If Panasonic Offered A $500 USB2/FW p2 Reader Would You Buy It?

If Panasonic Offered A $500 USB2/FW p2 Reader Would You Buy It?

  • Yes

    Votes: 44 62.0%

  • No

    Votes: 20 28.2%

  • Don't Know

    Votes: 7 9.9%
  • Total voters
    71
It seems to be Barry versus the rest of the board. :)
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Will a popularity contest change an engineering reality?

All I'm saying is that I've been down that path and beaten that dead horse.

If you think whacking the horse further will help, by all means, go right ahead.

Personally I think you're much more likely to have success by asking someone else to do it (such as Addonics or Duel) or a totally new company (such as your example with the Scarlet). Panasonic has shown zero interest in doing it, and their stated reason is that it can't be done.
 
I wasn't trying to personalize anything at all Barry. I was just kidding with you.

And I think the discussion is healthy.

And it might raise some interest as well -- not only for Panasonic --- who tends to listen to its users as witnessed by how well Jan has gone to bat in response to posts here --- as well as other companies.

That's all.
 
I know, I know, it's just that people are acting like this is a new idea. We've been clamoring for this for over two years. I have personally watched the head of another division (basically Jan's equivalent) explaining in depth to factory people why we need exactly this device. They understand that. But sometimes things can't happen.

And, I guess it's fair to say that sometimes, they won't happen.

But I've found that it's usually much more productive to spend your energies in a place where there's a possible positive outcome. Duel could probably do it, and they might. Addonics could possibly do it, and they might. Spec-Comm could possibly do it, and they might. Panasonic says they can't do it.
 
In the meantime, is this really a showstopper?

The Windows laptop is the ideal workflow solution in the field. For the Windows desktop there are $75 slot-to-card adapters that let you use cards directly in your desktop/tower. Seems like the only hole is in the Mac lineup, where everything is just harder with P2 than it is in Windows. So for the Mac, you could probably get a cheap $50 PCIe->ExpressCard adapter, and plug in a Duel Adapter to that. For under $200 you could have a desktop slot reader solution in the most modern Mac Pro, today, right? At 1/3 the cost of the proposed ain't-never-gonna-happen slot reader?

That would work, wouldn't it? Or am I missing something?
 
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Actually, specialized was looking at a Mac compatible PCIe adapter -- has been for a while.

What I have a problem is EVER attaching my cam via FW.

Just hate doing it; hence the interest in some type of reader.
 
I just don't get why, if you'd consider spending an additional $500 on an adapter, you wouldn't consider spending the same money on a Windows laptop which already has full support. There are no compatibility issues with the Mac (as illustrated above), and your problem is solved today. :huh:
 
David Jimerson said:
I just don't get why, if you'd consider spending an additional $500 on an adapter, you wouldn't consider spending the same money on a Windows laptop which already has full support. There are no compatibility issues with the Mac (as illustrated above), and your problem is solved today. :huh:
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Speaking of which, well, yeah... how about a Windows laptop with a gig-E connection? You should be able to network directly to the Mac, import files at full speed, and be done for $500. Unplug it and take it into the field for field work, bring it back and gig-E to the internal hard drive where you've offloaded the footage. And then gig-E the slot directly to the Mac Pro.

Why isn't that a functional today solution? This is even better because it'd work for iMacs and Mac Minis, which don't have any type of slot (well, assuming the iMac and Mac Mini have gig-E, which ... if they don't, well, that's just stupid, so I'm assuming they do.)
 
AND, now that I think of it, this would have solved all your problems with not being able to update the firmware on a P2 Store, and not being able to format cards, and not having the P2 Viewer for a year... so yes, now I'm going to ask the question seriously: why on earth WOULDN'T you go this way?
 
Sadly, I think this thread has killed itself. Started as a nice place to gauge interest in adevice, and devolved into arguments about Panasonic profit margins! So sad!

Green Barry, all you say makes sense EXCEPT for your earlier epiphanoies of the true promise of P2 - editing directly from the cards once capacities are big enough (for certain types of productions, anyway). I tend NOT to offload in the field, and 2-3 cards generally do it for me. If I could come home and plug these in and edit directly off 'em (or even plug 'em all in and offload them all at once while going to sleep), I'd be able to live that promise. So I see this kind of FW adapter not as a component in a downloading system but as a something that puts a few P2 cards on-line at the same time.


I know, I really should bute the bullet anyway and just get the Panny 5-slot - but it just seems so overly pricey!
 
