Do I Need A P2 Card(s) if I am using a Samurai

R

Robertofish

Active member
I plan on getting 3 Panasonic HPX170s, but to save money instead of getting a bunch of P2 cards since they are around 650 each for an hour of footage reusable of course, I am thinking of just getting a Samurai for each of them which would be like 2 and a half P2 cards, plus itll be better quality footage to and easier to use in post, I use FCP btw, can I run the HPX170 just with only the Samurai and no P2 cause getting both would be expensive for 3 cameras.
 
can I run the HPX170 just with only the Samurai and no P2
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yep


I am thinking of just getting a Samurai for each of them which would be like 2 and a half P2 cards
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but have you fully considered all the specs?

as far as i understand the samurai doesnt come with a hard drive. so the samurai itself at $1600 wont get you ANY storage.
and to get the same RELIABILITY you get from P2 cards, youre going to need SSDs - and they can be kinda pricey

2, 64gig P2 cards is about $1400 and will give you 2.5 hours of 1080/24pa DVCPROHD recording for $200 less than the samurai with no drives

the samurai also records to pro res as opposed to the dvcprohd that the 170 writes to P2 cards. so thats not an apples to apples comparison. so im not sure what size hard drive youd need for the samurais...
 
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Yeah, I keep hearing folks wanting to use an external recorder, but -- the beauty and workability of P2 is that you slide a tiny little card in and record. Done. Rigging up a Samurai means having a big old box stuck on your camera, probably through a Noga arm, with a cable running to it, and a separate battery to keep track of. It can be done, and no you won't need any P2 cards to do it that way, but ... meh. I say buy some cards off ebay and use it as it was intended, but to each his own. Yes you can definitely use the samurai if that's the way you choose to go.
 
if you just want to bypass P2 cards you might look into the blackmagic hyperdeck shuttle. it lacks a lot of the features of the samurai, but its 1/5 the price...

but im with barry, id MUCH prefer to just use P2 cards and avoid the headache
 
Horses for courses ..... (and a bit older technology:)) .....

I have a couple of P2 cards I use for run 'n' gun type work, and a P2 Store to dump them in the field if necessary, but for long-form work my main recorders for the HVX200s are Firestores.
 
If you can shoot in any of the 720pN modes, your recording times can more than double on P2 (no duplicate frame recording). For many of the events I've shot, even 720p60, two 64GB cards have lasted the whole day... that's ~$400 under the cost of the Samurai alone. If you buy a 3rd 64GB for each, you're still just about breaking even with the cost of the Samurai plus SSD plus batteries and assorted support paraphernalia.

ALSO... consider that the Samurai (AFAIK) won't be able to record any of the VFR settings. Maybe important to you, maybe not.

DVCPROHD vs. PR422 is a complete wash. The Samurai won't necessarily give you any better recording.

As to arguments FOR the Samurai... well, if you were shooting in a super-quick-turnaround environment where you had to offload a day's shooting very quickly and turn right back around to roll, the Samurai would give you the ability to just drop off the SSD's at your post house and slap in new (relatively) cheaper formatted drives. Your post shop backs up the footage and preps the drives for next day. You could do the same with P2, but at greater cost (more cards). SATA docks are cheaper than currently available P2 readers.
 
A few questions,

1.In Final Cut Pro would I be able to combine footage recorded to p2 and samurai in the same sequence without it being noticeable
2.Would the footage be better quality recording either way?
3.Do I need ssds for their recording speed or could I just buy a regular 750gig for cheap, I wouldn't mind paying extra because ssds are faster and much better I have one in my mac pro it makes it a lot faster
4.Is the dvcpro hd footage recorded to p2 cards useable without transcoding in Final Cut Pro, is there any additional steps needed like with avchd? Because that is a plus of the Samurai instant editing!

I personally don't mind having something big on top of the camera, I use a monitor for just about everything anyway to make sure I am getting good footage! So thats not a big deal, quality I care about and features as well, price as well but I am willing to pay a good bit more for something even a little bit better!

Thanks everyone!
 
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