USB P2 reader?

Depends on what you mean by "reasonably priced". The PCD20 is the *only* dedicated USB/firewire slot reader on the market. It's about $2,000.

You can use any of the cameras or, well, basically any piece of P2 equipment (the P2 Store, the P2 Gear, the P2 Mobile, the P2 Portable, the PCD20, the PCD35, etc) as a USB slot reader.

You can use a Windows laptop as a slot reader for your desktop, which puts your cost at around $300 to $400.
 
Thanks Barry,

I'm surprised at this point there is $150 USB P2 reader.

I thought I heard rumblings some time ago that a product of this nature would be released.
 
Why is it that everything P2 related costs an f'in fortune? Seems to me a USB PCMCIA reader would be cake to make. There are cheap card readers for every other form of card media.
 
AdamT said:
Why is it that everything P2 related costs an f'in fortune? Seems to me a USB PCMCIA reader would be cake to make. There are cheap card readers for every other form of card media.
Click to expand...
Nope. Not possible. If it was, then plenty of companies would have come out and done it already.

P2 isn't just a generic memory card. Other people have claimed they were going to make such a device and when they tried, they found out pretty quick that it can't happen.

If you want a cheap P2 reader, you simply cannot beat a Windows laptop. If you want it to transfer files to a hard disk, do it. If you want to transfer files to your Mac, use the gigabit ethernet connection. It is *the* budget P2 reader.
 
Barry_Green said:
Nope. Not possible. If it was, then plenty of companies would have come out and done it already.

P2 isn't just a generic memory card. Other people have claimed they were going to make such a device and when they tried, they found out pretty quick that it can't happen.

If you want a cheap P2 reader, you simply cannot beat a Windows laptop. If you want it to transfer files to a hard disk, do it. If you want to transfer files to your Mac, use the gigabit ethernet connection. It is *the* budget P2 reader.
Click to expand...

But it IS possible, as you said, Panasonic has one, only with 5 slots and a $2k pricetag. What's not possible about making the same thing in a one slot version? If Panasonic can do it why can't someone else?
 
JesterJJZ said:
But it IS possible, as you said, Panasonic has one, only with 5 slots and a $2k pricetag. What's not possible about making the same thing in a one slot version? If Panasonic can do it why can't someone else?
Click to expand...
Why would one slot be any cheaper? It's not the cost of the slots that's the problem! It's all the infrastructure in the unit, it's basically a computer for communicating with the internal computer in the P2 card, gather the data off it, reformat it for USB and export to USB.

Slots are cheap. It's everything else that's expensive.

If it was easy, someone would have done it by now.

Again, what's the problem with just using a Windows laptop? $300 to $400, it has a slot, some laptops have two slots, it has the ability to write to a USB drive, it does everything everyone's asking for and a whole lot more. And there never will be a $100 USB adapter, it's not possible (if it was, someone would have done it by now, guaranteed! Heck, I would have done it by now.)
 
blackdogs377 said:
Is it wrong to assume that a cardbus to USB adapter will work?
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Yes, it would be wrong to assume that. We've been down this P2 road for over three years and tried every possible way. There is no such thing as a cheapy generic USB P2 reader. If it doesn't specifically say "P2" on it, it will not work.
 
Barry_Green said:
1. Again, what's the problem with just using a Windows laptop? $300 to $400, it has a slot, some laptops have two slots.

2. If it doesn't specifically say "P2" on it, it will not work.
Click to expand...

Hi Barry,

I quoted you from two posts, are you talking about a used $300 to $400 laptop? I just tried to find a Dell on their website with a PC Card slot (Type II), and it does not appear that PC Card slots are even an option anymore. Also, can any Type II PC Card slot work, or does it have to say "P2" somewhere?
 
You're looking for a "CardBus" slot. And yes, it has to be Type II. If it's a computer with a Type II cardbus slot, and you install the drivers, it'll work.

I put up a thread with all sorts of laptops; the $300 to $400 price is for when places like OfficeMax or Best Buy have big sales for Labor Day or Memorial Day or whatever; they usually have a super-cheap laptop and historically they usually have PCMCIA slots. They are getting rarer, that's true, but there are still plenty of brands out there that offer them.
 
