[Chad Hall]

Pom,

I have to respectifully desagree with you on your point that you can just shoot your footage and hand your client a hard drive. That sounds idealistic, but it is just not realistic. Unfortunately the freelancers don’t have the luxury of telling their clients what media they will be shooting on but it is the other way around. And we’re not talking about rogue clients here. People that rent from me shoot for NHL films, Fox Sports, HD Net and many others. They have a specific need and a solid infrastucture already in place to support that.

As far as costs, the cost on the front end has already been made by these companies because they already own HDCAM, DVCPRO and BetaSP decks in their edit suites. The want to fly a producer out to our market and have him return home with a tape. Now when this starts to change, and granted I believe it will eventurally, I will invest in whatever the market is asking for. But this sums up my whole point.. when it does change, is P2 what everyone will be asking for?

Chad Hall
Nashville, TN

[Chad Hall]

Edit,

I think you are missing my point here. No one is more ready to get rid of tape more than me. I completely agree with you in every aspect of what you are saying and for what you do there is no better option. Owner operators / editors would be crazy to not go for formats like P2. My concern is P2 for the long haul and what will be at NAB in April to compete with it.

In my rental house I stock the HDX900 because the Varicam has largely dominated in Nashville where I live and DVCPRO HD has become more a less a format of choice for most freelancers shooting HD. I have convinced clients of mine to use the firestore drives with the HDX900 because they can roll tape as a backup but get to experience the incredeible workflow that the firestore (or P2) offers. This has helped a lot of closed minded freelancers warm up to the idea of tapeless media which is something I try to push to many veteran shooters. However, even though the HPX3000 is exremely tempting to purchase, I don’t think I could rent it at all. For most freelancers, they need something to hand off to their client, which was one of my points in the first post. Also, the Varicam is the most rented camera in Nashville and I would think that in most big markets it is the same. But when people want 1920x1080p, the Varicam cannot deliver. What do they do?

By the way, my only point with BetaSP was that it was THE format for about 10 years and still widely used. The question that I am asking is is P2 really the format that will be the standard for the next 10 like BetaSP? I really don’t know but I will say this, I am glad that P2 is here and Panasonic is pushing this format. It is a gutsy move to completely drop tape and I hope it will pay off but I have to wonder if it’s a little premature. That’s all.

Chad Hall
Nashville, TN

[Chad Hall]

Barry,

Thank you for your insight. I appreciate your facts about the P2 market share and I have no reason to dispute those numbers with you. But I do see a hole that P2 will have a hard time filling.

You made a reference to how BetaSP dominated the market for so many years, but I believe that all these new formats are still very volatile right now. Perhaps 80% of sales are P2 right now but the winds can change at any time. With so many formats, acquisition options and technology increasing exponentially, it is still open season for new innovative ideas to recapture much of that 80% market share. P2 has some legitimate hurdles to overcome.

I personally believe P2’s success is attributed only to the fact that it is the best option currently available and, of course, everyone wants to hop aboard the latest and greatest. But some issues such as using the outdated PCMCIA structure that most computer manufacturers no longer support and the still high cost and limited storage capacity. Granted the later will change, but it leaves the door open for exploitation by companies like Sony.

I realize that I am probably approaching this subject with narrow blinders on since I deal day to day with a pretty specific market, and that is ENG freelancers who rent gear. But the truth is many shooters still ask for BetaSP because that’s what their clients want. P2 has just become another player in an already oversaturated market. All I’m saying is that I have a hard time putting my faith in P2 as it exists now. My optimism, however, does lie in the fact that video acquisition does have to go tapeless and flash media is by far the most logical option. I just think P2 is merely a stepping stone to get us to tomorrow’s BetaSP.

Chad Hall
Nashville, TN

[Chad Hall]

Yes, I have been in touch with John from Focus support, but not much progress has been made yet. I should say he has been great to work with and seems to be very concerned about this issue.

As of last week, they (Focus) finally received an HDX900 to test with. I have not heard any new information as of yet.

There has been a new issue, however, that we discovered in the field after shooting last week. We tried utilizing the new Quicktime option with the new software release. We were shooting 720p24 but the clips would only generate at 720p60 (This is looking at the file properties in FCP, not the Firestore screen). The clips looked 24p so I am assuming what was happening is Quicktime was generating a 60p file with pulldown.

I still can not get the PN option to work at all so we are back shooting P2 (not PN) at 720p24 and getting the clips as they should be. The only thing I can figure may be happening is that apparently the HDX900 has no firewire input capabilities, so maybe there is a communication issue. So in the meantime, we will continue to test this in the field and hopefully hear some good news from Focus soon.

I will keep this post updated on any new information I come up with.

Thanks,

Chad Hall

Nashville Production Rentals
http://www.nashvilleproductionrentals.com

[Chad Hall]

Thanks, Taylor. Glad to know I’m not the only one.

Yes, I know focus released this without knowing the results on the HDX900 becuase they have told me themselves that they do not have an HDX900 to test with. You would think Panasonic would give them a sample since they are marketing specifically to their products and have the DVCPROHD logo attached to their units.

I have sent another message to Focus support and I have offered to send in my camera for them to test if it would help resolve this issue for me and others like yourself who use the FS100 with the HDX900.

I’ll let you know the response.