Panasonic P2 in Edius

[Qframe]

I’m about to trial a Panasonic P2 Camera (possibly for purchase). It’s the HPX502 (or 500 in the States) which is capable of many SD and HD modes, has variable frame rates and uses a 2/3 inch CCD and lenses. I know many people here in Australia are changing over to P2 Panasonics as they massively outperform HDV and XDCAM for the same price (sometimes less).

Has anyone edited the footage from one of these (or similar) in Edius? I’m particularly interested in the 100Mbs SD DVCPRO and the 1080 DVCPRO HD modes.

Can you just import the media from the P2 cards into Edius (similar to XDcam) and edit in realtime (depending on Machine)?

Any hidden traps or big problems etc.?

[kwshaw1]

I know many people here in Australia are changing over to P2 Panasonics as they massively outperform HDV and XDCAM for the same price (sometimes less).

"Massively outperforms" is an over-statement: at least one HD broadcasting network has decided to handle footage from the popular HVX200 camera with the same restrictions they put on HDV material. And as far as price is concerned, P2 recording is still very expensive compared to either HDV or XDCAM HD, so they're not cost-equivalent in that regard. That said, if you like the look DVCProHD footage offers then Edius reportedly offers some of the best support for P2 cameras available. Hopefully some P2 users here can give you first-hand reports on that...

[Qframe]

Talking about “outperforming” I’m only relating information relayed to me via friends who work in a few “high-end” Production Houses here in Australia. I have also seen material they have produced that was shot on the Panasonic… my HDV Canon and JVC could not come close. I have hired XDCAM HD many times and compared to my Canon in HD… I could see little difference (apart from a much better lens on the XDCAM).

As far as cost goes I was referring to the XDCAM-HD(350). It is more expensive than the Panasonic HPX502 in Australia… around $4000 (AUS) more.

[THoff]

I edit HVX200 material using Edius, and it's a breeze.

I shoot both 720 and 1080 DVCProHD, and occasionally DVCPro50. I have never shot DV/DVCPro with it. I assume "100Mbs SD DVCPRO" is a mistake and refers to 25MBps DV/DVCPro?

[kwshaw1]

I have also seen material they have produced that was shot on the Panasonic… my HDV Canon and JVC could not come close.

Which Panasonic camera are you referring to in this context? If it's the HPX502 you mentioned earlier, I would hope it outperforms HDV cameras costing less than 1/5th the price. Sounds like the comparison to XDCAM HD is more relevant here, since those are similarly priced cameras. Just wanted to clarify all that from your original post, since P2 cameras aren't cost-effective compared to HDV and P2 memory isn't cost-effective compared to XDCAM HD.

If there are any P2 users here, feel free to chime in regarding how well the editing goes in Edius.

[hvx_germanboy]

I can only second THoffs opinion(he is very ambitious here and over on dvxuser.com..!), i am working with the HVX and Edius for about a year and actually my HVX and the P2-workflow was the reason to migrate to EDIUS.

I think that you got the best performance you can get right now with Edius, i like the native way GV-Edius perfomce with the P2-footage, no conversion(like FCP...or has that changed yet??), and no limitations(like AVID-no 720 support..also if this hasnt changed in the last few month...!?).

Must admit i got a fast machine, i edited mostly DVCPRO50 so far(same bitrate as 720pn footage, wount be different with the HPX500/502) ,and i never had any realtime problems, i am working on documentary projects and have huuuge loads of footy(about 1TB for my project right now...), i assume that also the DVCPRO100HD stuff works easy with a good PC...but havent tryed much with it yet...!

So feel free to ask any questions...i guess also the way edisu imports P2(i mostly do import P2 directly to an external HDD when i am shooting in the field...and not at my editing system at home..) directly to Edius in the background, while you can already edit from the card is convinient for some people..checkt that out too..!

[kwshaw1]

Out of curiosity, how much of the P2 metadata can you access directly from within Edius, and where does that show up? Can you see the recording date/time in the preview window if you turn that feature on in the Edius settings?

