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CaptainChunk

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 16, 2008
2,142
6
Phoenix, AZ
I'm working on an upcoming Red One production. We'll also be using a Panasonic HVX200 for documentary photography. I'm the project's assistant editor and my job during actual production is to log and capture footage with my MacBook Pro, connected to external eSATA RAID enclosures. At the end of the day, I'll be assembling dailies for the production team.

My question is if anyone knows of a FireWire 800 adapter that will read both P2 and CF cards. Lexar seems to make an adapter that supports CF UDMA, but doesn't mention whether or not it would work with other solid state media like P2 cards.

Normally, I would be using Duel's ExpressCard/34 adapter for this, but I'll need that slot to connect to the RAID disks.

In a worst-case scenario, I could use our P2 Store as the P2 card reader (which is USB-based....puke!), but I would like to avoid this, as we're on a tight production schedule/budget and can use the additional speed gained by a faster reader.

Having a Mac Pro on location isn't really an option because of space and the lack of portability.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
Hmmm... Actually, I think I answered my own question. The only way to transfer P2 cards more quickly outside of the Duel ExpressCard/34 adapter is to get Panasonic's 5-card reader, which is just shy of $2k. Makes me wonder how hard it could have been to at least put a FireWire 400 port on the P2 Store...

It looks like I'll have to be set up as follows:

- eSATA RAID array connected to Sonnet ExpressCard/34 adapter
- P2 Store connected via USB for P2 capture
- Lexar UDMA CF reader connected via FireWire 800 for Red Card capture

I guess I'll just have to live with that.
 
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