David Jimerson said:
I just don't get why, if you'd consider spending an additional $500 on an adapter, you wouldn't consider spending the same money on a Windows laptop which already has full support. There are no compatibility issues with the Mac (as illustrated above), and your problem is solved today. :huh:
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But David, it seems like overkill to buy a Windows laptop and then copy to that, copy to HDD, deal with issues of FAT32 and Mac formatting when a reader permits me to simply mount the card a copy direct.

I'm thinking not only of a laptop, but having a direct connect to my desktop as well.

Then I can shoot 4x16GB cards and not have to deal with the whole FW connection issue with a $5k cam.

It's not just laptop off loading. It's also getting it into a desktop.

AND, AS AN ADDED BONUS:

I can edit directly from a mounted card using Raylight on a Mac.

Can't do that now with attaching the cam via Firewire to a desktop --- THAT is not an acceptable choice for me.
 
You can offload the card directly to the external. You don't have to copy to the internal drive at all. And the card itself is FAT32. What Mac formatting issues are there?

(Besides, you should always keep your original MXFs -- you'll have an archive already.)

We're actually testing to see if you can network the laptop PCMCIA slot directly into a Mac desktop. We'll let you know.
 
ullanta said:
Green Barry, all you say makes sense EXCEPT for your earlier epiphanoies of the true promise of P2 - editing directly from the cards once capacities are big enough (for certain types of productions, anyway).
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Why is that a problem? Edit 'em in realtime off the slot in the Windows laptop that you have giganet-ethernetted...

If I could come home and plug these in and edit directly off 'em (or even plug 'em all in and offload them all at once while going to sleep), I'd be able to live that promise.
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PCD20. Problem solved. Five cards, simultaneous, FW800, you could offload 'em all simultaneously overnight or edit from them immediately.

Or, a Lenovo R61 with an Addonics adapter. For about $550 you'd have two slots live on your Mac desktop.
 
David S. said:
But David, it seems like overkill to buy a Windows laptop and then copy to that, copy to HDD
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Offload to an external drive. Plug that drive into the Mac and edit. Effortless.

, deal with issues of FAT32 and Mac formatting when a reader permits me to simply mount the card a copy direct.
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What issues? The drives are all formatted FAT32. Copy the cards to the drive. Plug the drive into the Mac. Edit. Format the cards in the Windows laptop. Where do the issues come from?

I'm thinking not only of a laptop, but having a direct connect to my desktop as well.
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Gigabit ethernet. Windows laptop's slots should show up on your desktop just like from any other slot reader (currently testing to be sure of this).

It's not just laptop off loading. It's also getting it into a desktop.
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Right -- hence the gigabit ethernet idea.

I can edit directly from a mounted card using Raylight on a Mac.
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Hence the gigabit ethernet idea.

Can't do that now with attaching the cam via Firewire to a desktop --- THAT is not an acceptable choice for me.
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Why can't you? It should work. Or are you saying you don't want to have the camera tied up? If so, again -- windows laptop, gigabit ethernet. One or two slots, live, showing up right on the desktop, instant edit, instant access. Under $600. Available now.

(testing will verify if this theory works, but I cannot imagine why it wouldn't)
 
ullanta said:
I know, I really should bute the bullet anyway and just get the Panny 5-slot - but it just seems so overly pricey!
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I shall paraphrase the famous quotation: Buy the best, and you only cry once. Instead of every time you run into frustrations from refusing to just choke it down, buy the darned thing, and get on with life. :)
 
Yes David, I agree that this convenience would be ideal. I would buy the adapter if it were in the $200 range. But for now, the interim solution of a laptop seems reasonable to me. I guess it depends on one's needs. I have one 16 G card and depending on my shoot, I may need to download in the field, so the lap top is not over-kill for me. It seems pretty reasonable especially if I can transfer the files to my MacPro via my network.
 
There's ONE compatibility issue with Fat32 and HFS+ in that you can't transfer more than 4GB at a time from one to another. I can't remember which way it goes, if it's HFS+ -> Fat32 limitation or the other way around but it surely is a pain in the neck.

Also, whichever laptop you're getting should have a FW400/800 port built-in or the process is a slow one. I tend to use a PCMCIA to Firewire400 for offloading and it works, I feel like I'm getting a bit of a transfer hit which might not be true at all but it feels like it.

I do frequently move from Windows XP to OS X and it's not a showstopper. Items/Software like NTFS-3G make life easier as well, adding the ability to read/write on an NTFS partition from OS X/Leopard.
 
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