Deliveries of 16GB P2 Card to Begin in May

Panasonic announced today pricing on the new 16GB and the forthcoming 32GB P2 card for its popular line of solid-state P2 HD and P2 camcorders and recorders. The 16 GB P2 card, which will be available in May at a suggested list price of $900, doubles the current 8GB solid-state memory card.
The 32GB P2 card, which will be available before year’s end at a price of $1,800, will result in Panasonic being able to quadruple the storage capacity of its P2 card this year.

“Dramatic recording time improvement is another beauty of P2 HD technology. The new 16GB card doubles capacity at a significantly lower cost of storage per gigabyte,” said Robert Harris, Vice President of Marketing, Panasonic Broadcast. “And the 32 GB P2 card will again double that by the end of the year, providing the extra long record times producers request for projects like wildlife documentaries. New P2 cards offer recording capacity equal to and often longer than tape-based and disc-based media.”

The new P2 cards offer comparable recording capacity to tape-based and disc-based media, but with
no-moving-parts reliability and the benefits of an IT file-based workflow. With a five-slot AJ-HPX2000 P2 HD camcorder, a video pro using five 16GB P2 cards can record for up to 200 minutes at native 720/24pN in DVCPRO HD, 80 minutes in 1080i/720p in DVCPRO HD, and 160 minutes in DVCPRO 50.

The 16 GB P2 card will work immediately with new AG-HVX200 and AG-HPX500 P2 HD camcorders purchased from May 2007 forward. Existing P2 and P2 HD products will need a free, downloadable software upgrade available on the Panasonic website (www.panasonic.com/broadcast) after May. Customers can visit the website for updates on additional upgrades and availability.

Panasonic’s P2 card is based on ultra-reliable, solid-state memory, consisting of four SD cards, like those now used in digital still cameras, packaged in a rugged, die-cast frame that weighs only 0.099 lbs (45 grams). This convenient card has four times the capacity and four times the transfer speed of a single SD card. The P2 card is reusable and connects instantly with laptops and major non-linear editing systems to eliminate the time-consuming task of digitizing.

The P2 card is resistant to impact (up to 1,500G), vibration (up to 15G), shock, dust and environmental extremes including temperature changes. It operates in temperatures from -4 ° to 176 °F (-20 to 60 °C), and can be stored in temperatures from -40 ° to 176 °F (-40 to 80 °C). Unlike tapes and discs, the P2 card has no rotating or contact parts. The solid-state P2 memory card can transfer data at high speeds providing the professional user with faster, easier operation. Compared to tape or disc, the P2 card means substantially less consumption, resulting in savings in media costs and environmental benefits.