WIESBADEN, Germany - 18 Sept. 2007 - Panasonic today announced the introduction of the AJ-YBX200 codec board, which allows both the AJ-HPX2100 production camcorder and the AJ-HPM100 field edit and playback device to operate in the new, highly efficient AVC-I codec.

Since the debut of the AVC-I codec, which is intra-frame only and based on H.264, Panasonic has intended to incorporate it into selected equipment alongside the already well-respected DVCPRO HD format.The AVC-I codec enables producers to create content in two bit rates, one offering greater economy in storage space, the other offering higher-resolution images. In 50m mode, the AJ-HPX2100 can record content close to DVCPRO HD quality at half the bit rate, effectively doubling storage capacity. In 100m mode, the AJ-HPX2100 can record images at near HDD5 quality, which has never before seen in a comparably priced camcorder.

The inclusion of the AVC-I codec provides the AJ-HPX2100 and the AJ-HPM100 field editor with a significantly better compression scheme than the much older MPEG-2. It also offers DVCPRO HD quality at one-half the bandwidth. This means a single 32 GB P2 card can record more than one hour of HD content.

Panasonic is offering this new codec in addition to DVCPRO HD, adding another layer of flexibility for producers.

The AJ-YBX200 is available now at a recommended retail price of 3,190 euros
.