Panasonic Press Release

Panasonic is pleased to announce today that it will launch a 4GB* SDHC (SD High-Capacity) Memory Card based on the new SD Specification Version 2.00. This latest specification was established to meet the growing demand for HD (High Definition) video and high-resolution image recording now used in many SD-enabled devices. Sales of the memory card worldwide are scheduled to begin in August.

The SD Memory Card has already been adopted by a wide range of digital devices, including digital still cameras, video cameras, audio players and others. Today, there is a growing need for cards with expanded capacity to handle the recording of higher quality images as well as larger volumes of data. In response to dramatic growth in the market for such devices, the SD Card Association (SDA) released SD Specification Version 2.00 for cards with capacities of more than 2GB. Under the new specification, it is now possible to develop SDHC Memory Cards with capacities of up to 32GB.

At the same time, the SDA has established a Speed Class designation for the standardization of data transfer speeds (Class 2, Class 4, and Class 6, with guaranteed increases in speed from one class to the next), instead of relying on the different standards of individual manufacturers. Panasonic’s new SDHC Memory Card has a large capacity of 4GB* and a data transfer speed of up to 5MB/s. It is compliant with the Class 2 SD Speed Class specification, and is best suited for recording MPEG2 video at standard definition quality.

Due to the transition to the new specification, the SDHC Memory Card can be used only in SDHC host devices, which support the SDHC Memory Card format. It cannot be used in other, non-SDHC host devices. Conventional SD Memory Cards, however, can be used in all SDHC host devices.

To clearly differentiate new SDHC Memory Cards from conventional SD Memory Cards, the new Panasonic SDHC Memory Card will have a noticeably different design from the existing Panasonic SD Memory Card lineup. The 4GB* SDHC Memory Card will be black in color with a silver label and will be packaged in a black box, with the SDHC logo imprinted on both the package and the card itself.

With the release of the SDHC Memory Card, along with the Panasonic SDR-S150 SD Video Camera due to be launched in August 2006, Panasonic is providing a stable, longer-duration solution for MPEG2 video recording.

Panasonic remains committed to playing a leading role in the development of both SD enabled devices and SD Memory Cards. The company is planning to further increase the storage capacities of its SDHC Memory Cards as host devices compliant with the new specifications arrive on the market.