Sony’s Sets New XD Customers, Camera

E.W. Scripps, Fisher and Sunbeam are the latest station groups to adopt Sony’s XD cameras, Alec Shapiro, SVP of sales and marketing for Sony’s broadcast and production systems division, announced at a promotional press event in Las Vegas Sunday tied to NAB.

Shapiro talked about Sony’s recently unveiled PMW-100 XD HD422 camcorder as the latest evidence of improving its standards. The handheld camcorder is the lightest XD model yet, and “helps to further evolve the line, adding mobility, flexibility and even greater image quality.”

The camera, expected to be released this May for a suggested retail price of $4,500, is equipped with a newly developed 1/2.9 in. CMOS sensor and a 5.4 to 54 mm zoom lens.

Sony also announced that its Media Backbones solutions, used for news production and media asset management, will be used for NBC’s coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games to manage content metadata during the games.

Shapiro also announced its Optical Disc Archive, a storage solution whose drive accommodates a 12-disc cartridge. The cartridges themselves will be manufactured by TDK and licensed to Sony.

“It is ideal for when you are in the field,” Shapiro said of Optical Disc Archive. “It is format agnostic and can be used as data storage for any camera, any coda and at any resolution,” Shapiro said. “Now even P2 users have an effective solution for storing and archiving their card data.”

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