Sony XDCAM PDW-1500 - Manual (Page 9)

9
1-1 Features
Chapter
1
Overview
1-1 Features
The PDW-1500 Professional Disc Recorder is a half-rack
sized recorder optimized for use with nonlinear editing
systems. Despite its compact size, this unit offers high-
speed data transfers between compatible nonlinear
devices, creating a powerful editing tool for video
productions.
The features of the PDW-1500 include the following.
MPEG IMX/DVCAM recording
The PDW-1500 offers the capability to record and play
back both MPEG IMX
1)
and DVCAM
1)
streams. Users
have the flexibility to select from these formats according
to their picture-quality needs, or to match their editing-
format requirements.
1) MPEG IMX and DVCAM are trademarks of Sony Corporation.
Proxy AV data
Proxy AV data is a low-resolution, MPEG-4 based version
of a full-resolution MPEG IMX/DVCAM stream (a video
bandwidth of 1.5 Mbps and an audio bandwidth of 64 kbps
per channel). Whenever a recording is made, the unit
automatically generates proxy AV data from the full-
resolution data and records it on the Professional Disc.
Proxy AV data is much smaller in size than the full-
resolution IMX or DVCAM data. It can be transferred
quickly over computer networks, easily edited in the field
with laptop computers, and readily used in a wide variety
of applications, such as content management on small-
scale servers.
High-speed file transfer
The PDW-1500 has two optical heads enabling high-speed
file transfer. For high-resolution (MPEG IMX and
DVCAM) material, the maximum transfer speed is at
about 5-times speed for DVCAM signals and about 2.5-
times speed for MPEG IMX signals. For low-resolution
proxy AV data, a transfer speed of up to 50 times faster
than real time is achieved.
Thumbnail search operation
Simply press the THUMBNAIL button and the PDW-
1500 instantly displays thumbnails on a connected
monitor. You can easily cue up the desired scene by
guiding the cursor to the corresponding thumbnail and
confirming your selection with the SET button.
Scene selection
You can create and play back clip lists of selected clips
from the disc, arranged in any order.
One disc can store up to 99 clip lists.
Clip lists make it simple to perform offline editing in the
field for later use with full-scale nonlinear editing systems
(XPRI
1)
, etc.).
1) XPRI is a trademark of Sony Corporation.
Clip audio insert editing
You can perform insert editing on the audio tracks of a
recorded clip, in the same way that you edit conventional
VTR clips. You can also mix audio signals recorded on the
disc with input audio.
Quick picture search by jog and shuttle
dials
The PDW-1500 has jog and shuttle dials as a conventional
VTR to search picture in a clip. The jog dial is for frame-
by-frame search at –1 to +1 times normal speed and the
shuttle dial is for high-speed search at ±35 times normal
speed.
IT-friendly system
In the PDW-1500, clips are recorded as video and audio
data files
1)
. This file-based recording system also allows
material to be viewed directly on a computer linked to the