Sony PDW-HD1500

Top-of-the-range XDCAM HD deck recording HD material at up to 50Mb/s onto Dual Layer, full range of AV and IT interfaces

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-HD1500 will record and replay XDCAM HD 50 Mb/s 4:2:2 data onto 50 GB Dual-layer Professional Disc. With interfaces including i.LINK and Ethernet, the PDWHD1500 can operate at the heart of small or large scale file-based networked systems. VTR-like JOG/shuttle operation and video interfaces including HD-SDI and SDSDI also makes the PDW-HD1500 ideal for operation in more traditional vide-based installations.

The PDW-HD1500 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 PDWHDW- 1500 ideal for networked applications where speed of production is a critical.

The PDW-HD1500 will be the most highly specified recorder within the XDCAM HD line up. The main features announced at IBC 2007 are as follows:

• High definition recording using MPEG-2 422P@HL compression at 50Mb/s data rate
  Support for existing XDCAM HD and XDCAM SD formats
• 8 channels of digital audio
• Dual-layer Disc (50GB) and Single-layer Disc (23.3GB) support
• Dual optical pick-up for higher speed file transfer
• 4.3-inch colour LCD
• VTR-like JOG/SHUTTLE operation
• TBC control (via front panel and remote)
• Compact and lightweight at 6.3kg and half-rack width AC, DC or battery powered
• 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)
• Ethernet interface (100Base-T)
• i.LINK interface