Check out this photo
http://www.geocities.jp/sumi653/P2HD.jpg

Is this what I think it is ? A Panna HD cam ?

It is part of this web-site
http://www.geocities.jp/sumi653/index.html

Can anybody provide a translation of the Japanese please ?

Panasonic is not a member of the HDV Format Consortium (http://www.hdv-info.org/), so what they're doing is not HDV. However they probably have their own consumer high-definition thing in the works, who knows. The P2 format that you're referencing here allows for DVCPro HD video recording on removeable flash memory, which is an interesting and welcome step away from tape-based media.

We had heard about this last year or earlier this year. It definitely looks cool, but I'm curious if there gonna market it to HDV users by pricing it sub-$5000.

heath

if it's really a dvcpro hd(100Mbps) camera, as it's marked on the outside, it will blow the doors off of hdv, if it's sold and priced in a prosumer package.

Unfortunately, the spec sheet listed the video as Mpeg2.

Looks like a Photoshop mock up...

But I guess from everything I've gleaned from the forums...Final Cut Pro already supports this format...

Hmmm...

I'm fairly certain it's not a Photoshop markup, I believe they had an actual physical mockup at either NAB or some other major convention and I've seen photos from that...I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I turned up something like that...maybe I saw the pics at camcorderinfo.com... I'm not sure...

My question is, are P2 cards a reasonable recording format for a sub $5K camera? I haven't checked prices lately, but from what I remember about the pricing vs. memory size vs. recording time they were fairly...astronomically priced for a camera in this price range. Unless of course they've come way down since their introduction...

They definitely had a physical mockup...here's the link to more pix and an article...

Panny P2 HD Mockup (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/panasonic-p2-flash-pro-04_18_04.htm)

BTW - As flash memory gets faster and more advanced (which seems like a constantly evolving beast), prices keep dropping. I remember when I first got my flash thumbdrive a little over 1 year ago, I paid something $100+ for 128MB. I just saw a 1GB one on TigerDirect today for like $50. I'm assuming then that regular flash cards have been "evolving" at the same rate as well.

Thats' 8X the memory for half the price (or less)! If prices continue to drop rapidly, a P2 system might be viable by the Summer (*Although the expected release date for this model is Fall 2006!). Of course, this doesn't take into account the fact that you may need more than one 16GB card system to be able to shoot more than an hour of footage a day.

If Panny was really smart, they'd adapt this thing into a HDD camcorder with a swapable media bay for the Spring, and then push the P2 upgrade the year after.

I think it's not a Photoshop mockup, as it's been seen in reports from the InterBEE fair in Japan.

This picture clearly shows, that there will be TWO models, one MPEG and one DVCPRO-HD. (Isn't DVCPRO-HD 960X720 ??? Or can it do bigger?)

http://www.scn-net.ne.jp/~tdcjapan/bee2004/BIG0294.JPG

Here's a link to some other photos from interBEE, scroll down to approx. the middle of the page to find the Panasonics:

http://www.scn-net.ne.jp/~tdcjapan/bee2004/index.html

I'm not really sure why they would want to do flash media when you can get a 40-60gb laptop harddrive for cheap these days. Do they want us to buy additional flash media? 16gb of flash is huge, but it's nothing in the harddrive world.

Panasonic makes some beautiful HD cameras, and even if they dumb it down for the prosumer level, I'm sure it will be quite a sweet thing. I'm betting they're trying to make a big come-back like they did when they suddenly made 24p the hottest buzzword of the last couple of years, and perhaps something like this is their attempt.

In any case, I think it's funny that they added a handle. Maybe they're trying to woo Super-8 filmmakers? Makes me think of an old Yashica Super-8 I had.

<<<-- Originally posted by Imran Zaidi :
In any case, I think it's funny that they added a handle. Maybe they're trying to woo Super-8 filmmakers? Makes me think of an old Yashica Super-8 I had. -->>>

Dude! I am dying for that handle! It's awesome! (shhh [internet whispers]...now don't say anything else that might make Panny remove it) ;)

PS - It does inspire youthful dreams of auteurship doesn't it?

Joonas Kiviharju wrote...

<< This picture clearly shows, that there will be TWO models, one MPEG and one DVCPRO-HD. >>

For what it's worth, these appear to be the same two prototype mock-ups that we saw at NAB2004, except in Las Vegas, one was labeled DVCPro HD and the other as DVCPro 50.

Maybe there are two different models after all?

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : Joonas Kiviharju wrote...

<< This picture clearly shows, that there will be TWO models, one MPEG and one DVCPRO-HD. >>

For what it's worth, these appear to be the same two prototype mock-ups that we saw at NAB2004, except in Las Vegas, one was labeled DVCPro HD and the other as DVCPro 50.

Maybe there are two different models after all? -->>>

Jan Crittenden of Panasonic has gone on record as saying that that mockup is not (repeat, not) the camera they're announcing at NAB.

This gets more and more interesting.

heath