Panasonic has posted several new pieces of firmware and software on their support desk. These are big updates so get them right away if you use P2 products. You can find them all at the Panasonic AV Support Desk. Here is the list of the updates:

1) Firmware for the HPX170/HVX200/HVX200A to enabled full support for the E-Series cards.

2) Mac Drivers for working with P2 Cards – everyone needs this.

3) A new AVC-Intra Decoder for Final Cut Pro

4) Mac AVCCAM Viewer for playing back AVCHD footage. (Also downlaod the AVCCAM Transcoder & AVCCAM Restorer while you are at it).

If you own a P2 based camera  or other device then this is a must read. Panasonic is releasing their E-Series (Economy Series) P2 cards and while they are designed to work with all P2 devices, many will require a firmware upgrade to work perfectly. Without the upgrade the devices may have problems recording clips over multiple cards (Spanned Clips). Also a “REC Warning Error” may occur when recording in variable frame rates at 720/24PN/25PN/30PN. UPDATE: This is only a problem at 12p or 15p on the AG-HVX200/AG-HVX200A, AG-HPX170 and AG-HPX500 models.  This error may also occur when shooting DV or DVCPRO (not DVCPRO HD) in Loop, Interval, or even Normal record modes. So these updates are a must if you’d like to use the E-Series cards. An upgrade is NOT needed for the following cameras:  VariCam 3700, VariCam 2700, AJ-HPX3000, AJ-SPX800, AJ-SPC700 and AJ-SPD850.

Panasonic has posted a chart here, which shows which cameras need the update and when the firmware will be available for free download. That same site – The Panasonic AV Support Desk – will be the best place to visit when you’re ready to upgrade your camera.  For more information read this PDF document – Compatibility Note for E-Series P2 Cards – which Panasonic has issued.

Panasonic has unveiled new lower cost P2 cards. The cards support very fast read/write speeds, but at a reduced life span. The new cards are E-series (E for Economy) P2 cards and will be available in 16, 32, and 64 GB models. When used at full capacity on a daily basis, the cards should last for 5 years. If used to half capacity (not sure who does that exactly) they should last 10 years. No worries though, the life span of the cards can be tracked with the P2 format software or in the camcorder’s LCD/viewfinder. Amazingly these cards sport a 1.2 Gbps transfer speed, which is even faster than the current 64 GB A-Series cards. That means faster download times to a laptop. The 16 & 32 GB cards should be available in May for a list price of $420 and $625 respectively. The 64 GB will be available in August for a list of $998. That’s about half the price of the A-Series cards. Rental houses may stay clear of these cards, but as an owner/operator this is a great situation. In 5 years, we’ll all want a bigger, faster P2 card anyway. Check out the full press relesase here at Panasonic.

A few months ago, we were introduced to a company called 1Beyond. They have been creating custom editing machines and storage systems for a while, and now they have taken aim at the P2 market with the P2 Wrangler. If you’ve been keeping up with the latest Panasonic products you may have read about the P2 Rapid Writer, which is a fast download box with a built-in hard drive RAID and five P2 card slots. The P2 Wrangler Portable is the same idea but at a reduced cost and with greatly expanded possibilities.

Looking at the Wrangler Portable you might think it’s a laptop computer from 1985, but it’s in fact a high-tech piece of gear with a lot of function that you normally only find on a desktop machine. On the left side you’ll find four P2 Card slots, various connectors (USB, firewire, and VGA), and an LCD displaying battery life. On the right side is a DVD-RW drive and two removable drives. These drives are called GoHDCart disks which are hot-swappable, shock resistant drives and 320GB each. The front cover folds down to reveal a 15″ LCD and a full keyboard with trackpad.

…continue reading 1Beyond P2 Wrangler Portable