Well at least the Panasonic 5 card reader is cheaper than a 64gig card !.
Barry, you are correct the old laptops are the cheapest way to go at this point in time if you like having more stuff cluttering the workbench.

PS, testing my Amtron reader in the Intel Macpro with Leopard 10.5.6 is going well to date. Cheap card readers are possible, But not Profitable, for manufacturers to produce, that's why they are not out there.
You have to find your own solution to a budget you can afford.

Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
Im sorry but I could not help speaking up here. I have a PCMCIA Single slot Card Reader that I bought for my pc ON Line. It fits in a PCI Slot on my desktop. It was 10 bucks plus 6 bucks shipping. I use it every day. I cannot remember where I bought it, but, it is not a name brand, kind of slow, (im guessing it was made for a slower buss speed) and was definetly not 100 bucks or 2 grand. It DOES read P2 cards with the P2 Viewer and proper Drivers installed. Just like my laptop.

I liked it so much, I bought 3 more at the time. I have all 3 installed in one machine together. It was a bit of a trick to get them to work without crossing IRQ's, but I dump right to them from P2viewer, P2 Genie and several other PC based apps.

I did not read the entire thread here, so I hope I am not being redundant in any of this. However, There ARE USB based single slot Card readers out there for around 100 bucks. A friend of mine has one on a machine i just used three days ago. In fact, he had two of em on the same laptop. OUtside of speed and ergonomics, I cannot see buying a 2000 dollar card reader for PCMCIA P2 cards.

MagicCat
 
There are cheap PCI readers, yes. There are NO cheap USB readers that will work. That is the simple fact.

If you want to work with a desktop, yes there are super-cheap options. If you want to work with an ExpressCard laptop, there are super-cheap options. If you want a USB-based unit, no, there is no alternative, nothing on the market will work.
 
DualAdapter

DualAdapter

Barry_Green said:
If you want to work with an ExpressCard laptop, there are super-cheap options.
Click to expand...

The Duel Systems DuelAdapter looks promising, I have a MacBook Pro 17 with an ExpressCard 34 slot. An ExpressCard passes data to the system at up to 2.5 Gbps, which is very fast in my mind. Their website says it is compatible with the MacBook OS X 10.5 and Panasonic P2 cards, so I might just try this. It looks like Addonics also makes one that is less expensive and does not use a cable. I read a review on Amazon for the DualAdapter that said they often break, and some pro videographers buy two or more so they have backups (not a bad idea).

Anyone have experience with either of these ExpressCard solutions?

kbmcdowell
 
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Barry_Green said:
Depends on what you mean by "reasonably priced". The PCD20 is the *only* dedicated USB/firewire slot reader on the market. It's about $2,000.
Click to expand...

Does the PCD20 require P2 drivers to be installed on the PC, or does it work in the same way that using the camera to offload does (shows the P2 card as a Universal Mass Storage Device like any normal flash media)?

If it shows the card as a UMS device like the camera does in USB device mode, then it will allow offloading with GNU/Linux -- and make it very worthwhile to me.
 
The Duel Adapter has never failed me…not once. The only downside is that if you eject and re-insert the Adapter, you may have to restart your Mac to recognize it.
 
kbmcdowell said:
The Duel Systems DuelAdapter looks promising, I have a MacBook Pro 17 with an ExpressCard 34 slot. An ExpressCard passes data to the system at up to 2.5 Gbps, which is very fast in my mind. Their website says it is compatible with the MacBook OS X 10.5 and Panasonic P2 cards, so I might just try this. It looks like Addonics also makes one that is less expensive and does not use a cable. I read a review on Amazon for the DualAdapter that said they often break, and some pro videographers buy two or more so they have backups (not a bad idea).

Anyone have experience with either of these ExpressCard solutions?

kbmcdowell
Click to expand...
Lots of posts here about the Duel Adapter. The Addonics, last I knew, won't work on an MBP -- even if you're running Windows under BootCamp. So if you have a Mac, the Duel is the only choice.
 
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