Unloading P2 Cards (newbie question)

[Daniel.Valle]

I have a question; can I unload my P2 cards directly from the camera via a USB 2.0 card?

(I ask this because I am contemplating getting a USB 2.0-only 1TB hd)

Could the camera "dump" the cards on the HD without having to plug it on a PC?

(This is the HD I refer to: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8692382&productCategoryId=abcat0504003&type=product&tab=2&id=1198286608806#productdetail)

[Barry_Green]

Through firewire, yes. Through USB, no -- unless the drive itself complies to USB On-The-Go specifications.

[AwakenedFilms]

A big question remains; what operating system are you using. Panasonic does not guarantee USB 2.0 for use with MACs nor FW400 for use with WINDOWS. If you are going to windows, then USB will work just fine as a offload pipeline. If you are going to mac, it will probably work as well.

You can also control the HDD direcltly with the HVX using the camera in 'Host Mode'. The HVX will reformat the drive and place partitions on it and then put each 'card' onto a partition. I don't think you want to use a 1TB HDD for this purpose though.

It almost sounds like you may be asking if you can connect your camera through the USB HDD. If that's the case, I am pretty sure it is a bad idea.

IS this a laptop or desktop? Are you getting a PCI card or PCMCIA card with extra USB ports?

[AwakenedFilms]

Sorry Mr. Barry - was typing at the same time...

[Daniel.Valle]

I plan on getting two HDDs, a tera one that stays at home and a smaller one for dumping P2 cards on the road.

How does this "Host" mode work? You take a firewire cable from the camera, plug it directly into the HDD and as soon as the card is full it dumps it on the HDD? But since it formats everytime, how does it work? I didn't get it.

About the computer part, it would be with a Mac.

So the scenario would be: HVX + Macbook + USB 2.0 HDD. Does it work?

Can I unload the P2 card by having a cable coming out of the camera? Is it only Firewire or is there a USB 2.0 option?

PS: Sorry about the ignorance guys, it's just that I have always worked with tape until the present, so I need to know this.

[dantewaters]

You can also control the HDD direcltly with the HVX using the camera in 'Host Mode'. The HVX will reformat the drive and place partitions on it and then put each 'card' onto a partition. I don't think you want to use a 1TB HDD for this purpose though.


I didn't know the HVX could dump to a drive by itself that is kinda sweet.
I forget how many partitions it uses but that can slow down the dumping back and forth.

This is truly a great camera.