Video camera manufacturers continue to bet on the development of increasingly useful equipment for newscasts. But other sectors have begun to reap the benefits they offer.
By Santiago Jaramillo H.
Video cameras that have as their main feature their portability, continue to be one of the products with more development for the industry. Therefore, some of the manufacturers presented their new references that will set the trend for the beginning of 2011.
Examples include Sony's PMW-500, Canon's XA10, Panasonic's AG-HMC80PJ and JVC's GY-HM750U, all characterized as Electronic News Gathering or for ENG.
Being compact, lightweight, easy to use equipment, with good technical quality, which do not need a camera control unit, are some of the features that have made ENG cameras are being used by most international news channels. Although at first they were taken advantage of by reporters but later they were expanded to other sectors of the industry.
Sony's experience
During the last 2 months, Sony has expanded its XDCAM High Definition series of video cameras with the new PMW-500, in which it incorporates a solid state memory using SxS memory cards with 2/3" Power HAD CCD. It has also introduced it to the PMW-350 series.
Juan Punyed, Sales Director of Sony Latin America, explained that the PMW-500 is the first in the PMW series to incorporate 4:2:2 HD recording.
"In addition, it is compatible with the optical recording disc in any format: 4:2:2, 50 Mbs or 35/ 25 Mbps 4:2:0 and our EX series with 35 Mbps or 25 Mbps recording format. This is also allowed for XDCAM IMX SD or DVCAM SD video cameras."
He added that the PMW-350 is the first in the EX video camera series to include a 2/3" image sensor.
These two references, the PMW-500 and the PMW-350, also incorporate all the latest features of the XDCAM PDW-700 and the PDW-F800 series of cameras, including 720P and 1080 24P recording, Live & play that allows you to seamlessly exchange a live stream with a clip on the PMW-500.
These allow customers to choose between MXF XDCAM formats, HD EX recording format or SD, depending on the infrastructure they have and their facilities.
The PMW-500 joins the PMW-320 1/2" EXMOR CMOS and the PMW-350 2/3" EXMOR CMOS video cameras.
High resolution
Panasonic introduced the AG-HMC80PJ 3-megapixel high-resolution camera, which offers multiple AVCCAM recording formats and enhanced stable professional features.
It uses high-profile MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoding, which provides a doubling of bandwidth efficiency and improved video performance in older MPEG-2 compression formats (e.g. HDV) for clean-looking and fresh-looking recordings, even while moving, no image degradation or desertion.
The camera offers useful solid-state recording features, including pre-recording, interval recording, shooting marker and metadata capture.
Additional features include waveform monitor display, focus helps to concentrate with autofocus with face detection, white balance, display mode, zebra display, color bars, indicator lamps, slow track, soft zoom, slow shutter and sync.
You can also take 10.6-megapixel images and save them as standard JPEG files on the solid-state card. AVCHD recordings and photos can be played directly from the SD card on a wide range of low-cost gamers including Panasonic Blu-ray, laptops and advanced gaming consoles.
With a single 32GB SDHC memory card, a user can record three hours of maximum resolution 1920x1080 video and audio in PH mode.
JVC Development
JVC introduced the ProHD GY-HM750U, which gives the industry speed to modify the workflow of recording HD or SD images into lists to edit the file formats in the memory of SDHC cards.
It is equipped with the same 3-CCD system image, found on the ProHD GY-HM790U, JVC's camcorder badge. It plays at selectable data rates of up to 35 Mbps and can record high-definition shots in 720p, 1080p and 1080, as well as SD (480i) shots.
The new JVC includes a dual SDHC card slot design and/or optional SxS recorder. This is a new feature that allows simultaneous recording of two SDHC cards for instant backup and client copy.
File recording technology supports editing in file format for Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere (. MOV), as well as other more important non-linear editing systems that are compatible with Sony XDCAM EX files (.mp4). For SD applications, the camera can also record standard DV (.AVI or . MOV).
Craig Yanagi, the brand's chief marketing officer, said: "High definition has not yet been standardised in many markets and a vital segment of broadcasters do not have the infrastructure to deliver high definition from the field, which is why the new GY-HM750U offers the flexibility to shoot on the 480i. as well as a variety of high-definition formats."
Building on the modular approach of the GY-HM790U, the GY-HM750U includes a 68-pin chassis connector that creates a clean and straightforward interface with the different modules, with no external cables required.
JVC has also improved its Pre Rec, which continuously records and caches images and helps prevent missed launches and break events.
The GY-HM750U also features two XLR audio inputs with phantom power, manual audio level controls with the sound meter, wide image customization, a high resolution of 1.22 million pixels, 4.3-inch LCOS viewfinder and LCD monitor output cover.
The new XA10
Canon took advantage of the CES fair, which was held in Las Vegas in the first days of January, to present its new reference of ENG video cameras: the XA10, which has the characteristics similar to those of the XF100 and XF105 models.
It has an infrared mode that allows users to capture video in conditions with little or no ambient light.
The Canon camera offers the possibilities to record to an internal 64GB drive or two compatible SDXC card slots and to simultaneously record to two cards at once for instant backup.
It also has a 1/3" HD Pro CMOS sensor and 2 megapixels of resolution, with the ability to capture video in AVCHD format at 24 Mbps.
Like the XF100 and XF105, it has a 10x zoom that starts from an angle of 30.4 millimeters (zoom of 30.4mm – 304mm) and a luminosity of f1.8. As for optics, it includes SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) technology for image stabilization.
Market response
According to Sony's report, the new PMW-500 has been very well received and they have numerous orders for that video camera, because they are targeting high recordings that need ease and speed of recording in solid state but are seeing compatibility with the industry standard XDCAM and optical recording in formats for on-air delivery and archiving.
Sony has sold nearly 6,000 units of XDCAM series video cameras in Latin America, including XDCAM EX and XDCAM camcorders. In addition, they have about 4,000 HD camcorders on the market, many being used for ENG applications.
America's major chains use their cameras. Among them are TV Globo, Artear, Televisa, TV Record, Venevisión, RCN, Caracol, TVN Chile, Albavisión, TV Amazonas and Ecuavisa.
