First leg of Sony Media Production road show makes its mark in Dubai

Attendance at the road show was excellent, boasting visitors from different industries from the UAE, Oman, Ethiopia, Saudi, Bahrain and Iran. The diverse visitor profile included delegates from the broadcast and education industries, production houses, Government, private videographers and systems integrators.

Sony B&P ME showcased its extensive range of advanced AV/IT broadcast solutions for visitors to have a closer look and experience the functionalities for themselves. Attendees from the private and industrial sectors showed particular interest in Sony's HDV and AnyCast Station whilst XDCAM and DV Station attracted the broadcasters and delegates from different government bodies.

Nonetheless, the showing for the first time outside Europe and Japan of Sony's new range of HDV professional format products, took centre-stage at the roadshow with massive interest from delegates of all industry backgrounds. HDV, yet to be launched globally is an entry-level (low cost) high definition solution for those who need to produce higher quality programs and event recordings.

"We received a lot of positive feedback on the HDV Professional system from several visitors to the show. It was actually one of the most 'crowded' areas of the show," said Yuki Sugihara, Head of Marketing, Sony B&P ME. "TV stations looking for better picture quality for their sub-cameras, low budget production customers looking to improve on their DVCAM's, and high-end producers looking for professional systems for filming in the wild were impressed with what the HDV had to offer in terms of advanced functionalities and picture clarity."

HDV is a true 1080i definition format recording on a small hand held camcorder producing stunning quality picture results at an amazing price. Those using DV and DVCAM format equipment today and who now require to move to high definition then HDV is the ideal migration path they have been waiting for.

"We were delighted with the amount of interest that we received from a diverse audience during the first leg of our regional road show in Dubai," said Nigel Thompson, A/V Marketing Manager, Sony B&P ME. "We feel that the regional show will be a success in terms of realizing our objective - informing directly the market place of Sony's wide-range of broadcast and professional A/V solutions, and demonstrating first hand that these can improve workflow efficiency and therefore assist them in exceeding their production and business needs."

"After IBC 2004, it was apparent that even in the EMEA zone where broadcasting in HD has not happened yet people have recognized the developments that are taking place in this arena in the US, Asia or Australia, where everyone is talking about HD," added Sugihara. "HDV format is especially important in the MEA market where cost is a big issue. It brings the same entry level format to the High Definition world as DVCAM did for the Standard Definition world. HDV will make HD accessible to people who thought that they were not in that league."

Sony will be taking its 'Media Production' road show to other countries around the Middle East region including Egypt, Qatar, Egypt, Iran and Lebanon.