Anything new on the P2 card reader front?

I

izoneguy

Veteran
Anything new on the P2 card reader front?

I have a friend who was using an old Mac laptop to off-load P2 footage.
That computer just died.
He did have a newer Mac Book that was stolen and was using that
P2 to express slot reader. He always had trouble with that.
So he was asking me if there was anything new in the P2
reader front for Macs....

He wants to use Macs because he does use FCP in the field.
 
Hi HVXguy,

I set-up a Powerbook 17" 1.67ghz as a field offload station/Editor/3G FTP wireless up-loader a few months ago, it worked so well that it returned me enough $'s to buy a new 2011 17" 2.3ghz macbookpro and a Pana AJ-PCD2 single slot reader.
the new Macbookpro is a quantum leap in performance, (I have a SSD in as OS and a Hybrid SSD/spinner 500 gig for files in the optical bay), but it has no PC card slot and is much much more expensive if you don't need that level of performance.
The Old Powerbook 17" I now have for sale- here
These old powerbooks are increasingly harder to find and attract premium prices.
Sadly shipping is an issue from Australia and our US/AUD dollar is in our favour now, pity your friend is so far away. anyway if you get really stuck it's an option. ebay in the US may be your cheapest Mac purchase option.

A cheap Windows lappy with a PC card slot or two works well too, I used one for a while also, but we say here in OZ, "once you go Mac , you'll never look back".

Goodluck
Tom 4
olinevideo.com.au
 
the single slot works well, keep in mind it needs 2 usb and wont offload nearly as fast as a pcima slot. Mine gets about 30mbit/sec on a fairly optimal computer. Next step up is in the thousands.
 
Love to see a P2 reader connect to the new Mac "Thunderbolt", now that may be the ultimate, But with all the development of P2 readers over the last few years
it will probably never happen, best we may hope for is USB3 in the form factor of the Budget single slot PCD-2 reader , but I doubt pana would entertain that, it would effect sales of their more expensive offerings.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
Panasonic has introduced a 3-slot USB3 reader. They addressed the thunderbolt question by saying that you'd use a thunderbolt->USB3 adapter for that.
 
I set-up a Powerbook 17" 1.67ghz as a field offload station/Editor/3G FTP wireless up-loader a few months ago, it worked so well
Click to expand...
thats a good way to go. i used an old 1.0 ghz model for field transfer for years until i got my new one and the panasonic reader
 
Barry_Green said:
Panasonic has introduced a 3-slot USB3 reader. They addressed the thunderbolt question by saying that you'd use a thunderbolt->USB3 adapter for that.
Click to expand...

Hi Barry, re USB3 I do know of the 3 slot USB3 reader, http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/news_info/news110222/110222-02.html "The AJ-PCD30 P2 3 slot reader will be available this summer at suggested list price of $2,255"
Sorry But my post was referring to the (USB3 connection in the form factor of the Budget single slot PCD-2 reader at $350 US) that's for those who don't / can't spend lots $'s to get a simple reader.
A simple single slot USB3 reader could be adapted now using a a Lacie USB3.0 Expresscard/34 adapter, - http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10535 and should have reasonable transfer rates.

Re a Thunderbolt adapter to USB3 adapter, is there such a product ?, better to plan a thunderbolt to P2 reader,
I doubt that will ever happen judging by the years taken for a Budget priced Single slot reader as the PCD-2 to come to reality.
If Thunderbolt is as good as it says, why not update P2 cards to say a P3 card utilising the Thunderbolt's capabilities ?, speed would never be an issue ever again?.

Cheers
Tom 4
olinevideo.com.au
 
dcloud said:
god pcd30 is pricey
Click to expand...

