Sony

The Gray Television CBS affiliate in Tallahassee has tested and now ordered Sony’s new VJ Backpack, which contains everything you need for field production except the pathway home for the video. News Director Stan Sanders says, “The homerun for us was when people were watching our on-air content internally and nobody could tell the difference between which camera was being used. The quality is definitely there.”

Shooting series in the new Ultra HD format is being tested, and so far it’s not proving to add time — or too much expense — to the process. Another major advantage: having a 4K master should pay dividends when the format becomes standard.

Barnes & Noble has teamed up with major studios including BBC Wordwide, HBO, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Starz and NBCUniversal. The digital collection will allow customers to stream and download television series and films which can be stored in the Nook cloud.

Once venerable names in consumer electronics such as Sony, Panasonic and Sharp have been besieged by competition from rivals in the U.S., South Korea and, increasingly, China.

The new PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 are aimed at feature production including independent films, as well as television content such as episodic series and reality programming. The new models are scheduled to ship in February.

Vendor consolidation was one of the most discussed topics at the annual Amsterdam tech conference, although no new deals were announced there. Other hot topics: new products and services based on cloud technology, multi-platform content delivery; social media services; Sony/SES Astra’s 4K demo; and channel-in-a-box.

By December, U.S. stores will sell a TV set with four times the resolution of today’s best HDTVs, Sony Corp. said Wednesday. The set will measure 84 inches on the diagonal, making the screen area four times as large as the common 42-inch set.

Sony is unveiling the newest addition to its XDCAM HD4:2:2 line — the PMW-200 camcorder. This new model, Sony says, is the only professional handheld camcorder in its class with […]

While retaining oversight of U.S. broadcast products, he’s now adding medical, security and digital cinema and will sit on the Sony Electronics’ Executive Management Committee.

It also announces that NBC will be using its Media Backbones for the Summer Olympic deals and unveils a new disc storage system. For all that’s going on at NAB 2012, click here.

TVU Network and JVC are partnering to give broadcasters camcorders with integrated cellular ENG capability, the companies announced today. The package combines the TVUPack Mini cellular ENG system with the […]

Broadcasters looking at hand-held cameras for their video journalists now have another option from Sony — a palm-sized HD camcorder with professional features and Sony’s proprietary Balanced Optical SteadyShot image […]

As more and more stations adopt the one-man band approach to newsgathering, the camera manufacturers are turning out new units that are small enough and light enough to be managed easily, and big enough and heavy enough to be balanced for a steady shot. Plus, they’re inexpensive enough that any station’s budget can handle them, too. Among the options that will be featured at NAB 2012 are the Sony NX5, the JVC 150 and the Panasonic 250.

Sony Corp. said today that Vice President Kazuo Hirai will take over the roles of CEO and president on April 1 from Howard Stringer, who will retain the chairman’s post as the company struggles to regain its standing in the consumer electronics sector in which it was once a driving force.

Sony Corp. and rival Panasonic Corp. are set to report a slump in quarterly earnings and may cut full-year forecasts after being hit by yen strength, Thai floods and consumer gloom in Europe during the vital pre-Christmas period.

Japan’s Sony and Panasonic both had their debt ratings downgraded on Friday by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited concerns about continued losses in their TV divisions, two weeks ahead of their earnings announcements.

Sony used the backdrop of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to talk about the company’s plans to revitalize its struggling television division. Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said new technologies, such as the Crystal LED prototype the company showcased Monday in its news conference, will factor in plans to return the TV group to profitability by March 2014.

Sony Corp. said Monday that Samsung Electronics Co. will buy all of Sony’s shares in their joint venture in liquid crystal display panels for about $935 million subject to a final agreement.

Sony Corp. is considering launching an Internet-based alternative to cable-TV service, people familiar with the situation tell the Wall Street Journal. The move poses the latest threat to the cable and satellite operators that dominate pay TV. Wall Street Journal subscribers can read the story here.

Sony said Wednesday that it has resumed production and delivery of HDCAM SR professional videotape, and its Sendai, Japan, tape facilities will soon be returning to full capability, with gradual […]

Sony is expanding its SxS Pro memory card line with a new generation memory card offering a write transfer speed twice that of previous models. The new SxS Pro 64GB […]

Sony Corp. said today that its 60,000 yen ($800) “HMZ personal 3-D viewer” is set to go on sale Nov. 11 in Japan, and is planned for the U.S. and Europe, perhaps in time for Christmas, although dates have not yet been set.

Six years after taking the helm of Sony in a surprise appointment, Howard Stringer has yet to show much more than a glimmer of a turnaround at the troubled company he inherited. On Thursday, the company, which is based in Tokyo, confirmed that the damage from Japan’s natural disasters in March — and the havoc dealt to Sony’s supply chains in their aftermath — had forced it to take tax-credit provisions that resulted in a $3.2 billion net loss for the business year just ended. The loss was Sony’s biggest deficit in 16 years, and its third in a row.

The tech giant has two lines based on organic light-emitting diode technology — one aimed at the station market. Says Sony’s Gary Mandle: “We’ve spent a lot of time and money on this. We feel OLED has a clear advantage over other technologies.”

With an “arsenal” of three camcorders with solid-state media, the company is ready to compete with Sony, Panasonic and JVC for stations upgrading to high-def news. Says Canon’s Larry Thorpe: “We have jumped in … because we certainly have seen over recent years a very definitive move of broadcasters looking for lower-cost equipment for newsgathering … and we play down there in that lower-cost end.”

Earthquake damage to the plant that makes HDCAM tape has stopped production until summer. The company has developed a new 3D camera that will be used to shoot the finals of this year’s Wimbledon tennis championships.

The group will roll out Sony shoulder-mount EX camcorders across each of its stations, saying the move “will deliver greater production flexibility, higher image quality and a more efficient overall workflow.”

Tohoku, the region in Japan hit hardest by the natural disasters, has long been an important manufacturing base for Sony, which is Japan’s largest consumer electronics exporter. Two of the company’s sites in that area, a Blu-ray disc factory and a research and development lab, were badly damaged by flooding; about 1,100 employees were trapped on upper floors.

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 said to be tight.

Vendors of news production systems, editors, switchers, graphics and lighting will be showing new or upgraded products at the NAB — all with the promise that they will allow broadcasters to produce news more efficiently and distribute it more widely. Here are some of the latest developments from Avid, Grass Valley, Chryon, Sony, Panasonic, Ross Video, EVS, Litepanels and Videssence.

A massive new consumer group will be led by Kazuo Hirai, a rising executive who has overseen a recovery in Sony’s video game business. The move likely sets the stage for him to one day take over for current CEO Howard Stringer.