The document discusses the technical specifications and capabilities of Sony's Professional Disc format. Key points include:
- The Professional Disc uses a blue-violet laser and high-performance lens, allowing for higher data capacity and transfer speeds than CD/DVD.
- Discs can store 45-85 minutes of audio/video and other file data. Transfer speeds are up to 72Mb/s read and 85Mb/s write.
- The disc structure makes it durable, resistant to dust/scratches, heat/humidity, and X-rays through its protective cartridge.
8. How much material can you store on Professional Disc?
• 45 minutes recording time at IMX50 with 8 channel audio.
• 55 minutes recording time at IMX40 with 8 channel audio.
• 68 minutes recording time at IMX30 with 8 channel audio.
• 85 minutes recording time at DVCAM with 4 channel audio.
How safe are Professional Disc recordings?
• Disk contains integral defect management.
•Advanced error correction.
• (LDC) Long Distance Code + BIS (Burst Indication Subcode).
• Similar to Reed Solomon.
• Salvage markers recorded every 2 seconds.
• If power is lost, recording is good up to the last salvage marker.
• File is automatically completed using last good salvage marker.
Recording Durations and safety
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11. What is Proxy?
Low Resolution Copy of Recorded Clip.
Video (MPEG4) =1.5Mbps,Audio = 64kbps/ch
Good for
Fast FileTransfer : Up to 50x Real time speed
Quick Ingest and browsing
Small capacity occupation of the HDD
Good for Laptop PC or Field operation (Off-line Edit)
Remote Browsing via Internet
Browse purpose for Archive
Good enough for emergency transmission.
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12. What is Metadata?
Data about the recorded data
Type of Metadata
RealTime (RT) Metadata (Frame information):
Timecode, UMID, GPS position, etc.
Non-RealTime (NRT) Metadata (Clip Information):
LTC ChangeTable, UMID ChangeTable, Essence MarkTable, Creation Date,
Text Description, etc
Disc Metadata:
DiscTitle, Disc ID, Date Initialized, etc
Proxy AV Data:
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13. What is ?
The Gateway to IT-Based Platform
Material eXchange Format
The basic objective of the MXF file format is the exchange of program material in
IT-based environments
An interchange file format
A flexible wrapper forVideo,Audio and Meta-data.
A compression, network & operating system independent file format
A rich metadata aware file format
A stream-able file format with AAF & SDTI compatibility
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19. Various XDCAM compressed connections?
• Ethernet.
• Common to most IT equipment.
• Network connection.
•Web based capability.
• FTP (file transfer protocol) capability.
• File based audio/video connection.
• Speed independent transfer (slower or faster than play speed).
• Metadata support.
XDCAM & Professional Disc technology
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20. What is the difference between IMX & DVCAM formats?
XDCAM can work in both IMX and DVCAM data modes.
IMX : good broadcast quality video.
• 50Mbps, I frame only, 422p@ML MPEG2.
• Seamless connection to MPEG production infrastructures.
•Transcodable using the MSB-2000 Stream Bridge.
• Perfect for post production, quality advertisement and drama.
• IMX-30 : 30Mbps. IMX-40 : 40Mbps.
DVCAM : basic broadcast quality video.
• 25Mbps, frame based, 4:2:0 Europe (4:1:1 USA).
• Lower bit rate than IMX.
• Perfect for news gathering, documentaries, etc..
XDCAM & Professional Disc technology
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23. The XDCAM workflow features
All XDCAM material is stored as files.
All XDCAM clips are recorded in the camcorder as file on disk.
Lo-resAV proxy is also recorded to disk automatically.
Metadata added at source.
All XDCAM clips have metadata added automatically in camcorder.
Metadata includes dates, times, labels, markers, thumbnails, etc..
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24. Metadata is consistent throughout production workflow
Same metadata recorded in camcorder is used in editing.
Metadata is retained for all final edits as well.
Scene selection data can reside on disk
with material.
This data can be made to play only selected
clips in the order they were selected.
