P2- how long can one record?

It's my understanding that it's approximately 1 gb per minute at 1080i. 720 would give you almost double. I could be wrong on that.

eric
 
In 720p mode, it depends on the framerate you're shooting in. The camera only records active frames in 720p so you don't waste bandwidth. At 60 frames per second, the 720 mode uses the full 100mbps of DVCPROHD just like 1080i. However, at 24fps, you're only using 40% of the frames, or 40mbps. You can do the math to figure out what the datarate using 720p will be by dividing the framerate you're using by 60, and then multiplying by 100. This is the reason that shooting 720 24p actually uses less bandwidth than 50mbps standard-def DVCPRO50 in 24p mode; DVCPRO50 (and 1080 DVCPROHD) record full 60i streams and then use 2:3 (or 2:3:3:2) pulldown to extract the progressive frames.

This means that on a 4GB card, you get:

4min of DVCPROHD at 1080i (24p, 30p, or 60i)
4min of DVCPROHD at 720p (at 60p)
10min of DVCPROHD at 720p (at 24p)
8min of DVCPRO50
8min of DVCPROHD at 720p (at 30p)
16min of standard DV / DVCPRO

Double the times for the 8GB card.

This means that right out the gate, if you get the camera and two 8GB P2 cards, you have over an hour of recording time in standard-def DV available to you, or 40 minutes (!) of 720 24p recording, or 16 minutes of full 100mbps bitrate DVCPROHD in 1080i. Not as bad as some people have made it sound.
 
I hate to say it, but even if you can afford it, recording on P2 isn't entirely practical. I intend to buy the camera, if nothing else to shoot really nice SD in the field, and HD only when I'm in an environment where I can record on something external.

Still, it's worth whatever hassle and trickery to shoot at that resolution.
 
My guess is that Panasonic will sell more cameras alone than with P2. Every single one I know who's buying the camera, is buying the firestore. I wonder how many cameras they would sell if Focus Enhancements haven't step in the game. Bringing Focus in was a smart move!
 
Mediacre said:
My guess is that Panasonic will sell more cameras alone than with P2. Every single one I know who's buying the camera, is buying the firestore. I wonder how many cameras they would sell if Focus Enhancements haven't step in the game. Bringing Focus in was a smart move!
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure that Focus "stepped in." . . . Lucky to be invited is probably more accurate. I expect I will look at their product when it is available but, in the mean time, my HVX is on order with the two 8GHz cards . . .

JimtheJib said:
how much does a firestone cost?
Click to expand...

Pre-release pricing is about 2K
 
40 minutes sure beats what I got out of my film loads, so I think I can handle that. Think about the time getting film loaded and dealing sometimes with magazine load errors (happens sometimes) and all of a sudden P2 sounds pretty practical to me.

Don't get me wrong I really like my Firestore, but it's cumbersome to say the least.

Just my two bits.

Jason
 
I would much rather have P2 over a Firestore. Because it fits inside the camera and is out of the way. Also P2 is much more durable than a drive. Out filming that's a big deal to me. It's like the Heineken beer commercial with the keg can. "Sorry I dropped this.", "No worries...just don't do it again. Do you know how much those things cost." Versus. "Sorry I dropped this.", "OH MY GOD NO. Quick check to see if the footage is still on there."
 
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