NAB 2005: Apple unveils upgrades to Final Cut, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, and Soundtrack

Today at NAB Apple unveiled Final Cut Studio, an upgrade to their Production Bundle that adds new features including enhanced HD support. The bundle consists of Final Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack Pro, Motion 2, and DVD Studio Pro 3. With each upgrade Apple has improved the integration of their Pro Apps making it a very attractive platform for postproduction, and this year I’m starting to see some extra sparkle.
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NAB 2005: Panasonic introduces long-awaited handheld 24p HD camcorder

Today at NAB Panasonic introduced the AG-HVX200, a much-anticipated 16:9 HD handheld camcorder that records 1080i/720p/480i in HD and SD on P2 cards and is capable at 720p at 30p, 24p, or 60p. The use of semiconductor P2 card promises to make this a very reliable camcorder for a wide range of uses. Clearly there is alot of trickle-down technology development going on as this camera borrows alot of features from it’s big brother, the AJ-HDC27 VariCam.
Instead of jumping on the HDV bandwagon, Panasonic has decided to deliver a small camera using their proven DVCPRO HD format featuring intra-frame compression, full 4:2:2 color sampling, and high quality uncompressed audio. Recording files to P2 cards make them easy to mount like a regular file system from the NLE’s point of view, eliminating the capture process. The camera sports a native progressive scan 16:9 3-CCD imaging system and a Leica Dicomar wide-angle zoom lens. Panasonic stated that the AG-HVX200 will be available in the Fall 2005 with a suggested list price of $5,995.