from a Panasonic press release
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Tokyo, Japan, July 13, 2006— Panasonic, the brand name for which Matsushita Electric

Industrial Co., Ltd. is known and Sony Corporation (hereafter Sony) announced jointly today

the commencement of licensing for "AVCHD," the high definition (HD) digital video

camera recorder format, as well as expansion of the formats specifications.

Panasonic and Sony announced basic specifications for "AVCHD" on May 11th this

year, and since then have extensively promoted the format throughout the industry while

preparing for licensing. Then, the two companies have decided to include memory cards (SD

Memory Card and Memory Stick) and hard disk drives as applicable recording media of the

format in addition to previously-announced 8cm DVD. This is for the purpose of broadening

the range of applicable media, thereby allowing wide variety of products to be developed by

various manufacturers. The new specification was defined as "AVCHD " format Version

1.0.

The two companies have also developed licensing programs for playback appliances and PC

software in addition to the one for video cameras, so that environment for playing back

AVCHD content will be expanded. This will allow users to enjoy shooting high definition

footages with their camcorders and playing them back or editing them on a wide range of

products.

Panasonic and Sony have been promoting this format extensively throughout the
industry as the new HD digital video camcorder format best suited for the coming High Definition era and the following companies have expressed their support for
"AVCHD" to date.

Through these licensing programs, Panasonic and Sony will continue promoting "AVCHD" in earnest, with a view to expanding the market for consumer-use HD video camera.

Adobe Systems Incorporated

CANON INC.

CyberLink Corporation

InterVideo, Inc.

Nero AG

PIONEER CORPORATION

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD.

SHARP CORPORATION

Sonic Solutions

Ulead Systems, Inc.

  • In alphabetical order