1.5 Gbps Link Transmits Digital HD/SD Video, Audio, and Control Signals Without Delay Via Free Space Optics at Up to One Kilometer for Sports and Other Productions

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., March 15, 2007 — The dramatic growth in HDTV sports and entertainment production, as well as the need for permanent HD and SD video links at broadcast facilities, has provided the impetus for a new and versatile uncompressed, high-bandwidth (HD-SDI and SD-SDI) digital-transmission solution. This solution is known as the DT-150 HD Canobeam transceiver and is designed for situations where fiber-optic cables or microwave are impractical and/or the simplicity of Free Space Optics is preferred.

The DT-150 HD Canobeam is the newest member of Canon’s acclaimed series of point-to-point optical beam transceivers that use infrared light to bridge gaps in high-bandwidth transmission situations. The DT-150 HD Canobeam provides bi-directional, uncompressed 1.5 Gbps transmission of embedded digital video, audio, and camera-control signals on a single HD-SDI or SD-SDI stream with no delay. The DT-150 HD Canobeam can also relay embedded HD-SDI and SD-SDI video from multiple cameras or other HD/SD video sources, along with embedded return video and audio to the camera operator, camera-control signals, and robotic camera-control data. The DT-150 HD Canobeam has a range of up to one kilometer and -- like all Canobeam DT-100 series products -- features Canon’s exclusive Auto Tracking feature to maintain beam alignment despite vibration due to wind, rain, or unsteady camera platforms. The DT-150 HD Canobeam has an estimated selling price of $40,000* per pair.

“This is a great leap forward for Canobeam, in terms of performance and price,” says Gordon Tubbs, director of Canon U.S.A.’s Broadcast and Communications division. “HD is such a common factor in everybody’s lives now, especially at most broadcast facilities. By seamlessly providing users with affordable, wireless, point-to-point uncompressed digital transmissions, the DT-150 HD Canobeam is playing a major role in revolutionizing the broadcast industry as the transition to HDTV accelerates.”

The DT-150 HD Canobeam also features an important advance in the Canobeam DT-100 series with the addition of a Small Form Pluggable (SFP) module system. Use of an SFP HD module allows the DT-150 HD Canobeam to interface via single-mode fiber LC connectors. Users who are already using single-mode fiber connections can simply plug it into the DT-150 HD Canobeam and instantly transmit embedded video, audio, and camera controls via the FSO connection. Users who do not have an existing single-mode fiber connection will be able to use third-party media converters to convert HD-SDI signals or SD-SDI signals from either coaxial or SMPTE hybrid fiber cable into single-mode fiber for transmission. As with any SDI stream, audio and/or multiple video signals will be embedded into the stream via a multiplexer.

As with all of Canon’s Canobeam products, the DT-150 HD uses Free Space Optics, which requires no FCC licensing or frequency coordination. Free Space Optics provides a highly secure and reliable video/audio link that is free from RF interference and signal interception. Canon’s other DT-100 series Canobeam systems are proven high-bandwidth data-networking solutions used by corporate and university campuses, government and military facilities, and other situations where existing bandwidth is insufficient, fiber is cost-prohibitive or logistically impossible, or a redundant disaster/recovery system is essential.

The DT-150 HD Canobeam offers multiple applications, from permanent installations (including such uses as STL), to live HD and SD television events. These events may include golf matches where ponds and fairways can’t be bridged by fiber cables, major outdoor concerts where remote camera platforms make fiber links impractical, or sports where images from manned and robotic cameras may need to be relayed to a central point from inaccessible locations. With the combination of Canon’s exclusive Auto Tracking feature and the ability to embed camera control and robotic control signals into the bi-directional HD-SDI or SD-SDI stream, the Canobeam DT-150 HD Canobeam is the perfect solution for the television broadcast and mobile production industry’s dramatic increase in HDTV sports and entertainment telecasts.

For more information about the Canobeam product line, please call Canon Broadcast and Communications Division at 1-800-321-4388.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. The company is listed as one of Fortune's Most Admired Companies in America and is on the BusinessWeek list of "Top 100 Brands.” Its parent company Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ) is a top patent holder of technology, ranking third overall in the U.S. in 2006†, with global revenues of $34.9 billion. For more information, visit www.usa.canon.com.

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All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.
Specifications and availability are subject to change without notice.
*Pricing subject to change at any time. Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.
†IFI Patent Intelligence, January 11, 2007