The XDCAM workflow features
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25. Advantages of XDCAM workflow
Low media running costs.
Using Professional disk keeps media costs similar to tape.
Media can be lent, borrowed and stored with impunity.
A shoot can use extra disks without impacting costs.
Fast operation.
Archive can hold everything as a series of files.
Hi-res and Lo-res files, EDL’s, final program files and metadata.
Searching through the archive can be done via metadata.
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37. XDCAMTransferTool for Mac users
Clip Rename and Deletion
QuickThumbnail Load
Metadata Editing
Connect Multiple XDCAM Devices via FAM
Import with “Disc Name + Clip Name”
Improve Performance of Partial HD Clip Import
ClipList Preview and Import Partial HR Clip
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38. Optical disk technology background
Music and software CD’s.
• CD is pre-stamped with data pits on top surface.
•Top surface is sputtered with aluminium to make it shiny.
•Top surface is coated with lacquer to protect data.
• Label printed on top.
• Laser focuses from the bottom, through 1.2mm of disk.
• Each disk can hold 650MB of data.
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44. Optical disk technology background
Pre-recorded DVD’s (single sided, dual layer example).
• Each DVD is made from 2 disks 0.6mm thick.
•Top disk is pre-stamped with data pits on bottom surface.
• Bottom disk is pre-stamped with data pits on top surface.
• Bottom of top disk sputtered with aluminium.
•Top of bottom disk sputtered with semi-transparent gold.
•Two disks glued together with data on inside.
• Label printed on top.
• Overall disk thickness is still 1.2mm. Glue layer is thin.
• Laser focuses from the bottom, through 0.6mm of disk.
• Laser can focus on either data layer …
• … top of the bottom disk or bottom of top disk.
• Not all DVD’s are dual layer, some have a‘dummy’ top layer.
• Each data layer can hold about 4.7GB.
Single sided, single layer version.
•Top disk is flat dummy disk to make up the thickness.
• Bottom layer is sputtered normally with aluminium.
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46. Optical disk technology background
CD-R disks (one time recorded)
• Disk stamped with spiral guide on top surface (pre-groove).
• Pre-groove guides laser during writing and reading.
• Pre-groove has a‘wobble’ that acts as sync signal.
•Top surface coated with organic dye.
•Top surface then sputtered with gold.
•Top surface then coated in protective lacquer.
• Label printed on top.
•Write laser‘burns’ dye, changing its characteristics.
• Burnt dye acts like pits on a pre-stamped disk.
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48. 700MB CD-R disks
• First CD-R disks recorded 650 MB (like original CD)
• Some later CD-R disks have higher 700MB capacity.
• Pre-groove‘wobble’ is at a higher frequency.
•This slows the disk and allows for longer write times.
Optical disk technology background
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50. Optical disk technology background
CD-RW disks
• Disk stamped with spiral pre-groove on top surface.
• Top surface sputtered with dilectric layer …
• … then metal alloy layer …
• … then another dilectric layer …
• … then gold layer.
• Top surface then coated in protective varnish.
• Label printed on top.
• Note : Metal alloy layer is an alloy of materials like silver, indium, antimony and tellurium.
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51. CD-RW disks
• Metal alloy layer is the recording layer.
•Two states, reflective (crystalline) & non-reflective (amorphous).
• Dilectric layers sandwich the metal alloy layer.
•They soak heat away from metal alloy layer during recording.
Optical disk technology background
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52. Optical disk technology background
CD-RW disks
Before writing to disk alloy is in highly reflective.
•The alloy is in a crystalline state.
When writing laser changes alloys optical characteristics.
• Laser heats alloy to 600 degrees C.
•Alloy changes from crystalline state to amorphous state.
•Alloy cools and loses its reflective nature.
• Change from crystalline to amorphous is called a‘phase change’.
• Changes act like pits on a pre-stamped disk.
• Laser can also erase recording.
• Laser heats alloy to 300 degrees C.
•Alloy cools and becomes crystalline again (reflective).
