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Slow copy from P2 Store to Mac and pther Mac related Gripes.
Having been using P2 for a few weeks now (SPX800), one thing that is really annoying is the slow copy of files from my P2 Store to my archive drive (600gb LaCie). I’ve upgraded all my USB cables Hubs etc, checked the System profile and the Store is showing as High Speed. A full cards worth (4gb) is taking 19 MINUTES! It’s no better on my G4 Powerbook. Importing to FCP is fine, which I tend to do from the Store.
I may be wrong but I think it’s the fact that the Store uses FAT32, if there was some way of using HFS the speed would be fine. My work around meantime is to use a Vaio laptop with Mac Drive 6 installed. This allows me to connect my LaCie to the PC and archive from the P2 Store. Now a 4gb cards worth takes between 6 and 7 minutes. All very well but using the P2 Reader on the Vaio does not work with the Lacie in Virtual mode.
Formatting the cards in the field is a nightmare. I like to name / number the cards if I can. When you format in the P2 Store you loose the card name! Then all you get on the Mac desktop is an unmanageable list of drives called “NO NAME”!!!!!!! Just finished a shoot with 11 cards full on the Store. Almost quicker going back to digitizing off tape.
HD Log is fine and expensive, but I don’t want all the rest that goes with it, just to get a P2 Viewer for my Mac. Surely Panasonic or Apple can get a move on and give us Mac users a break!
Roddy Jamieson
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25 Replies
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Not sure why it’s taking so long for you…I did some tests with an 8 Gig P2 card and was able to transfer a full 8 Gigs into my Powerbook G4 in 4 minutes, 30 seconds using the PCMCIA slot for the P2 card. Is this what’s taking 19 minutes for you with 4 Gigs?
Joe Murray
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The PCMCIA transfer is very quick. The USB on the P2 Store is dismal. It is so slow, i agree why wouldn’t i go back to digitizing because that is quicker. Why did i go to file transfer again??? I think USB is the culprit. To me P2 Store is useless…
peter
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Hi Guys,
Those of you that are having the slow tyansfer times from the P2 store, would you please identify which MAC and the processer speed that is in your MAC?
Thanks,
Jan
Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems -
Jan,
In all fairness, I used a desktop G4 dual 1Ghz, and a G4 laptop, 1.25Ghz. Maybe the newer machines have a quicker transfer rate. I found the PCMCIA slot in the G4 laptop that accepts the P2 cards to be quick enough to warrant swapping P2’s. I am a bit surprised by that fact that Panasonic and Mac have seemed to be pretty chummy lately and the P2’s by, all reports, work better on the Windows machines… Jan, is USB the culprit, or do i have an “old” machine?
peter
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Interesting article here:
https://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html
They tested emac, powerbook, and G5 performance through USB2 and firewire, and found that firewire was twice as fast as USB2 in the Apple implementation. Same drive, same enclosure (a combo USB2/firewire enclosure), they just changed from using USB2 to using FireWire. On the firewire test they got 38 megabytes per second transfer speed, but when switching to the USB2 port that dropped to 18 megabytes per second.
Then they tested that same USB2 drive on a WinXP USB2 system and found that the WinXP USB2 performance nearly equalled the firewire performance. WinXP USB2 delivered 33 megabytes per second.
So it would appear that, according to this article, not all is well with the Mac’s USB2 performance. Perhaps newer Macs (especially intel macs?) have better USB2 performance?
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I am using a Dual 1.8 G5 with 4 gig of ram. My capture drives are Avids thru UL4D and a G-SATA 500 gig Raid. The G4 Powerbook is standard 1.6 mhz with 1 gig ram.
Roddy Jamieson
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Forgot to mention, that using the slot on the G4 is fine the speed is OK. But that’s using a different bus and the the card is fast.
Roddy Jamieson
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Yes, I’m afraid it’s the USB implementation on the Mac, not your machines. We get about the same rates for PCMCIA transfer on a G4 PB 1,67 GHz. Swapping cards is possible there, but via USB it is not.
What’s even more annoying is the lack of support from Apple for us here in ‘old Europe’. We were looking into buying a few HVX 200s, since the excelled in our large test against HDV, but NAB was a complete disappointment. No support from Apple for 25p or 50p, not even a defined schedule. We may have to drop Panasonic, since our time for this investment is running out.
I looked at HD Log, but apart from the pretty high price I couldn’t even find the option in the demo of converting a file from P2 to QuickTime as claimed in the manual. Since I haven’t got a response to my mail from their support yet, I’d like to ask here: Is anybody using it with success? Is it a viable option?
Best regards,
Uli
Author of “DVDs gestalten und produzieren”, a book on professional DVD-authoring in German.
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Dear Jan,
since we’d be using the HVX 200s for cinematic shooting anyway, the US model might be a solution to our disappointment with Apple. But our dealer couldn’t help us, so I’d like to know if there’s a possibility to officially buy a US model through Panasonics channels in Europe. Even if it might be cheaper, I don’t want to travel to the US and drag a few boxes home, since we want professional support and service later on as well.
TIA,
Uli Plank
P.S. Unfortunately Panasonic doesn’t have a person as knowledgeable and helpful as you here in Europe…
Author of “DVDs gestalten und produzieren”, a book on professional DVD-authoring in German.
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Like you I downloaded the demo for HD Log, but no P2 support, I think the demo is their ‘Silver’ version and the P2 Viewer is only available on the “Gold”.
I love my SPX800, the pictures are great but I am becoming a little dissappointed with my workflow with the Mac. The P2 store is the best option for archive in the field. The other option of carrying a laptop and a portable hard drive is just too much hassle for me. Of course the best solution is for Panasonic to sort out the pricing on the cards. I’d love to be a fly on the wall and see what it actually costs to produce a P2 Card!
Roddy Jamieson
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