Any news on a Express Card 34 to PCMCIA adapter?
 

Like many of you I'm waiting anxiously for an Express Card 34 to PCMCIA card adapter so we can load P2 cards directly onto our MBPro's and not use the camera for transfer. Has anyone heard rumblings of when of these adapters might come out? In the field I usually just offload to a P2Store and then bring everything onto a GRaid Pro RAID back in the edit bay, but for safety's sake I'd like to start copying to both the P2Store and a G-Raid connected to my MBPro when logistics permit. The only other option I have is using my PC laptop, which has a PCMCIA slot, and transferring to the G-Raid there. Only problem with that is that the G-Raid's are formatted for the Mac. Will the PC read a Mac formatted drive or is that trouble? Thanks,

Peter

Duel Systems (http://duel-systems.com/) is producing that adapter, and it should be out soon (a few weeks maybe?)

Thanks Barry! I'll keep a tab on their website to see when it's released. Best,

Peter

You have to format external drives in OS X as FAT 32 (MSDOS) to make them 'bisexual'. ;-0 If you format them in XP, Mac won't have any write authorization, no matter how you set permissions.

Wow...still nothing
 

It's September and still no adaptor. I emailed duel-systems and haven't gotten a response yet. Has anyone heard anything?

Seriously. When is this thing going to come out?

I run both Mac and PC, so my external HDDs are used on both. OSX can't write NTFS and FAT32 limits you to 4GB files. I got MacDrive for my PC, so now I format my externals as "Mac OS Extended" and my PC easily reads them (MacDrive works seamlessly with Windows Explorer). If I ever have to bring my external HDD somewhere, I bring a Flash Drive with MacDrive (and my serial#) just in case.

I don't believe duel has entered beta testing yet.

I can't imagine that there's a huge motivating force driving this product. Seriously, outside of a few legacy devices and us P2 users, there's little point to an Expresscard to PCMCIA adapter. I'm skeptical if this thing will ever come to market... Or if it does, it will be a little too late. I'm curious what Panasonic is expecting to do since they seem intent on continuing with the P2 format. Are they going to provide more options and hardware for interfacing with P2 media? PCMCIA cards on notebooks are all but history... Now that Apple and most new PC notebook makers have gone to ExpressCard. Panasonic's P2 Drive is an OK solution... Actually it's a great solution, but they need to do some price adjusting there -- like cut the price by at least half.

I have a laptop with a PCMCIA card slot, will it read my P2 cards?

Yes, but you'll have to install the P2 driver software first.

I'm aware of several people beta testing the card now.

Whether it will be offered remains to be seen.

Look at this:

http://www.delkin.com/products/adapters/expresscard34/

That's a CompactFlash reader; it has no applicability for the HVX or P2.

i saw this and started to post it right here before i took a second look. easy to see how you could make that mistake though, it's rather deceiving

There it is... a express to pcmcia adapter!!!

http://sewelldirect.com/Express-Card...IA-Adapter.asp

how is this?
 

The sewell direct one appears to be the duel systems adapter.

And the lycom.com one seems to be the one that Addonics engineered.

Soooo?
 

Has anyone actually used one of these adapters yet and had success? I just went to the Apple store with P2 card in hand and found out about the change since the card won't fit! I am now postponing my decision until I know for a certain someone out there can say they dump their P2 data with one of these without any problems. Otherwise it's is PC for location work, Mac for in house.

Jim

I bought the Duel Adapter and have not been able to get my Macintel to read the card. The laptop knows that I have the adapter plugged in but it will not read or mount. I am using 8G P2 Cards and have updated to the latest Duel software. I am stuck using either the camera or P2 store to transfer files. I would be curious to know if anyone has had success with the Duel Adapter on the Macintel.

Duel Systems Duel Adapter
 

We've been using the Duel Systems adapter with a Macbook Pro since it came out nearly a year ago. Works great. Just make sure you've got the latest driver from Duel (1.04 at this point) and the latest P2 driver from Panasonic. Both are available on Duel's website, and of course the P2 driver is on Panasonic's site as well.

No problem with ours on MBP. Also confirm the A/B switch is correct.

Works in Leopard and worked in 10.4.10 and 10.4.11

Duel adapter is working with my MBP, too.

Thanks guys. Now I can go spend ANOTHER $3K heh heh!

Jim

Buyer Beware!
 

Be careful, I tried a setup from Syncrotech with no luck.

First I bought the Duel Adapter.
Then I bought the PCI Express to ExpressCard Reader for our Mac Pro.

It doesn't work. The Duel Adapter works with the MacBook Pro but not in conjunction with the PCI Express Reader.

