Kent,
32Gb P2 E series cards are $600 ea. 64Gb E cards are available for $925. The bit rate for AVC-Intra is 100Mbps in non-Native modes, as well as for DVCPRO HD. However, what really makes the 300 exemplary is the AVC-Intra 100 codec which is a Native codec for all frame rates except 1080/60i. That means that you get 2.5X more record time in 720/24PN, Native modes in 1080, 10-bit depth, which is 4X better than DVCPRO HD due to 1024 shades of gray vs. 256. It uses square pixels, full sample, instead of rectangular 3/4 sub-sampling pixels found in DVCPRO HD(1280 vs. 960 or 1920 vs 1280).
AVC-Intra is twice as efficient as most MPEG2 codecs, has Intra-Frame vs. Long GOP frame structure found in XDCAM EX, and 4:2:2 color space. P2 cards are used around the world for news and are very durable and reliable--proven since 2004. To get a 10-bit codec in a one-piece camera for the price of an HPX300 is pretty amazing.
Full disclosure, we rent the EX1, HPX170 and HPX2700. The EX1 is quiet and fast, not as fast as the 2700, but it's codec is not in the same league as AVC-Intra 100.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com
