2006: The meteoric rise in the FBT share price finally begins

"This could potentially signify a radical change in the video editing workflow."



24p video production

Increasingly, 24p is used to acquire video. The most prolific use of this has been with HDTV and digital cinema such as the Star Wars Prequels. In 2002, Panasonic released the Prosumer DV camera AG-DVX100 (followed by the updated models AG-DVX100A in 2003 and AG-DVX100B in 2005). This camera was the first DV camera that could switch between different frame rates. The 24p feature on the camera produces film-like video that is preferred by many narrative filmmakers. Canon soon followed suit with the Canon XL-2.

Following the success of the DVX100, in December, 2005, Panasonic released the Panasonic AG-HVX200, which offers 24p HD at the prosumer level. Basically an HD version of the DVX100A, it will heavily target independent filmmakers, as HD has a much higher resolution than DV and will generally look superior on a film blow-up. It is also noteworthy that the camera will record HD footage, complete with clip information, to static P2 memory cards instead of tape. This could potentially signify a radical change in the video editing workflow.

For recording 24p to tape in formats which typically do not support 24p, such as DV, options include PsF, 3:2 Pulldown, advanced pulldown, and 24-over-60.

Some music videos and television series today are now filmed in 24p video instead of 35mm or Super 16mm film.



P2 (storage media)

DVCPRO P2 (P2 is short form for "Professional Plug-In") is a professional digital video format introduced by Panasonic in 2004, and especially tailored to ENG applications. It features tapeless (non-linear) recording of DVCPRO or DVCPRO50 streams on a solid state flash memory card. DVCPRO HD recording on P2 is possible with the Panasonic AG-HVX200. The P2 Card is essentially a RAID of SD memory cards with an LSI controller tightly packaged in a die-cast PCMCIA enclosure, so data transfer rate increases as memory capacity increases. The system includes cameras, decks as drop-in replacement for VCRs, and a special 5.25" computer drive for random access integration with NLE systems. The cards can also be used directly where a PCMCIA slot is available, as in most notebook computers, as a normal disk drive, although a custom software driver must first be loaded.

Since the memory capacity of the P2 card is relatively low (as of January 2006, 2GB [4×512MB cards], 4GB [4×1GB SD cards] and 8GB [4×2GB SD cards] cards are available), cameras, decks and drives have multiple slots, with the ability to span the recording over all slots. This way, effective recording time is multiplied, allowing up to 80 minutes on five 4GB cards in normal DVCPRO 25 mode. Cards are recorded in sequence, and when a card is full, it can be swapped out while another card is recording, allowing unlimited recording time assuming an adequate supply of cards is available. If a card is partially full, the deck will record only until it is full. Unlike tape, old video cannot be recorded over accidentally. Old footage must be manually deleted.

The first pieces of equipment released by Panasonic which use the P2 format included the AJ-SPX800 (a 2/3" broadcast camcorder for ENG and EFP applictions), the studio recorder AJ-SPD850, the AJ-PCD10 offload device (basically, a five-slot PCMCIA reader with USB interface designed to fit a 5-1/4" IT systems bay), and the memory cards themselves - AJ-P2C004 (4Gb) and AJ-P2C002 (2Gb). The AG-HVX200 consumer/semipro camcorder is not, despite common belief, the first P2 device, but it is the first to offer multi-rate standard and high definition recording.