Hi Bo, I believe there's plenty of cheap card reader solutions for windows out in the market place, it's the current range of Intel Macpro's that's been satisfied by the QIO, who knows Sonnet may make a driver for it to work under windows, time will tell.
Let's wait n see.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

Hi
I am aware that there are not man P2 reader solutions for Mac but I do not think there is many alternatives for windows either. This solution will probably be very fast and great for the new 1,2gB P2 cards - I have not seen anything like the sonnet solution for PC's.
Bo

Hi Bo,

what is your computer you need to have a P2 reader for, give me some specs.
have you USB, FW, PCIe, or PCI, or expresscard connect...XP or Vista. desktop or lappy.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

A external or 5,25 combined sxs and P2 reader for PCIe would be nice. Or a P2 reader only for PCIe or for expresscard/34. I know panasonic makes one - but it would be nice wirh something cheaper. Although I am considering the panasonic AJ-PCD35 for news gathering.
An sxs reader for PCIe on my stationary PC would be nice too. Guess it would be faster than the Sony SXS-USB reader
Bo..

Hello Bo,
Compare the cost ofthe (AJ-PCD35) to the (Qio) and then bear in mind that the Qio will read many cards other than just P2,
It's "Not rocket science" to see which one is the stand out winner...cost v performance v versatility.
I'm looking forward to my Qio and will report transfer times as soon as I have them..
I imagine to have a "driver" built, to have the Qio recognzed on windows with a PCIe or expresscard slot will be a much easier process to achieve than it is on the Mac.

cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

Hi Tom,

Any PC (Windows) solution that looks like Sonnettech's QIO? I looked at your website, and it seems the h/w and s/w are only for Macs.

Hello TingSern Wong

I haven't heard anything, but I believe a windows driver would be much easier to make than a Mac Kext. If anyone can do it fast, then Sonnettech are the guys, they got out a Leopard Driver for my old E4P card in just a few weeks that's great service these days.
Hardware Connections via a PCIe contoller, as I understand it would connect to either a Mac or Windows, just differing drivers required.

We will know soon as product hits the shelves I imagine, current windows boxes can use the Very Cheap Amtron front mounted solution and many other even cheaper PCI to PC card variants, most of these are well under $100.

PCIe is the target for most of us, transfer speed is what we are after , the Newer Model Intel Macpro's and some very late windows Mother Boards now use PCIe as well to gain the faster transfer rates.
Also having a Expresscard attachment the Qio will pick up the Lappy users too.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

The "problem" of this QIO solution as I see it - it requires its own PCI-e card. If they can make one that uses a generic eSATA card, that's be great. I don't have any more spare slots in my video editing workstation - but, I do have a 4 port eSATA card - and I can swap external devices on eSATA within seconds. Then I have the eSATA speed (3 Gbits/sec - if they use eSATA 2 or 1.6 Gbits/sec for eSATA 1) that I need to read the P2 cards straight off the cards without having to copy the data into my HDDs.

Hi TingSern Wong

yes i'm in the same boat with my Macpro with slots, as I've been told, I can get the same speed from the Qio's 4 eSATA slots (on the rear panel) as I'm getting on my internal 4 port E4P sonnet card, even portmultiplcation as well (same technology i'm advised)
So in theory it's not a problem, real world tests by some users will confirm that. sonnet guys are great at their designing of products, so they have most likely have foreseen that.

As I see it to date, if this reader does what is claimed it will be a Huge leap ahead for solid state video. Let's wait n see.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

Okie ... we shall see about the real thing when it appears - and provided it has a Windows Vista 64 driver as well ....

Cheers,
TS

Bump-Update,

I'm advised the release of the QIO will be end of July / early August, so not long to wait now.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

Now only a month away, Lets hope for some pre release real world P2 file transfer times on the QIO reader.
Sonnet - Qio: Professional Universal Media Reader/Writer Plus Four eSATA Ports

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

I will be happy to see some results run on PC - not on the Mac platform.

Maybe the delay in the Sonnet QIO has been so that it can support SDXC and USB 3.0 upgradeability? I hope it supports both...

