Xdcam Pdw-350 "no Show"

[Scott Aston]

So I talked to the sony rep on Monday June 5th about the PDW-350 and would they have one to show at Infocomm in Orlando. The rep said oh yeah, most definately all the camera's will be there. So I drive down (2hr trip) today, and walk up to the reception counter for Sony and I was quite pleased to see the XDCAM-HD brochures laying there for all to take. So I asked which direction is the camera. All of the Sony poeple, looked confused and said "There isn't a PDW-350 or 330 at the show" Man I was so dissapointed and a little steamed that I made the drive just to see this camera and it's gorgeous pictures. So I ended up finding a Sony rep that is very familiar with the XDCAM-HD's and he apologized and started telling me about the specs..yada yada yada. Then he starts talking about the 2/3" model. He confirmed it would be dual layer optidisk, also will shoot 4:2:2 SD, he was unsure if the 2/3" will have a larger quicker bit rate than the 35mbps in HD than the PDW-350. He also said it will be offered at $38k and shipping by NAB 2007.

I also went by and got a good look at the Thompson/GV Infinity. I was very impressed with this camera. I had read that at NAB they had a non working prototype, well this one was working, but still in the delevopment stage. The recording medium (REV PRO 35gb) was very impressive. It's a small disk (bigger than the solid state P2) and very beefy. The GV rep took it out of the camera, tossed in on the floor, stomped it with his foot, then put it back into the camera and recorded with no problem. Infibity can also record to solid state. They had a 8GB card ($400) in the camera and said the 16GB card will be out next month for $800. No footage was being shown, however they had a plasma hooked up and with the provided fujinon 13x HD lens just shooting around the showroom floor (which was not well lit) the picture was extremely sharp. Much and I mean MUCH sharper, richer colors than any 1/3" HDV. I mentioned DVinfo to the guy and said that they should participate on the forum, give details and info and shoot some footage with their new creation to show the world. He thought it was a great idea, so we shall only hope they will get involved. Also, the rep stated that the Infinity has 1920x1080 2/3"chips (no pixel shifting or upconverting) and will include 24p and 30p, all done with software inside the camera. I didn't get into a discussion of "how does Infinity arrive at progessive when using interlaced chips" I will leave that to other people to argue over. I just want to see how good it will look. Infinity records jpeg2000 up to 75mbps and with an option of recording mpeg-2 at 80mbps. Also a list price of $26k (with view finder), but rep went on to say should have a street price of 24K.

I am happy that the GV guys had that camea there, which made the trip very worth while. I still want to check out the Sony though, but out here on the Atlantic, not very many offers of that happening.

[Bill Pryor]

Once again it shows you can never believe anything a rep tells you. Too bad you didn't get to see it. But the Infinity, I guess, makes up for the lapse. At $26K it's definitely a better deal than Sony's 2/3" XDCAM HD at $38K. For $12K difference, I'd have to really like those XDCAM discs a lot.

[Simon Wyndham]

Nothing has been released regarding specs of a 2/3" XDCAM, so anything regarding such a camera would be pure speculation based on nothing.