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53. DVD-R disks
• Use similar‘record once’ technology to CD-R disks.
DVD-RW disks
• Uses similar phase change technology as CD-RW.
Dual layer DVD-R and DVD-RW available.
•Accurate focusing to individual layers.
• Semi transparent recordable layer is difficult to accomplish.
Optical disk technology background
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55. 1st Generation Professional disks
• Similar phase change technology to CD-RW and DVD-RW.
• Data layer on the bottom of the disk.
• Disk stamped with guide grooves on bottom surface.
• Bottom surface sputtered with gold.
• Bottom surface then coated with dilectric.
•Then coated with alloy recording material.
•Then coated with second layer of dilectric.
• Bottom surface coated in 0.1mm protective layer of lacquer.
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57. 1st Generation Professional disks
Writing to Professional Disc
• Laser follows the pre-groove.
• Laser writes to disk in bursts of power for‘1’s and‘0’s
•When writing laser heats alloy to 600 degC.
• Phase change from crystalline to amorphous.
• Spot of amorphous alloy looks like a pit.
Erasing Professional Disc
• Laser follows the pre-groove.
•When erasing laser heats alloy to 200 degC.
• Phase change from amorphous to crystalline.
•This area of the disk can now be re-recorded.
How does XDCAM read from Professional Disc?
• Laser follows the pre-groove.
•When reading laser is low power (no heating).
• Laser focuses on reflective alloy surface.
• Reflected light passes back out and into a light sensor.
• Spots of amorphous alloy scatter light.
• No light reflected back to sensor.
• Spots interpreted as‘1’s and‘0’s.
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58. Optical disk technology background
NA = numeric aperture.
n = refractive index.
θ= angular aperture
A blue violet laser is only half the solution to high capacity.
Numerical aperture also need to be as high as possible.
Why is the numeric aperture important?
Numeric aperture is the lens’s ability to resolve detail (NA is a measure of the detail that a laser
can pick up)
The higher the numeric aperture, the greater the detail.
A high NA also reduces the effect of wobble and tilt.
Lens needs to be close to the data.
Thus data layer at the bottom of the disk.
XDCAM uses a numerical aperture of 0.85.
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59. What is the Sony Professional Disc?
The correct name is Professional Disc
• Capital “P” and “D”.
• “Disc” spelt with “c” not “k”.
Professional Disc logo…
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60. Introduction
PFD23 Professional Discs not only hold much more data and transfer data at a much
higher speed than CD & DVD, they are designed with the reliability and durability
required for professional applications.
What makes this possible is the use of a 405 nm blue-violet laser and a high
performance objective lens(an objective lens with a numerical aperture (NA) of
0.85).
PFD23 Professional Discs are designed with a 0.1 mm optically transparent cover
layer, which diminishes aberration caused by disc tilt, yet is durable enough to
protect the disc’s recording layer.
The track pitch on PFD23 Professional Discs is a mere 0.32 μm, which is less than
half that of a standard DVD, allowing much more data to be stored on the same
sized disc.
• The PFD23 can store a variety of audio/video data while maintaining excellent
quality, and also allows users to easily access and retrieve stored content in a logical
manner by using metadata stored on the disc.
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62. Non-Contact Recording and Playback:
the recording surface never physically comes in contact with the read/write “head,” or
in this case, the objective lens.
Nonlinear Medium:
(linear media such as Tape) the data you are looking for can be accessed directly and
quickly. Whether you are looking for high resolution AV data, Proxy AV Data, other
forms of metadata, or any other file data on the disc, simply select the file or
thumbnail on a user friendly GUI, and you have instant access to the data.
Format Independence:
Current XDCAM Professional Disc products support both DVCAM and MPEG IMX
formats. In addition, other forms of data, including metadata and other PC
compatible data such as text files, spreadsheets, presentation, and graphics files can
reside on the disc as required. This format flexibility makes the PFD23 Professional
Disc an ideal medium for use today, and for future growth into other formats
including high definition.
