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 format's specifications.

Panasonic and Sony announced basic specifications for "AVCHD" on May 11th, 2006, 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.

- Licensed Product Category for the "AVCHD" format and logo extend to

the following:

1) AVCHD format and logo license for Video Cameras

2) AVCHD format and logo license for Players

3) AVCHD format license for PC Software

- For more information on "AVCHD" and licensing procedures:

Please visit the AVCHD Information Web Site http://www.avchd-info.org/

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.

(*) In alphabetical order

Specifications for the "AVCHD" format Version 1.0

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Recording Media 8cm DVD media/SD Memory Card/

"Memory Stick"/Hard Disk Drive

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Video Signal 1080/60i 720/60p 480/60i 576/50i

1080/50i 720/50p

Video 1080/24p 720/24p

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Pixels 1920x1080 1280x720 720x480 720x576

(horizontal x vertical) 1440x1080

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Aspect ratio 16:9 16:9 4:3, 16:9 4:3, 16:9

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Compression

technology MPEG-4 AVC/H.264

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Luminance 74.25MHz 74.25MHz 13.5MHz 13.5MHz

sampling frequency 55.7MHz

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Sampling structure 4:2:0

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Quantifying bit number 8 bit (luminance/colour contrast)

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Audio Compression technology Dolby Digital(AC-3) Linear PCM

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Bit rate after 64 - 640kbps 1.5Mbps

compression (2 channels)

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Audio channels 1-5.1 channels 1-7.1 channels

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System MPEG-2 Transport Stream

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System bit rate up to 24Mbps

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About Panasonic Canada

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Panasonic imaging products are marketed in Canada by Panasonic Canada Inc. (PCI). PCI is a principal Canadian subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., (MEI) of Japan, one of the world's largest producers of electronic and electric products for consumer, business, and industrial use. All prices are in Canadian dollars. Consumers seeking more information on the company's products can call Panasonic's Customer Care Centre at 905-624-5505 or access Panasonic's home page at www.panasonic.ca. exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company's website at http://panasonic.net.

About Sony of Canada Ltd.

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Established in 1955, Sony of Canada Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of electronic and computer products for consumer, business, electronics publishing and multimedia applications on a global scale. With headquarters in Toronto, sales offices in Vancouver and Montreal and distribution centres in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Whitby, Ontario, approximately 1,000 employees support 77 Sony stores and a network of more than 500 authorized dealers across Canada.

For further information: regarding Panasonic Canada, please contact: Nicole Paara, Environics Communications, (416) 969-2831, npaara@environicspr.com; Toni Peet, Environics Communications, (416) 969-2719, tpeet@environicspr.com; regarding Sony of Canada Ltd., please contact : John B. Challinor II, APR General Manager, Advertising & Corporate Communications, Sony of Canada Ltd., (416) 495-3740, john_challinor@sony.ca

Source: newswire