Sony PDWU1 Family Brochure (XDCAM Family Brochure) - Page 8

Features and Benefits of XDCAM Professional Disc Systems ■ Outstanding Picture Quality of MPEG IMX/DVCAM Format Recording Sony XDCAM products offer the capability to record* and play back both MPEG IMX and DVCAM streams**. Users have the flexibility to select from these formats according to their picture-quality needs, or to match their editing-format requirements. The DVCAM format uses 8-bit digital component recording with a 5:1 compression ratio and a sampling rate of 4:1:1 (for NTSC)/4:2:0 (for PAL). The MPEG IMX format uses 8-bit digital component recording with MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML compression at 50, 40, 30 Mb/s, enabling users to choose the picture quality and recording time according to their needs. The XDCAM Series of products provide approximately 85 minutes of DVCAM recording time, and 68, 55, and 45 minutes of MPEG IMX recording at 30, 40, and 50 Mb/s, respectively. MPEG IMX recording is the ideal choice when you need higher picture quality, while DVCAM recording offers the benefit of a longer recording time. *Recording on the PDW-V1 is available only through the Ethernet or i.LINK (file access mode) interface. **The PDW-510/510P camcorder is capable of DVCAM recording only. Recording/Playback Time 68 minutes at 30 Mb/s 55 minutes at 40 Mb/s 45 minutes at 50 Mb/s 85 minutes ■ Flexible Metadata Recording XDCAM products are also capable of recording a variety of metadata, which provides a huge advantage when searching for data in subsequent processes. The following are examples of metadata types that Sony XDCAM Series of products can handle and record. • Disc Metadata/Clip Metadata From acquisition to editing and onto the archiving process, a great amount of information is associated with the recordings. For example, production dates, creator names, camera setup parameters, copyright notes, and memorandums are just a few. With XDCAM products, such information can be saved together with the AV material on the same disc and be effectively used to improve the entire workflow chain. Using the supplied PDZ-1 software allows a variety of data to be added either on a "Disc" or "Individual Clip" basis in different forms such as "Disc Title","Clip Title", "Disc ID Number","Comments" or "Clip Status (to indicate OK/NG status)". Furthermore, the PDZ-1 software has a powerful 'Search' function to easily locate desired clips by using the registered metadata as text-based keywords, providing enhanced efficiency in searching material, determining edit points or retrieving archive materials. • Essence Mark Recording The Essence Mark™ used in Sony XDCAM products is also a very useful form of metadata, and provide a most effective way of searching for recordings via thumbnail pictures. Essence Mark can be set during the shoot either manually or automatically. Thumbnails representing the Essence Mark positions are generated each time the Essence Mark is set, proving invaluable when searching for required scenes in subsequent reviewing and editing processes. • Manual Marking Each time the 'return' button on the camcorder lens or the 'Shot Mark' button on the deck is pressed, an Essence Mark is set. After the shoot, operators can quickly cue to that point simply by selecting its thumbnail from a list displayed on the LCD screen of the playback device or a video monitor connected to it. When the PDZ-1 software is used, operators can define Essence Mark names using desired keywords and easily set these as user-defined Essence Marks. • Automatic Marking XDCAM camcorders can also automatically set an Essence Mark when particular events are sensed by, or occur within, the camcorder. For example, the camcorder can be set up to record Essence Mark when the audio level overshoots, or when there is an abrupt change in video luminance levels. Since several different types of Essence Marks can exist on the disc, Sony XDCAM Series of products offer an easy way of searching through them by type. • Others All XDCAM products are also capable of recording UMID/Extended UMID (Unique Material IDentifier) which consists of a globally unique number or a material number. Another unique feature that XDCAM products provide is the capability to record any type of computer file format such as Word, Excel, JPEG, WAV onto the Professional Disc media, which allows operators to record all files associated with the footage onto a single disc. 8