Panasonic Goes On 'Independent' Tour Of Europe

Panasonic PBITS Professional & Broadcast Systems has announced its 2008-09 TV-by-IT tour.
It will take in 23 countries in Europe, staging more than 100 events aimed at independent production houses and freelance producers.
The third of Panasonic's annual TV-by-IT tours, the 2008-09 tour will showcase the benefits of Panasonic's P2 solid-state technology, production with the AVC Intra format, and the Panasonic Varicam range of cameras.
Staged in partnership with Avid, each event will be based around a complete production setup, with live demonstrations of the advantages of IT-based workflows from acquisition, through post-production and archiving.
Local producers will be featured as guest presenters, discussing their own experiences with P2 and IT-based production.
"Over 80 % of European production is created by independents," said Volker Kersbaum, PBITS Product Manager, Business Systems/Broadcast & Professional AV. "Now that Panasonic's P2 and TV-by-IT production are well established with European broadcasters, we are devoting our attention this year to bringing the message to high-output independent production houses and freelance producers.
"The events will show the technology in action, so that attendees can really understand for themselves the enormous creative and cost benefits of IT-based production, and the advantages of Panasonic's AVC Intra format and Varicam range," he said.
Demonstrations at the events will take in the full range of production types, including drama, documentaries, features, magazines, animation, and promotional content, emphasising the outstanding features of the open and standardised AVC Intra format for high-end production.
With its intelligent compression scheme, AVC Intra 50 is equivalent in quality to 100-Mbit DVC Pro, while the 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC Intra 100 far exceeds the quality of comparable MPEG-based formats.
Each event will be hosted by local Panasonic staff, ensuring that there are no language barriers for the attendees.
See: www.panasonic-broadcast.com
(BMcC)