Available in March, New Handheld Delivers AVC-ULTRA’s High Quality and Versatile Efficiency; Offers Flexible 3G/4G/LTE Wireless Mobility

NEWARK, NJ (February 27, 2014) – Panasonic today announced delivery and pricing of the new AJ-PX270, the company’s first P2 HD handheld camcorder with AVC-ULTRA recording. Combining the high quality and incredible efficiency of low bit rate recording and the flexibility of 3G/4G/LTE wireless mobility, the five-pound PX270 provides all the key functionality of Panasonic’s high-end, shoulder-mount camcorder (the AJ-PX5000 with AVC-ULTRA). It also features newly-developed high-sensitivity, low-noise 1/3” 3-MOS imagers to produce stunning pictures, even in low light conditions.

The ultimate news acquisition tool, the PX270 will be equally suitable for a wide range of sports, corporate, education and event applications. The PX270 will be available in March at a suggested list price of $6,495.

With its innovative AVC-ULTRA codec, the PX270 features a wide range of recording modes. For high-quality recording, the camera records in 100Mbps AVC-Intra100, as well as 200 Mbps

AVC-Intra200 (optional: available in the near future). For applications where file size is critical, e.g., for wireless feeds, the camcorder incorporates a choice of AVC-LongG quality levels, including AVC-LongG50, AVC-LongG25 and AVC-LongG12. These 10-bit, 4:2:2 sampled codecs (LongG50/25*) record in much smaller file sizes, saving storage cost and transfer time while maintaining equal or better video quality to existing legacy codecs.

Addressing the need for high-speed file exchange, the PX270’s high-resolution AVC-Proxy encodes in parallel with higher bandwidth production formats, enabling fast, efficient offline editing, at bit rates from 6 Mbps down to 800kbps. The camcorder also offers legacy recording in DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV.

“The  PX270’s scalable, flexible AVC-ULTRA codec encompasses recording 10-bit 4:2:2 HD at 25Mbps,  a dramatic achievement meaning that broadcast-quality HD can be transported over fast broadband networks at high speed, and users can record long-format material to a single or dual microP2 card,” said Steven Cooperman, Senior Product Manager, Panasonic System Communications Company of North America. ”The 200Mbps option is a testament to the camera’s flexibility, with its visually lossless compression and master-level quality.”

A newly designed, compact, 22X zoom lens offers a wide 28 mm to tele 616 mm (35mm equivalent) zoom range. The PX270’s three manual operation lens rings — zoom, focus and iris -- provide a comfortable manual control similar to interchangeable lenses, but without the need for actual lens changes. The zoom ring's solid feel and smooth action allows delicate ultra-slow zooming. In addition, the camera’s multi-step zoom control provides fast response and smooth zoom action, providing the creative freedom every camera operator wants. The zoom control on the handle enables variable speed zoom, allowing fine zoom control even for low angle shots.