Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo vs Mark 2
Sony has been producing memory cards that are meant to be used with their electronic products. The memory stick has evolved over the years to cope with the greater demand in capacity. The Pro Duo is one result of this evolution that resulted in a memory card with larger capacity, faster transfer speed, and a smaller form factor compared to its predecessors. Mark 2 is a certification that is awarded to certain cards that can ensure a minimum data transfer speed.
These cards are intended to be used on AVCHD capable video cameras. Video cameras produce a certain amount of data every second as it captures video and audio. This data needs to be written to the memory card as fast as possible, or else some data would be lost. Although most cards are capable of writing at high speeds, this is not constant and for non mark 2 certified cards, it can drop well below the minimum and would make it unsuitable for AVCHD recording. Mark 2 memory cards are simply the same cards but made much faster to allow huge amounts of data to be written without any problem.
Although Mark 2 cards are meant to operate on devices that need high data write speeds like video cameras, it does not break compatibility with older and slower devices. You can still use Mark 2 cards on other Sony products like the PSP. You might also be able to use standard Pro Duo cards on high speed devices but you would not be able to use the high speed functions of your device.
The only difference between Pro Duo and Mark 2 cards is in the minimum speed that data can be written on it. Pro Duo memory cards would be sufficient in case you do not have any device that needs the fast write speed. But having Mark 2 certified memory cards would be beneficial, as it would not only prepare you for the future but it would also lessen the time needed when writing huge amounts of data.
Summary:
1. Pro Duo is a class of Sony’s memory stick with large capacities while Mark 2 is a certification that are indicated on memory cards that ensure a certain minimum speed
2. Mark 2 memory cards were specifically designed for AVCHD recording
3. Mark 2 memory cards can still be used with other devices while ordinary Pro Duo memory cards cannot be used for AVCHD