Panasonic's PCD35 5 card P2 reader is fast! (Benchmarks included...)

K

k2director

Well-known member
For those with a 5 card P2 reader, or considering getting one, I had the chance to benchmark Panasonic's older PCD20 reader vs the newer PCD35. All I can say is: what a difference, the PCD35 is well worth it if you do a lot of P2 offloading!!

The PCD20 can connect to your computer via a USB2 or FW800 connection, but for some reason, produces roughly the same transfer times regardless of the interface you use (at least on the Mac, and a Panasonic rep also confirmed this with me). But the PCD35 attaches via a PCIe card, which gives it far faster transfer rates---about 5 times as fast as the PCD20.

Here are some benchmarks transferring the same full 32GB E series card to a Sonnet 8 drive SAS Raid (using an ATTO r380 card for the raid hookup), a 2 drive RAID 0, and a FireWire 800 hard drive on the Mac. All tests using Shotput 2.02 (beta):

PCD20 via USB2 to SAS RAID = 21.1 minutes (1266 seconds)
PCD20 via FW800 to SAS RAID = 19.4 minutes (1163 seconds)
PCD20 via USB2 to a Firewire 800 hard drive (instead of the SAS RAID) = 28.1 minutes (1688 secs).

PCD35 via PCIe cable to SAS RAID = 4 minutes (240 seconds)
PCD35 via PCIe cable to a 2 drive RAID 0 (made in Disk Utility): 5.1 minutes


Wow! As you can see, the PCD35 is about 5 times as fast as the PCD20 in copying a single 32GB card. Imagine the time savings when transferring 5 full 64GB cards at the end of the day! A prelim test I did with 5 full 32GB E series cards had the transfer taking less than 30 minutes for all 5 cards!

The PCD35 is only about $200 more expensive than the PCD20. The only drawback is that you have to use up a PCIe slot in your computer to accommodate the reader's interface card. Also, Panasonic doesn't sell a laptop connector for the PCD35, but a rep told me that you might be able to use the Matrox MXO2's connector card, since it uses the same cable as the PCD35.

Anyway, if your main machine is a desktop machine, I would heartily recommend the PCD35....
 
k2director-

Thanks for sharing your results. I'm still work on my ideal workflow and this info is quite helpful.

Dafilms
 
I was in your boat a few months ago, and am really happy with the AVC-Intra workflow I settled with. But that workflow has now been upgraded with the new FInal Cut Pro 7 (part of the new Final Cut Studio). I'm going to start testing today, but this is how I think it will work:

1) Shoot with 5 cards in my camera. I use five 32GB cards now, but will upgrade to five 64s when the E models ship in August (hey, it's almost August now!). This gives me roughly 13 hours of 720/24p and 6.5 hours of 1080/24 footage, which is enough to last all day (or multiple days) for most jobs.

2) Put all five cards in the PCD35, boot up Final Cut Pro 7, and capture the clips directly from the cards into my Raid 6. Final Cut Pro 7 does not have to transcode the AVC-Intra into ProRes, it merely puts a QuickTime wrapper on the native AVC-Intra files. Goes very quickly. Five full 64GB cards should transfer in about an hour.

3) While editing, I can also copy the original card contents (not the QuickTime wrapper version on the RAID) directly to LTO4 tape. The copy goes at around 100 MBps, so it's a faster than trying to archive to a standard hard drive. Plus, LTO4 tape is far more reliable.

Right now, this is just about the quickest workflow you can design, and it still delivers a solid archive solution via the LTO4 tape. It really shows off the benefits of P2 over tape as well as other tapeless workflows like XDCAM disk.
 
k2director said:
2) Put all five cards in the PCD35, boot up Final Cut Pro 7, and capture the clips directly from the cards into my Raid 6. Final Cut Pro 7 does not have to transcode the AVC-Intra into ProRes, it merely puts a QuickTime wrapper on the native AVC-Intra files. Goes very quickly. Five full 64GB cards should transfer in about an hour.

Right now, this is just about the quickest workflow you can design, and it still delivers a solid archive solution via the LTO4 tape. It really shows off the benefits of P2 over tape as well as other tapeless workflows like XDCAM disk.
Click to expand...

This should give those who don't think P2 cameras are a good choice for long form projects something to think about. A Sony PMD-800 XDCAM 422 camera costs $42K plus viewfinder and offers an 8 bit Long GOP codec vs. an HPX3700 trade in price of $30K with a 10-bit I-Frame codec.
 
Hi K2Director,

Love to compare the PCD35 to the soon to be released Sonnet Qio reader.. should be an interesting "Shoot out", comparing, Bang for Buck / adaptability / Transfer speeds.
I'll post Qio results here when mine arrives.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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Tom,
I'm interested in hearing about the Sonnet as well. When I'm on the road with a laptop, that may be the best option available for copying card to a hard drive, since you have a fast connection to the cards (via the ExpressCard connector), and you can also attach eSATA drives at the same time.

Let us know, thanks!
 
Great info! If you ever get anymore information regarding the Matrox cable and this working with a laptop, let us know. If that works, this would certainly go onto my shopping list.
 
Hi Guys,

Yes, copying via the "sonnet Qio" from the reader direct to esata drive/s I assume it would be much faster than going thru the host computer.
Testing and time will tell, Pana's PCD35 will no doubt satisfy many who are on PCIe based boxes and have good budgets.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
Dino said:
This should give those who don't think P2 cameras are a good choice for long form projects something to think about. A Sony PMD-800 XDCAM 422 camera costs $42K plus viewfinder and offers an 8 bit Long GOP codec vs. an HPX3700 trade in price of $30K with a 10-bit I-Frame codec.
Click to expand...
It basicly means we could do news with D5 quality, more efficient than any Dvcam/xdcam will be even close to.:)

If this ain't good enough to convince people to go with an P2 workflow I'm not sure if it ever will be possible.
 
Unfortunately, I just heard that the Sonnet Qio has been pushed back to September, so we have a little longer to wait...
 
k2director said:
Unfortunately, I just heard that the Sonnet Qio has been pushed back to September, so we have a little longer to wait...
Click to expand...

That's very Sad,

This seems to be an issue with P2 in general, "lots of waiting for development". One wonders if this would be the case if the interface was Expresscard and not the older PCMCIA ?
I see Sonnet news page,--- "Sonnet is feeling the effect of the financial downturn"
http://www.sonnettech.com/news/pr2009/pr071609_sonnettakescaiou.html
This may have slowed/stopped delivery date on newer products?, Time will tell.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
There are two models listed at B&H Photo, showing a 2-4 week shipping window. I know of a DIT who used a pre-production model that was happy with it. Don't know which model it was, but I'd expect the eSata version to be very fast with a Mac tower.
 
Looking forward to hearing from whomever is going to jump in the QIO pool first. It sounds exciting and pretty reasonable cost. If it is as fast or faster than the PCD35, it will become the hot new thing for P2 shooters.

Dan
 
The QIO would be a great fit with my 300 and two 64GB cards. Interested to hear how it works out after it finally starts shipping.
 
Just maybe, if you can hold off till pana's newest single card reader V a sonnet Qio purchase.
real world tests may prove which one will be best bang for buck, as an all rounder in a studio facility environment the sonnett Qio has many advantages, but if your just after something that works and is cheap, the Pana AJ-PCD2 will satisfy most users needs.
http://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/tools/gearup/11907.html
Just like Sony has achieved with it's cheap reader (SBAC-US10) for their SxS cards.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...C_US10_SBAC_US10_SxS_Memory_Card.html#reviews

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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