SONY EXPANDS XDCAM HD 4:2:2 LINE WITH PMW-400 SHOULDER CAMCORDER

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/3-inch Full HD 3CMOS sensor, 3DNR for Improved Signal-to-Noise Ratio

And Diverse Format Selection Including XAVC Support for HD Production

 

LAS VEGAS, NAB Booth C11001, April 7, 2013 – Sony’s new PMW-400 shoulder-mount camcorder is the latest addition to its widely used XDCAM HD422 line-up. Ideal for live production or ENG, the new camcorder uses a 2/3-inch Exmor™ Full HD 3CMOS sensor to capture beautiful images with high sensitivity¹ and low noise.

Sony’s PMW-400 XDCAM HD 4:2:2 camcorder

“We designed the PMW-400 to acquire high quality, clean images especially in low-light environments,” said Cyndi Lee, XDCAM marketing manager, Sony Electronics. “It’s ergonomically-balanced, easy to operate and includes features that make it fit seamlessly into various types of productions and workflows. This new camcorder opens the door to a range of new creative possibilities and flexible shooting.”

Higher Picture Quality with HD422 Codec

Capable of MPEG HD422 50Mbps recording, the PMW-400 is unique among the field of 2/3-type camcorders with its noise reduction capabilities and diverse selection of formats. Its 3 Dimensional Noise Reducer (3DNR) technology accurately detects and processes images to reduce noise, achieving a Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio of 60dB — outstanding among 2/3-type camcorders.

The camcorder supports MPEG2 HD422@50Mbps, HD420@35Mbps/25Mbps, MPEG IMX@50Mbps, and DVCAM. The PMW-400 camcorder will also offer future XAVC support for HD.²

Improved Viewfinder

The camcorder’s supplied viewfinder features improved panel resolution of quarter HD 960(H) x 540(V) compared to previous models with resolutions of VGA 640(H) x 480(V). The new viewfinder significantly  improves contrast and viewing angles.

Flash Band Compensation via Internal Processing

The PMW-400 camcorder incorporates a valuable new feature – an internal Flash Band Reducer³that employs a special algorithm to detect and process flash banding inside the camcorder before recording begins. This provides greater flexibility in reducing flash banding across different shooting environments.

Operational Flexibility

The PMW-400 camcorder includes two SDI connections that enable, for example, the director and camera operator to simultaneously check content on two different monitors.

An optional CBK-CE01 50-pin interface lets the PMW-400 connect to two camera adapters for multi-camera operation. By connecting to the CA-FB70 optical fiber and CA-TX70 digital triax camera adapters, the PMW-400 can be used as a studio camera in live productions and also transmit signals over long distances while maintaining high picture quality.

R&D Prototype: Wireless Adapter for 3G/4G/LTE and Wi-Fi Connections

For easy transmission over a network and efficient on-site Wi-Fi operation, a wireless adapter is under development.  The adapter will be directly connectable to the PMW-400 to enable proxy files that can be transmitted via 3G/4G/LTE/Wi-Fi to accelerate the ENG workflow. Using Wi-Fi transmission, the adapter is compatible with mobile applications installed on devices such as tablet PCs and smartphones.

Future enhancements planned for the PMW-400 include file browsing management, proxy file preview, stream viewing of camera signals, proxy and high-resolution file transfer, metadata input and remote camera control.

The PMW-400 camcorder will be available in August 2013.

 

¹ Sensitivity of F12 for 1080/60i, 720/60p. Sensitivity of F13 for 1080/50i, 720/50p.

 

²XAVC support for HD up to 30p/25p is supported. 4K is not supported. XAVC support for HD will be available via a firmware upgrade (optional) planned on or after April 2014.