CVP-Mitcorp has added the much-delayed but eagerly awaited Thomson Infinity Digital Media camcorder to its product range.

Two and a half years after placing an order for the IT workflow-based tapeless camera technology, the broadcast equipment dealer has taken on 20 units worth£17,000 each.

The company has undertaken detailed tests with the new kit and will start doing demos with key clients in the next few weeks.

First introduced as a concept at IBC in September 2005, the Infinity has since been on a development journey that saw its full release delayed to accommodate new CMOS sensor technology.

The camcorder attracted major interest when the BBC decided to adopt it for a year-long tapeless trial in 2006. It eventually came to market in September last year.

CVP-Mitcorp business development manager Dennis Lennie, a former cameraman, believes the changes that occurred during the development delays have benefited the product.

“It's been a long time coming and Thomson did launch it a bit prematurely,” he said. “But one of the challenges that face cameramen is what HD format to buy. It has a slot for an MPEG2 board currently but there is no reason why Thomson couldn't develop another codec board at a later date so if someone buys this camera now he's got the option to upgrade it as the codecs change. People are freaked out by the number of codecs in the marketplace”

The Infinity uses 2/3-inch, 1920 x 1080 progressive native HD Xensium CMOS image sensors as opposed to CCD, which are used in many other camcorders.

It operates at 720p 50/60, 1080i 50/60, recording to REV Pro solid state memory cartridges and CompactFlash media and external devices. One of its unique features is that the internal functions of the camera can be controlled via Bluetooth on a PDA.

As of June 2008 the Infinity is available exclusively via CVP-Mitcorp in the UK.

The Infinity will be used by China Central Television for news coverage of the Olympics in Beijing this summer. Panasonic Broadcast cameras are providing the majority of the sporting coverage.