Sony XDCAM PDW-U1 Brochure page 8

Features and Benefits of XDCAM Professional
Disc Systems
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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
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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 effective-
ly used to improve the entire workflow chain. Using the supplied PDZ-1 soft-
ware 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.