After suffering a devastating loss to its physical media manufacturing facilities in Japan last spring, Sony said all is close to normal and that it is now able to accommodate orders for its XDCAM HD (rewritable) optical discs—available in 23GB (single layer) and 50 GB (dual layer) versions. The 23GB disc offers 43 minutes of MPEG-2 HD capacity while the 50GB version gives users 95 minutes of recording time.
The dual-sided system continues is used on the set of some 200 television shows and numerous TV stations across the country‑such as CBS, CNN, Hearst-Argyle Television, Home Shopping Network, Iowa Public TV, New Vision Television, WALA-TV, the Fox affiliate in Mobile, Ala., and WRAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh, N.C., The discs had been in short supply up until the end of last year.
Stations using it have said file-based recording onto optical discs has streamlined operations and production workflow, allowing footage to be shot, edited and sent to air faster and more efficiently.
“The XDCAM system’s overall benefits have made us much more efficient, from the camcorders’ flexibility in the field to being able to put more content on the air, faster than our competitors, which really is our ultimate goal,” said Roland Fields, chief engineer at WALA.
Sony said its XDCAM technology, which was first introduced for standard-definition recording and is now available in HD as well, has been a favorite of reality television producers (such as Mark Burnett Productions) for its flexibility, immediate random access and editing convenience. It also serves as an ideal choice for long-term archival storage.
“Productions of all types, at all stages, are realizing the benefits of using Sony's Professional Disc technology throughout the entire workflow,” said Margot Lapides, Marketing Manager, XDCAM Optical Media at Sony Electronics. “Being able to quickly search through tremendous amounts of footage that's digitized and ready to go to the editing suite is a huge benefit.”
Details on purchasing Sony Professional Disc Media can be found at http://www.sony.com/mediaonthego/.