Introduction
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63. • High-Capacity Disc and HighTransfer Rate:
1. The PFD23 (23.3 GB): a recording time of 45 to 85 minutes depending on the bit
rate the camera operator chooses when shooting.
2. The maximum speed at which data can be transferred to the PFD23 media is 72
Mb/s
3. The maximum speed at which data can be read from the disc is 85 Mb/s.
4. This translates to a transfer rate of approximately 72 Mb/s from a single optical
head and approximately 144 Mb/s from dual optical heads, providing stable
recording and playback of high bit-rate data such as a 50 Mb/s MPEG IMX stream.
Introduction
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64. Disc Structure and Design:
1. highly resistant to dust, shock, and scratches.
2. resistant to heat and humidity, and is X-ray.
3. This is achieved by packaging the disc in an extremely durable and dust-resistant
cartridge consisting of an anti-static polycarbonate resin shell. Not only does this
design make the Professional Disc media durable, but it also makes the disc
lightweight and easy to handle, minimizing the need for a user to worry about
touching the disc’s recording surface.
4. These factors make the Professional Disc media ideal for use in harsh field
environments, and also allow for long media life and long-term storage.
Introduction
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72. The actual disc that is housed in the cartridge is made of a new type of
polycarbonate composition and is formed in layers. These layers include a disc
substrate (1.1 mm thick), a recording layer, and a cover layer.
XDCAM Professional Disc Series systems, however, are designed to minimize disc
tilt to a level less than any other optical recording system, including DVD systems,
thus providing stable signal reproduction.
The thin (0.1 mm) but robust cover layer is used to minimize aberration caused by
disc tilt allowing the optical block to accurately write and read even if disc tilt
comparable to what might be encountered in typical DVD systems is induced.
The disc also employs “wobbled (sinusoidal) grooves,” which are used as address
identification feedback to the tracking and seek systems. Audiovisual data and
metadata are recorded on these grooves.
Introduction
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80. Why is the laser blue/violet?
• Smaller data‘dots’ = higher data density = more data on disk.
• Blue/violet lasers have a smaller wavelength (405nm)…
• … which allows for smaller data dots.
Differences BetweenThe Professional Disc and
Other Disc Media
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82. Consumer Blu-Ray Disc™ disc & PFD23
As many of you may already know, a consumer Blu-Ray Disc™ disc was introduced to
the Japanese market in spring of 2003. Although the disc capacity is the same as the
PFD23 Professional Disc, there are several differences between the two media.
First and foremost is the fact that the maximum data transfer rate between the
consumer Blu-ray disc using a single laser is half that (i.e. 36 Mb/s) of the PFD23
using a single laser(72 Mb/s ).
Secondly, the consumer Blu-ray is designed to work with systems containing only
one laser, whereas the PFD23 has a unique rotational shutter mechanism that allows
it to work with dual laser systems.
finally, the cartridge (casing) of the PFD23 is designed to be more reliable and
durable than the consumer Blu-ray cartridge.
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85. Sony Professional Disc vs. Solid State Media and
HDDs
Professional Disc media is nonlinear in nature just like HDDs and solid-state
memory cards.
HDDs are bulky and sensitive to shock, and solid-state memory is extremely
expensive and difficult to handle.
Professional Disc media is easy to handle, very durable, inexpensive, and can be
used throughout all phases of your production workflow, from acquisition to
archive.This means one media, which equals one cost.
If solid-state media is used in acquisition, it can be used only as “temporary storage.”
Storage servers (HDDs), and/or other storage media such as discs are still
required when editing, distributing, or archiving the footage that was shot.
( This means that you are faced with the cost and burden of handling of at least two
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90. • Which would you rather have with you on a photo shoot when your media budget is
$500?
Cost Comparison
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91. Ultimate Media for Reuse and Long Life
Tests show that the disc can be written to over 1000 times, and the shelf life and
archival life of the media are both estimated to be greater than 50 years.
Direct Overwrite
It is the process of directly overwriting data (i.e. data is erased and written
simultaneously as opposed to first erasing data then writing data).
