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[ The Video Agenda ]
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Solid support for consumer media
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by Mark J. Pescatore
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Back in 2003, Panasonic unveiled working prototypes of what would eventually be named P2, its solid-state acquisition technology. While visionaries (including yours truly) showered Panasonic with accolades, critics pummeled the proprietary recording solution for its radical departure from the tape-based workflow paradigm and its reliance on high priced flash memory.
P2 was an idea ahead of its time — though not by much.
Fast forward five years. P2 card capacity is up, flash memory prices are down, Panasonic has added field solutions to augment P2 acquisition, and users don’t really seem to mind that whole tapeless workflow thing.
But there is still a lingering fondness for tape — or at least the consumable nature of a tape-based workflow. So, within the last two years, companies have introduced low-end professional camcorders that record on SD or SDHC (high capacity) flash memory cards, the same storage used by millions of digital still cameras. (Thomson Grass Valley, daring to be different, offers a CompactFlash recording option in its high-end Infinity camcorder.)
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| Panasonic and other manufacturers are turning to consumer-friendly solid-state recording formats like SDHC for acquisition. |
Last month at the 2008 NAB Show, Panasonic continued the trend with its AG-HMC150 (see GOVERNMENT VIDEO, March 2008), which is part of the company’s new AVCCAM product line.
And JVC entered the world of tapeless acquisition at NAB with its new MR-HD200U camera-mounted media recorder.
Designed for the company’s ProHD 200 Series of camcorders, it features a removable hard drive and an SDHC card slot. Proprietary flash memory formats still have a place in our industry, because media like P2 is built to meet professional standards. That said, ubiquitous media has its advantages.
Ample storage capacity is even more attractive when coupled with falling costs. You can find 16 GB SDHC cards for less than a quarter of what you’ll pay for a 16 GB P2 card.
There are tradeoffs, of course. SD isn’t the sturdiest of storage media. It’s also very easy to misplace the little buggers, and good luck trying to write a detailed, legible label on one. Still, with prices that are starting to approach tape-based workflows, consumer-grade solidstate memory solutions are a tempting path to tapeless acquisition for budget-conscious operations.
Mark J. Pescatore is the editor. Contact him at mpescatore@nbmedia.com.
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