Thanks for bringing this up, Richard.
In no way shape or form am I trying to disrespect you, Erich. It's not what I intend, and not what I do. I am not a well respected member of any community, so perhaps I am talking out of line.
But what irks me is this, this is now the second time you have started a thread aimed at Panasonic when people are calling up your shop asking for tape and Sony. That is probably all your market needs, and that's all you need to buy. Panasonic isn't going back to tape, Sony is still holding on a bit, but eventually it will go all tapeless. New cameras being designed right now are not thinking about tape.
I am not a lawyer, but I do own a pit bull. His name is Remy and he's very good.
This is also a problem I have, Erich. You call me names because I made a smart decision for the business. I find this rather ironic.
[Erich Roland] "People cant see the future in a memory technology that has changed so dramaticly in just the last 2 years"
P2 has been around for way more than 2 years, and it's pretty much stayed the same. It's a very solid format. There are now 2 HD codecs and the card sizes keep getting larger. Other than that, a DV file on p2 from 8 years ago, looks like a dv file on a p2 card now.
[Erich Roland] "The E series is only slightly better price, but then they are made to Fail..."
More exaggeration. Everything that has a chip will fail someday, but that doesn't mean that they are made to fail. The E series cards are made to fill up to 100% everyday for 5 years. John Fishback did the math here:
http://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/193/876651
[Erich Roland] " I want to have on my rental shelf what my customer wants to rent (period). There... Ive shared my deepest secret, you've driven me to it. "
And that's what I asked you in my first response. Go for what you know and what makes you money, just stop blaming Panasonic for it. If not, you can at least educate yourself about P2 so you can educate your clients.
[Erich Roland] "But you cant tell me my customers are wrong. They tend to be informed, and when they call me they almost always know what they have decided to shoot with, and its not P2 Varicams, or the 2000, or 3000. "
So stop buying them!
[Erich Roland] ". This leads me to believe that you are in the minority with your appreciation of MXF files, and that this feature does not carry the weight that you think it should in the general market place. "
I see it that people have not truly discovered the MXF format and all it entails. With time, it will make more sense. If opens up vast capabilities in multi-cam production (I presented a workflow at NAB about shooting a 5 P2 camera multi-cam, 8 channel separate sound and no time code, just a clap slate two hours before we started recording. With the help of some MXF tools, I was able to sync over 6 hours of footage in about two minutes), cataloging and metadata for both archive and play out. No, your customers aren't wrong, you can't be wrong about what you don't know.
[Erich Roland] "To invest in expensive cameras right now is not smart business. "
I don't think it ever has been, if you know it won't rent.
[Erich Roland] "Maybe starting next week the phone will ring of the hook for P2 products"
Maybe it will, but it sounds like it won't. If you have any questions, we are always here to help.
Jeremy
