Grass Valley has announced further delays to the release of its long-awaited Infinity tapeless camcorder, which is designed to record high-definition footage to hard disk or compact Flash media.
Grass Valley has announced further delays to the release of its long-awaited Infinity tapeless camcorder, which is designed to record high-definition footage to hard disk or compact Flash media.

The Eu20,000 (£13,161) camera was first announced in September 2005, but getting the product from concept to reality has been difficult for the firm, which showed prototype units at NAB 2006 and said that it would begin shipping production models last July. An initial batch of 100 test units will be shipped this summer with a release date yet to be finalised.

The news will be a blow to BBC Technology, which has been evaluating Infinity since last April as part of its Starwinder Project alongside Panasonic's rival P2 DVCPro HD system. The trials will help inform the BBC's future procurement to tapeless and HD technologies.

According to the BBC's controller of digital media, Paul Cheesbrough: 'There is no production within the BBC that is dependent upon this product being available on a specific date. Tapeless projects are using Panasonic's P2 and we'll continue to work closely with Grass Valley to plan for the use of Infinity once available.'

Grass Valley president Marc Valentin said the latest delay was a result of feedback from broadcasters who wanted to see a more efficient cooling system, reduced power consumption and the integration of a new sensor. He said: 'We are later than we want to be with the camera but the majority of our customers have faith that we will deliver and are willing to wait for us to complete development.'

The delay has already lost the company a significant contract to Middle East news channel al-Jazeera English.

Infinity will be fitted with a new 2/3-inch CMOS sensor dubbed Xensium, developed by Grass Valley parent company Thomson and which is said to offer wider dynamic range over existing CCD chips.

The camera will also incorporate software that allows it to be controlled from a smartphone or PDA running Windows Mobile 5.