Panasonic and Various Broadcasting Equipment Manufacturers Collaborate on 'P2HD' Compatibility

JCN Newswires, Nov 20, 2007

Tokyo, Japan, Nov 20, 2007 - (JCN Newswire) - Panasonic, the leading brand for which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., is known, has today announced that leading broadcast equipment manufacturers including FUJIFILM Corporation, FOR-A Company, Ltd., Thomson Grass Valley and Omneon, Inc. agreed to collaborate with Panasonic in the development of peripherals and systems compatible with Panasonic "P2HD" Series professional broadcast video products. The specific areas of collaboration are described as follows:

P2-compatible Memory Cards

FUJIFILM Corporation

FUJIFILM, a major media supplier for broadcasting industry, is expected to introduce a series of P2-compatible solid-state memory cards for broadcasting purposes to USA, and European market, from spring, 2008.

* For more information about FUJIFILM, visit the website at: http://fujifilm.com/

P2HD-compatible Media Management System

FOR-A Company, Ltd.

FOR-A's proprietary media management system conforms to AVC-Intra codec, enabling the system to ingest and manage contents of P2 card as meta data. Expected for release in 2008, it can also be linked with an AVC-Intra-compatible non-linear editing system via network, to provide a shared storage for media materials, or function as an archive system.

* For more information about FOR-A's media management system, visit the website at: http://www.for-a.co.jp/

P2HD-compatible video server

Thomson Corp.

Thomson's Grass Valley video servers will be supporting DVCPRO HD and AVC-Intra. Combined with Thomson's already completed AVC-Intra support in their EDUIS line of non-linear editors, Grass Valley will offer in the future a complete end-to-end workflow based on P2 from direct editing on P2 cards, to playout.

Omneon, Inc.

Omneon, Inc. announced that the new 5600-series MediaPort modules for the Omneon Spectrum(TM) media server and the Omneon MediaDeck(TM) integrated server will provide realtime encoding and decoding of HD material using the AVC-Intra codec. Omneon is demonstrating direct recording and playback of AVC-Intra video through the MIP-5601 of a Spectrum(TM) server at InterBEE 2007. The complete MIP-5600 line will be available in mid-2008.

Now that these new partners have joined us, the P2 alliance partnership will shift into a new stage. Having FUJIFILM as a partner enables more users to experience the P2HD. In addition to providing services with existing software, we hope to share the plenty of merits of the P2 derived from solid-state memory recording system with varieties of customers.

Broadcasting stations throughout the world are rapidly shifting into HD and tapeless production environment, and the demand for replacing the conventional tape-based system is increasing. In the meantime, the P2 series were introduced while leading the industry as fully-featured solid-state memory video recording system. Until today, over 60,000 P2/P2HD units have been shipped worldwide. The number of broadcasting stations employing the P2/P2HD Series is also increasing, as it has grown to 610 worldwide. (As of the end of August, 2007.)

About Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial)

Best known by its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of US$76.02 billion for the year ended March 31, 2006. The Company's shares are listed on the Tokyo (TSE:6752), Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE:MC) stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the Company's website at http://panasonic.net/.> Source: Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial)

Contact:

Marketing Communication Team,
Professional AV Systems Business Unit,
Panasonic AVC Networks Company
TEL:  81-6-6906-2118 (direct line)
FAX:  81-6-6908-5969
E-MAIL: pro-av.ad@gg.jp.panasonic.com
Photographic data: panasonic.biz/sav/press/

Japan Corporate News Network. All rights reserved.