P2 Questions

Daniel Stepp · December 19, 2005

Hi, I have some P2 questions for you guys who might know.

What exactly is the workflow from P2 to editing the footage on a computer? Is there an expensive intermediary device needed? I've heard it can connect to a laptop through the PCMCIA slot. And I've also heard something about using USB 2 slots. Does anyone know?

Also, I heard that on the 4GB P2 card you can record about 4 minutes of HD footage at 60i, but 12 minutes at 24p. Is that correct? Is there any reason I would want to use 60i over 24p, if I am a filmmaker looking for a more filmlike image?

Thanks,

Daniel

Tom Polson · December 20, 2005

the way the p2 is supposed to work is basically it is like compact flash or SD memory in a still camera. the cards follow the pcmcia standard so they plugin to any pcmcia slot on any computer and show up as a drive which you can then transfer to your computer or editing drives or burn a data DVD. the file format is supposed to be the same as varicam which makes it far superior to HDV in quality and means you can transfer it to dvcproHD tape without generation loss. they are also offering a firewire hardrive like the firestore so you can record a lot more. as far as managing takes or multiple cards or file names, i'm not sure how they plan on managing that.

Daniel Stepp · December 20, 2005

Thanks a lot!

Stephen Williams · December 20, 2005

Hi, I have some P2 questions for you guys who might know.

What exactly is the workflow from P2 to editing the footage on a computer? Is there an expensive intermediary device needed? I've heard it can connect to a laptop through the PCMCIA slot. And I've also heard something about using USB 2 slots. Does anyone know?

Also, I heard that on the 4GB P2 card you can record about 4 minutes of HD footage at 60i, but 12 minutes at 24p. Is that correct? Is there any reason I would want to use 60i over 24p, if I am a filmmaker looking for a more filmlike image?

Thanks,

Daniel

Hi,

This link may help http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...?showtopic=6286

Stephen

Phil Rhodes · December 20, 2005

Hi,

> the cards follow the pcmcia standard so they plugin to any pcmcia slot on any computer

The computer has to be running the special Panasonic drivers. For some reason (and christ knows why because there's no engineering reason) they're not just flash memory devices.

> the file format is supposed to be the same as varicam

That's nonsensical. Varicam doesn't produce files, it produces tapes. The codec is the same - 40mbps for 24p hi def, which is much better than HDV, although bear in mind that Panasonic HD is 1280x720 and Sony HD is 1920x1080, in this context. Bear in mind also that a PAL SDX-900 recording 25p DVCPRO50 actually records more information than a Varicam shooting 24p!

> they are also offering a firewire hardrive like the firestore so you can record a lot more.

Not as far as I am aware. What they're offering is the P2 Store Drive, which is reasonably cheap, but not as cheap as just plugging 3.5" hard disks via a firewire bridgeboard into a laptop. Since you can't run Avid Newscutter on a P2 Store Drive, I can't see the attraction of dragging that around as well as the inevitable laptop.

> as far as managing takes or multiple cards or file names, i'm not sure how they plan on managing that.

They don't. They give you a two digit number followed by a random hash of gibberish letters and numbers - you can't change it or set it - and let you sort it out by inspecting - that is playing back - the files, which takes hours. When you change cards, it starts from number 1 again, so you can end up with dozens of files numbered "one."

The problem is that P2 records MXF. I feel that MXF is a badly designed standard which attempts to hide compatibility problems by putting them all in a box marked "MXF", as if that solves anything. Panasonic aren't even using MXF properly in P2. Anyway, read my much more extravagant ranting on just how wrong they've got it in the link already posted.

Phil