Sony used the IBC occasion to bring attention to its fifth consecutive year of growth in its systems integration business.
Sony said the volume of projects in Europe has grown by more than 40 percent in the last 12 months. At IBC, BSkyB continued that growth with the announcement at IBC that it has chosen Sony as the lead systems integrator for its new media centre in the United Kingdom.
Sony also highlighted its XDCAM family of professional disc camcorders and decks, with more than 37,000 units sold worldwide. Sony's HDCAM range and HDCAM SR line-up hit global sales of smashing 43,000.
Sony HVR-Z5E Sony made some new introductions. Among them, a new 3G migration kit for HDC-1500 systems camera users. Sony also added new features to its SRW-5800 HDCAM SR for DI workflow. These include 1080 50p/60p, RGB 444 HQ Mode, Dual Stream (3D) Mode and Double Speed Transfer Mode for 2x high speed ingest to NLE.
Sony launched the new HKSR-5804 network interface card, allowing DPX file transfer to and from SR format, or alternatively storing uncompressed files from HD to 4K (4096x3112).
Implementing some of the technologies developed for the PDW-700, Sony added to its HDCAM line-up with new HDW-650P camcorder. Sony also expanded its range of Trimaster monitors with a new QFHD 56-inch monitor (3840x2160) and the launch of the BVM-L170, a 17-inch master monitor, and the PVM-L2300, a 23-inch broadcast monitor.
For professional production, Sony launched a mid-range compact Hybrid-ready HDV camcorder, the HVR-Z5E, designed to capitalize on the heritage of the HVR-Z1E and DSR-PD170P, with excellent low light performance.
Also at IBC, Sony said it was committed to add 23.98P capability to XDCAM HD422. The target availability of the upgrade kits for the PDW-700 and PDW-HD1500 is June 2009. Sony also launched XDCAM V1.2 firmware to complete the feature set of the PDW-700 and PDW-HD1500 with new frame rates, more filmic hyperGamma and SD options to record DVCAM and IMX.
