Recognising that most post houses will be running mixed SD/HD video environments in the coming years, Sony is launching HDXchange, a cross-platform hardware/software suite for SD and HD content management allowing entry- and mid-level customers to migrate smoothly to HD.
HDXchange provides a shared storage environment for DV, DVCAM and MPEG Long GOP HD file formats, such as HDV and the XDCAM HD system. The new suite will enable collaboration through file sharing and EDL exchange between leading non-linear editors, as well as network browsing of proxy material, direct web authoring, and overall asset management.
“Our goal was to design a product that would support collaborative editing of SD and HD video files for the HDV and XDCAM HD user, at a reasonable price,” said Steve Wynn, network marketing manager for optical and network systems at Sony Electronics. “HDXchange will allow users to take advantage of leading non-linear editors on Windows or Macintosh platforms, share video assets, and exchange EDLs.” The HDXchange suite will provide more than 250 hours of video storage (at 25Mb/s HDV or DVCAM rates) and automatically generate proxy files for network browsing, offline storyboarding, and web applications. The system will support an optical disc workflow, as well as the workflow of typical DVCAM and HDV users.
“By continuing our application of proxy files, which began with the e-VTR and the XDCAM system, we are bringing powerful browsing features to an entirely new user base,” said Chris Marchitelli, HDXchange product manager and development liaison for Sony Electronics.
HDXchange will include embedded applications for network browsing, material ingest, video and EDL exchange for supported editors, and archiving options. Further advanced browsing and metadata access features are planned to be announced later in the year to extend the system’s asset management capabilities.
The HDXchange hardware and software suite is planned to be available in the autumn with configured packages starting at suggested list prices of $54,000.
