GH1 discontinued; GH2 in September/October

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Very good, Blackout, very good. :-)

Because huge Japanese electronics companies like to drive "pro" users away from their "consumer" products, Panasonic may implement a touch screen LCD as the _primary_ user interface on the "GH2". Although this won't literally make it impossible for pros to use it, it will annoy the heck out of most of them (me included).

Even if the "GH2" has lots & lots of way-cool, pro-like video quality & I/O improvements compared to the GH1, the new touch screen UI will be intended to drive "pros" towards the AF-100 (which of course will use good old-fashioned buttons & knobs) for more $ of course.

Gotta love the way these electronics manufacturers think. ;-)
 
hmm over at reduser forums someone claims that Panasonic has said that GH2 will feature some sort of low light 'binning' capabilities that will give it much improved low light capabiliities..interesting. no idea where he heard this
 
"rumors" say GH2 is going to be 24mbps. can someone please tell me what the point of that would be when hacked gh13 already does 30-50mbps.

sounds like my initial concern may be right in that GH2 won't even be on par with GH13 at least in terms of raw power and visual quality, though it may have other tweaks like live hmdi, better sound controls, etc, etc
 
Homunculus said:
"rumors" say GH2 is going to be 24mbps. can someone please tell me what the point of that would be when hacked gh13 already does 30-50mbps.

sounds like my initial concern may be right in that GH2 won't even be on par with GH13 at least in terms of raw power and visual quality, though it may have other tweaks like live hmdi, better sound controls, etc, etc
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It's a stills camera (at least from Panasonic's POV). I wouldn't expect any major developments on the video side, especially when they're trying to get indie film people to buy the AF100.
 
Homunculus said:
"rumors" say GH2 is going to be 24mbps. can someone please tell me what the point of that would be when hacked gh13 already does 30-50mbps.

sounds like my initial concern may be right in that GH2 won't even be on par with GH13 at least in terms of raw power and visual quality, though it may have other tweaks like live hmdi, better sound controls, etc, etc
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You do know that AVCHD spec only goes up to 24mbps right?

Since the many threads that talk about this are buried in the ton of the inane threads, I'll reiterate what is really going on with the GH1 and it's bitrate.

The GH1 is using a very basic version of AVCHD that only uses I and P frames. It does not utilize B frames as AVCHD is designed to do. It's simply NOT the same as full AVCHD that a professional camera would use. The codec in the GH1 is crippled.

Since we cannot simply change the firmware to the better form of the AVC codec, the next best thing is to raise the bitrate so the crippled codec can do a better job.

The full AVCHD codec at 24mbps would likely blow our crippled codec at 50mbps out of the water.
 
"rumors" say GH2 is going to be 24mbps. can someone please tell me what the point of that would be when hacked gh13 already does 30-50mbps.
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most likely (from their perspective) stability and more compatibility with recording media for folks who record on slower cards, etc and then blame the camera when they get dropped frames... It is a consumer product after all...
 
all their professional cameras that run AVCHD run at 24mbps and have no problems. It's the implementation not the codec that is at fault.
 
oh well why are we even talking about gh2 then? sounds like it will be a joke...move on folks nothing to see here just another crippled stills camera. let's all await the mighty AF100
 
Svart said:
all their professional cameras that run AVCHD run at 24mbps and have no problems. It's the implementation not the codec that is at fault.
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can you name me another pro camera that does AVCHD and has good dynamic range (close to Red, etc) and is at 24mbps?

the thing is though. GH1 is like 12mbps natively isn't it? that means if GH2 is 24mbps all that means is most likely Panny is just increasing hte bit rate but still keeping the crippled codec as you said that can't do B frames etc. So point being that in theory a full AVCHD codec at 24 will blow a crippled one at 50mbps out of the water BUT it seems Panny will just have the same crippled codec in gh2 but with new 24mbps and therefore gh1(3) will still blow gh2 out of the water......sad
 
Homunculus said:
oh well why are we even talking about gh2 then? sounds like it will be a joke...move on folks nothing to see here just another crippled stills camera. let's all await the mighty AF100
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I wouldn't declare it DOA; I just wouldn't assume so much until one of us can get our grubby little hands on it. I wouldn't have assumed the GH1 would be where it is today in terms of video.
 
