Wow. I sold my HVX almost 2 years ago now because the p2 workflow and price didn't work for many of my longform events. Originally I was holding out for the Cineporter and other 3rd party P2 options. I am glad I sold it when I did because I would be really upset at this news and the other products that never made it to market as 3rd party P2 or P2 alternatives. Definitely a huge disapointment. Good luck to those of you who were waiting on these. Hopefully other options will present themselves.

Peace.

Well, since then Panasonic's own P2 cards have gotten much bigger and cheaper, which is probably why Hoodman cancelled their effort. 32GB cards are now available for about what 8GB cards cost two years ago, and 16GB cards are about $850. A pair of 32 GB cards will record for almost 3 hours continuously at 720p (about 168 minutes).

64 GB cards are expected later this year, at which time the prices on 32 GB and smaller cards will in all likelihood drop substantially. 128GB cards shouldn't be too far off either. With a pair of those, the HVX will go 672 minutes at 720p - that's 11 hours and 12 minutes, nonstop.

Fuji is expected to enter the P2 card market soon as well.

Just comparing apples to apples: If you're comparing the price of P2 to tape, you'll have to compare it to DVCPro HD tape and not HDV/MiniDV tape.

DVCPro HD tape, 126 minutes: $80 = 64 cents/minute.

Then add the price of a Varicam deck, $25,000.

Panasonic has a new release that says FujiFilm is going to sell P2 comaptible cards from Spring 2008.