The Direct Overwrite (DOW) cycles are approximately 1000 times before any
significant degradation due to bit errors is encountered
The Direct Overwrite (DOW) approaches 10,000 cycles before it reaches a point
that is not correctable using error correction.
there is very little degradation even as the number of read cycles approach
1,000,000.
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97. phase change technology
It is used to create “marks” and “spaces” on the disc surface representing actual
audio, video, and other data.
Translating these “marks” and “spaces” to a binary signal is how data is read from the
disc.
These functions are performed with the optical block, which contains both the laser
diode and pickup device (a 4-quadrant photo detector).
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99. Writing Data (Phase Change Recording)
When Professional Discs are produced at a factory, the rewritable area is a long
continuous spiral groove with a flat reflective surface (i.e. the recording surface is in
it’s crystalline state, meaning that there is no data).
PFD23 Media Cross-Section Showing Grooves on Recording Layer
“On-groove recording”
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100. The recording layer of the PFD23 disc is made of a material(consists of an
antimony-tellurium based alloy mixed with additives) that can change its state (or
phase) from a crystalline phase (space) to an amorphous phase (mark).
The combination of crystalline and amorphous segments constitutes a recorded
section.
When recording to disc, the XDCAM system’s laser power is controlled in such a
manner that it varies between the crystallization point, the melting point, and a
cooling point, which is near room temperature.
phase change technology
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102. By varying laser power, an XDCAM system can create marks and spaces on the
disc’s recording surface ranging in length from 2T to 8T where “T” is a length equal
to one clock period.
How the Marks and Spaces Are Created
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103. While the disc is rotating on the spindle, both tracking and focus servos, control the
position of the laser so that it is directly over the appropriate disc track at a specified
distance, and the laser is pulsed, while the reflected laser beam is measured to verify
and control the laser power.
Before the laser writes to the disc, the data is buffered in the XDCAM system’s
memory. In this way, while the laser writes to disc, if for some reason the laser
moves off track while writing, the system keeps the data in its memory until the
servos bring the laser back on track and can continue to write to the disc. This is a
detailed explanation of how the system forms marks on the groove.
How the Marks and Spaces Are Created
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104. These marks can later be read by the system and converted back to the signal that
was used to create the marks thereby reproducing the original signal as required for
playback.
When writing these marks, the laser power is actually pulsed in short increments to
ensure that the marks generated are clean, symmetric, and thus easily read by the
system.
If the laser power is not pulsed, marks have a tendency to form in a “teardrop”
shape, making it difficult to accurately read.
How the Marks and Spaces Are Created
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105. The Relationship Between Actual
Signals and Marks
17PP Modulation and Data Bit Conversion
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106. high-resolution video and high-quality audio signals, metadata including low-
resolution video and audio (Proxy AV Data) ,….are stored on the Professional Disc
in increments called Recording Unit Blocks (RUBs), which are data blocks that are
64 KB (kilobytes) in size.
17PP modulation technique, as is observed in the more common RLL(1,7)
modulation technique, makes signals more manageable by preventing the “1s” from
being adjacent to one another and by making the maximum number of bits between
the “1s” to be 7 bits.
This results in the original signal being represented in a form more suitable for
transmission to a storage medium.
This modulation methodology forces the minimum mark size to be 2T and the
maximum mark size to be 8T, which makes data on the disc more easily and
accurately readable.
The 17PP modulation technique reduces the low-frequency signal component
resulting in an improved signal to noise (S/N) ratio compared to the RLL (1,7)
modulation technique.
The Relationship Between Actual
Signals and Marks
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108. At the bottom of the figure is the laser diode, which when reading data, generates a
relatively low power constant signal aimed at the disc.
Among other subsystems, the laser beam passes through a collimator lens, a
polarizing beam splitter, and objective lenses before coming in contact with the
disc’s surface.
The reflected beam is directed back towards the other side of the polarizing beam
splitter and is deflected into a 4-quadrant photo detector, which is in fact the “pick-
up” device.
