Gray Television, which operates three dozen TV stations in 20 markets, is buying a wide variety of P2 HD equipment from Panasonic, including AG-HPX500 and AG-HVX200 P2 HD camcorders, AJ-HPM110 P2 Mobile and AG-HPG10 P2 Gear recorders, and AJ-PCD20 P2 card drives.
John Baisley, president of Panasonic Broadcast, also noted that ABC’s KABC in Los Angeles is purchasing Panasonic cameras and that Reuters is adopting Panasonic’s P2 HD gear for its global network of bureaus. “They will begin upgrading their bureaus in the second quarter of this year,” he said at a press conference.
Pointing to a number of other recently announced deals, including the decision by Meredith Corp. to buy 1,250 cameras for its broadcast stations, Baisley argued that demand for their products remained strong. Despite a tough economic and ad sales climate, the writers strike and ongoing competition from internet and cable outlets, their success with solid state recording products helped produce “solid revenue increases for the sixth straight year,” he said.
Panasonic also debuted several new products, including the P2 HD VariCam Line, which includes VariCam 3700 and VariCam 2700 cameras; the fully solid-state AG-HPX170 P2 HD handheld camcorder; a 64GB P2 card that significantly expands high definition recording capacity; and the AJ-PCD35 Express Card, a five-slot P2 solid-state memory drive.
The target market for VariCam 3700 is producers of feature films, television series and commercials. It offers full native 1920x1080-pixel acquisition and independent frame recording with 10-bit/4:2:2 sampling.
Designed for sports, documentaries and independent film producers, the smaller VariCam 2700 offers 2/3” native HD resolution and produces 1080 and 720 images with 4:2:2 10-bit sampling in AVC-Intra 100. The camera also supports recording in AVC-Intra 50 compression.
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