Panasonic and 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 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 format employs MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec for video compression, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) or Linear PCM for audio codec. This makes it possible to develop HD video camera recorders which achieve compact size as well as high-quality video and audio.

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: - AVCHD format and logo license for Video Cameras
- AVCHD format and logo license for Players
- AVCHD format license for PC Software

Panasonic and Sony have been promoting this format 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. Adobe, Canon, Cyberlink, Pioneer, Sharp, Ulead, Sonic Solutions and Samsung are among the companies that support the AVCHD format.