Overview Chapter 1

1-1Features

The PDW-R1 is a convenient, compact, and lightweight optical disc recorder. It allows you to record to optical discs, play back optical discs, and record audio and video data files transferred over the S400 (i.LINK 1)) connector and (network) connector. It is ideal for field applications and for desktop viewing by journalists, producers, and other production staff.

1) i.LINK is a trademark of Sony Corporation.

The features of the PDW-R1 include the following.

MPEG IMX/DVCAM recording

The PDW-R1 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.

Thumbnail search operation

Simply press the THUMBNAIL button and the PDW-R1 instantly displays thumbnails on the video panel or 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.

Quick picture search by jog and shuttle dials

The PDW-R1 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 ±20 times normal speed.

IT-friendly system

In the PDW-R1, 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 unit via an i.LINK (file access mode, called FAM below) connection—in the same way that a computer reads data files on an external drive. The interfaces include the

S400 (i.LINK) connector, supporting AV/C (Audio/ Video Control) and i.LINK (FAM) protocols, and (network) connector. The (network) connector supports MXF (Material eXchange Format) file transfer capability to exchange contents with other equipment supporting MXF.

1-1 Features

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