Government

MPEG IMX: The New Way of Recording Video

The establishment of digital television standards in the late-1990's set the stage for the transition from analog to digital technology for broadcast television. The side benefit for all professionals involved in recording video, in government and throughout the private sector, was the establishment of MPEG-2 data compression as the standard for a new generation of professional camcorders and VTRs. With a platform accepted and in place, the entire industry could now move forward into the digital age.

For many users, Betacam SX® was the first digital step, pioneering the use of MPEG-2-based recording and providing a robust, flexible format for field and studio production. MPEG-2 combined high image quality with an affordable cost and transmission efficiency, delivering the consistent benefits of 4:2:2 studio profile@ML recording at all steps throughout the production and postproduction chain. For the first time, "video" became "data" that could be assuredly stored and exchanged between multiple sources and users.

The industry is now ready for the next stage in its transition to a complete digital production platform. Broadcasters were the first to embrace the advantages of the Sony MPEG IMX™ format and, as evidence of its widespread success, there are many thousands of units being utilized in some of the most challenging production environments worldwide. This critical user-base responded to the format's high image quality, excellent multi-generation performance as well as its backward compatibility playback of archived tape formats. MPEG IMX VTRs quickly became an industry choice for broadcasters seeking a practical solution for playing back their entire library of 1/2-inch tape.

As operators became more familiar with the advantages of digital video recording, and more confident with its reliability, demands for even more features and benefits have emerged and manufacturers are responding with migration paths that provide both Betacam and Betacam SX users with more advanced, MPEG-compatible options. Recently introduced MPEG IMX products from Sony provide users with their next steps for capturing and storing their video data, providing an option between tape-based and disc-based storage implementations.

For operators who require continued access to 1/2-inch tape, Sony offers its MSW family of VTRs and camcorders. These units play back Betacam SP®, Betacam SX, MPEG IMX and Digital Betacam format tapes from your archives, while also providing the expanded advantages of 4:2:2 recording in 30, 40 and 50 Mbps. Equally important, the MSW-2000 Series of MPEG IMX VTRs are built to accommodate a Gigabit Ethernet interface option for integration into a TCP/IP networked world. With this capability, video assets on tape can be converted to computer data files and flexibly exchanged between other network-capable devices, such as the acclaimed Sony XDCAM™ Professional Disc™ System, and a universe of compatible third-party gear.

The widespread acceptance of nonlinear editing systems and servers has demonstrated the benefits of random access, central storage and metadata in the production process. In response to this trend, Sony's XDCAM Professional Disc™ System was introduced, utilizing optical disc-based recording and playback to achieve high data transfer rates and long recording times. Again, the MPEG IMX format was implemented in the XDCAM system, combining workflow enhancements, ENG/EFP durability, and immediate random disc access with 'plug n play' operation in any professional production infrastructure. The XDCAM Professional Disc format allows MPEG IMX users to migrate to an IT environment at their own pace and at an affordable cost.

MPEG IMX technologies, embodied in both tape and disc formats, represent a flexible migration path for today's government video professional.

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