USB3 3-slot AJ-PCD-30 discontinued?

[Sam Lee]

As I'm working on to get faster field offload, I noticed the 3-slot USB3 PCD-30 is discontinued fr B&H. Is this true? Has anybody else noticed this?

Desperately looking for something that can offload P2 w/ full MD5 verification faster. Already have the snail pace AJ-PCD2 w/ USB2. But a full 64 Gb card w/ full verification will take about 2 hrs 15 min to offload to an ext USB. Not the fastest. Looked into the legacy Powerbook G4 that can be purchased very cheap now. But the problem is that my favorite P2 offloading app - Shot Put Pro 4.1.4 will not work on PPC Mac. OSX Finder copy is risky. Won't use the Winows/PC because the offload timestamp is not correct.

[Gary Huff]

I looked around and it looks like you're correct. No one has this device in stock.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/600009-REG/Panasonic_AJPCD35PJ_AJ_PCD35_5_Bay_P2_Drive.html device is $100 more, but connects directly into PCI Express card, which is useful if you plan on primarily ingesting footage via a desktop setup.

Or you might try the http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/666380-REG/Sonnet_QIO_PCIE_Qio_Universal_Media_Reader.html, but I know some people have technical issues with it in use,

I don't know if this works on a PowerPC Mac (would probably require Leopard it least if it did), but this is a copy script that does MD5 verification if you decide to go that route. I did that for a while (the Power Book, not the MD5) and it worked fine, but I hit a wall with battery issues, and ended up not dealing with much P2 media anymore, so I ended up selling it. Worked fine when I used it though.

Hope this helps. P2 media has always been difficult to ingest, simply because of the lack of options under $2k.

[Gary Nattrass]

I agree that ingesting P2 quickly can be a read problem.

most of the time I just use the camera and make sure I have enough cards for a days shooting, I then copy and verify to a usb drive which then becomes the back- up and the ingest drive to my FCP raid array!

I do have an old powerbook G4 mac for DV news work and can use that to a firewire 400 drive or as a reader via ethernet and it is OK most of the time.

I have tried other adaptors and found they just don' t work with mac' s so I suppose a tried and tested workflow needs to be in place that suits your shooting and clients!

The P2 adaptor to use SD cards would be great for news operations but we shall see if it is a low cost option!

[Sam Lee]

I'm a fairly moderate-heavy P2 indie producer. After carefully analyzing all the possible costs, liabilities, pro & cons, and all other gritty details, I finally purchased the bloody expensive AG-MSU10.

No more clunky laptop w/ flimsy dual USB2 cables. No more hunting down for the discontinued PCD-30 USB3 and having to spend several more $ on the Mac Pro w/ USB3. (It actually costs a bit less than the MSU10). Just press 1-button copy at any place & anytime and be done w/ it within 15 min/64 Gb P2. After couple weeks of use, I must say it's so much faster and laptop free. Expense justified after years of laptop/PCD-2 use and seen all of its limitations when doing long-form, on the bumpy road shooting.

No more Shot Put Pro or crossing my finder to hope that the OSX Finder's copy will be all OK. Got a offer for an older G4 Powerbook for $250 where I can insert P2 directly to its PCMCIA slot. Passed that as I'm just not comfortable offloading priceless footage w/ out some kind of MD5 checksum verification. Plus it's just too difficult to replace the newer 1 Tb 2.5"" to the boot Power Book G4. I hate having to carry more cables for ext. USB/Firewire drives. Latest & most stable Shot Put Pro just doesn't work w/ PPC Mac. If it does, it'll take way too long to get the P2 files off.

I feel that one can't really escape getting a serious P2 offloading tool when there is a lot of $$ at stakes fr. the clients. Not going to be buying more P2 cards for strictly field use. Micro P2 has limitations where I recall it can only record up to AVC-I 50 via adaptor. AVC-I 100 still has to be w/ regular P2 media. So whatever the case, P2 price is not going down to $300/64 Gb card anytime soon.

[Tom Klein]

The beauty of P2 is that it caters for shooters from the Budget end, to the Top end, I've found Budget will dictate what gear you use.
sam lee displays this well in his posts.

oline.