(March 4, 2009) PARK RIDGE,N.J.: Sony is ramping up for the big desert trade show in April hosted by the National Association of Broadcasters. Sony’s offerings this year include more gear for its XDCAM line and new entries in the race to replace the CRT as the professional monitor of choice.
The XDCAM line, introduced in 2003, was instrumental in steering acquisition away from tape, and in this case, to optical disc. The most recent generation of XDCAM, the EX format, records to solid state media.
At the 2008 NAB Show, April 18-23 in Las Vegas, Sony will unveil a new HD field recorder, the PDW-HR1, to complement its XDCAM HD422 camcorder. The device supports legacy compression formats, features onboard conversion, 95 minutes of record time at 50 Mbps and a plethora of other functions. It’s expected to be on deck by June.
A new HD viewfinder, the HDVF-C30WR, will work with the aforementioned HD422 as well as several other Sony cameras and camcorders. It has a 2.7-inch LCD with a resolution of 960-by-540 pixels. The viewfinder will become available in April.
In the monitor arena, Sony brings game with a new nine-inch WVGA LCD model sporting 800-by-400 resolution and weighing in at less than five pounds--the LMD-940W. Sony is targeting the nine-incher across studio, field, truck and post-production applications. It will come to market in May, the company said.
New 17- and 23-inch models have been added to Sony’s Trimaster line of LCD eval and production monitors. The PVM-L2300 is the 23-incher for broadcast production, coming in with 1,920-by-1,200 resolution. The BVM-L170 17-incher is the second of Sony’s LCD master monitors for critical evaluation, sporting full 1,920-by-1,080 HD resolution. Both are up for grabs now.
The HVR-Z5U, another recent from the Japanese giant, is a new 24p-capable HDV camera priced at $4,950. An optional CompactFlash adapter, the HVR-MRC1K, is another $940.
