Panasonic 4K GH4 possibly coming next Spring...

So the latest rumors (from 43rumors) are now...

...That sounds good. But no mention if that 4:2:2 is 10 bit. Which I seriously doubt.

If the mentioned bitrate of 100 mbps is for 1080p, that could be enough for 10bit. But even IF it's 10bit - will it be real 10bit or just some kind of interpolation of some 4K8bit information?
 
So whats your point exactly? Just because not everybody uses it doesn't make it bad.

I am not saying they are bad at all. The GH3 has great stills capability. I am saying it wouldn't be my first choice for a job.

Thomas I think maybe you read John wrong. I think he's been a proponent for the Ghxs since day one. His comment seems more sarcastic in nature ( I think). He's from New York. So all is forgiven.

LOL! Too much snow falling on my head this week! I absolutely, positively love the GH line! I've owned the three of them! Great cameras.
 
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What do you think the name of this camera is going to be? My guess GH 4K rather than GH4K. Panasonic has typically avoided the number 4 in its camera product line. But then maybe adding the K after the 4 makes everything alright? lol
 
If the mentioned bitrate of 100 mbps is for 1080p, that could be enough for 10bit. But even IF it's 10bit - will it be real 10bit or just some kind of interpolation of some 4K8bit information?

Tricky bastards if that's the case. Hope they don't go that route.
 
Assuming the P2 rumor is true, and assuming the GH4K can take other branded SD cards, will SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s cards not be fast enough/incompatible? They're fast enough for my BMPCC - and that is recording in 220Mbps ProRes HQ.
 
Can you offload micro P2 cards with a SD card reader or do you need Panasonic's proprietary micro p2 reader?

Assuming the P2 rumor is true, and assuming the GH4K can take other branded SD cards, will SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s cards not be fast enough/incompatible? They're fast enough for my BMPCC - and that is recording in 220Mbps ProRes HQ.

Very good questions indeed. We will find out on Friday. Can't wait!
 
If the rumored specs are true it sounds like Jan Crittenden of Panasonic and longtime dvxuser may have had some input on this.
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Assuming the P2 rumor is true, and assuming the GH4K can take other branded SD cards, will SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s cards not be fast enough/incompatible?

I suspect that the camera will only support 100+ Mbit recording rates when a Micro P2 card is inserted. Micro P2 cards have the normal SD card contacts, plus a second row of proprietary mP2 contacts.

Micro P2 cards have guaranteed performance (internal RAID) and error-checking to guarantee every write to the card. Yes they are going to be expensive, but they are a whole other level of card performance. They also support a 2 Gbit/sec transfer rate with a Micro P2 reader, so dumping shots to SSD storage should be extremely fast.

microp2_card.jpg
 
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Panasonic recommends third party SD cards only for codecs up to 50mbps. But this shows other SD cards are basically compatible with the system. So you probably have to try whether your card is fast enough or not.
 
Micro P2 cards have the normal SD card contacts, plus a second row of proprietary mP2 contacts.

View attachment 81863

After some research it seems to me those additional contacts are part of the UHS-II SD memory card standard. That would turn microP2 into an open system - which would fit much better the open philosophy of the whole m43 standard.
 
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After some research it seems to me those additional contacts are part of the UHS-II SD memory card standard. That would turn microP2 into an open system - which would fit much better the open philosophy of the whole m43 standard.

Interesting. I wonder if what will separate the microP2 cards from other UHS-II cards is an internal RAID ?

Would be great if there's competition from other UHS-II card companies to keep the pricing down.
 
While it is annoying that one would need a special expensive car to record on the GH4K it really is the safest option at the moment. Sure other cards may be able to go as fast most of the time but they cannot guarentee a solid 100% of the time performance.

In Panasonic did open up the use of other slower cards and people started loosing footage because a shot crashed then people would complain even more. Those of us who have hacked the GH1 know what that is like. Panasonic cannot recommend cards that could potential cause lost material or outright failure.

I suspect this was the major reason for limiting the intraframe recording mode on the GH3 to 72mbps. At the time they just didn't want to take that chance with cards that could crash more often if they did go higher. By making the special cards Panasonic can now push the bitrate higher and feel safe about it.
 
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