Sandisk SxS US$ card pricing announced

[Barry Green]

http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/Pre...e.aspx?ID=3983

8GB = $500
16GB = $900

[Monday Isa]

Thanks Barry for the link. For 4 16gb cards I'm looking at a little less than half the cost of the cam based on sandisk prices. I have no other choice but to wait this one out for now. When the prices come down I'll be sure to be looking at the xdcam ex line up again as I love the idea of solid state and also the 1/2" chips.

[Alister Chapman]

I'm sure some 3rd party will come up with a small box that will take an SxS card and at the push of a button dump the files on a USB hard drive. Or buy a cheap laptop with an express card slot.

I fully expect the card prices to drop quite quickly.

[Andrew Garland]

That's rather dissapointing to hear the price of the SXS cards are so high. They're very comparable to Panasonic's P2 prices (a 16GB P2 card is going for $900 on B&H right now). The high price of the P2 technology has always kept me from jumping on the tapeless bandwagon. It seems for the near future that SXS will be in the same boat.

But, like Alister said, I'm sure within the next 6 months to a year we can expect a drop in prices (perhaps even by half, but that's an optimistic guess at best).

[Gareth Watkins]

Hi all
While the new EX1 camera is undoubtedly superb, it has several big minus points for me at present..
1) The cost of the SxS cards..
2) Handycam format.
3) lack of compatibility with my current NLE's..I use Premiere Pro 2.0, acquired not long before CS3 announced.. so no budget for an upgrade.

These are major points for me over and beyond its resolution which far exceeds current DVD levels and my needs.

I'm looking more towards the new shoulder mount HDV cam which will give me a full size format (I far prefer these) on cheapish (40 euros for 4 hours) cassettes and be compatible with Premiere Pro 2.0, which I've not long had!!!! Hopefully this camera will be in the £4000 to £5000 braket, with lens.

Ok I'd love an XDCAM... but the models available without a lens go far beyond my budget.

The new technology means not only buying a camera but all the other hardware and software that goes with it.. the XDCAM EX for me represents too much extra expense...

Cheers
G

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Andrew Garland

That's rather dissapointing to hear the price of the SXS cards are so high. They're very comparable to Panasonic's P2 prices (a 16GB P2 card is going for $900 on B&H right now).

That press release gives MSRPs, so I'd expect the street prices to be lower. How much lower remains to be seen.

[Monday Isa]

Originally Posted by David Heath

That press release gives MSRPs, so I'd expect the street prices to be lower. How much lower remains to be seen.

Hey David,
I agree with you there. If they can get 16gb even at $600 I'd go for it on release date. Till then I'll have to wait a little while on the prices, which may be good in the end as my events start back up in February.

[Thierry Humeau]

Originally Posted by Andrew Garland

That's rather dissapointing to hear the price of the SXS cards are so high. They're very comparable to Panasonic's P2 prices (a 16GB P2 card is going for $900 on B&H right now). The high price of the P2 technology has always kept me from jumping on the tapeless bandwagon. It seems for the near future that SXS will be in the same boat.

But, like Alister said, I'm sure within the next 6 months to a year we can expect a drop in prices (perhaps even by half, but that's an optimistic guess at best).

Andrew,

Considering the following, you will still be much better of with XDCAM EX vs. P2

- Depending of the codec you choose, XDCAM's efficient MPEG-2 codecs will allow you to record 3 to 4 times more HD video on the same amount of memory.

- The $900 P2 16GB module on BH is a discounted price. You can expect to find 16GB SxS memory modules at a lower prices than what is published by Sandisk and see those prices drop fairly quickly. My bet is that we will see street prices for the 16GB SxS module around $600 shortly after they become available.

Thierry.

[George Johnston]

Look at P2 until recently you were paying £800 upwards for an 8GIG card, since the 16GIG card appeared you can now get 4 x 8GIG cards for £1200 with the 16GIG costing £600 each. Remember Sony have arrived onto this platform a lot later and have a lot of ground to make up over P2. I use P2 myself as I need DVCPRO 50 for green screen work (4.2.2) this is the second time I have bought the same camera HVX200, the first time I never had any P2 cards and I ended up cashing it in for a JVC HD101. I now do far more green screen and need the (4.2.2) that DVCPRO 50 gives me and it works well, the great feature about the 200 is it's availability to go from DV-DVCPRO-DVCPRO 50-DVCPRO HD all from one camera...the DV codec allows me to use the camera for theatre work with a Firestore FS4. That's my main gripe with Sony...not having the foresight to make the EX backwardly compatible with DVCAM users. Sony will have deals on these cards and remember they are NOT the only players with express cards unlike P2, so look out for express cards from ..... ? at far lower prices. Remember Sony do not want a glut of 16Gig cards not getting used and would like to kick P2s but...they would be mad not to offer deals.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by George Johnston

I need DVCPRO 50 for green screen work (4.2.2) this is the second time I have bought the same camera HVX200, the first time I never had any P2 cards and I ended up cashing it in for a JVC HD101. I now do far more green screen and need the (4.2.2) that DVCPRO 50 gives me and it works well

4:2:0 in progressive HD works well also. And if you bump it down to 4:2:2 SD like you're currently working with, it does very well. Because HD is resolving much more detail in the scene, it's not as bad as trying to key 4:1:! in SD.

-gb-

[Kevin Shaw]

Agreed that the announced pricing of SxS is disappointing, but let's keep in mind that P2 cards cost over $200 per minute (at full quality) when they were introduced and are still over $50 per minute today. The stated pricing for SxS works out to about $18/minute at full quality and should drop quickly to much less than that, making it plausible to own several hours worth of the cards.

As far as delivery options are concerned, there are several ways to get HD content to customers if you want to do so, and cameras like the EX1 should produce excellent standard-definition DVDs as well.

[Jim Exton]

I think one 8Gb is included. Maybe they will offer an initial deal in the US where you can get 2 included for a limited time.

I am liking this over the HVX-200 anyways because of the 1/2 inch chip and non-uprezzed 1080 chips.

Images from what I have seen online look pretty filmic as well.

[Mike Williams]

Had my heart set on two of these but the cost of entry is getting higher and higher every minute.

I was hoping the cards would be less. We'll have to see what they hit the street at.

P2 is nuts. No comparo. 18min per card of HD? Very niche oriented. I really like the recording time on the 16gig cards for the 60min of a tape is a majorly stessfull thing when shooting a long ceremony..... with one cam.

Anyway, maybe I will have to sell my first born after all.... :)

Mike

[Tim Polster]

Yes, but it is still early and maybe all of the info is not out yet.

I would like offical confirmation about the standard expresscards vs the SxS cards.

If they can't be used, I would hope it is a datarate issue and not just a proprietary margin increasing issue.

After all, the P2 card pricing is a main reason why many people shy away from the panasonic offerings.

I have been spoiled by the 4 1/2 hour tapes my DVC-200 uses and could never go back to 60 min at a time.

[Mike Williams]

If the cards last one year I will be way ahead! I am paying about $10 per tape for the minidv now. It adds up! They will be discounted soon and the cheaper cards are supposed to work but the transfer rate out of the card is slower from what I gather thus far.

This may be wishfull thinking but....

MW