 ideal for applications where speed of production is a critical.

The PDW-700 will be the most highly specified camcorder within the XDCAM HD line up. The main features announced at IBC 2007 are as follows:

• Three 2/3-inch CCDs for RGB image capture, each with 2.2Mpixel resolution
• High definition recording using MPEG-2 422P@HL compression at 50Mb/s data rate
• Support for existing XDCAM HD and XDCAM SDformats
• 4 channels of digital audio
• Dual-layer Disc (50GB) and Single-layer Disc (23.3GB) support
• 3.5-inch colour LCD
• Thumbnail operation
• Proxy recording and metadata
• Compact and lightweight at 4.2kg (without viewfinder, lens, microphone and battery)
• Dual HD/SD-SDI output and composite/HD-Y output
• Built-in up/down converter and 1080/720 cross converter
• HD up-conversion from SDI input (recording)
• HD/SD conversion and cross conversion output between 1080 and 720 (playback)
• Pool-feed input (HD/SD-SDI and composite) option
• Ethernet interface
• i.LINK interface