Petition to increase the GH1's functionality with increased bitrate and HDMI-out

While there's no promises to the effectiveness of petitions it doesn't hurt to have feature requests in a thread. A couple years ago we had a huge wishlist for features we wanted to see in an upgraded HVX. A lot of the requests made it into the 200a/170.

The G1 has undergone numerous updates in the past year so there is at least some hope that Panasonic could tweak or fix any major bugs or compromises.
 
Isaac_Brody said:
One addition to this petition, 24P in mjpeg mode.
Click to expand...

I second that. If they can't give us a higher bitrate for 1080P, AT LEAST give us 720-24P!

EDIT: After much thought, I've removed my GH1 pre-order from Amazon until one of these two things are fixed. C'mon Panasonic! You can do it!
 
Last edited:
I'm still striking out here. I've been SCOURING the internet for any kind of contact information for Panasonic. I was hoping to find some way to contact Ichiro Kitao, per the above suggestion, but I cannot find ANY way to get contact information for him, or even for some sort of low-level corporate contact that I could go through. Pretty much the only thing I've been able to find is product support numbers or techinical support hotlines which are unhelpful.

I'm gonna keep looking, but I'm pretty adept at internet searching and I'm coming up empty so far. Maybe I'll just have to call one of these tech numbers and ask to be transferred to corporate somehow?

Any help GREATLY appreciated. :)
 
You should create a LinkedIn account, add all your contacts, then you may be able ton contact people from Panasonic. LinkedIn really helped me for my current project, I could get in contact with developers from Sony and Grass Valley easily.
 
I remember seeing that post of Barry's.

I lobbied the Panasonic factory guys at NAB to release a version of the GH1 to the broadcast division. That would open up PH mode (720/24p, 1080/24pN, and 24mbps recording). They're listening, but I don't know whether they'll do it.
Click to expand...

Barry, any word on if this kind of thing could actually materialize? If they could implement your suggestions above (maybe even more mjpeg options), plus HDMI-out, I'd be willing to pay 2 grand for the camera. If wonder if there's a way to nudge the Panasonic factory guys a little bit?
 
They have been nudged. Whether they choose to go forward is up to them, but the case was made quite clearly and was heard by the right guys.
 
Totally behind you on this one, spotted a typo:

We request that Panasonic strongly consider the following changes which may possible (might possibly) be enabled through changes to firmware. (might instead of may reads a little better but possible is wrong. Hope that helps.
 
Philip Bloom wrote: Now I spoke to the main man at Panasonic Lumix division about what I want to see in the camera. I said 24mbps. He said all Panasonic camcorders record at 17mbps due to something about dvd backup for consumers? I said then keep 17mbps and have an HQ mode for pro use of 24mpbs. He said OK and will look into it. Also asked for live HDMI out. We can hope but I doubt we will see it in the GH1, maybe the GH2…
Click to expand...
http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/05/21/eu-launch-of-gh1-and-new-gh1-short-joshua-tree/#more-3236
 
Pitrs said:
Philip Bloom wrote: Now I spoke to the main man at Panasonic Lumix division about what I want to see in the camera. I said 24mbps. He said all Panasonic camcorders record at 17mbps due to something about dvd backup for consumers? I said then keep 17mbps and have an HQ mode for pro use of 24mpbs. He said OK and will look into it. Also asked for live HDMI out. We can hope but I doubt we will see it in the GH1, maybe the GH2…
Click to expand...

yeah I saw that- I'm guessing that by 'dvd backup' they mean for burning to a dvd to be played back on a blu-ray player? I don't think regular dvd players can play back avchd files, but I think blu-ray players will be able to play regular dvds that have high definition content burnt onto them. I don't see how they could be referring to dvd data discs when bitrate shouldn't be a factor there, since you're not trying to directly play the files on a player. for any kind of burning though, you could limit the bitrate in software. maybe they're referring to some strange scenario where a person plugs their sdhc card into a viera tv/blu-ray/dvd player and it records it directly onto a dvd that way?

