[Sam Lee]

I just took a dicey risk by getting a Radeon 7950 non-Mac version for half the cost. Don’t mind about being able to see it shows up during boot. Will know by next week. 3 Gb VRAM should hopefully solve the annoying flicker bug with various Red Giant apps. 1 Gb VRAM is not enough for multi layered 1080p sequences.

iMac 5K is nice but I still feel it’s just doesn’t have the raw horse power and may over heat on big projects. This interim solution should last couple more years before getting the latest generation of Mac Pro is a must. FCP X may stop supporting older 2010 Nehalem gen CPUs. I noticed that the exact same project I created in the 2010 Mac Pro will not open in a 2008 3,1 Mac Pro. It is simply too big and complex in size even I have the exact same Radeon 5870 video card in the 2008 3,1 Mac Pro model. But when I bring the hdds to the 2010, open w/ out any issues. No error message on “not enough resources at this time”.

[Sam Lee]

Heat is a big concern, especially for the current MBP Retina. Even at 1080p, it’s hot and internal fans are kicking in. I have to bring lots of external fans to cool it off as a safety precaution and possibiilty extend the life. I have an older MBP17″ and it’s running fine after 8 years of service, providing that plenty of fans are blown into it. Fan seemed to help from the OS being chocked and delayed by a few seconds on both older and current MBPs.

[Sam Lee]

I’m very concerned about Panasonic’s corporate work ethics. I used their HPX2000-5000 series cam and they couldn’t get the PROXY correctly done on the ENG/EFP P2 line right 8 years later. The proxies $$$$$$.MXF will have a limitation of 5 mins and default to the P2 naming convention. If you have your own custom file name (via SDHC metadata upload or logging on directly via the web browser), it will not match up. The proxy will always default to P2’s naming convention and the main AVC-I 100 hi res file is your own custom file name. Sadly I have to use the NLE’s PROXY (FCP 10.2) to do all the work. Not only that, they still couldn’t make their PROXY streaming unified on the same platform. For example: HPX3100 needs 2010 software while HPX5000 is up to 2012-14 software. I have to use two different iPads with different OS version to view it. What a mess.

I don’t know if they care if only a few users complain on main and sub recorder file doesn’t match up. They sure haven’t addressed this with their 2/3″ broadcast products. I’ll be impressed if it’s fixed on the Varicam 35 but doubt it.

[Sam Lee]

I’m confused that the PX-800 has no Micro P2. PX270 has only single P2 and dual Micro P2 slots. Their AG-MSU10 will not work on Micro P2. It’s a mess and you have to pay top dollars for dual P2 and Micro P2. Because of heavy use of the AG-MSU10s, I’m not able to use Micro P2 at all. It will be a shocker to see the HPX-370 successor has dual Micro & P2 slots like their premium PX-5000 model.

[Sam Lee]

I have several older HPX3100s and their Wi-Fi WLAN proxy is a mess. For some odd reasons beyond my understanding, I must use older Java 6 and 2010 software technology for all HPX3100s. When I shoot it with the PX-270 prosumer 1/3″ cams (prosumer because the lens is not broadcast grade to me), I have to use the latest 2014. It’s a big mess and have to bring 2 iPads with different IOS to make it work. Same fate applies to the PX5000 WLAN proxy viewing.

I thought the PX5000 has at least 60p during shipping. Good thing I didn’t get it when it first come out.

From past experiences, I’d want to wait at least a year for the product to mature and bugs to be fixed before purchasing.

[Sam Lee]

The good old USB2 AJ-PCD2 reader will take about 42 min. via regular OS X Finder or Win Explorer. If you use with Shot Put Pro 5, double the time for MD5 verification.

USB3 PCD-30 will take about 15 min per P2. You can use all 3 cards simultaneously and performance is still an impressive 15/min card via USB3.

AG-MSU10 will take ~14 min to its own MBX-10 hdd tray. x2 for full bit by bit verification. I have 2 of these MSU10s and they are indispensable for high volume, error-free laptopless field offload.

Despite all of the new 4K cams and tech, P2 format is still very viable for fast turnaround, high multicams# broadcast field productions.

[Sam Lee]

I have several Senn G3 evolutions from 526-6#3# lavs set. They’re OK for some projects. But I notice they don’t do well in open space (battle ship, public parks, large auditorium) even after a new freq scan performed. Constantly drop audio every few seconds here and there. This is where I rely on Sony & Lectro for peace of mind reliability in challenging situations.

[Sam Lee]

Well, the nice thing about P2 architecture is that it’s still 1980 DOS legacy format. Each MXF file is 4 Gb max. It splits out to seamlessly. So if one part gets corrupted, it should be able to recover the later. I made huge mistake of removing the P2 card before the amber led shut off. Only the last clip was affected and not the entire P2. So overall it’s a pretty robust design since 2007.

If you don’t use the AG-MSU10, then these adaptors will be a bargain w/ Micro P2. MSU-10 will not be able to read Micro P2 cards adaptors. I haven’t test them out w/ the PCD-30 3-slot USB reader yet. I personally prefer the larger form factor of P2 cards because they don’t get lost easily in the field. Other than that, there are max bit rate limitations if you use regular SDHC vs genuine Micro P2.

[Sam Lee]

Hdds in general is designed for constant power on and spinning environment. Not off-line archive. This costs in power usage. You’ll be paying a considerable amount for utility bill per month and to me it’s a waste of resource when the media is not being actively used. LTO-6 is really your only viable solution now for archival use. Blu-ray is OK, but just have not proven in long-term use yet. And at a paltry 50 Gb/disc, it’s too small and cumbersome to archive Tb-Pt scale Just last year each tape is $90. Now it’s $50. Very attractive price for 2.5 Tb/tape. Putting a hdd offline in cold storage (no power applied) is a 50/50 chance. Next few years that data may be long forever lost when the lubricant in the head dried up. Of course you can backup two drives. But this costs so much and LTO-6 is looking very attractive overall.

[Sam Lee]

Essentially you’re talking whether the 2/3″ format is obsolete or phasing out. Well, I’m still using the HPX-3100s, PX5000s. The broad 2/3″ lenses and flexibility still keep them going. It will be very hard to get completely get rid of them to favor 4K. 2/3″ format is great for doing live events where you need continuous servo focus and zoom control capability. Try doing that w/ the Canon 5DM2 and non-cinema lenses. Panasonic P2 2/3″ cams are widely used with national level broadcasters (NBC, ABC).

For me, 2/3″ is great for non-dramatic type of production (live events, live broadcast feed, sports, wildlife docs). But when it comes to dramatic and cinematic style, large sensor is more suitable. So it depends on your production genre. In other words, it just doesn’t look right if you’re using the HPX2100 for dramatic reenactment. It just looks to realistic and news like.

While many are going 4K, they’ll be in a huge lens price shock as they get more involved. A 75-300mm PL will set you back about $120K. 2/3″ lenses and 1080p still have practical uses and place. For example, it’s now just not possible to get a super telephoto lens beyond 500 mm for PL mount. There’s just no optical stabilizer in PL mount. Good luck shooting outdoor scenes w/ light winds or other natural elements. You can get at least 1000 mm and a very high quality optical stabilizer (Fujinon HA25x16.5 & TS-P58A) on native 2/3″ format.