Panasonic "E" Series P2 Card 16GB $420

Kit Hannah said:
I'm still trying to understand if there is just an "expected" lifespan or it counts the number of hours on it or what. Does anyone know how this will work exactly? Is there an actual counter built into the firmware or something? And what would keep one from flashing the card or something to reset it?
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It is my understanding that there is not anything such as a counter. Instead, the write-verification hardware in the P2 card always performs write verification on any byte that's written to the card, and as MLC memory wears out, it'll become less reliable. If the card fails to successfully write a byte, that memory cell gets marked as "bad".

If enough of the cells get marked off, you'll probably see the end-of-life warning start appearing. That doesn't mean the card's going to instantly die, but that it's starting to get worn out.

None of this is coming from any published document, this is just what I pieced together from talking to various folks at the NAB show. I could be totally wrong, but this is the way I understand it.
 
The reason people are still buying the A series P2 is because people need to shoot stuff RIGHT NOW- clients aren't going to wait for the new cards to (hopefully) ship later this month.

We all know how that new product coming out thing can be- weeks can stretch into months some times. Plus the A series cards won't be obsolete either. Won't hurt to have a spare 16 or 32 gig laying around even when the new stuff comes out.

Still, I'm interested to know if anyone has tried any E-Series P2 prototypes or betas. How is speed?
 
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Barry_Green said:
The "A" series is faster than the "R" series. The "R" are rated at 640mbps, the "A" are rated at 800mbps.

The new "E" series are faster still, at 1200mbps.
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Thanks for update on speed Barry. 1200Mbps sounds groovy, a nice lil bump from the A card.
 
Barry, thanks for your insight! I could easily deal with a gradual demise as long as it doesn't die, as or after you shoot. :happy:
I'm hoping your educated guess turns out to be fact.
 
Man I'm so happy that P2 cards are finally starting to come down to realistic price levels. Thank you Panasonic!
 
i'm on the preorder list with spec-comm and havent heard anything yet. they just said sometime in may and that panasonic didnt give them an exact date.
 
so has anybody received their new p2 cards? it's now june and i havent heard anything from spec-comm or read anything about panasonic shipping them out yet
 
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