P2 card - R series v. A series: whats the diff?

wgzn

wgzn

Veteran
?

i know, i know... do a forum search. but its sunday, been shooting all day and im too tired to read ; )
 
You want internal differences, or observable differences? I can't address internal ones, but I think the only user-noticeable difference is the 800 Mb/s vs. 640 Mb/s offload speed...

As far as I know, no drivers need to be updated for the A-series... but I'd like confirmation! I remeber there were driver updates necessary for 16GB cards (which were then R-series)... did that update cover up to 64GB cards, and the A-series, or is another update necessary? (I'm not worried about the camera updates, but especially worried about the Windows drivers).
 
You will need to update your camera to get full functionality out of the E series cards, Not a difficult process, just needs to be done. The difference between the cards is the type of memory used. The E series uses a less expensive type of memory and thus costs less. The multi-level cell memory used on the E series cards has a shorter life. It can be recorded on every day, to capacity, reformatted and reused every day for 5 years and that will be its end of life. An A series card has 30,000+ rewrites.

Best,

Jan
 
thanks for the info guys, but we arent addressing the original question of the post.

whats the difference between R and A series? im not concerned with E series or software needs...
 
R = 640 Mb/s
A = 800 Mb/s
E = 1.2 Gb/s, shorter lifespan (5 years of daily use), needs updated software/firmware
 
I hate to cut in on the thread, but I'm thinking of buying a new 170. would that cam (since it's new) already have the firmware installed so I can use the E series card without updating the camera? (or is this something they don't do at the factory?)
 
videohog said:
I hate to cut in on the thread, but I'm thinking of buying a new 170. would that cam (since it's new) already have the firmware installed so I can use the E series card without updating the camera? (or is this something they don't do at the factory?)
Click to expand...
On any new unit the firmware would already be installed.
 
OK, wgzn, all this information is readily available on the web, we've been patient with your questioning every answer... look it up!

hog: I'm pretty sure all currently-shipping P2 cams will have the proper firmware for E-series cards; and the firmware update is pretty straightforward if you have a model shipped before the E-series cards.
 
Firmware updates are available on the Panasonic PASS site; you can log in and download the latest firmware to an SD card and then run the firmware update yourself.
 
all this information is readily available on the web, we've been patient with your questioning every answer... look it up!
Click to expand...
no its not. not unless you want to spend all day sorting through threads from people with variously filled cards, various computers, etc...

and until this thread id personally NEVER heard anyone mention transfer speed differences in card versions. and i still have never seen it laid out as clearly as it has been here in this thread. due in part to your input - and i do thank you for that!

but you dont need to go getting all snarky about it. and if you hadnt hijacked my thread right out of the gate talking about software, maybe it wouldnt have taken so many questions to get here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top