Staking out its turf in the indie space, Sony introduced its new XDCAM HD Professional Disc system at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The XDCAM HD line includes two cameras—the PDW-F330 and the PDW-F350—as well as two new decks.Alec Shapiro, senior VP of Sony Electronics’ Broadcast and Production Systems Division explained that, “This new XDCAM lineup rounds out Sony’s range of HD production tools, filling an important niche between Sony’s entry-level and high-end formats.” While the SD version of XDCAM has been widely adopted by news organizations, videographers and television producers, especially for reality TV shows, the new HD cameras will fall under the company’s CineAlta brand, moving it into the electronic cinematography market.The PDW-F350 offers variable-frame-rate recording capabilities from 4 to 60 fps in one-frame increments, for over- or under-cranking effects. Both cameras offer 24P recording in SD or HD and use the same blue-laser Professional Disc media used in the standard definition version of the XDCAM.The media itself can store approximately 120 minutes of HD content at 18 Mbps, or users can record HD at higher data rates of 25 or 35 Mbps. It can store 85 minutes of SD DVCAM at 25 Mbps.
Written by Scott Lehane
