Cineporter is NOT coming!

A

augenblick

Well-known member
Hi guys

I just read this on the spec-comm website:

Due to lack of market interest, the CinePorter™ will NOT be going into production. With the introduction of larger P2 Cards and lower prices, the P2 lineup no longer needs a product such as the CinePorter™.

Look here: Link

Well, yeah another dream destroyed.

Peter
 
Wow, sorry to hear that because I've always liked Specc-comm. But I said this exact thing in another thread about P2 workflow...sorry guys.
 
Would have been more than viable a year ago, it would have been huge. But yeah, the market kind of moved out from under them, and they just weren't able to bring it to bear. It's disappointing because I know they spent a ton of money and a huge amount of effort on that project, all to come to naught.

I sure hope they can repurpose some of the technology they developed to give us something else, like their own brand of P2 cards or a CheaP2 recording system or ... well, I don't really know what, but it'd be great to see them salvage something from all that they invested, and at the same time bring out a product that would help the user base too...
 
Barry_Green said:
I sure hope they can repurpose some of the technology they developed to give us something else, like their own brand of P2 cards or a CheaP2 recording system or ... well, I don't really know what, but it'd be great to see them salvage something from all that they invested, and at the same time bring out a product that would help the user base too...
Click to expand...
I know a product that could take this technology and be very useful and never go out of date, how about a P2 hub if you will. a product that would go in both P2 slots and have a cable to some kind of an undercarriage that holds 6 P2 cards, and maybe it could write to multiple P2 cards at once for backup. If multiple P2 writing is not possible it should be able to automatically copy each clip after it stops recording it to a second card for back up.
 
If they can recreate it to take in cheaper flash media as opposed to hard drives than I can see it being a great product.
 
This is definitely tragic news since I know that Spec-Comm invested both capital and energy into the product. Unfortunately, there are times when you realize that you need to pull the plug on a project and just absorb those losses. I as well echo the hope that they can repurpose the knowledge of P2 recording that they have acquired from this attempt to bring some form of storage to market.

Ned Soltz
 
Wow, interesting news indeed. :(
I bought my camera from spec-comm and had nothing but a GREAT experience through the whole process.
I sure hope they decide to develop something in its place, maybe a lower cost alternative to the Firestore? On that note, Id imagine the firestore is going to be coming down in price soon too -

There will always be a market for such a device - again, I hope SC will be able to capitalize in the future from the P2 camera users.
 
This is upsetting news.

This is upsetting news.

I've been holding off on buying any additional equipment and keeping my fingers crossed that I would have a CinePorter by August. This throws a moncke wrench into my plans. I guess now I'll have to get a Firestore AND larger P2 cards.

I was really looking to use the CinePorter for long-form recording such as legal and performance/event work. I know I can still do perf/event work, but legal needs the date & time, which aren't output via firewire. I know Spec-Comm is a business, and they must do what they think is best for the business, but that doesn't soften the disappointment.

The big lesson seems to be that "technology waits for no one." Other product developers should take note.

Hopefully they have something else cooking that will survive the neverending march of storage technology.

x
 
Good company and trusted. Probably a very tough call.

But I don't doubt that no products for the cam will continue to be developed.

Still a disappointment.
 
Very disappointing! Had to be a tough call for SC. For me, even with the 32GB P2's on the horizon, Cineporter was a definite purchase. Documentaries, features and concert work make up most of my business and Cineporter was the answer to my dreams! Guess I'll be waiting for the 64GB P2's sometime in the next couple of years!
 
I hate to say it, but I saw that coming. They took too long and yes, the bigger sized cards out/coming out make it irrelevant. Same with the P2 store, I highly doubt there will be a bigger P2 store coming out.
And yes, it must've been tough for them to pull the plug. I wish them luck on future projects/products.

R.I.P. Cineporter
 
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Their best bet now is to work on affordable, high capacity P2 cards, since that's ultimately what we all need.
 
i have to agree that i kinda saw this coming, but honestly it was a good idea...

my major issue with the project with the general size of the unit... the way it's placed makes the camera very unwieldy.

either way i'm happy we'll be getting larger P2 cards. w00t!
 
They now have the knowledge of how the P2 system works and how the camera talks with the cards. They should put all the work they did into making P2 cards themselves.

Its easy to say but I think most of the hard work has already be done by the Spec-comm team. They should just use that knowledge in another way.
 
More P2 cards would be a great idea, if they could actually make them. I foree there being P2 shortages for a while, especially considering all the broadcast cameras taking up 5 and all the broadcast corportations gobbling up all the P2 cards.
 
I doubt they'd want to get into the P2 card business though. Seeing as the unexpectedly quick announcement of 32GB cards, and the unexpectedly low price of the 16GB cards are what caused the market to move away from needing the CinePorter, I bet they'd be gunshy about getting in direct competition with an unpredictable and much larger company.

What I'd like to see them do is offer a fill-in-the-gap type of product. Use the knowledge they have but leverage it towards doing something that Panasonic won't do, like making an ExpressCard SSD->P2 adapter, or a miniPorter (ooh, I should trademark that name!) that records to off-the-shelf SD or CompactFlash cards... I think that'd be gold.
 
So many people seem dissapointed that Panny hasn't updated the P2 store with larger hard drive and FW 800, I wonder if they could make something like that... we'll take the Cineporter and turn it into something new! Frankenporter!!!
 
We'll be below the predicted shift point of $50 / GB before you know it. I'll go out on a limb again and predict $35 / GB within 6 months of the 32s hitting the street.

e
 
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