Future proof media for the production room

When the management of Singapore-based MediaCorp set the vision to be Asia’s top media company, they recognised the need to stay ahead of the technological curve in their productions. Accordingly, they selected Sony as part of their ongoing strategy to migrate toward a fully tapeless drama and entertainment production.

A part of realising MediaCorp’s vision was to consolidate their various media operations under one roof. XDCAM HD422 represents a direct and practical answer to the challenges faced by MediaCorp, so much so, that the station had no hesitation to make an initial investment in 15 units of PDW-700 camcorder, eight units of PDW-HD1500 recording deck and 23 units of PDW-U1 drive unit for PC.

The picture quality and comfortable balance of the XDCAM HD camcorder, as well as the economy and practicality of the disc media were the key features that put the PDW-700 ahead of its competitors.

“The camcorders produce fantastic image quality – almost like 35mm film. The picture quality is a whole new level above the older Sony DVW-707 and 709 cameras that the PDW-700s have replaced. Sharpness and colour are noticeably better,” explained Tang Siong Chuan, supervisor for location and production resource at MediaCorp.

“The PDW-700 is very well balanced, making it easy to handle and carry for long periods. And the media cost works out to be much cheaper because the XDCAM Professional Disc can be erased and recorded more than a thousand times.”

MediaCorp’s XDCAM HD422 equipment is already paying for itself on the production of many programmes, including the comedy First Class on Channel 5. With the first season completed, MediaCorp found many advantages using the Professional Disc system compared to tape.

“The media logging with Sony XDCAM HD422 is much faster and easier – about twice as fast as before. You can’t easily over-record or delete a new recording on the Professional Disc, so it is very safe to use. The speed and ease of use has helped us to experience a very easy transition from the old workflow,” says S. Rajen, executive producer, drama & comedy productions.

Tan Chee Beng, senior manager of editing and production resource added other convincing observations regarding their preference for XDCAM format. “We chose Sony because the recording media was cheaper than the competition and the 50GB dual layer disc capacity of the cartridges is greater than other brands.”

With XDCAM HD422 now at the front end of many productions at MediaCorp, the new file-based workflow allows recording in HD and automatically generates a low resolution proxy version for editing to save time on the post work. It only takes a few minutes for each Professional Disc to load all the Proxy AV clips into the clip at anytime and anywhere.

“The time for importing the clips to the editing workstation is 40 per cent faster than before. And the portable PDW-U1 is extremely convenient and flexible for the individual user to begin editing without needing an edit room. We can browse and ingest at any time,” Tan explained. “Editors no longer need to queue up for the editing room to use the deck. It saves a lot of editing time.”

XDCAM HD422 is specially designed as more than just a stand alone system. XDCAM users can interface directly with their current hardware and applications. The file structure of XDCAM allows MediaCorp to integrate the new tapeless workflow into their existing AVID editing system.

Apart from the compatibility with third party NLE suppliers, day-to-day tasks such as making a ‘dub’ of an XDCAM disc is also very fast, easy and inexpensive with the ‘Disc to Disc Copy’ function. Just plug two sets of the PDW-U1 drive unit into a PC and enjoy double speed copy of video, audio and all metadata direct from the source disc to the destination disc.

MediaCorp has no regrets adopting XDCAM HD. XDCAM HD422 has elegantly solved all the major issues associated with migrating their TV production to a file-based platform.

The flexibility afforded by the XDCAM HD that supports for both full HD and SD when needed has been fully realised, making the learning curve for the operators simple and enjoyable.

The Sony XDCAM HD422 sits at the top of the range in the XDCAM family. The stunning HD picture quality delivered at 50 Mb/s, with 2/3-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution CCDs, 14 bit A/D conversion and 4:2:2 recording will increase the appeal of Professional Disc for applications such as TV drama, documentary and for mainstream entertainment programmes that require a high quality look. File-based acquisition onto Professional Disc, with thumbnail and proxy operation, make XDCAM HD422 ideal for fast-turnaround news and live applications where speed of production is a critical requirement. The PDW-700 camcorder and PDW-HD1500 deck take XDCAM HD performance to a new level. Combining superb picture quality with the proven power of Professional Disc, nothing comes close in terms of price and performance. They also provide multi-format (including 1080/50i, 1080/25P and 720/50P) recording flexibility, as well as HD/SD conversion and cross-conversion during playback between 1080 and 720P.