Tapeless Formats

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Tapeless Formats

P2: (Professional Plug-in). Solid state cards used to record video for all of the latest crop of Panasonic HD cameras. Cards have no moving parts, making them a robust recording format. The most exciting part of this format is the ability to bypass the traditional videotape route, instead recording data on to cards similar to storing files in a computer. This allows the user to access any shot from any part of a shoot without having to rewind or fast forward through a tape. All content is available in a random access manner. Any shots photographed in slow or fast motion can immediately be viewed (on set or in the computer) at their intended playback speed without any additional processing. These cards are compatible with both Avid and Final Cut systems. Unlike tape, the "ingest" process into the computer editing system can happen in faster than real time. The cards are meant to be re-recordable, so a backup strategy is highly recommended.

The cards are capable of recording several different flavors of  720 and 1080 line HD formats, as well as 480 SD formats, but overall, the cards are capable of recording using one of two different compression schemes:

• DVCPRO 25, 50
• DVCPRO HD
• AVC-Intra

More information about DVCPRO HD can be found in the section SD Tape Formats. More information about AVC-Intra can be found in the section Compression Formats. Whichever format is used, the P2 cards store the data in the form of the MXF file format, which you can think of as a "wrapper" for the video content. An editing system may be capable of reading the MXF data natively, or the data may need to be converted into a different "wrapper". For example, Final Cut Pro converts the MXF data into QuickTime files. Its still the same data, just with a different wrapper, this time a QuickTime wrapper.

Not all Panasonic cameras are capable of recording to the newer AVC-Intra format. One popular camera capable of recording to P2 cards is the HVX-200 but this camera can only record to DVCPRO or DVCPRO HD. On the other hand, a newer camera like the HPX-2000 can record DVCPRO and AVC-Intra formats.

The current crop of cards comes in the following sizes: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. To get an idea of the differences between recording DVCPRO HD vs. one of the two recording modes of AVC-Intra, the following chart provides recording times, recorded frame size, color space and bit depth for a couple different HD formats.

As you can see, AVC-Intra (100) provides for the same recording time as DVCPRO HD, but AVC-Intra records a full frame size and higher bit depth than DVCPRO HD. On the other hand, if you need to maximize recording time, AVC-Intra (50) doubles the recording time, but at the sacrifice of a smaller horizontal frame size and a lower quality color space.

XDCAM: Sony format developed in 2003. SD and HD variations. Records to an optical disc. In SD recording, can record MPEG IMX or DV (25). In HD, it records XDCAM HD. Similar random access to material like with P2 cards.

• IMX recording at 30, 40 and 50 Mbit/s
• DVCAM recording at 25 Mbit/s
• XDCAM HD (HDV) recording at 35 Mbit/s

XDCAM HD: HD version of XDCAM. Records to optical disc.

• 1080 formats records at 1440x1080
• Interlace scanning at 25 fps and 29.97 fps
• Progressive scanning at 23.98, 25, 29.97 fps
• 4:2:0 chroma sampling
• 8-bit
• MPEG-2 Long-GOP compression (interframe)
• LP recording: 18Mbit/sec VBR (variable bit rate)
• SP (HDV) recording: 25Mbit/sec CBR (constant bit rate)
• HQ recording: 35 Mbit/s VBR (variable bit rate)

XDCAM EX: Newest flavor of XDCAM for HD. Records to SxS Pro memory cards, based on the PCMCIA ExpressCard/34 standard. Unlike XDCAM HD, this format records full HD frame sizes.

• 1920x1080 (full frame 16x9)
• 1280x720 (full frame 16x9)
• 23.98, 25, 29.97 fps
• 4:2:0 chroma sampling
• 8-bit
• MPEG-2 Long-GOP compression (interframe)
• SP recording mode: 25Mbit/sec CBR (1440x1080 frame size)
• HQ recording mode: 35Mbit/sec VBR