P2 Portable Deck available now

Sounds like a nice product....but the fact that it does not support OSX is lame....with all the work Apple and Panasonic has done in the past together it seems a bit odd....Also why does it use USB rather than firewire to transfer??? Jared said that he would use this as a deck??? How can you use this if there is no firewire. To monitor out through FCP timeline don't you have to have deck control through firewire??? If one is able to use this as a deck will it be able to send HD, DVCPRO50, and DV out? If so then it would be a great way to view my DVCPRO50 material out of FCP without changing the sequence out to DVCPRO25. Does this even make sense....maybe I should start another thread regarding this. For example in order to view your DVCPRO50 timeline out of FCP you have to run it through a DVCPRO50 deck (WHICH is $$$) even if you could use the camera to monitor DVCPRO50 timeline that would be great......Does anyone know if you can use the camera to monitor out all three modes???
 
First of all, you need to shift your way of thinking of the P2 format. the card is not a linear tape format, but more of a storage medium. USB is the logical choice for the connection, because it mounts just like a harddrive. with P2 you do not need a traditional deck, there is no "capturing" or better put "digitizing" as your clips are all there on the P2card/this HD ready for cutting.

A real simple (read: half-ass analogy) way to think of it is that the camera records images just like a digital still camera, individual files with image information put on a memory card. You dont need a deck to capture those images, you just need a card reader. This HD bank is therefore much like a still photobank ( http://www.image-tank.com ) , where its not a deck for preivew, its just a tool to let you offload your compact flash cards in the field so you dont run out of space, or to use as backup.


To monitor video, firewire from the deck wont work, even if it had a port. You cant monitor HD over firewire, you need to either use the camera with the component HD outs, or get a blackmagic etc. HDlink card... your SD tv or monitor that used to hook up from your deck wont preview HD.. sure you can do the downconversion to SD to monitor if you want, but most likely your gonna need a HD monitor, or something like the Dell 24" HD tft to use as a monitor, Products like Vegas allow you to use it as a HD monitor through DVI.

You should be able to use the camera to monitor all 3 modes... again since this camera is $6k, its no longer a cheap DVCpro deck replacement.

I think most people still think of this camera as a prosumerish DV camera, Panasonic is taking us a step up here, the HVX200 is a professional camera, and the good/bad of it is your workflow needs to step up a little... working in HD is alot different than working in SD, you need more CPU power, more disk power (raids would be good), and more monitoring power. (HD monitor)

As for no OSX support.. i think it may be an oversight in the specs, im confident that it does work with apple.. i will ask Jan and find out.
 
Hey Jared thanks for the reply....I knew that my post would cause confusion....as far as the deck I understand that there is no need to digitize etc. and for the moment let's forget about HD. Though it is wonderful that this camera gives you the ability to shoot HD in reality its the DVCPRO50 I am after. Since I have a ton of DVCPRO50 footage shot with the SDX-900 I am just wondering if I could monitor out of FCP to my Sony Production Monitor. As it stand right now I am working in a DVCPRO50 timeline but I monitor out DVCPRO25. My DSR-11 will not and cannot understand DVCPRO50. and those DVCPRO50 decks are more expnsive than the HVX-200....So my thinking is that if you can actually monitor out DVCPRO50 you not only get the finest camera out there in its price range but you can also avoid the expense of buying a dedicated DVCPRO50 deck. Sure you could use one of the Blackmagic cards but you are still talking about 1000 bucks.

Did not realize about the monitoring issue with HD...Never having shot HD....I would have thought that since you can pull the material in via firewire you could monitor it that way.

But as someone put it on another thread I think the most overlooked feature is DVCPRO50....for those who have not seen the footage from the SDX-900 it makes the DVX-100 look like crap....Since I was awarded the Digital Filmakers Grant from Panasonic I intend to finish shooting my Doc. on the SDX-900. But believe me when this little baby comes out I will be right there.
 
jcgardiner said:
....for those who have not seen the footage from the SDX-900 it makes the DVX-100 look like crap....
Click to expand...

That is not all in the format though. I often receive 16mm or 35mm rushes on DV that look nicer than Digibeta. I realise that is comparing film to video, but DV will record a very good picture...the limiting factor is normally the camera (or ridiculous compression in digital broadcasts!)

It will be interesting to see the difference in formats coming from one camera. I have never seen that before... is there a camera that will even do it internally??
 