Hello barry, I bet the delay has been Snow Leopard, and the fact that to write drivers for so many card variants would have been a mammoth task, no doubt the sonnet team has future proofed the Qio, lets hope anyway, nothing more frustrating than expensive products that become obsolete overnight.
250mb sec that would be very nice to achieve.
Hi TingSern Wong i see on the blurb sheet the OS's supported you should be good to go-
Mac Compatibility
QIO-E34 – MacBook Pro (15" and 17", with ExpressCard/34 slot)
QIO-PCIE – Power Mac G5 with PCIe slots, Mac Pro
Mac OS X Version 10.4+
Snow Leopard tested(5)

Windows Compatibility
QIO-E34 – PC notebook (with ExpressCard/54 or ExpressCard/34 slot)
QIO-PCIE – PC (with PCI Express slot)
Windows Vista
Windows XP SP2

cheers
TomK

Looks like three interesting solutions, Qio, Panasonic PCD35 and Nexto NVS2500. The latter is interesting to me because a laptop isn't needed, although requires an adapter for P2 cards. Great for SxS cards. PCD35 is convenient due to five card slots, but needs and adapter for laptops.

I've got a G4 laptop for PCMCIA slot, but can't view AVC Intra footage due to non-Intel processor. New 13" and 15" MacBookPRO's don't have Express card. Snow Leopard is said by some to be problematic with Duel Adapters. Nexto would seem to avoid computer issues, which is appealing. Thoughts?

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video

Hi Jeff,
PCD35 I believe is limited to it's ability at an off load a single P2 card at say X-mbs, maybe a PCD35 user can correct me if that's wrong, so, if you try and off load 5 cards at the same time it slows the transfer rate to the same X-mbs also.
the Qio info and estat build looks like it may off load direct to two HDD's at Xmbs each , if that's the case it's a huge advantage in speed. lets wait for some bench tests to see if that's correct.
Looks like if you want a MacbookPro you'd be advised to get the "Top of the Range" or a cruddy cheap windows lappy that's a good cheap alternative as barry advises.
the NVS2500 has no P2 slot, and is only 160gig, better to use a pair of HDD's hanging off a windows lappy or MacbookPro, all these variants suit many who have differing budgets constraints.
So, get what you can afford / need to get the job done.

cheers
Tom K

Why not just get a Windows laptop for offloading? You can build a fully functional offloading system for so much less... A Lenovo R400 will set you back about $700, has the PCMCIA slot, an ExpressCard slot, and can play the footage back, and costs about 1/3 as much as the Nexto. You can offload directly to a USB drive that you then remove and plug into your desktop Mac for editing. Or, plug in via gigabit ethernet and use the Lenovo as an actual live card reader for your desktop...

Or, if you want inexpensive, you can get a Lenovo S10E at Radio Shack for $300. Add the Addonics adapter, and for $360 you've got a 160GB battery-powered P2 offloading station. Get a USB gig-E adapter for connecting to the Mac to transfer footage, and you're still up and running for under $400.

As Barry says there are low cost solutions available that also give location card management and build in a safety back-up solution.

I bought a G4 powerbook titanium off e-bay for £200 and this gives me my PCMIA card reader that can then dump to low cost firewire 400 or USB drives, they then sit on the shelf as my guard copy of the rushes and I load to pro res or native on my main drives ready for edit.

If I need a quicker turnaround for smaller jobs then I just use the USB hook up on the camera.

However, it would still be great to have a low cost simple firewire/sata single card reader along the lines of my sandisc firewire 800 CF reader.

Thank you for the good feedback. I just purchased a used Panasonic PCD20 5 card reader with FireWire 800 connectivity. This will work with most computers, but I don't expect I will see the advantage of E series P2 cards higher throughput, since the FireWire 800 would be the limiting factor.

Is it just the PCD35 5 card reader that would allow faster offloads from E series cards? Even with an adapter for Express card slot, this wouldn't help because I'm using a G4, and now the new 13" and 15" MacBook PRO's don't have Express Card slots anyway.

I have been happy with Shotput Pro for ingest and I should be able to use the 5 card reader to offload the cards non-stop for up to three hard drives via a computer.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video

More info from sonnet on the Qio card reader. now available for pre-order I see.
qio po.jpg

https://secure1.sonnettech.com/index...429475723053f1

A "new thread" started by the first guy who gets his hands on the Qio, and reports of transfer speeds would be great.

Cheers

Here in the UK creative video also have it on their web site:https://www.creativevideo.co.uk/publ...ber=sonnet_qio

Bump,

Not too far away now..... I have the PCIe version for my Macpro tower on pre-order.
Would make a nice christmas present.

