Panasonic is proud to have on its stand this year the first working examples of the AJ-PCS020, 60 GB Portable P2 store. Available now at a suggested list price of 1700 Euros, this ruggedised portable drive is an ideal addition to the P2 Camcorder on location as it will take the data (images, sound and meta data) off the P2 card at high speed and keep the contents safe until they are ready to be put into an NLE system.
Weighing less than 1 kilo, the 65mm-high 60GB hard disk drive with a P2 card slot can hold the contents of up to fifteen 4GB P2 cards or 7 x 8GB cards. Via its high-speed USB 2.0 interface, the entire contents of a 4GB P2 card can be transferred by the AJ-PCS060 in approximately four minutes at faster than 4 times normal speed for 25Mbps DVCPRO video.
For example with advances in the data storage size of P2 cards this now means that a set up of 5 x 8GB P2 cards and a 60GB P2 Store allow any production on the move to store up to nearly 7 hours of footage at DVCPRO level before they transfer anything onto and NLE system. More than you would need for an entire normal working day.
The speeds of transfer of recorded content into a computer, server or nonlinear editing system allow editors to begin work on the footage in times never before thought possible. Advances in laptops and NLE software packages from all Panasonic’s P2 partners permit editors to become part of the production crew on site. Rough edits or prepared news pieces can be put together immediately so producers and directors are certain they have the images they want, that work together, before they leave the location.
After listening to production people and their needs, Panasonic see this device as yet another example of their commitment to this ground breaking format assuring the industry that support for this system from Panasonic and its partners will continue to evolve.