The beam reflectivity is greater where there is a “space” (crystalline phase) than
where there is a “mark” (amorphous phase).
This reflected beam is picked up by the photo detector and is then converted to a
signal that resembles the original NRZI signal that was used to write the data, which
is in turn converted back into the original signal, which represents the actual data.*
*In reality, there are additional signals that are generated from the “wobbled grooves,” which
contain absolute address information of each RUB and are used to set the starting point and
write clock of actual data written on the grooves,but a detailed explanation on this mechanism
is out of the scope of this document.
Reading Data and Playing OutVideo and Audio
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109. when writing to the disc, the data is buffered in (or passes through) memory so that
if for some reason the laser moves off track while playing, the system’s servos can
get back on track and continue playing out a smooth data stream.
The XDCAM system then processes this data, and depending on the type of data the
system determines the marks and spaces to be, it takes the correct action an outputs
appropriate results.
For example, if the data is determined to be high-resolution video and high-quality
audio (MPEG IMX or DVCAM), then the XDCAM system will play that stream of
data. If the data is Proxy AV, then the system will play the Proxy AV stream out. If
the data is another form of metadata such as Essence Marks, they will be processed
and displayed accordingly.
In other words, the XDCAM system is designed specifically to process almost any
kind of data that resides on the PFD23 Professional Disc.
Reading Data and Playing OutVideo and Audio
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116. What does ‘dual head’ mean?
• Some XDCAM products are single head machines.
•They have a single read/write head.
• Single laser.
• Used by camcorders,V1 & R1
XDCAM & Professional Disc technology
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117. What does ‘dual head’ mean?
• Other XDCAM products have two read/write heads.
•This allows high speed data transfer and fast clip change.
• Dual laser.
• Used by PDW-1500
XDCAM & Professional Disc technology
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118. How XDCAM Professional Disc ProductsWriteTo
and Read From the PFD23 Media
Data OnTape
Atypical digital tape footprint, is perhaps a more familiar image to you.
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121. In actuality, the transfer and storage of data is much more complicated than the
following explanation, but it should provide you with a general understanding of
how and where data is stored.
As explained, data is recorded, or written to disc, in basic units of 64 KB RUBs.
These RUBs are written in the following manner.
When a recording is started, data is written from the inside portion of the disc to
the outside portion along the spiral groove. The first portion of data that is written
to disc when the record button is pressed is called an “annulus,” which contains
among other data, high-resolution video, audio, and Proxy AV Data.
Each annulus represents approximately two seconds of AV data; it’s difficult to
quantify this data in terms of RUBs because the number of RUBs varies depending
on the size of the audio and video data.
Data On Disc and RUBs
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122. For example, MPEG IMX data with eight (8) channels of audio will have many more
RUBs than does DVCAM data with four (4) channels of audio.
These annuli are generally written back-to-back along the grooves in the annulus
area shown in Figure.*
So, for example, if 30 seconds of video is shot, approximately 15 annuli will be
written.
Once all of the annuli for a given clip are written, then the header and footer data
are written at the end of the last annulus.
This is then followed by Non-Realtime Metadata, which is written in the NRT data
area.
An illustration of this can be seen in Figure . The header and footer data are
required to create an MXF file. This allows XDCAM systems to recognize these files
so that the data can be accessed at a later time, and it ensures compatibility with
other MXF capable systems.
*If other data is present or if a defect is encountered, then the system will skip that portion and
continue to write where space is available.
Data On Disc and RUBs
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123. Picture Cache
Up to 10 seconds of audio & video data is always buffered ready for recording
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124. Interval Recording
XDCAM Camcorders can record frames automatically at pre-determined intervals (i.e.
1 frame per second, minute, hour or day)
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126. “Slow & Fast” Recording
XDCAM HD PDW-F350 Camcorder can record in “Slow & Fast” mode (i.e.
Over/Under crank)
No frame-rate converter required for playback !!!
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