*
Hereafter, the HDW-750 refers to both the HDW-750 and the HDW-750P.
Since introducing its first models, Sony has continually enhanced the BETACAM
™
Series of products, each offering the highest possible performance and always
preserving a consistent half-inch platform. The excellence of the analog
BETACAM
™
/BETACAM SP
™
formats introduced an entirely new set of opportunities
to ENG and EFP, while the use of digital processing in the Digital BETACAM
™
,
BETACAM SX
™
, and MPEG IMX
™
formats brought standardized 4:2:2 digital
recording into both news gathering and field production. Today, each format is in
service in a multiplicity of programming applications, offering the pinnacle of
reliability and performance that only BETACAM technology provides.
In 1997, Sony revolutionized HDTV program origination with the introduction of
the HDW-700 camcorder based upon the 1/2-inch recording platform. This was
soon followed by the HDW-700A camcorder, which operates according to the
updated 1080/60i production standard. This camcorder, in association with its
editing VTR the HDW-500, extended the BETACAM format tradition into the realm
of mobile HD program creation. In 1999 the HDCAM™ format was dramatically
broadened to include the new multi-frame rate camcorder the HDW-F900 and its
companion VTR the HDW-F500 – both responding to the breakthrough new ITU
709 global standard for international HD program origination. The pivotal
inclusion of the new 24-frame progressive format in this standard constituted a
central design imperative for the HDW-F900/F500 system and introduced to the
world the first 24-frame digital motion picture capture system.
With the HDW-F900/HDW-F500 Series squarely addressing the needs of
movie-making and high-end prime time television program and commercial
production, Sony returned to the central agenda of a mainstream High Definition
production system in support of the emerging broader DTV broadcasting agendas
around the world. This is based upon the SMPTE 274 HD production standard.
The new generation HDCAM camcorders have been developed for
feature-enhanced operations specifically to streamline the worldwide migration to
DTV at affordable price levels. The spearhead to this new HD acquisition family
was the introduction of the HDW-750 camcorder operating exclusively in the
1080/60i format and intended to service the active DTV agendas in the 60 Hz
regions of the world. Today Sony’s HD acquisition product line has been broadened
with the two frame rate switchable camcorders, the HDW-730 (1080/60i and
1080/50i) and the HDW-750P (1080/50i and 1080/25P) to support many
1080-based DTV services and international co-productions for 50 Hz regions.
A central design strategy was to more firmly incorporate this new HDCAM system
into the totality of Sony’s 1/2-inch editing platform. Accordingly, this HD system’s
studio VTRs -- the HDW-2000 Series -- offers not only full HDCAM recording and
editing functionality, but also includes both the all-important legacy playback of
all standard definition Betacam formats (analog and digital) and internal
up-conversion of that playback to the 1920 x 1080 digital sampling format for play
out in this HDTV format.
The HDW-750*/730 camcorders have been designed to provide optimum system
and economical balance with the HDW-2000 series of studio VTRs. They offer
the choice of 1080/60i, 1080/50i, or 1080/25P HDCAM recording capability.
Their extremely compact, lightweight and robust designs are direct results of
Sony’s charter of maintaining compatibility with the Betacam format legacy.
Meta-data handling capability and unique accessories have been added to the
product line to meet the ever-changing requirements in the field. These additions
contribute to further enhancing the high performance but economically
well-balanced solutions that HDCAM equipment will provide for next generation
ENG and EFP programming.
3
