NEW YORK – The new AJ-PD500 is the Panasonic’s first P2 HD recorder with native AVC-Ultra recording and built-in microP2 card slots. The PD500 is also the first P2 deck that will record in full-resolution, 10-bit 1080/60p (in AVC-Intra100). The deck was among the products announced in Panasonic’s NAB Show preview on Wednesday.

The AJ-PD500 will handle AVC-LongG and AVC-Proxy as standard, and AVC-Intra200 and AVCHD playback as options, and features and variety of professional I/Os.

The PD500 has two built-in P2micro slots as well as two standard P2 card slots and an SD card slot for proxy/metadata and AVCHD recording. The 4.5 pound, half-rack recorder is 12V battery-operated, and includes native 1080/24p recording; 1080/24PsF input/output; a USB 3.0 interface; four-channel AES/EBU digital audio (on BNC I/Os) and two-channel analog audio (on XLR I/Os). It has a 3.5-inch, 16:9 LCD screen, plays back HD/SD content automatically and is internationally operable in 50Hz or 60Hz.

The deck offers an RS-422A control, thereby allowing it to be controlled as a video source by nonlinear editing systems and color correction systems. The PD500 features 3G-SDI for 1080/60 input/output, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for network use. The PD500 also includes a headphone jack and speaker, timecode in/out and a reference sync input.
 
Additional valuable features include up/down conversion, a USB keyboard connection for easy metadata input, waveform and vectorscope display functions, and a selection from among various functions for allocation to six user buttons.
 
The AVC-Intra200 and AVCHD playback options will be available when the PD500 delivers this fall, with a suggested list price of under $14,000.