For more information on the Panasonic DVD-RAM OEM drive and media, contact Panasonic Industrial Company, 1600 McCandless Drive, Milpitas, California, 95035; 408 945 5600, FAX 408 262 4214, E-mail berzind@panasonic.com Or, visit the company's Web site
Pinnacle Systems Uses Panasonic DVD-RAM Drive With Dc1000 Real-Time, Non-Linear Editing Solution At Videomaker Expo 2000 West
Panasonic has announced that Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLE) will use the Panasonic DVD-RAM drive in demonstrating its DC1000 real-time, non-linear video editing solution during Videomaker Expo 2000 West in Burbank, California this week. Visitors to Pinnacle Systems' Booths 106, 108, and 110 in the Burbank Airport Hilton and Convention Center will see how easy and affordable it is to create navigable MPEG-2 titles for corporate product demonstrations, training, education and entertainment. Designed for creating high-quality MPEG-2/DVD videotapes or CD-ROMs, and for streaming video over the Internet, the DC1000 card is similar to - and fully upgradable to - Pinnacle Systems' DVD1000 professional-quality DVD authoring solution. The Panasonic DVD-RAM drive provides reliable, high-capacity storage and fast random access for both products. During Videomaker Expo, Pinnacle Systems will be demonstrating how the DC1000 saves valuable production time by delivering video filters, titles and hundreds of real-time transitions with no renderings. The dual-stream design of the DC1000 does this by playing back two streams of broadcast-quality video from the hard drive on a single PCI card. ""We'll also be showing how DC1000 users can substantially reduce production costs by using the DVD-RAM drive for pre-mastering videos that are tested and played back before they're committed to permanent DVD-R media or DLT tape,"" explained Ron Nydam, Product Manager at Pinnacle Systems. ""With rewriteable DVD-RAM media, the verification step is recyclable so the cost is zero, compared to DVD-R media which provides a one-time use for $35."" Jeff Saake, Group General Manager, Panasonic Industrial Company, Computer Technologies Group added that DVD-RAM media provides more than 100,000 write/rewrite cycles; and, when editing is required, the DVD-RAM media allows users to move to specific segments of the disc to make the revisions. Small sections of data can be rewritten without stressing the error correction codes. The Panasonic DVD-RAM drive can also be used as a cost-effective solution for reclaiming valuable capacity on a hard disk. By offloading video data from older projects to DVD-RAM media, users can lower their storage cost to about $.08/MB. The videos can be stored on 2.6GB (single-sided) or 5.2GB (double-sided) removable, rewriteable discs at transfer rates of up to 10.5Mbps. The drive's 2MB buffer ensures that movie frames won't be dropped, even when other tasks are run in the background. A single disc can store 150 minutes of high-quality MPEG-2 video, or more than 8 hours of AC3 audio; and DVD titles do not deteriorate like tape. With the ability to provide 20X read performance for discs currently accepted by CD-ROM, CD Audio, CD-R, CD-RW and video CD drives, the versatile DVD-RAM drive can be used to replace slower CD devices. The same DVD-RAM drive can also be used to read discs currently accepted by DVD video, DVD-ROM and DVD-R drives. Video stored on single-sided 2.6GB DVD-RAM media can be removed from the cartridge for playback by the latest DVD-ROM drives. In developing the DC1000, Pinnacle Systems assembled the leading content development software and hardware products and carried out extensive testing on their performance, compatibility and compliance with industry standards. The result is a turnkey DVD production solution capable of real-time processing of titles and transitions. The DC1000's unparalleled software bundle, includes AdobeÆ PremiereÆ RT 5.1, the leading real-time professional digital video editing application; Pinnacle Systems TitleDeko for Hollywood-quality graphics and titles; Sonic Foundry's ACID MusicÆ to easily create royalty free music and effects tracks; Pixelan Software's Video SpiceRack Effects for 300 creative transitions; and Minerva Impression CD Pro for creating full-featured, interactive MPEG-2 multimedia CD-ROMs. Prices, Availability Compatible with WindowsÆ NT-based PCs, the DC1000 and DVD1000 are available through resellers, distributors, direct sales and OEM's worldwide at $2,495 and $8,995 respectively. Pinnacle Systems also offers an optional IEEE 1394 DV (FireWire) I/O module for real-time DV/MPEG-2 transcoding when using DV camcorders. Panasonic's OEM DVD-RAM drive, model number LF-D101, is available as an internal drive with a SCSI-2 interface. OEMs can purchase the drive from Panasonic Industrial Company. Panasonic-branded internal and external DVD-RAM drives are available from Panasonic Document Imaging Company (PDIC). The internal drive, model number LF-D103U, has an MSRP of $699. The external drive, model number LF-D102U, has an MSRP of $799. DVD-RAM media, which is marketed under the Panasonic brand name, is available from several other leading manufacturers. The removable double-sided 5.2GB disc has an MSRP of $39.95. The 2.6GB single-sided media has an MSRP of $24.95 and is sold with a removable cartridge for playback on the latest Panasonic 5X and 6X DVD-ROM drives. About Pinnacle Systems Since 1986, Pinnacle Systems' broadcast, desktop, and consumer products have provided video professionals and consumers the sophisticated tools needed to create dazzling video programs faster and more affordably than ever before. Pinnacle Systems may be reached at 650 526 1600 or on the World Wide Web at www.pinnaclesys.com. The Panasonic DVD-RAM OEM drive is manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC), one of the world's leading producers of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and other DVD technology-based products. The drives are marketed by the company's principle North American subsidiary, Matsushita Electric Corp. of America.