Sony Reinforces Their Live Production Camera Line-Up

Sony has announced the latest additions to its highly successful range of live production solutions from the HDC-2500 family, the HDC-2000 and the HDC-2550.
Both products integrate easily into any existing live production infrastructure and demonstrate Sony’s commitment to developing innovative solutions that are flexible, robust and efficient.
Both the HDC-2000 and HDC-2550 deliver great picture quality through a newly developed 2/3-inch-type Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) image sensor and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) with a 16-bit A/D converter. It also includes a number of different outputs, which makes it compatible with most applications across the world. These innovations mean it is an ideal camera for all types of outdoor and indoor applications.
The HDC-2000
The HDC-2000 is the studio version of the portable HDC-2500, which is suitable for studio and sports applications with a variety of signal output formats, including 1080/50P, 59.94P and RGB444 output.
Like its brother the HDC-2500, it uses industry leading, groundbreaking 3Gbps, high bit-rate fibre transmission. This 3Gbps fibre transmission is the future of live production as it enables greater data throughput and higher frame rates without compression. This bigger bandwidth can support 3D operations as two single camera signals can be transmitted in parallel through a single fibre cable.
3Gbps fibre transmission also realises 2x slow motion picture production with the SR-R1000 SRMASTER storage unit. It means the HDC-2000 opens up the opportunity to develop sports production with the new capability to shoot slow motion from all angles in the field, even though it is not a slow motion exclusive camera. In addition, 3Gbps fibre can enable the dedicated IP network communication between HDC-2000 and HDCU-2000, which offers new possibilities for live camera operations.
The HDC-2550
The new HDC-2550 includes as standard a triax cable interface, which enables simple integration with existing studio or outside broadcast infrastructures, so the HDC-2550 can deliver optimal picture quality from the same camera block like the HDC-2000.
In addition, this portable camera has a new changeable transmission side cover, which allows the user to easily switch between fibre and triax environments, dramatically enhancing the product’s flexibility. The camera body is built to be robust with an industry leading carbon fibre outside cover, which makes it firmer and stronger, but also easier to manipulate from an operator’s point of view.
The HDC-2550 is also equipped with a dual optical filter wheel and it offers variable frame rates: 1080/50i or 59.94i and 720/50P or 59.94P as standard, as well as progressive frame rates 1080/23.98PsF, 24PsF, 25PsF and 29.94PsF as an option.
Claus Pfeifer, Strategic Marketing Manager, Sony Europe, explains, “Both the HDC-2000 and HDC-2550 build on Sony’s legacy in live production and help us to push the boundaries of what is possible in live sport production. Through technological innovation, both cameras have been built so they are as operationally efficient as possible, with the real customer and operator in mind.”
The HDC-2000 and HDC-2550 will begin shipping in May 2012.