At NAB2005 last week, Panasonic announced a number of new P2 broadcast deals:
- Hollywood-based rental and sales firm Birns and Sawyer has tapped Panasonic for 25 of its DVCPRO HD P2 hand-held camcorders. The AG-HVX200 camcorders, introduced at NAB2005, will begin shipping this fall.
- Jefferson-Pilot Communications in Greensboro, N.C. inked a deal for 39 Panasonic P2 camcorders and six HD P2 camcorders for its broadcast stations and also 28 AJ-PCD10 drives. The gear will be used at WCSC-TV, Charleston, S.C., WBTV-TV, Charlotte, N.C., and WWBT-TV, Richmond, Va.
- WTXF, the Philadelphia-based Fox O&O is converting its station to P2 with a purchase of 16 P2 cameras, 24 P2 store drives and two HD P2 camcorders.
- Six News Now--a New York Times Company property--will also convert its news operations and commercial production to the DVCPRO P2 solid-state memory recording system. The P2 purchase includes seven AJ-SPX800 cameras, seven AJ-PCD10 drives and 50 2GB P2 cards.
- Additionally, Cordelia Communications, based in Duluth, Minn. has inked a deal to convert its news, production and promotional operations at 11 of its broadcast stations to P2 .
The new P2 DVCPRO HD camcorder offers 1080i and 720p recording and image quality of 100 Mbps and has many of the functions of the VariCam including variable frame rates to capture both fast and slow-speed action.