i seriously think vitaly needs to hide panny probably has a KGB hit squad looking for him as we speak. because he truly ruined their plans. i'm sure gh2 has been in development for 1.5 years or more now with the hope that it would be what the GH13 is NOW. so now they're sort of screwed and it's POSSIBLY the reason Panny is so tightlipped about GH13 and reluctant to officially comment on or support it. because it knows that if it supports GH13 then that precludes the entire need of a GH2. I really will not be surprised if GH2 has minor ergonomic boosts for CONSUMERS (more stability, better controls, blah blah) but for PROSUMERS the gh13 will still be more powerful and have higher bitrate/video quality........I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised but I doubt it because since the AF100 is already going to be comparable to the GH13 in video quality, I can't see the GH2 being as good or that much better than GH13 because that would already put GH2 in the video quality of the AF100 which is presumably going to be 4000-5000$ more than the GH2 so Panny would be shooting their own AF100 in the foot. So mark my words the GH2 will probably be weaker than GH13......
 
Homunculus said:
(though hopefully Vitaly hacks GH2 and turns it into a Red Killer just like how GH13 became Canon Killer LOL!!!!!
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The GH2 has a tester13 thumb print auto detect feature as well as a visual profiler in its firmware that releases a stepped up full release of the battery charge or if plugged in, thereby electrocuting anyone trying to hack it, however it does include a nice flash version of Mrs Pac Man on the touch screen lcd, and it's a phone.
 
At this point, we can only speculate or joke with it like a certain sound engineer has been doing so well ;-) To me, it's nothing more than probable gimmick strictly under a marketing POV. Price point included. Even though, I may be somehow curious to see what features they will bring to the game. Don't forget, AF100 will also be there in 4/5 months and they won't want to lose that one.
 
People have the illusion that AVCCAM is superior to AVCHD because of marketing and branding hype like people had the illusion that DVC-PRO was so great. . Out of Panasonic's own mouths came this:

AVCCAM

Panasonic AG-HMC150 AVCCAM camcorder
AVCCAM is the name of Panasonic Broadcast’s professional video lineup employing the AVCHD codec. Before Panasonic adopted this name, it used to describe its professional AVCHD-based models as "AVCHD with professional features".[21]
There are no major differences in video stream encoding or in the file structure between AVCCAM and AVCHD. Professional features of AVCCAM, outlined by Panasonic in its marketing materials,[22] such as 1/4-inch progressive CCD sensors or XLR microphone inputs or solid-state media, are not unique to AVCCAM. Many of these professional features are not unique to AVCHD either. Some features are being lost in newer models, for example, the AG-HMC40 uses 3MOS imaging system instead of 3CCD.


I don't care if in the center of the camera is a marble.... or the highest end cpu ever designed....

How does it LOOK on a BIG screen is all that matters.
 
Homunculus said:
"rumors" say GH2 is going to be 24mbps. can someone please tell me what the point of that would be when hacked gh13 already does 30-50mbps.

sounds like my initial concern may be right in that GH2 won't even be on par with GH13 at least in terms of raw power and visual quality, though it may have other tweaks like live hmdi, better sound controls, etc, etc
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Probably because Barry and everyone here told them that before tester 13 came along.

Psssstt Barry, tell them to keep the firmware open. Please!
 
Homunculus said:
oh well why are we even talking about gh2 then? sounds like it will be a joke...move on folks nothing to see here just another crippled stills camera. let's all await the mighty AF100
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Actually it has been sounding very disappointing to me and most my friends who thought about it.

We are all going Sony.
 
Homunculus said:
the thing is though. GH1 is like 12mbps natively isn't it?
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I did a test a while ago, and pit the GH1 17Mbps against a Canon HF100 at 7Mbps. Guess which won...

The HF100 still looked far better than the GH1 even at 7Mbps! I reckon that the GH1 is roughly equivalent to 2Mbps well-implemented AVCHD, personally. When motion is applied, at least.
 
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