/C O R R E C T I O N -- Sony Corporation and Panasonic/

TOKYO, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- In the news release, "Panasonic and Sony Expand HD Digital Video Camera" issued on 13 Jul 2006 08:00 GMT, by Sony Corporation and Panasonic over PR Newswire, we are advised by a representative of the company that the headline should have read "Panasonic and Sony Expand HD Digital Video Camera Recorder Format "AVCHD" and Commence Joint Licensing" and not "Panasonic and Sony Expand HD Digital Video Camera" as incorrectly transmitted by PR Newswire. Complete, corrected release follows:

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 this year, 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 ]

    
    Recording Media                              8cm DVD media/

                                         SD Memory Card/"Memory Stick"/

                                                 Hard Disk Drive
          Video Signal             1080/60i    720/60p   480/60i    576/50i

                                   1080/50i    720/50p

                                   1080/24p    720/24p

          Pixels (horizontal x     1920x1080   1280x720  720x480    720x576
          vertical)
                                   1440x1080
          Aspect ratio             16:9        16:9      4:3, 16:9  4:3, 16:9
          Compression technology                MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
          Luminance                74.25MHz    74.25MHz  13.5MHz    13.5MHz

          sampling frequency       55.7MHz
          Sampling structure                          4:2:0
          Quantifying bit number        8 bit (luminance/color contrast)

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

          Bit rate after              64  -  640kbps     1.5Mbps (2 channels)

          compression
          Audio channels              1-5.1 channels        1-7.1 channels
    System                                   MPEG-2 Transport Stream

    System bit rate                                   -24Mbps
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Contact:
    Panasonic: Panasonic Europe Ltd,
    Brendon Gore,
    Tel: +44-(0)208-899-2217,
    Email: Brendon.Gore@eu.panasonic.com.
    Sony Corporation: Corporate Communications,
    Tel: +81-3-5448-2200, Sony Europe GmbH,
    Sylvia Shin,
    Tel: +49-30-2575-5156,
    Email: Sylvia.Shin@eu.sony.com

Panasonic: Panasonic Europe Ltd, Brendon Gore, Tel: +44-(0)208-899-2217, Email: Brendon.Gore@eu.panasonic.com. Sony Corporation: Corporate Communications, Tel: +81-3-5448-2200, Sony Europe GmbH, Sylvia Shin, Tel: +49-30-2575-5156, Email: Sylvia.Shin@eu.sony.com