P2 alternatives, are they near?

O

oneday

Member
hi, I am not the P2 user, but hope that soon will be, until then I can speak just theoretically, but I would like to find some cheap solutions for them.
I would like to hear some opinions or more likely some tests if someone try some of this things.

I saw that CF card is out that goes with speed of 90 MB/s very close to 100 MB/s
http://www.sandisk.com/products/dslr/sandisk-extreme-pro-compactflash-card

the price for now is the same like P2, but for sure it will fall, how soon dont know, but must fall, right!
there are also the Cardbus PCMCIA adapters that fits CF or any kind of cards

I also saw some CardBus eSATA Adapters from addonics,
http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adcb2sa-e.asp
but I think it will be difficult to work, probably it needs some kind of driver, I dont think that is just PnP like those Cardbus adapters, but it will be nice to capture with this kind of adapter directly to hard rive.

so if someone has any news, would like to hear it. thanks
 
Sorry.... But give up.

Really; for directors / producers who actually have paying clients, the cost of P2 media is next to a non issue. It's rock solid, re-usable, and available in large enough sizes at this point that stopping to offload is no longer a problem.

If you can't make a living, purchase enough gear, and hire crew for your jobs... then you aren't pricing right.

So if you are cutting corners on a one time purchase of a couple thousand dollars, what other corners are you cutting on your clients?

/*sorry for the rant; but several prospective clients who chose a 'cheaper alternative' last year, have recently knocked on my door with horror stories / bad unusable footage and the need to take the time to shoot over / pay us to do it. All because cameras are now within reach of people who can't use them./*

G.
 
i have to agree with G. - give up.

nobody's in the business of trying to make cheaper P2 alternatives for P2 cameras. 90% of the people using P2 cameras can reasonably absorb the costs of P2 cards into their pricing. and its not worth the R&D costs for someone to develop a marginally cheaper alternative to serve the remaining 10%

when you consider the time saved in the capture process. as well as not having to keep buying and storing tons of tapes. P2 really isnt that much more expensive than tape anyway.

i have been using P2 for 3 years (back when an 8gig card was like $1500) and the price of P2 media has never been a problem. yeah, it SOUNDS like a lot but if you actually have paying clients, the price justifies itself VERY quickly.

the way i see it is that in typical cases. if someone cant afford the cost of the camera and a couple of mid-sized P2 cards. they probably had no business buying the camera in the first place.

i'll also apologize for the rant.
 
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I did a lot of research before I purchased my HPX-170 last year, and, indeed, the high cost of P2 made me think twice about it. But in the end I realized I wanted to be a professional (and viewed myself as such) and so I should shoot in a professional format.

It was the best decision. I bought a 64GB P2 card and I've never looked back. The format is stable, secure, rewritable, and I've been thrilled with my move to solid state recording.
 
> So if you are cutting corners on a one time purchase of a couple thousand dollars,
> what other corners are you cutting on your clients?

Is this your way of justifying high cost... of anything? "If you are cutting corners by purchasing a $20 ladder from Home Depot instead of shelling out $100 for a special one, what other corners are you cutting when servicing your shiny new F15C?"
 
BTW - depending on what kind of work you do. 2 mid-size P2 cards will serve you better than 1 big one. that way you can be transferring one while shooting to the other and wont have to bring production to a stop each time you transfer a card.
 
Cranky said:
> So if you are cutting corners on a one time purchase of a couple thousand dollars,
> what other corners are you cutting on your clients?

Is this your way of justifying high cost... of anything? "If you are cutting corners by purchasing a $20 ladder from Home Depot instead of shelling out $100 for a special one, what other corners are you cutting when servicing your shiny new F15C?"
Click to expand...

That is a strawman argument.

If you want the reliability an proven workflow of the P2 there is an entry point.

Period.
 
I'll chime in for the hell of it. I started with a Firestore as I was able to get 100gb for the price of a 16gb P2 back then. I am entry level, however I just bought my first "E' series 32gb card and can see all kinds of applications where I don't want to haul around the firestore. The bottom line is this. If your willing to buy a mercedes you better be able to fuel it.

By the way, P2 is just the tip of the iceberg. If your serious you'll need a bunch of other stuff as well. A decent tripod is $1500. Thats two 'E' P2 32gb cards.
 
I already own one firestore 250Gb, but that is just for long run, I will need for sure P2 cards, just looking for solutions,

So if you are cutting corners on a one time purchase of a couple thousand dollars, what other corners are you cutting on your clients?
Click to expand...

this is HPX171 forum, right, so we are indie filmmakers, low budget solutions and most of the time zero budget projects on our own hand, ... so speak for your self about cutting on clients.
 
P2 cards have gotten pretty cheap now--even the A cards have come down to 600.00 for a 32 gig. Can't argue with that :shocked::shocked:
 
oneday said:
this is HPX171 forum, right, so we are indie filmmakers, low budget solutions and most of the time zero budget projects on our own hand, ... so speak for your self about cutting on clients.
Click to expand...

No, not everyone here is 'low budget film makers' with 'zero budgets'.
 
The E series cards are the the "cheap alternative."

Seriously...I now have 2 cameras and four 32GB cards and I don't remember the last time I needed to dump cards in the field. I don't even bring a laptop anymore.
 
Try buying used gear.

And once you have a baseline set of equipment to get you a steady stream well paying clients, then you can afford to expand and buy more gear.
 
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While I feel for the indie film maker looking towards cheaper alternatives, what I've learn in the process of buying my own gear is that regardless of whether you can afford it or not, you WANT to aim for the higher end products.

Honestly, the HVX has so many ways to record digitally that if a P2 isn't in your budget, or a fire store, use the laptop method to record to an external hard drive.

As the first respondent alluded to, better to make the investment then cut corners. I'm not sure what kind of footage you intend on shooting but I wonder if a couple of 4 gig P2 cards to start off with wouldn't be more than sufficent for your needs.

One more thing, I know you said that you were hoping to be a P2 user/owner; were you only asking to see if there were other alternatives for P2 media itself, or to find a cheaper alternative to getting high def video?

Either way, I only see the prices of P2 cards coming down as Panasonic increases the size of it's cards.

my 2 cents
 
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