P2 card actual capacity?
- Thread starter Phalynx
- Start date
Justin Marx
Well-known member
Thats odd.. Not sure.. When I do an 8gb card its 7.9 gb.. I would re-format the card through the camera, shooting 720 24p you should get 4 MIN, shooting 24pn should be about 10..
Same here
Same here
To my P2 4GB I get only about 3.2GB. I paid of 4GB 870€. Very interesting that no one has made bigger riot of it, because if you buy 4 liter casoline and you'll get only 3.2 liter, nodoubt you say something. I dont mind if my lacie 200GB is only 185 GB, but I do mind if my P2 is 217€/1GB and I don't get what is said on card. Should do somehting?
Same here
To my P2 4GB I get only about 3.2GB. I paid of 4GB 870€. Very interesting that no one has made bigger riot of it, because if you buy 4 liter casoline and you'll get only 3.2 liter, nodoubt you say something. I dont mind if my lacie 200GB is only 185 GB, but I do mind if my P2 is 217€/1GB and I don't get what is said on card. Should do somehting?
All of my shooting is in 1 mode. I did a test of 1 shot in 1 mode and the most I got was 3.6Gb. This was when the unit said the P2 was full. It would appear that each shot, even in the same mode, has a bit of overhead that it uses on the card.. This kinda stinks. Not the end of the world, but it does stink. I am not getting 4 minutes of record time at 60fps. I guess that's where the Panasonic legal team carefully placed the "*" in the manual.....
BobDiaz
The Professor
A while back, I asked Barry to let me know what the files and sizes were for his 4GB P2 card. This was just one clip, filmed until the card was full...
Now, before anyone starts asking for a T-Shirt that says, "I bought a 4GB P2 Card and all I got was 3,720,918,946 bytes!!!", remember there is OVERHEAD required. The overhead is not part of the file, but is needed to make the file system work.
First, there is a 32 bit FAT: This keeps track of the blocks in use and where they are located. This is so improtant, there are TWO copies of this table.
Second, every block must have some sort internal check to verify that the data is correct.
Third, Even the video file has to have some overhead with timecode and other data.
Next, the partition data eats up space. It's critical to have your dat in a locical order, but does require space. There could be more things, but right now I can't think of any...
If you shoot several video clips, chances are that the end of each clip does not fully fill the block with data. With FAT 32 and almost every other file system, the rest of the block can not be used for anything else. Thus, you will have an increase in wasted space as the number of clips per card increases.
Yes, you will NOT get 4GB of user space on a 4GB card, but you do NOT get 300GB of user space on a 300GB hard drive. Still, notice that the 1GB = about 1 minute applies with Barry's test data.
Bob Diaz
Now, before anyone starts asking for a T-Shirt that says, "I bought a 4GB P2 Card and all I got was 3,720,918,946 bytes!!!", remember there is OVERHEAD required. The overhead is not part of the file, but is needed to make the file system work.
First, there is a 32 bit FAT: This keeps track of the blocks in use and where they are located. This is so improtant, there are TWO copies of this table.
Second, every block must have some sort internal check to verify that the data is correct.
Third, Even the video file has to have some overhead with timecode and other data.
Next, the partition data eats up space. It's critical to have your dat in a locical order, but does require space. There could be more things, but right now I can't think of any...
If you shoot several video clips, chances are that the end of each clip does not fully fill the block with data. With FAT 32 and almost every other file system, the rest of the block can not be used for anything else. Thus, you will have an increase in wasted space as the number of clips per card increases.
Yes, you will NOT get 4GB of user space on a 4GB card, but you do NOT get 300GB of user space on a 300GB hard drive. Still, notice that the 1GB = about 1 minute applies with Barry's test data.
Bob Diaz
Format Data Rate Minutes GB
1080I 116.62 18 15.74
720/60P 116.62 18 15.74
720/30P 59.08 35 15.51
720/24P 47.57 43 15.34
DVCPRO 50 59.08 35 15.51
DVCPRO25 30.31 66 15.00
This is based on 2 8GB cards in AGHVX200P camera.
8GB contains actually 7,787,773.952 bytes or 7.25 GB
1080I 116.62 18 15.74
720/60P 116.62 18 15.74
720/30P 59.08 35 15.51
720/24P 47.57 43 15.34
DVCPRO 50 59.08 35 15.51
DVCPRO25 30.31 66 15.00
This is based on 2 8GB cards in AGHVX200P camera.
8GB contains actually 7,787,773.952 bytes or 7.25 GB
Last edited:
BobDiaz
The Professor
Your table didn't come out as nicely as I'm sure you liked. I've edited the text so that it might be easier to read.P2metoo said:
Format, Data Rate, Minutes, GB
Format = 1080I, Data Rate = 116.62, Recording Minutes = 18, Total GB = 15.74
Format = 720/60P, Data Rate = 116.62, Recording Minutes = 18, Total GB = 15.74
Format = 720/30P, Data Rate = 59.08, Recording Minutes = 35, Total GB = 15.51
Format = 720/24P, Data Rate = 47.57, Recording Minutes = 43, Total GB = 15.34
Format = DVCPRO50, Data Rate = 59.08, Recording Minutes = 35, Total GB = 15.51
Format = DVCPRO25, Data Rate = 30.31, Recording Minutes = 66, Total GB = 15.00
I hope this makes it easier for others to read.
Bob Diaz
Last edited:
Hey, I bought a 4GB card and all I got was a really great camera that records outstanding video.
Seriously, I understand the "overhead" needed for recording everything and that's fine. Before, I was only getting 2.8GB on a 4GB. I think this is explained by multiple shots of the same format.
Seriously, I understand the "overhead" needed for recording everything and that's fine. Before, I was only getting 2.8GB on a 4GB. I think this is explained by multiple shots of the same format.