Hpx170 News!

[Junyo]

I've actually been able to play with the HPX171 (the European version of the HPX170) yesterday. The first thing I noticed is that it is SO LIGHTWEIGHT! When I first picked it up, I thought it must be a mockup, not a real camera.

Then I got to film with it and the 28mm is REALLY wide. I could film the two people who were sitting just one row in front of me in the classroom easily in one shot.

Also, the have moved the SD-card slot from the side to the back, just over the two P2-card slots making it a LOT easier to find.

I was at a course by Panasonic Europe about metadata-workflow with P2-cards.

 

[CW-35]

I certainly appreciate appreciate everyone's response to this. I guess the thing that seems to be talked around is the fact that the HPX500 & Sony's EX1, EX3 are simply PAL/NTSC switchable out of the box. Unless that can be explained in the context of these gray market explanations, it doesn't seem like a very consistent explanation.

I am certainly glad that the HPX170 can be upgraded after purchase to this feature through (repeated) factory servicing. It will be a one of a kind camera for a little while at least.

The NTSC and PAL differences provide a natural barrier to some of this grey market movement. A cheap PAL camera shipped to the US isn't going to command the high US prices it ought to, because it's the wrong format. On the other hand, a switchable camera is very "dangerous" - it can be moved and sold anywhere in the world!

 

[frobozz]

Sorry I started at the end of the thread so I I am really resonding twice to you, I think. Anyhow your post is pretty spot on, but it is not a souce os ongoing revenue stream. We are not trying to milk people out of their money, it is if you are going to maintain always the top level of firmware in your camera, please look at the $500 option. This means you could send it in 20 times in the next five years to have it reset. That is an exaggeration in that in 2 1/2 years we have only had 1 significant firmware upgrade. There was a minor one, that most did not down load and implement.

I know you're not trying to do this as a revenue stream, but the revenue does indeed stream out of the customers' pockets because of it, so from our standpoint it still hurts! I'm just saying with a little more thought, maybe your engineers could accomplish the same goal without the customer pain.

Just as a completely random for-instance: what if you maintained two firmware versions on your site for download for US cameras? One that updated stock cameras, and one that updated NTSC/PAL switchable cameras. And (obviously) the wrong upgrade wouldn't work in a camera. Something about the original $300 upgrade process would make the camera forever unique in the later update process. SO you guys get all the same control over your distribution, but the upgrade customers still get to do their own firmware updates just like everyone else.

I understand why you need to charge for the future updates, under the current plan; I'm suggesting your engineers devise a plan that avoids the bench time and thus the expense. The bench time is only necessary to keep unworthy camera owners for having access to the switchable version of the firmware update. Come up with some other way to accomplish that.

I develop patented IP for a living, and have done tons of embedded programming in my life, so this isn't the first time I've run into this exact kind of thorny problem. Challenge your engineers to come up with a more customer-friendly solution, I bet they can do it. (Perhaps not in time for the HPX170, but something to keep in mind in future products.)

Thanks for listening,
Duncan

 

[frobozz]

I certainly appreciate appreciate everyone's response to this. I guess the thing that seems to be talked around is the fact that the HPX500 & Sony's EX1, EX3 are simply PAL/NTSC switchable out of the box. Unless that can be explained in the context of these gray market explanations, it doesn't seem like a very consistent explanation.

I didn't mean to send this thread off-topic into a discussion of grey-market "thwartation strategies" but clearly Sony is using some other method to battle it, rather than the natural PAL vs NTSC one. Anyone know what that is? It's possible their strategy is no strategy, if the financial details of their worldwide pricing and distribution arrangements are different enough from Panasonic's. Just suffer whatever grey market is out there? I would think the total size of the grey market is limited somewhat anyway by the lack of warranty support for those who partake of it.

By the way, I *really* like Panasonic's idea of adding extra warranty years onto legitimate cameras once they have been registered in the proper market. That is a customer-friendly win-win strategy, for sure! Kudos to whoever dreamed that one up.

Duncan

 

[Everts]

Hi Jan,
Thanks again for your efforts for the pal ntsc thingy.
The difference between the 500 dollar upgrade and the 300 dollar is more a practical one. It doesn't matter if there are going to be 20 firmware upgrades or just one. The risks are just to high of loosing the the pal capabilities when another upgrade comes up especially if the upgrade offers some "magical extras".Save 200 hundred now or loose 1000 dollars or more later on clients, manhour,shipping,medical bills due to stress , etc.
Forget the 300 and just offer the 500 dollar upgrade.