AVCHD - Media - Solid-state Memory Card

Solid-state Memory Card

Many AVCHD camcorders employ Secure Digital or "Memory Stick" memory cards as removable recording media. Solid-state memory cards offer rewritable storage in a compact form factor with no moving parts. With transfer speeds ranging from 10 MByte/s to 25 Mbyte/s for most brands, it takes about 1 minute to transfer 1 GB of video from a card to a computer for viewing and/or editing.

Panasonic and Sony chose removable flash memory as the sole type of recording media in their professional AVCHD lineups, AVCCAM and NXCAM respectively.

Until 2010 Sony insisted on usage of its own memory card format - Memory Stick. Starting from 2010 Sony allowed using both Memory Stick as well as Secure Digital cards in its consumer and professional camcorders. Panasonic as well as other manufacturers of AVCHD camcorders use Secure Digital cards as removable flash media. Most models accept Secure Digital High Capacity cards (SDHC), while some models are also compatible with Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC) cards, which offer higher transfer speed and capacity.

Pros:

• Compact and lightweight.
• Does not require time for spin-up and initialization.
• Not vulnerable to magnetic fields.
• Can withstand a wider range of air pressure, humidity and vibration than HDDs.
• Can be easily backed up to DVD for viewing and for long-term archiving.
• Can store mixed media content, including still images like snapshot photos and still-frame captures.
• The recording section contains no moving parts, thus operation is almost silent; also a camera can be made more compact and less prone to mechanical damage in case of being dropped.
• Most new computers, many TV sets and Blu-ray Disc players, as well as many personal portable media players have built-in card readers and can play AVCHD video directly from a card.

Cons:

• More expensive per minute of recording than a built-in HDD or DVD media.
• Not reliable for long term storage and may wear out more rapidly than expected, especially the cards made with MLC technology as opposed to cards using SLC technology.
• Vulnerable to electrical damage, such as static discharge, and too high temperature.
• A bad memory card can cause data corruption, causing loss of one or more clips.
• Loss of data can occur if a card is removed or power is turned off while the card is being recorded to.
• Easy to misplace due to small form factor.