[hvx_germanboy]

Out of curiosity, how much of the P2 metadata can you access directly from within Edius, and where does that show up? Can you see the recording date/time in the preview window if you turn that feature on in the Edius settings?

hmm..i cant try everything here as i am not at my station, but you can see quite everything: when you check the properties, it will give you an extra window with all the Meta-Data in detail.

I mostly use an overview with big thumbnails, but you can change that quite easyly, so i guess you could maybe change this to a view with metadata too...but i am not sure about that..!

Why dont you get your hands on the Trial and test some P2 footage?

Just in case you cant find footy, i could forward you a small P2-clip too...!

[kwshaw1]

Why dont you get your hands on the Trial and test some P2 footage?

Last I knew the trial version wasn't working with P2 footage, but that was a while ago. Anyone know what the current status is?

[Qframe]

Thanks for all of your comments regarding P2.

I’m testing the HPX502 on a “high-end” job so I’ve been a little worried that I might have trouble in post.

But from what has been said it looks like I’ll be fine.

I hope the Panasonic footage looks good because I’ve not been happy with the compression on XDCAM. Also I have had 2 XDHDCAM cameras breakdown during shoots and many “read errors” on the disks. Hopefully P2 will be more reliable.

[GrassValley_BH]

Last I knew the trial version wasn't working with P2 footage, but that was a while ago. Anyone know what the current status is?

There was a short time before that where the demo did not include P2/XDCAM support, but the current demo since the v4.1 release of EDIUS should support P2 and XDCAM.

[muleferg]

My workflow with P2 HVX200 started in Jan 2006. Edius is a breeze working with this p2 format. The HPX500/502 is the big brother of the HVX200. I also purchased the HPX2000 and it works wonderfull with Edius and P2 and Firestore. You will be impressed with the HPX502

Mule Ferguson
Pumpkin Creek Video

I’m about to trial a Panasonic P2 Camera (possibly for purchase). It’s the HPX502 (or 500 in the States) which is capable of many SD and HD modes, has variable frame rates and uses a 2/3 inch CCD and lenses. I know many people here in Australia are changing over to P2 Panasonics as they massively outperform HDV and XDCAM for the same price (sometimes less).

Has anyone edited the footage from one of these (or similar) in Edius? I’m particularly interested in the 100Mbs SD DVCPRO and the 1080 DVCPRO HD modes.

Can you just import the media from the P2 cards into Edius (similar to XDcam) and edit in realtime (depending on Machine)?

Any hidden traps or big problems etc.?

[muleferg]

To see the date/time. Right click the clip in the timeline. select properties or AltEnter

Out of curiosity, how much of the P2 metadata can you access directly from within Edius, and where does that show up? Can you see the recording date/time in the preview window if you turn that feature on in the Edius settings?

[muleferg]

You gonna Love this camera!

Mule

Thanks for all of your comments regarding P2.

I’m testing the HPX502 on a “high-end” job so I’ve been a little worried that I might have trouble in post.

But from what has been said it looks like I’ll be fine.

I hope the Panasonic footage looks good because I’ve not been happy with the compression on XDCAM. Also I have had 2 XDHDCAM cameras breakdown during shoots and many “read errors” on the disks. Hopefully P2 will be more reliable.

[Jason Ramsey]

P2 and EDIUS go togethor like an egg in ramen noodles (if you have never cracked an egg into a pot of ramen when you are cooking it, you should).

It's the perfect marraige. EDIUS is the best NLE in terms of p2 support and taking maximum advantage of the workflow benefits of the p2 system.

All you need is EDIUS, a p2 card and a pcmcia slot and you will find the workflow to be a breeze and you will quickly become spoiled by it.

And the 500 is rocking. You should check out dvxuser if you haven't already. There is some great info about p2, the workflow techniques people use, the 500, etc, etc.

But, yeah. Once you have worked with p2 in EDIUS.... it's a great combination. I purchased EDIUS because I wanted realtime, and because I wanted something that would allow me to take full advantage of the p2 workflow.

And, about the metadata... EDIUS maintains all of the metadata from p2 footy. There is tons of it too, and it becomes very useful once you learn how to incorporate it and customize it to your liking. You can view the metadata in P2 select when you are importing clips, or by viewing the clip properties from within the bin or on the timeline.

Jason