Cheers

I would see the compatibility with a Windows OS (Vista 64) first ... before I think about acquiring one Xmas present for myself.

Hello Tingsern Wong,

How can (Windows OS (Vista 64) be that much different for a "card reader" than plain old Vista ?
being mainly Mac I didnt think that windows boxes were that involved ?.

Cheers

Hi Tom,

Plain old vista has 2 versions - 32 bits and 64 bits. I use the 64 bits version. This is no ordinary card reader. It has a PCIe card - and you need device drivers for that to work under Windows platform. Therefore, I rather wait for more reports of compatibility with that platform first - before taking the plunge.

Cheers,
TS

Hi TingSern Wong,

no doubt someone will get the Qio and try it in the same sys as you have and make a report on some forum somewhere. (maybe you could do it and report findings, or just send it back if it dosen't work)
If Sonnet guys do the job they do on the rest of their range of gear , it should be a winner.

Cheers

What is that P2->EC adapter that can be used with Nexto NVS2500?
Can it be purchased alone, how much & how fast would it work with regular Vista laptop?

There are standalone adapters that are similar to the Nexto; Addonics and Rosewill make them. I have the Rosewill, cost me $25 from Newegg with free shipping, and it works fine.

But, of course, for some reason those adapters simply will not work on Apple computers -- even if you run Windows on the Apple.

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

Time to revive an old topic. My research shows the Amtron PCD-TP-110CS CardBus card reader does not support Hot Plug/Hot Swap with P2 cards.

This means you have to reboot to read another card after you have ejected the first card.

Is this still the case? What are user experiences?

The Panasonic AJ-PCD2 is certainly a lot more money. But rebooting after every card is silly.

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

I just broke down and bought an AJ-PCD2G as an alternative to my duel adapter set up. Unit works nicely but its speed is about 20 to 25% slower than the duel adapter set up based on quick tests. Does seem to let you mount and dismount cards better.

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

Cripes, this is an old thread n subject, might as well add my five cents to it.

I ended up cancelling my order for the Qio, as I found out just prior to delivery that the transfer times were no better than transfer times from the camera.
So, I waited for the PCD2 Panasonic USB reader and our Aussie dollar to match the US dollar, and now I use that. A credit Panasonic having listened to their users and created the single slot reader , even if most think it's over priced.
I did go thru a phase of using a 17" Powerbook with PC card slot, (Now up for sale) but since have sprung for a 2011 17" i7 2.3quad MBP it's encode times are unbelievable, and having three USB slots is great,

Will be interesting if someone ever builds a "Thunderbolt to P2 card reader", now that might take transfer times to new heights, but till then it's steady as you go.

cheers

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

Yes a thunderbolt card reader.. this is the new Xmas list to Pana Santa.. so will probably happen about 2020 or there abouts.. nexto 2525 with P2 slot looks the faster /least hassle at the moment.. ?

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

A few years later, and I still haven't found anything better than my Dell D410. Netbook size, 6 hour battery, PCMCIA slot, 320GB hard drive, gigabit internet (wire it into your edit machine's network, share the drive - voila, network card reader), and offloads/verifies A-series cards at about a minute per gig... E-series cards at a little over half that. I think you can now get them used for maybe $120 or less.

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

This offering is close , but not close enough for us (PC slotted) P2 users.... but still interesting that products are being designed and manufactured, if they can do it for an expresscard adapter that will not set sales records, why not make one for P2 cards, come on Sonnett, Have a go.
suggested retail price $149.95 . It would be no good for me on my 17" MBP it already has the expresscard slot.

Sonnet - Echo ExpressCard/34 Thunderbolt Adapter

Cheers

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

Re thunderbolt.. I did call Steve about the P2/Thunderbolt card reader.. he realized his mistake in not pressuring Pana on this front.. and has so resigned to make amends.. I did say this was maybe being too hard on himself.. but he couldnt be dissuaded .. and assured me the reader would be available soon..

Thanks Steve..

Re: Affordable P2 Card reader?
 

Well I just asked Sonnett to build a Thunderbolt to P2 card reader,
maybe others can also ask too, and who knows, it may be a new era for P2 ?.

Sonnet - Thunderbolt Storage & Adapters
click the button
"sign up for more info"
and ask the question too.
"What type of Thunderbolt products would you like developed? "
insert "Thunderbolt to Panasonic P2 card reader"

cheers
tom k