Not saying that DV does not record a good image and perhaps I am ovestating it a bit...but the quality of the DVCPRO50 footage shot with the SDX-900 which had a lens which cost twice as much as the DVX-100 alone looks spectacular....I just think for those people who have not shot DVCPRO50 will be amazed at the quality besides SD aint all that bad...I for one would be happy to stay in the SD world for some time....As Jared put it best their is a huge jump in storage needed and monitoring issues which all translates to money. Bad enough that most of my deliveries are stem mixes on Digi-Beta...Digi-Beta has been out for a very very long time and I still can't afford one of those decks.

Anyway sorry to steer this topic way off course....Hey how bout that nifty little device. I think Jared is right I really can't see this thing only working on windows... I would seriously consider this product if it works with OSX...For my workflowusing a firestore like device would just make me way too nervous...you got to record straight to those P2 cards then dump if your in the field and a laptop is out of the question for our workflow...just wish it could hold a bit more....my math is bad here so what is the breakdown how many hours can this hold of each format??
 
I dont see a point to this drive, i realize it is necessary to have a place to unload your footage since these p2 cards dont hold a respectable amount as of now, but isnt the whole point of this camera that there will be no moving mechanisms required. when relying on a Hard Disk to unload your footage, you are basically using the same amount of throughput you would be using if the camera would have had the hard drive built into it, making the p2 not a neccesary expense. I understand why panasonic has not used hard drives in the camera(if it fails then you can loose your footage especially since there is so much data needed to be written) but i think its too early for p2's at the same time since you are basically unloading it to a medium that has the same problem as just described. Basically you run the risk of being on a shoot unloading a couple of p2's worth of footage and then the hd crashing loosing it all and not having anything backed up at the same time.
 
egproductions I see your point about having little faith on storing footage on hard drives...but until P2 storage becomes as cheap as tape this will fall into the risk/reward category. While hard drives are far more reliable than they were just a few years ago they will eventually go bad...and when it does let's hope that it doesn't happen at the worst possible moment. On the other hand this device is much different than a firestore device in that you are not recording directly to a hard drive. Think of it as a real compact rugged laptop without all the limitations of a laptop....for those run and gun docs or news guys out there I see this as being a necessary evil until P2 capacities and cost can catch up to our familiar way of shooting....In a perfect world or if I hit the lotto having a pocket full of these P2 cards would be ideal...Until then this seems to me to be the best alternative...The other alternative is to spend 70 grand on a varicam or if SD is still your world 30 grand for the SDX-900. With the 20 Grand you save I could buy alot of P2 cards even at todays price....fact of the matter is that this camera allows you to do what is familar to you today (ala DVX-100) with no change in workflow....heck record straight to tape....when your ready or the job calls for it go for the other modes included. For me I am still getting a lot of milage out of my DVX-100...While I also shoot the SDX-900 I don't own it nor do I own a DVCPRO50 deck.....I can't even think in the HD world yet.....that's what get's me is that there are so many people here who are complaining about all the so-called workarounds to shoot HD when in reality they have never shot HD...and if you were to compare the cost of shooting HD today it would price just about everybody out of it. P2 will have its day in the sun just got to give it a chance to mature a bit.

All the best
 
Jarred Land said:
and you dont need to have someone that knows how to use a computer to do it (yes there are still those people out there)...
Click to expand...


Yes... there are still a bunch of people that don't belive in evolution out there...


anyway... even with the "lower" price I can't see any other options other than the Firestore-type devices and the P2-and-laptop setups... maybe in a year or two when these have 200G or more... but right now...?

am I missing something? haven't been around lately, so maybe I am.
 
I understand the arguments concerning HD storage on hard drives. I'm nervous as well. If you had tape, at least it would be only about logging and capturing again. Your tape was your backup if the hard drive failed. One solution, which makes a lot of sense is to offload the P2 to two hard drives; where one of the drives is considered your backup. You will be up sh*ts-creek if both hard drives crashed. I also think HD Rack should be a necessity for anyone shooting HD. So having that lap top does help to monitor your levels.
 
P2 Store Drive

P2 Store Drive

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I was just wondering on this new P2 drive when playing the video into the computer via firewire does it play it in real time, also does the P2 drives have rca connectors so it could be connected to an audio board so the audio can be monitored as I do with a tape deck playing the tape.

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http://www.bilgamivideo.com[/font][font=&quot][/font]
 
No. This isn't a deck. It doesn't play footage. It is a hard drive. When you plug it into a computer it shows up as a hard drive. The footage is already digitized, they're already clips. You don't "capture" footage, you just copy it over. You don't play footage from the P2 Store, it's not a deck. There's no audio connectors because it doesn't play footage. It is a "data bank", a portable hard disk that can ingest data from P2 cards automatically.
 
P2 Card

P2 Card

Does the P2 card work in the same fashion as the P2 store drive AJ-PCS060 P2 cards are just lil hard drives then.
 
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