anyway here's some somewhat relevant info on avchd that I thought was interesting- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD#Specifications
supposedly avchd only supports burning to dvds at 18 mbit/s but I'm not sure if that's just a holdover from when avchd was originally designed to be used with mini-dvd recording camcorders. also sony and panasonic originally designed their products to be mainly compatible with avchd main profile level 4.0 (which is 17 mbit/s) and not avchd high profile level 4.1 (which is 24 mbit/s). they have had to change that though with canon avchd camcorders like the hf11, hf s10/100 etc. using 24. I know vegas now supports high profile.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/avchd-format-discussion/133481-2-kinds-avchd.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD#Compatibility_between_brands

I understand they're trying to make it easier for the average consumer to view their videos on their tvs without going through a computer first but I'm not sure how many of those people are going to be using the dvd backup method they're talking about. unless they package some easy burning software where you don't have to transcode the files or recompress them at all or whatever. but those people who aren't going to edit (even in something like moviemaker or whatever) are probably just going to use hdmi or usb composite for playback. for 'archiving' you could just store it on your hard drive or burn it as a data dvd, which I don't think should have that same mbit/s limit? not sure about the whole burning to dvd details but I think that's right.

from what it sounds like though, it sounds like a firmware fix may be possible, unlike the hdmi live output which I think someone from panasonic said is due to processor limitations. they should still try to enable at least composite out though hopefully. anyway it does seem like it might be an issue of them trying to make it more "consumer-friendly" as opposed to any hardware issues with the bitrate. and someone should tell them that the hmc150 does 24 mbit/s when they say none of their other camcorders have that (another quote from a rep that talked to bloom).
 
Last edited:
The camera does come with software for "regular joe shmoes" which most likely are going to shell out millions and millions of dollars for technology like this one, something I am sure Panasonic is well aware of. Thats why they are a pretty big company. The software that comes with the camera converts the AVCHD to mpeg2 and ready to burn. That is what Panasonic cares about at this time. They are not in business to create a $1500.00 camera that would kill their high level market if it came with all the bells and whistles. They care about the big picture in this segment not a few asking for more and more for a grand and a half.
 
John Caballero said:
They are not in business to create a $1500.00 camera that would kill their high level market if it came with all the bells and whistles. They care about the big picture in this segment not a few asking for more and more for a grand and a half.
Click to expand...

This is so true and I myself am constantly falling into the trap you mention and not remembering who this product is actually aimed at. I do believe, however, that Panasonic definitely underestimated the attraction it would have to the video crowd.
 
John Caballero said:
The camera does come with software for "regular joe shmoes" which most likely are going to shell out millions and millions of dollars for technology like this one, something I am sure Panasonic is well aware of. Thats why they are a pretty big company. The software that comes with the camera converts the AVCHD to mpeg2 and ready to burn. That is what Panasonic cares about at this time. They are not in business to create a $1500.00 camera that would kill their high level market if it came with all the bells and whistles. They care about the big picture in this segment not a few asking for more and more for a grand and a half.
Click to expand...

if it converts it to mpeg2 can't they lower the bitrate then in software instead of in camera? and I probably should have used 'soccer moms' instead but meh whatever- soccer moms are more likely to either go for a regular dedicated camcorder or a lower end dslr if they're interested in photography. this seems to be more of a niche product.

and I'm not trying to complain for no reason but if it seems like a reasonable upgrade then I think it's worth asking for. these things could wind up being the difference between it being a success or failure. artificially handicapping a product either because they want to 'dumb it down' or protect a higher level market when it really wouldn't cost all that much to upgrade an important feature should bother potential customers. if there were a better reason that we don't know about (some hardware limitation for example) I'd be fine with it though. there probably is but I think most of us are interested in knowing what it is. consumer dvd archiving seems kind of odd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top