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.
