720 Progressive HDTV Mobile Truck Rolls to Oakland for Rehearsal of Preseason Monday Night Football Game.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 1999--

--Panasonic, Synergistic Technologies Design, Equip HDTV 

Truck Ahead of Schedule for Season of "ABC's NFL 

Monday Night Football" Games--

In the training camps of professional football teams throughout the National Football League (NFL), rookies and veterans alike are putting in grueling hours getting ready for the start of the upcoming season. Just southwest of Pittsburgh at Synergistic Technologies Inc. (STI) in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, technicians from Panasonic and Synergistic have also put in grueling hours this summer completing the 58-foot HDTV mobile production truck in time for ABC Television Network's 720 Progressive (720P) broadcasts of "ABC's NFL Monday Night Football."

In May, the ABC Television Network and Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company (PBTSC) announced that they would team to broadcast the 1999/2000 season of "ABC's NFL Monday Night Football" (MNF) and Super Bowl XXXIV live in high definition television (HDTV). The 1999/2000 season of MNF will be the first live, regularly scheduled HDTV sporting events in primetime, and will be broadcast in 720P, ABC's selected HDTV format. The HDTV telecasts will be produced and transmitted independent of MNF on the traditional analog network.

PBTSC and STI built and outfitted the 720P HDTV mobile production truck that many feel will change the way the nation's pro football fans view the game. The production truck will used for a rehearsal during the last preseason MNF game in Oakland, California on August 30th, and then travel to Denver, Colorado for the first of 17 "live" broadcasts of MNF games, one wild card playoff game on January 8th, 2000 and Super Bowl XXXIV, in Atlanta, Georgia, January 30th, 2000.

"The 720P mobile production truck is a testament to Panasonic's advanced array of HDTV technologies as well as our company's systems integration capabilities," said Warren Allgyer, President, PBTSC. "The mobile truck was completed and delivered with our partner, STI, in 129 days -- eight days ahead of schedule."

"From its 16:9 wide screen images to outstanding picture clarity to cinema-quality sound, ABC's telecasts of NFL Monday Night Football and Super Bowl XXXIV will vividly demonstrate the very best in HDTV," Allgyer added.

The production truck's 720P HDTV broadcast system is equipped with a wide variety of Panasonic HDTV products, including:

- Four AQ-7200P 720P full-featured studio cameras and three AQ-720P

hand-held cameras will be used for acquisition of the game. The

720P cameras generate 60 progressive frames/second to produce

high definition images free from interlace artifacts.

- Four AJ-HD2700 1080i/720P D-5 HD VTRs will be used for recording,

slow-motion replays as well as playback of prerecorded elements.

- Four AJ-HDP510 720P HDTV processors will allow the truck's Pluto

Hyperspace HD Digital disk recorder to record the 720P signal for

use in slow-motion replays.

- AJ-UFC1800 Universal Format Converters, which make it possible to

convert television signals between video formats recognized under

the U.S. ATSC-DTV standard.

- Two Panasonic's PT-42P1 42" Gas Plasma displays will be the

centerpiece of the truck's main monitor wall - the first HD

flat-panel monitor wall ever assembled in a mobile production. A

third Panasonic 42" plasma display will be utilized in the

announcers' booth. The PT-42P1 set the world standard for

brightness and thinness in 42-inch plasma displays.

- Two Panasonic WR-DA7V digital audio mixers have been linked

together in the truck's audio suite to the mix up to 64 inputs of

5.1 channel surround sound;

- More than 40 BT-S915DA 9"monitors, capable of either 4:3 or 16:9

display, will be used throughout the video and audio departments

in the truck.

Los Angeles-based Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. (PBTSC) (NYSE/PCX: MC) is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video and audio products and systems, including the Astrovision(R) large-screen video display. PBTSC is dedicated to providing customers with comprehensive equipment choices, from Emmy Award-winning D-5 high definition and DVCPRO digital VTRs to ultra-bright presentation systems and advanced digital audio mixing consoles

STI is a nationally recognized system integrator, specializing in digital HDTV, SD production and broadcast facilities, and DTV broadcast systems.