NAB 08 - first blog

NAB 2008


Tomorrow (or today, or a fortnight next Tuesday, depending on how your jet-lag is going) sees the start of the NAB show in Las Vegas. The two giant rivals of electronics, Sony and Panasonic, kick the show off with some exciting new cameras.

Panasonic
Panasonic have launched a brother to the HVX200, the AG-HPX170. This is a P2 only, 720p/1080i/p camcorder with a fixed, 13x Leica Dicomar lens offering 28mm (equivalent on 35mm film) focal length at its widest setting. You get variable frame rates (up to 60fps at 720p), CineGamma, HD/SD-SDI out (as well as Firewire and USB, of course), XLR mic inputs – all the usual stuff. The camera uses 3, 1/3” CCDs, though we don’t know their native resolution yet - we’re not great fans of low resolution sensors tweaked with pixel shifting and software interpolation. The AG-HPX170 will be available in autumn and will come with Panasonic’s 5 year P2 warrantee.
There will also be a new 64GByte P2 card on the shelves soon, cost unknown, but the recent deal signed with FujiFilm to become a second source of the cards may help to drive down the price.
A really interesting move in the lower cost marketplace is the introduction of some new pro cameras based on the ACVHD spec – christened by Panasonic AVCCAM. This CODEC uses the H.264 compression format seen on consumer solid state cameras and records onto the same, low cost, SDHC cards. AVCCAM, however, adds a higher bitrate (lower compression) PH mode, averaging 21Mbps (24Mbps max) which should easily beat HDV’s 25Mbps due to the more efficient CODEC and should rival Sony’s MPEG 2 based XDCAM EX at 35Mbps.
The handheld AG-HMC150 records 1080 and 720 images using three progressive 1/3” CCDs with a 13x Leica Dicomar lens of a similar spec to the new HPX170 – in fact the cameras look pretty similar in general. A 32GByte SDHC card gives you about three hours of 1920x1080 picture and sound at the ‘pro’ PH setting. AVCHD is supported by pretty much every NLE out there now, and at a suggested retail price of under $4500 (say £3000 once it hits the UK in the autumn) this camcorder looks pretty enticing.
Further down the price range, the AG-HMC70 is a shoulder mount AVCHD (not AVCCAM, so 13Mbps is the best quality you get) camcorder with three ¼” CCDs and a 12x zoom lens, designed as a step up from an AVCHD palm camcorder. Looks very promising for the institutional or event videographer, or companies generating HD web content. The best thing is the price – under $2500.
At the other end of the scale, the new tapeless P2 Varicam AJ-HPX3700 uses three 2/3” full 1080p sensors and 10 bit, 4:2:2 AVC-Intra recording to generate (potentially) the highest quality images available in a camcorder. The camera also offers 4:4:4 RGB dual-link output, multiple framerates (again, up to 60fps in 720p), Chromatic Aberration Compensation to get the best out of suitably enabled lenses and a whole host of other goodies to send those with the budget scurrying to the dealers when it’s released, again in the autumn.
The AJ-HPX2700 is a little brother for the 3700 without the 4:4:4 output and a few other bells and whistles.

Sony
Sony have an exciting new sibling for the EX1 – the PMW-EX3. We love the EX1 and rate it the best hand-held camcorder on the market, though the new P2 and AVC CAM Pannies are going to shake that status quo. The EX3 uses the same HDCAM EX CODEC and records onto the same solid state SxS cards as the EX1. However, the EX3 has a removable lens based on a new wide throat lens mount – expect a standard zoom and a wider angle zoom to be available at launch. There’s a new viewfinder and a lot more of the slightly fiddly buttons that marred the EX1’s handling, but the design is supposed to fit half way between a handheld and a shoulder mount camera, which should take weight much better than the wrist breaking EX1. If the image quality is as good, then Sony are onto a real winner here, and the demo footage certainly looked pretty fantastic projected using Sony’s 4k projectors in the Las Vegas auditorium.
There’s a new viewfinder for the professional HD camcorders (finally!) and the F35 is getting closer to release, but we knew that!
More from sunny Las Vegas as we hear it.