I called Syncrotech, they said it initially worked on older versions of OSX but since recent updates this combo doesn't work. They also said it costs too much for R&D to get something developed. "The P2 Market is too small to justify the need and PCIe is the most costly R&D format," He said.

Hope this prevents someone from trying the combination. Thankfully Syncrotech will return the incompatible unit.

-C

There are a number of companies that make PCI cards for the Mac G5s, but none for MacPros.

Syncrotech aside, it's an issue of drivers.

Hello David
How about connecting a ---
http://www.amtron.com/reader/pcdtp110cs.htm
Just the "card reader component" via the ATA cable of the Mac,s Optical drive in the Macpro or a G5 ??.
It may work ?, who's game to try it. The card reader is just an ATA connected device, the same as the mac's DVD/CD Burner. can someone with the Amtron reader get a test done.?
love to try it myself If Amtron were available here, downunder.
cheers
Tom K

My happy Duel Adapter experience:

Got the new MacBook and the Duel Adapter. Both arrived the same day. Although the Duel packaging says OS X v10.4 or above, the included CD won't install unless it is v10.4.8. My new Mac's OS being 10.4.11 I had to go to the Duel website. (So my new Mac Pro Tower came with Leopard, but my MacBook doesn't??)

I followed the install instructions to the letter but the Adapter icon did not appear on my desktop as the instructions claimed. But following their trouble shooting PDF on their site I was able to see that my Mac did indeed see it, just didn't display it.

I then installed the Mac Panasonic driver (also on the Duel web site). I think I should have installed this first (not that I had instructions to do so, I was on my own here) because the Mac didn't see the P2 card when I inserted it. So I reinstalled the Duel adapter again after the Panny install. I rebooted and although there was still no adapter icon when I plugged the Duel in, the P2 icon popped up as soon as I plugged in the P2 card into the reader.

I was able to transfer a full 16gig card of multiple 720p footage (about 17 minutes) in about 9 minutes. I was not using FCP to capture, I was just copying to a folder like I plan to do in the field.

So all in all I am happy. I confess I was panicking a smidgen when it wasn't working as the instructions claimed, because I literally got the $2500 Mac for that $100 adapter. I will be shooting in Europe on exterior shoots and will need to dump P2s all day long using the MacBook and an external hard drive.

Hope this aids anyone in their consideration of using the Duel.

Jim

The issue is drivers.

It always has been.

But if you give it a try, please report back

Another Duel Update-

Shot multiple locations so far with the Duel and MacBookPro. I'd shoot until the first card was nearly full, then swap. I'd dump to the Mac while shooting using a second P2. Repeat. No problems. This was not constant shooting though. All were multiple take setups.

On that note- I can't figure how to delete the P2 in the Mac. If I delete the files then I get a "FORMAT ERROR" and have to format the card. Not a problem for me to format the card each time since it is quick and I am shooting segments. But this will be a problem if I was shooting non-stop and hot swapping. I read on another site that you set the "loop" function if you want to continually record but haven't tried it yet.

Hope this helps out some of you.

Are you using Leopard? I think it was said in the driver instruction that deleting didn't work with certain version of P2 driver with Leopard. They might have updated it now, so you check back the download site.

There's a new Mac P2 Format utility available on the Panasonic P2 download site. Try that.

Not to sound like a complete idiot - but can we sum it all up then? What would a workable shopping list for a budget minded producer look like? Which MAC laptop, MAC desktop, adapter and driver setups are required to make this workflow happen - so I don't go and try and reinvent the wheel and waste my funds?

R.L.,

Since this thread is about a specific adapter device rather than a complete system setup, the best thing to do is: A) Read threads about complete system setups and get the breadth of opinions and; B) Get with one of the forum sponsors (some of which are in your area) and ask the experts advice on what system, hardware/software would best suit your needs.

The problem with asking such a broad-spectrum question is that you'll get tons of opinions going in every direction and none of them may actually fit your requirements. It's best to get with one of the dealers you'll eventually do business with and have them consult directly with you.

I use a MacBook Pro running Leopard 10.5.2. I install the standard p2 drives available from Panasonic.

I turn on the MBP and once booted, plug the Duel Adapter into the EC/34 slot and then a write protected p2 card into the adapter. Once it mounts, copy it to the desktop.

I eject the card by dragging the volume to the trash, and repeat the process with another card.

Once that is done, I eject the dual adapter. I don't reinsert without rebooting the MBP.

Hello david, You have clarified this Re-boot issue, My reading of threads was that you had to re boot after inserting each P2 card, your explanation is that you only re-boot after inserting the Duel adapter.
Simply, you have to have the Duel Adapter connected prior to Boot-up.
Cheers
Tom K

No, the DA was not connected before boot; it was inserted after boot and then the p2 card was inserted

I don't recall having to reboot after copying just one card.

But I'll test it.