The Gist of the P2 Card

B

bigox

Well-known member
So this is the low down for using a P2 card for an HVX series Panasonic Camera. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

1. an R series 16 G p2 card will cost between 250 and 400 dollars each.

2. an R Series 16 G p2 card will capture approximately 45 minutes of footage before it's full.

3. If you're shooting in the field and are going to shoot 3 to 5 hours of footage, you'll have to offload footage from the p2 cards as you go.

4. This requires at least 2 p2 cards, so you can record on one while the other is off loading. 3 p2 cards would be more ideal.

5. You'll need a computer of some sort, laptop etc available in the field to be able to offload the footage in the field.

6. You'll need a "card reader" to act as a middle man between the p2 card and the computer, as most computers do not have a natural adapter for the p2 cards.

7. A middle man aka "Card Reader" will cost you an extra 30 to 200 dollars.

8. Since you will format(erase) the p2 card before using it again, you should probably back up the offloaded footage onto a secondary external drive immediately, since unlike with tapes, you'll never be able to "recapture" the footage again. (Scary thought)

9. To edit the HD footage, you need a pretty powerful computer with a strong processor and a lot of memory.

10. If you edit on Sony Vegas Pro, you cannot edit the footage without purchasing a "middle man" software known as "Raylight". = Extra Expense

11. Does this pretty much sum it up or am I missing something?
 
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Forgive me if i cant post much. Im on mobile.For a 32 gb card,Its 32 minutes in DVCPRO HD or AVC-Intra 10040 minutes in AVC-Intra at 1080/24p Native80 minutes in DVCPRO HD or AVC-Intra 100 at 720/24pNative64 minutes in DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50128 minutes in DVCPRONow editing the footages arent intensive but fast because its intra frames.
 
bigox said:
So this is the low down for using a P2 card for an HVX series Panasonic Camera. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

1. an R series 16 G p2 card will cost between 250 and 400 dollars each.

2. an R Series 16 G p2 card will capture approximately 45 minutes of footage before it's full.

3. If you're shooting in the field and are going to shoot 3 to 5 hours of footage, you'll have to offload footage from the p2 cards as you go.

4. This requires at least 2 p2 cards, so you can record on one while the other is off loading. 3 p2 cards would be more ideal.

5. You'll need a computer of some sort, laptop etc available in the field to be able to offload the footage in the field.

6. You'll need a "card reader" to act as a middle man between the p2 card and the computer, as most computers do not have a natural adapter for the p2 cards.

7. A middle man aka "Card Reader" will cost you an extra 30 to 200 dollars.

8. Since you will format(erase) the p2 card before using it again, you should probably back up the offloaded footage onto a secondary external drive immediately, since unlike with tapes, you'll never be able to "recapture" the footage again. (Scary thought)

9. To edit the HD footage, you need a pretty powerful computer with a strong processor and a lot of memory.

10. If you edit on Sony Vegas Pro, you cannot edit the footage without purchasing a "middle man" software known as "Raylight". = Extra Expense

11. Does this pretty much sum it up or am I missing something?
Click to expand...


Well, I think you're kind of intentionally dwelling on what you see as negatives without considering what all you get for it.
 
Re: the computer and card reader - you can use an older laptop with PCMCIA slot as portable storage. I have a Dell D410, old pb G4s are also popular. Should set you back $100 or so on eBay. Throw in a hard drive upgrade and yay you.

E-series cards are less expensive and have lasted me four years so far. A 64gb runs about $600. Two of those and you're solid for most day shoots.
 
You are missing the fact that P2 a robust recording format. The initial investment may be high, but the return on investment is worth it. The P2 can be reused over and over again unlike tape. Injesting into the supported editors is almost instant as opposed to play and capture of the 3-5 hour shoot.

The other reasonable comparison would be SD cards. To be fair, the new SD cameras and cards are getting better. Some of the cameras allow simultaneous recording to two cards for redundancy, since there are not the same error checking and correction present in P2.

As far as HD footage needing a powerful computer, not so much anymore. And most P2 camera's can record in SD format if your project or hardware requires it.

I have a client that requires tape and the workflow is unchanged. I can go back and recapture, but it seldom happens. I am more likely to go back to the archived project on backup. My new workflow is P2 and I am loving it.

For weddings and events where I have a fixed fee, I eliminate a lot of production time by not needing to capture. I still spend the time to make a backup copy of the footage, but that is still a lot faster than capture, especially for multi camera shoots.
 
free your mind. tape is for the birds. go solid state and you'll wonder why anyone deals with tape anymore.

just bear in mind that p2 isn't the only solid state medium.
 
bigox said:
So this is the low down for using a P2 card for an HVX series Panasonic Camera. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

1. an R series 16 G p2 card will cost between 250 and 400 dollars each.

2. an R Series 16 G p2 card will capture approximately 45 minutes of footage before it's full.

3. If you're shooting in the field and are going to shoot 3 to 5 hours of footage, you'll have to offload footage from the p2 cards as you go.

4. This requires at least 2 p2 cards, so you can record on one while the other is off loading. 3 p2 cards would be more ideal.

5. You'll need a computer of some sort, laptop etc available in the field to be able to offload the footage in the field.

6. You'll need a "card reader" to act as a middle man between the p2 card and the computer, as most computers do not have a natural adapter for the p2 cards.

7. A middle man aka "Card Reader" will cost you an extra 30 to 200 dollars.

8. Since you will format(erase) the p2 card before using it again, you should probably back up the offloaded footage onto a secondary external drive immediately, since unlike with tapes, you'll never be able to "recapture" the footage again. (Scary thought)

9. To edit the HD footage, you need a pretty powerful computer with a strong processor and a lot of memory.

10. If you edit on Sony Vegas Pro, you cannot edit the footage without purchasing a "middle man" software known as "Raylight". = Extra Expense

11. Does this pretty much sum it up or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

A few more things:

You're missing:

-A 16GB card will give you around 17 minutes of capture at the highest setting.
-The $325 P2 card reader is only USB 2.0, which means it transfers at around 1GB/min, so you'd need a minimum of 3 cards to be safe.
-There is no technical requirement for P2 -- AVC-Intra could easily be recaorded to SDHC/SDXC cards but Panasonic will never do it.

Regarding point #9: AVC-Intra is very easy to edit -- easier than AVCHD.
 
mcbob said:
P2 is king of the middle ground between SD and SSD capture, however. To heck with SXS and CF.
Click to expand...

the deuce you say!

p2 was early to market. it has its relative merits, like other solid state media.
 
Phil1076 said:
A few more things:

You're missing:

-A 16GB card will give you around 17 minutes of capture at the highest setting.
Click to expand...

For DVCPRO HD, yes. For AVC-Intra 100 at 24p (superior to DVCPRO 100), no; it'll be a bit over 20 minutes.

Granted, the HVX200 doesn't shoot it, but some P2 cameras do, including the HPX250.
 
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Otay -- here's an instigation. I love P2, and wish the AF100 recorded to it. ;-) ... (Collective groan....Sorry, just had to do that.) But seriously, I really do love the format, and heartily recommend it to others. It's not the right format for everything, but it sure hits the sweet spot here. If you go with the top-line cards, you can pick them up used at a decent price sometimes. Since I was never a big fan of Vegas, that is not an issue for me.
 
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