Panasonic Press Release

Panasonic’s Pro High Speed Series SD Memory Cards Achieve World’s Fastest Data Transfer Speed

Panasonic has recently introduced the new Pro High Speed Series 1GB and 512MB SD memory cards. These Memory Cards boast Panasonic’s new LSI architecture and proprietary high speed technology to double the data transfer speed from 10MB/s to the world’s fastest* data transfer speed of up to 20MB/s**.

The increased data transfer speed is important for handling larger content files due to the functions and performance of digital equipment becoming more and more advanced. The Panasonic Pro High Speed SD Cards provide the speed necessary to easily record and replay high quality video images. In the future, it is expected that more and more users will enjoy recording TV programs on SD memory cards for playback on different SD-enabled products. Since video data entails an extremely large file size, it stands to reason that there will be an increased need for high speed data transfer.

Perfect for the DSC market for example, that has recently seen rapid progress toward higher resolution, which has increased the size of data files and the need for higher performance. Consecutive shooting, an increasingly popular DSC feature, also requires high-speed transfer rates. In addition, there is a continuing popularization of functions to record and play back video images such as MPEG4 and MPEG2 using memory cards.

The SD Memory Card opens up a whole new world for linking products and the new Pro High Speed Memory Cards ensure that this is made easier. The versatility of the SD Memory Card means that you can use the same card in a number of devices, from your LUMIX digital still camera, DIGA DVD recorder, digital camcorder, IC recorder to a car stereo. All of these can be networked to any computer with an adapter or card reader, making for easy file transfer, archiving and comprehensive PC based editing.

The name Pro High Speed indicates that the cards provide high-level performance compatible with the standard demanded by video professionals. The basic construction of the Pro High Speed Series card is employed in the recording medium (P2 Card) used by the Panasonic professional camera DVCPRO P2 system, which delivers the exceptional tapeless video capture performance and durability required by video professionals. The fact that this professional camera has been adopted by more than 40 leading TV broadcasters and tested at the recent Athens Olympics shows its reliability of both the camera and media.

The 1GB SD Memory Card has the capacity to store up to 2325 still images (normal mode), six hours of MPEG4 video (normal mode) and around 22 hours of music, while the 512MB can store up to 944 still images (normal mode), 2 hours of MPEG4 video (normal mode) and around 11 hours of music. This kind of large capacity is essential for use with a variety of digital concept types, and especially with high-quality video.

Large capacity and fast access, combined with a compact and slim profile, make the SD Memory Card very appealing for a wide range of products and applications. Add in the SD Memory Card’s advanced copyright protection, and you’ll see that the SD Memory Card’s technology is defining a road map for the digital networking world.

Panasonic has also launched a Cardbus compatible PC Card Adaptor as a host device to enable high-speed data transfer. The BN-SDPC3E has been designed specifically to compliment Panasonic’s Pro High Speed SD Memory Cards.

In line with the transfer speed increase, the card label and the package design have been restyled – so look out for these new Panasonic Pro High Speed SD cards in stores now.

*As of October 2004
** This card complies with SD Memory Card Physical Layer Specification Ver.1.10. When using this card with SD-enabled products that comply with the above specifications, a speed performance of up to 20 MB/s can be realised. When using it with SD-enabled products that comply with the conventional specification Ver 1.01, the speed performance will be up to 10 MB/s.