p2 reader nab 2012

[zijital]

Here is a thought.... Duel adapter (or something like it) & Sonnet Expresscard 34 to Thunderbolt. I know SxS is very different than P2, but they just got SxS support which makes me wonder if it would be possible to have P2 support. It'd be cheaper than the current USB card reader & faster.

Anyone with a newer Mac, P2 cards & about $250 (less if you already have a Duel adapter) want to try this out?

[countrymatters]

I love P2 and the workflow, I have been working with it for the past 3 years in a high pressure sports production field where I have one day to create a 52 minute magazine show from 4 hours of race footage - so I need the fastest, most reliable and most compact method available, and P2 has been the answer. Not to mention I prefer the Panasonic "look", and do not like long GOP codecs for sports.

But what is sorely lacking is a fast P2 reader - we've had thunderbolt now for over a year, and not even a sniff of a rumour at NAMM that I'm aware of??. Now that Intel supports both USB 3 and thunderbolt in their chipset, I sure hope that will speed development, thunderbolt has more than enough bandwidth to offload 5 P2 cards at once and quickly - in my opinion a massive advantage over XDCAM discs as they are still slow to ingest. A USB3/Thunderbolt reader would take us through to the next 5 years where the bandwidth would exceed the capacity of the media. AVC Ultra will push this even further. I realize there's a USB 3 reader now, but why only 3 slots? On a four camera shoot, this leaves us short, as we cut news directly from the cards using a PCD20 reader currently and there's time lag as the firewire 800 port isn't up to the task, but it's the fastest way for us to do this at the moment, to to mention us Mac users are not currently supported.

Panasonic, if you are listening, we desperately need better and faster ways of offloading our media - what's available now is insufficient considering technology already exists to dramatically speed this up. Plus adding thunderbolt to new cameras would function as both a monitoring tool and an offloading tool (the same way firewire 400 does in current cameras). Impatiently waiting....

[BillinSC]

The funny thing with all of this is there are a number of vendors that would gladly come up with the reader if Panasonic would license them to do so. This reader is a PCMCIA card reader at its' core. The R&D cannot be that much to get products that are already mainstream such as USB3 or Thunderbolt.

I also think the P2 cards are overpriced. I can see Panasonic making a profit, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that if they dropped the price a bit on the P2 cards, they would sell more of them.

Yes, I was excited to get the camera, but after a week with it, I am seriously reconsidering the purchase. There are other options that offer 10 bit 4:2:2 SDI output, and considering that it would be cheaper, it makes adding the Atomos Samurai very attractive. Interestingly enough, if you buy two P2 64 GB cards and a PCD2 reader, it is almost equal to the price of an Atomos Samurai.

[mcgeedigital]

I also think the P2 cards are overpriced. I can see Panasonic making a profit, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that if they dropped the price a bit on the P2 cards, they would sell more of them.

P2 prices have dropped regularly as the new models have come out. Check your history.

Yes, I was excited to get the camera, but after a week with it, I am seriously reconsidering the purchase. There are other options that offer 10 bit 4:2:2 SDI output, and considering that it would be cheaper, it makes adding the Atomos Samurai very attractive. Interestingly enough, if you buy two P2 64 GB cards and a PCD2 reader, it is almost equal to the price of an Atomos Samurai.

And how would hanging an external recorder help you with run and gun situations?

I am baffled.

[BillinSC]

You have a great point about the run and gun. There are always trade offs, however, at the end of the day it is a matter of risk/reward and the money one wants to put into the problem. Within the year it will probably be a moot point as SDHC will probably be ruling the solutions. They have already announced the micro-P2 (the Panasonic version of SDHC) In the end, I am comfortable with finding alternatives and living without the AVC Intra-100 codec for now. In the end, it is the quality of the edit and whether you conveyed the point with the body of work, not the technology you used to get it there.

[mcgeedigital]

Agreed.

[Jan_Crittenden]

They have already announced the micro-P2 (the Panasonic version of SDHC) .

Just so that there is no confusion, Micro P2 is not our version of SDHC or even SDXC or SDHC- UHS-1 or the upcoming UHS-2. It is a miniature SD sized card that has all of the technology and implementation of a P2 card, but in a small scale product. It has a Raid Controller, it has the parity checking, it has the error correction, every thing that happens in a P2 card and not on a SD cardis what micro P@ is all about. I know there are people that will poo-poo this and just live in the denial that the micro P2 is just a higher priced SD card, but it is not; it is a miniature P2 card.

Best,

jan

[ggrantly]

Since tape faded away to other various forms of memory, there has been an ongoing gripe that P2 is too expensive. I have cams that use both P2 and SD, and given the choice, I would use P2 every time in spite of the cost, the exception being if I needed really long form. There are so many new options for media, I am surprised that this griping about P2 pricing still exists. P2 has been pretty successful in the eng - broadcast realm, so a lot of professional level folks think it is the way to go. Of course I would prefer it to be less expensive, and it IS less expensive than it was. But for those that want cheaper, It is just so easy to satisfy their discontent, buy something else.

Grant

[Gary Huff]

I know there are people that will poo-poo this and just live in the denial that the micro P2 is just a higher priced SD card, but it is not; it is a miniature P2 card.

Can it be read by current SD card readers?

[zijital]

I know there are people that will poo-poo this and just live in the denial that the micro P2 is just a higher priced SD card, but it is not; it is a miniature P2 card.

Can it be read by current SD card readers?

I second this question.


And also add... Jan is Panasonic listening to this thread RE: Cheaper (faster) P2 reader?

OP:

Lots of 2012 NAB posts...I'll take a stab at this one as the appropriate spot for a question. Any cheap(er) usb3 P2 readers?

-----

P2 prices have dropped regularly as the new models have come out. Check your history.

First time I heard about P2, it was something like $2000 for 20GB of 4GB cards and it sounded reasonable for the "futuristic" work flow it was offering.

That was 2005, today in 2012 I think prices haven't dropped enough. A 64GB SSD that can record ProRes HQ (over twice the bit rate of P2) is about 15% the price of a 64GB P2 e-series card. I know all flash memory isn't created the same, but for me really be excited about P2, prices have to be in the same ballpark & right now they're on a different continent.

And how would hanging an external recorder help you with run and gun situations?

I use Lectrosonics wireless mics, & it isn't easy to mount one of those receivers onto a small camera. After I've figured out how to mount my Lectro, it isn't much harder to mount an off board recorder.

Yes Run-n-gun is easier if everything is built in, but I'll take an off board recorder if it means that I can record 6 hours of (equal quality or higher) content for the price of 1 hour of P2 content.