[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Since I’ve set up tent around here, let me add that I found Philip’s article very useful at NAB, saving me a heck of a lot of time running around in circles. Thanks, muchly for it.

RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

I just wanted to see my name up here one more time.

;^) RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Hey wait a minute, I’m from Canada. Maybe we do need short P2 cards for Presidential announcements.

RBG
“omission” As in, no “COW edit-post button” is an omission.

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Re Philip Hodgetts’ take on P2:

I’m merely in the research mode on this new media, but I couldn’t help noticing a few missing facts from Philip’s self-described rant:

P2 chips are doubling in capacity every year, according to Panny’s projections.

Not a word about the possibility of 3.5″ & even possibly 2.5″ drives plugging into the camera. This would keep the comparative camera price down and still have the media “good to go for editing.” No “Sorry, Mr. President, hold on a minute with the announcement we’re bombing Canada, I’ve got to digitize my media”

And am I missing something here? Where does “And there’s no backup. None. Nada, zip. You either keep it on the hard drive (expensive) or you have no backup” come from? This is backing up at faster than real time.

As Luis Caffesse writes in the P2 COW:

1 Hour of DVCProHD at 100mb/s takes up roughly 47GB

A 1 hour DVCProHD tape costs $80

A 60GB external drive can be purchased for less than $60.

So in the end, it is cheaper than buying tape.
You may want to read the “I’m excited about P2, no I’m not” (COW P2) thread, there are a lot of the same concerns being covered there. -Luis Caffesse

I’ve seen tape degrade in as little as 10 years.

For all the positive speculating found in your article, advancing a little to P2 would’ve seemed in character.

I’m not a P2 or Panny guy, but thought the ommision strange enough to comment.

RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

You know. I finally did it. I’ve been waiting for this moment for years.

I accidently hit the “post direct” instead of another window button. You would have loved the classic slow mo: “NNNNnooooooooo!” around here.

Anyway, I’ll finish up my post I repost. Don’t look at the last one, ok?

Sorry,
RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Re Philip Hodgetts’ take on P2:

I’m merely in the research mode on this new media, but I couldn’t help noticing a few missing facts from Philip’s self-described rant:

P2 chips are doubling in capacity every year, according to Panny’s projections.

Not a word about the possibility of 3.5″ & even possibly 2.5″ drives plugging into the camera. This would keep the comparative camera price down and still have the media “good to go for editing.” No, excuse me Mr. President, I have to

1 Hour of DVCProHD at 100mb/s takes up roughly 47GB

A 1 hour DVCProHD tape costs $80

A 60GB external drive can be purchased for less than $60.

So in the end, it is cheaper than buying tape.
You may want to read the “I’m excited about P2, no I’m not” thread, there are a lot of the same concerns being covered there.

Luis Caffesse
Studio 3 Productions, Inc.
Austin, Texas

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

“So, gig for gig, when it comes to HD footage, hard drives will actually wind up being cheaper than HD tape”

Doesn’t that seem intuitively insane given tape & plastic vs sealed mechanical platters, motors & advanced electronics? I’m not complaining.

RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Just a general reply to some of the posts in this thread.

I wish I had the reference in front of me but hard drives have a very long shelf life. I’m sure it was more than 50 years compared to tape, which I’ve see go bad in less than 10 years.

Blu-ray recorder/players will be out as early as this Summer.

If the object is to dump the P2s to Blu-ray, why not simply go for Sony’s expected HD Blu-ray-based camera. By the time you invest in enough P2s, it will be nearly the same price. Of course, Blu-ray recording will be ridiculously cheap in comparison. Then forget hard drives, etc.

Watch the characterizations of what is HD & what is not. Those are fighting words to dyed-in-the-wool HDVers. (Arguments include HD is anything better than SD; Anything that looks really good in the eye of the beholder; Anything that can discern fine lines compared to SD; especially in view that all HD is compressed) Besides, some might argue that 100mbs HD is not real HD when it comes to keys & titles… see, fighting words.)

Just playing devil’s advocate.

RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Forgive my ignorance, but are there 2.5 inch PCMCIA drives (that might fit into the P2 camera slot)?

RBG

[Rob Brandreth-gibbs]

Thanks for that. It all almost seems too good. Let’s keep this between us, ok? ;^)

And thanks for the thread reference. That was the one thread I hadn’t read.

RBG