Yes so true, but so are all the other multi slot offerings from Pana.
at that price, one could seriously consider buying a used HVX200 or the 170 that has Two slots and use that as a Reader, having the camera as a bonus.
I bought a HPX172 as a back up smaller camera to my larger P2 cam, and have used that for off loading till I bought the Single slot AJ-PCD2. so, that's another option to consider.
as far as off loading times go via USB connection, The HPX172 and the AJ-PCD2 are the same I've found, ie 32gig in about 18mins.

cheers
Tom 4
olinevideo.com.au
 
I also still lug my old powerbook around for offloading and find the prices for P2 offloading devices and storage from panny much too expensive! The adaptors for newer powerbooks are prone to fail easily when carried around the world in luggage! I already lost 2 of those! I started using my FS100 again....got the bebob cage that fits under the camera.....fan noise is still a problem. Maybe I get a PCIxtreme card reader if I find one for my old powermac...
 
if the AJ-PCD30 is simply a usb3 reader with no internal processes or acceleration, the $2000 price tag is absolutely fuggin EXTORTIONATE!

i get that in certain situations, like say if they shot deadliest catch on P2 and were offloading like 20 cards a day, that $2000 would pay for itself VERY quickly in time savings. but there are only so many people doing that kind of thing. and thus i would assume the target market at that price, is kind of small.

i would think that for panasonic, selling 250,000 at $500 would work out better in the end than selling 10,000 at $2000
but then again, im a video producer. not a manufacturing executive. so what do i know?
 
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wgzn said:
if the AJ-PCD30 is simply a usb3 reader with no internal processes or acceleration, the $2000 price tag is absolutely fuggin EXTORTIONATE!
i would think that for panasonic, selling 250,000 at $500 would work out better in the end than selling 10,000 at $2000
Click to expand...

Hi wgzn,

I Would have thought it sensible to lower the cost or their reader line-up, as they also lowered the cost of P2 cards and even the cameras are getting cheaper, but they do things their way, because they can.

I'd love to see a 2 slot Pana reader that has four interface connectors USB2 / USB3 / eSATA / Expresscard, and can off load at maximum speed like the Top of the heap-PCD35,
and at a cost of say $500, they would sell a squillion, but for reasons only known to themselves, they don't.
they have produced some fantastic products in the P2 line-up but the P2 card readers are sadly lacking in their pricing and off load speed for the vast bulk of P2 users.

cheers
Tom 4
olinevideo.com.au
 
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Phenixone said:
Also Nexto DI released a couple of new OTG offloading stations. One is particullary interresting as it has a PCMCIA slot for the P2 cards (instead of the SD/CF slots) Also the ability to plug in FX800. Check it out at http://www.nextodi.com/product/
Click to expand...

Hi Phenixone,
A great little product for sure, will find a home for some users, but i think the price tag ($2999 AUD) will put many off, for the same price you could get a great Mac laptop or three windows lappies,
or a second used P2 cam to use as an off load station.
To spend say $3K, I think the Blackmagic shuttle-- http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hyperdeckshuttle/ and a heap of SSD's would be good value, shoot straight to drives, and dumping files from SSD's if needed would be very fast indeed, but most shooters don't require that level of capture to 10bit.
Video/Media Producers have varying levels of Needs and Budgets, at least these days there are options out there that will suit most shooters. I can remember when I first began with P2 I used a Nnovia HDD via Firewire for some months, as the 8gig P2 cards were not available (here downunder) it worked very well but it did make the camera somewhat heavy and much longer.

My needs currently are met with a PCD-2 reader and a 2011 2.3GHz I7 quad core MBP, this gives me the ability to ingest/edit/up-load and do emails etc from just about anywhere, cost to set up , about $3700 AUD.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
mule ferguson said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-slot-Panasoni...968?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255edd0cb8

Check this out. S150.00

Mule
Click to expand...

Hi Mule,

They have been out for years, Good for windows boxes with PCI interface, and very old Mac's with PCI and Tiger OS, But is useless today as PCIe is then norm.
They say (System Requirements PC with PCIE slot.)
That is plainly wrong, it's a PCI interface as you can see in the image, Amtron and others have had this reader out for quiet some time.

Their "Taiwan" translation to English got it wong.

I married one up to a PCI-PCIe interface card in my old PCIe Macpro some years ago, worked with older OS but not with later OS.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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