New P2 recording platform: an alternative to P2 cards

Chris Hurd · November 25th, 2005, 08:53 PM

Good question. Seems like an NAB thing to me, so next April probably.

Brian Petersen · November 26th, 2005, 01:41 PM

So since this uses the P2 Port does this mean that it will only record active frames so it can store more footage as compared to the firestore?

Barry Green · November 26th, 2005, 01:57 PM

Excellent question. Certainly seems like it should!

Joe Womble · November 26th, 2005, 07:52 PM

Recording 720p to the P2 card would definately save space as opposed to 1080, so you would think this approach would work similarly.

I remember speaking to Jan at the August NYC ResFest (when the camera was still saving files via USB2 and video out via firewire). She said then that 720p recording via firewire to a laptop NLE would save to the hard drive at the same data rate as 1080, so no conservation of hard drive space that way.

Regards,

Joe Womble

Barry Green · November 27th, 2005, 02:15 AM

Well, yeah, but assumedly that presumes that the capturing program is performing as a dumb device, just writing what it's been given. They've said that the firewire stream would conform to the same rounded-out-to-60p type of stream that the VariCam records, so I would expect that. But if the flags are present in the stream, as they assuredly must be (or else the Apple Frame Rate Converter utility couldn't work, right?) then it would seem a relatively easy task for the capture application to check for flags and only write flagged frames to disk.

Frederic Segard · November 27th, 2005, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Ingest into NLE will be faster through USB2 rather than FireWire 400 anyway... right?

Theoretically yes! but that would depend on the USB host controller. There are many cheap versions out there, and would probably not hold up as well as FW. But hey! Unattended copying at more or less 400 to 480Mbps is good enough, and is well above DV tape transfer speeds by a factor of at least 10, depending on the hard disk used in this little beauty.

Brian Petersen · November 27th, 2005, 10:13 PM

This product sounds interesting, but it would only serve useful on P2 cameras correct? I couldn't use it on any of the other cameras I currently use because of the P2 mount. Will the new firestore work on other cameras as well as the HVX? It'd be nice if it also worked on the DVX or VX2000. I probably won't use those cameras a ton once the HVX comes in, but it'd be nice to buy a DTE device that I can use on the lot of cameras.

Jarred Land · November 27th, 2005, 10:17 PM

firestore has made these kinda devices for normal DV cameras for years, you should go check out the website and see what they have.. your gonna see some cool stuff.

Darrell Essex · November 28th, 2005, 07:00 PM

Chris, maybe no one has thought of this yet, so here goes.
if you get canon's new hd camers with the option of shooting 25 frames in pal, wouldn't the uncompressed data rate drop to around 1.25?
if so, would it be possable for Spec Comm to develope there system to work with this setup. if you think this makes sense, please pose the question next time you talk to them.
thanks,
Darrell
FIRST CINEMA PICTURES
p.s. do you know if they will be at the DV Expo?

Jarred Land · November 28th, 2005, 07:09 PM

for this to be able to take the HD-SDI in from the canon, you would need about 12 laptop drives in a raid array to be able to handle the bandwidth, so no i dont think it will happen.

November 25th, 2005, 08:53 PM	#16
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Good question. Seems like an NAB thing to me, so next April probably. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

November 26th, 2005, 01:41 PM	#17
Brian Petersen Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 62	So since this uses the P2 Port does this mean that it will only record active frames so it can store more footage as compared to the firestore? __________________ Brian Petersen www.thinktankthemovie.com www.albrightacademy.com

November 27th, 2005, 10:13 PM	#22
Brian Petersen Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 62	This product sounds interesting, but it would only serve useful on P2 cameras correct? I couldn't use it on any of the other cameras I currently use because of the P2 mount. Will the new firestore work on other cameras as well as the HVX? It'd be nice if it also worked on the DVX or VX2000. I probably won't use those cameras a ton once the HVX comes in, but it'd be nice to buy a DTE device that I can use on the lot of cameras. __________________ Brian Petersen www.thinktankthemovie.com www.albrightacademy.com

November 28th, 2005, 07:00 PM	#24
Darrell Essex Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: kelseyville, ca Posts: 123	Uncompressed? Chris, maybe no one has thought of this yet, so here goes. if you get canon's new hd camers with the option of shooting 25 frames in pal, wouldn't the uncompressed data rate drop to around 1.25? if so, would it be possable for Spec Comm to develope there system to work with this setup. if you think this makes sense, please pose the question next time you talk to them. thanks, Darrell FIRST CINEMA PICTURES p.s. do you know if they will be at the DV Expo? __________________ darrell

November 26th, 2005, 01:57 PM	#18
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	Excellent question. Certainly seems like it should!

November 26th, 2005, 07:52 PM	#19
Joe Womble New Boot Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 13	Recording 720p to the P2 card would definately save space as opposed to 1080, so you would think this approach would work similarly. I remember speaking to Jan at the August NYC ResFest (when the camera was still saving files via USB2 and video out via firewire). She said then that 720p recording via firewire to a laptop NLE would save to the hard drive at the same data rate as 1080, so no conservation of hard drive space that way. Regards, Joe Womble

November 27th, 2005, 02:15 AM	#20
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	Well, yeah, but assumedly that presumes that the capturing program is performing as a dumb device, just writing what it's been given. They've said that the firewire stream would conform to the same rounded-out-to-60p type of stream that the VariCam records, so I would expect that. But if the flags are present in the stream, as they assuredly must be (or else the Apple Frame Rate Converter utility couldn't work, right?) then it would seem a relatively easy task for the capture application to check for flags and only write flagged frames to disk.

November 27th, 2005, 10:17 PM	#23
Jarred Land DVX User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 281	firestore has made these kinda devices for normal DV cameras for years, you should go check out the website and see what they have.. your gonna see some cool stuff.

November 28th, 2005, 07:09 PM	#25
Jarred Land DVX User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 281	for this to be able to take the HD-SDI in from the canon, you would need about 12 laptop drives in a raid array to be able to handle the bandwidth, so no i dont think it will happen.