Deborah D. McAdams / 03.17.2011 12:00AM
Supplies of Sony Videotape Are Running Low
MULTIPLE CITIES: The supply of Sony’s professional videotape started
getting tight within days of the earthquake that rocked northern Japan. Users
are reporting a shortage of HDCAM SR tape particularly, because there are no
ready substitutes. However, the supply of all types of magnetic professional
videotape is tight, according to Mark Schubin, engineer in charge at New York’s
Metropolitan Opera.
“We’re running into the problem here at the Met,” he said.
Both direct and indirect supply lines from Sony have been disrupted. Sony makes
HDCAM SR and several other professional video products are manufactured at the
company’s facility in Sendai, roughly 80 miles from the epicenter of last
Friday’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Sony announced on Monday that the facility
had ceased operations. The
Taipei Times said yesterday the
facility was still flooded, “and Sony officials do not foresee the factory
becoming operational in the short term.”
Mike Cullen and Bob Daly of Media Distributors, a supplier serving the U.S.
market, wrote a
note
to customers warning of ongoing shortages:
“The earthquake resulted in severe damage at one of Sony’s key production
facilities very near the epicenter in Sendai, Japan. Almost all Sony
Professional Media products are solely produced there. In addition, several
other Sony facilities in Japan remain closed due to power outages in the
region. There has not been any word on when these facilities are to go back on
line, or details on the condition of the damaged facility in Sendai.”
Daly and Cullen said several Sony formats were affected: HDCAM SR, HDCAM,
DVCAM, Betacm SP, Digital Betacam, Betacam IMX, Betacam SX, XDCAM SxS, LTO,
Blu-ray, DV and HDV.
“Some items are affected by being produced in a factory that is closed due to
power outages, but the majority of the items are affected by being produced in
the Sendai plant which was damaged,” they wrote.
Tapeonline.com is running an
alert,
telling customers to “expect delivery delays of professional recording media
products, especially HDCAM SR.”
“The earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan have dealt a heavy blow to the
major suppliers of recording media, particularly Sony,” it continues. “Please
bear with us as we work to provide you with products that are in very limited
supply, and please keep the people of Japan in your thoughts and prayers.”
TapeandMedia.com
is running a ticker that says, “Due to the
earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sony has placed many Sony products on severe
allocation. Please call us for orders regarding Sony Professional Video
Products, Blu-ray Disc, DVDs and CDs.”
Maxell and Fuji make tape interchangeable with some of the affected Sony
formats, and both are reported to be experiencing a spike in demand. A Fujifilm
customer said the company today responded that it could fill an order for HDCAM
tape, but that it was “very short of inventory right now. Please allow lots of
time for future deliveries.”
One user said Hollywood studios are falling back on LTO, a linear open-standard
format tape that handles full HD 4:2:2 resolution, similar to HDCAM SR. It,
too, may become hard to come by. Daly and Cullen said Media Distributors would
not “fulfill large ‘load-up’ orders, or support any hoarding of products by any
customer,” nor would they “entertain requests from new customers for any large
quantities of these products.”
The pair said prices are already increasing on the affected products.
-- Deborah D. McAdams