Panasonic Offers Ultra-Fast SDHC Cards

Panasonic Solutions Co. announced a new line of SD High Capacity (SDHC) full Class 10 UHS-1 (Ultra High Speed) memory cards with transfer rates of 90MBs, four-and-a-half times as fast as the previous generation of SDHC media. With storage capacities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB, Panasonic says this new RP-SDB series of cards is faster, smarter and more robust than current SDHC media and has been fully optimized for professional use, notably with Panasonic’s broad AVCCAM line of HD camcorders.

The new UHS-1 media facilitate offload speeds of as low as 1.5 minutes from the 8GB card, to 3 minutes from the 16GB card, and 6 minutes from the 32GB card. To achieve the SBD Series UHS-1’s media’s high-speed transfer, a user must have a computer embedded with USB 3.0 technology and equipped with either a Panasonic UHS-1 USB adapter or with an SDHC card slot that supports the UHS-1’s chip.

According to Panasonic, the SDB series incorporates a powerful Super Intelligent Controller System (SICS) that extends the archive shelf life of the card and its respective recordings, provides power failure protection, and controls the data writing to the card so that the entire card is used fully over its lifetime.

SICS automatically refreshes data because repeated playback of the same data without refreshing can introduce errors. This refreshing functionality optimizes data playback performance and has the effect of boosting archival life by a factor of 10.

Panasonic says that in the event of a power failure, SICS saves original data back to the card so there is no corruption or loss of material. SICS also equalizes the rewrite areas on the card so that data writing begins at the point where the previous recording ended, even on a reformatted card. This ensures that a card is totally used in one full rewrite cycle, which minimizes to the greatest extent possible the depletion of flash memory’s finite program-erase capacities.

These new professional UHS-1 cards deliver “impressive Proof 5 durability encompassing resistance to water, shock, magnetization, X-rays and temperature extremes (cards are operable from -13 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit),” according to Panasonic. Other features exclusive to the SDB series include QR code tracking for archival location tracking and management of content, and free, downloadable AVCCAM file recovery software, compatible with Windows 7, XP and Mac.

Panasonic will also offer free Card Checker software that assesses professional UHS-1 media for remaining card life.  Available for download next month, the Card Checker software is compatible with Windows 7, XP and Mac, and requires operation with a computer embedded with USB 3.0 technology and equipped with a Panasonic UHS-1 USB adapter. In addition, the SDB series carries a one-year warranty covering professional use of the card.

The 8GB, 16GB and 32GB SDB cards are immediately available at suggested list prices of $60, $129 and $245, respectively. The UHS-1 USB adapter (model BN-SDCMAB) is also available at a suggested list price of $60.