Steve Laramie
Veteran
Not complaining at all I am just curious as to if it was expencive because of parts or labor.
What makes p2 expencive
- Thread starter Steve Laramie
- Start date
Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
Both - proprietary bad ass parts assembled by hand in a clean room. Testing and R&D probably add to that cost as well.
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
I think also the very small market for P2. Any specialized gear is more expensive because the market for it is small. Compared, that is, to consumer markets for products.
TwistedLincoln
Veteran
Panasonic kills a kitten every time somebody asks that question. PETA sues them each time, and lawyers are very expensive, so they have to build their legal costs into the price of P2. :zombie_smiley:
Jeff Anderson
Custom Title!
bwahahahhahahhahahahahah - so true! rumor has it you can get $50 off of a p2 card if you send in a kitten. Max 5 kittens though...
puredrifting
Major Contributor
I believe that Panasonic had to build a plant just to make P2 cards as well so amortizing costs for a plant that costs tens of millions of dollars probably factors in.
It's simple, if you feel P2 is overpriced, you should be shooting SDHC cards on an HMC150, that's exactly why they came out with it.
P2 is for pros doing broadcast generally. These people shoot with 2700 and 3700s and the cost of P2 cards is not prohibitive. The fact that the 200A an the 170 shoot on the same format is just lucky for us, but P2 is not priced for the prosumer end of the market. Never has been and I suspect never will be. Eventually high bandwidth SDHC (X) cards will probably take over from P2 and it will go away.
Dan
It's simple, if you feel P2 is overpriced, you should be shooting SDHC cards on an HMC150, that's exactly why they came out with it.
P2 is for pros doing broadcast generally. These people shoot with 2700 and 3700s and the cost of P2 cards is not prohibitive. The fact that the 200A an the 170 shoot on the same format is just lucky for us, but P2 is not priced for the prosumer end of the market. Never has been and I suspect never will be. Eventually high bandwidth SDHC (X) cards will probably take over from P2 and it will go away.
Dan
Rick Meyer
Veteran
I'm sure its probably because its proprietary and because of the market system...supply and demand. If you need a p2 card you have to go through them. But, as demands decrease because of other more attraction options become available, I'm sure the prices will come dramatically down.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
We can all hope for a P2 fire sale but so far, it seems as if the new rebate is all they are going to do for the foreseeable future and while it is a nice gesture, it is not what all of you guys are looking for, cheap P2 cards.
I guess P2 was not designed to appeal to wedding and event shooters or really even long form doc shooters. It was designed for news and film type productions where small run times are fine.
Yes, if you need multi-hour run time, better have some coin to drop on P2 cards. I have about $3k in mine and I am set for what I do. But if I were going into multi-cam long form, I would have to look long and hard and if I could afford P2.
Dan
I guess P2 was not designed to appeal to wedding and event shooters or really even long form doc shooters. It was designed for news and film type productions where small run times are fine.
Yes, if you need multi-hour run time, better have some coin to drop on P2 cards. I have about $3k in mine and I am set for what I do. But if I were going into multi-cam long form, I would have to look long and hard and if I could afford P2.
Dan
Jason Adams
Section Moderator
P2 cards are so expensive because they are made from unicorn horns. Given the scarcity of unicorns and the fact that only ninjas are fast enough to catch them, the cost really adds up. The cost of a union ninja for a day is crazy expensive.
Seriously, I think our attitudes towards pricing come from us still thinking about tape and the fact that panasonic called it a Card.
If apple or (insert favorite technology company) announced that they had a solid state raid storage system that would write verify every piece of data saved to it at 80 megabytes per second, and this device can fit in your wallet we would not find the price tag that inflated.
I think the sticker shock comes from us thinking Betatape is 15 bucks and an SD CARD is 20 Then the card looks expensive. Just remember it is a lot more than a CARD.
Just to be clear, that doesn't mean I like forking over next to a grand every time a buy a card but it is what it is and at the end of the day I love my HPX.
Seriously, I think our attitudes towards pricing come from us still thinking about tape and the fact that panasonic called it a Card.
If apple or (insert favorite technology company) announced that they had a solid state raid storage system that would write verify every piece of data saved to it at 80 megabytes per second, and this device can fit in your wallet we would not find the price tag that inflated.
I think the sticker shock comes from us thinking Betatape is 15 bucks and an SD CARD is 20 Then the card looks expensive. Just remember it is a lot more than a CARD.
Just to be clear, that doesn't mean I like forking over next to a grand every time a buy a card but it is what it is and at the end of the day I love my HPX.
MattinSTL
Sound Modulator
My first "big" CF card was a 2gb... I think 3-4 years ago... and it cost me around $200... the same card is probably about $10 now.
That card... back then... was useful in probably 100x as many devices as P2 is currently used in today.
Once P2 is prolific... the price will come down... or it will be like mini-disc and by the time P2 should get cheap, there will be something else proprietary, and therefore expensive, to replace it.
Let's hope P2 continues to evolve, and that everybody embraces it. Then it will be cheap per GB.
EDIT: So to answer your question, I don't think it's either parts or labor, but supply and demand. The first Bic pen cost Bic $1M to make... the millionth pen cost $.03... P2 is a small batch item right now.
That card... back then... was useful in probably 100x as many devices as P2 is currently used in today.
Once P2 is prolific... the price will come down... or it will be like mini-disc and by the time P2 should get cheap, there will be something else proprietary, and therefore expensive, to replace it.
Let's hope P2 continues to evolve, and that everybody embraces it. Then it will be cheap per GB.
EDIT: So to answer your question, I don't think it's either parts or labor, but supply and demand. The first Bic pen cost Bic $1M to make... the millionth pen cost $.03... P2 is a small batch item right now.
Last edited: