P2 Workflow
P2 is a solid state technology, and as such departs from the older method of recording video onto video tape. Since the video output is saved onto a solid state P2 memory card as a file, many possibilities are opened up to change the approach to workflow; indeed, it is claimed that the workflow can be sped up and made more reliable, which in turn, reduces production costs. Since its inception, the development of this workflow, together with partners such as Avid and Apple, has matured, and has been adopted by many major production teams. However for many in the post production field the P2 format is quite troublesome. Because no hard copy is produced from the camera, editors must rely on massive amounts of stable drive space for security. The raw files on the card are usually treated as the 'tape', and then the converted QuickTime files are treated as capture.
P2 prices have come down thanks to advances in storage technology. Since tapes can only be rewritten a few times, and P2 can be rewritten over 1825 times, P2 is much cheaper per shoot over the life of the media. P2 footage can also be archived to disk, hard drive or any other digital storage media. The low cost of Blu-ray and DVD media makes archival of P2 footage relatively cheap.
Read more about this topic: P2 (storage Media)