Rumour site gets Panasonic DVX200 owners excited over 8bit upgrade to 10bit…NOT HAPPENING.
Sorry chaps but having spoken to Panasonic Broadcast today they are adamant that the DVX200 is not going to get any 10bit upgrade, they don’t have nearly enough staff to start swapping boards out of the DVX200. Please remember the GH5 is already 10bit which will be fully enabled with a firmware upgrade.
From 4/3 Rumours….Source A: A source at Panasonic has told me they are looking at upgrading the DVX200 to include 10bit recording. This may involve a paid return and upgrade program, it hasn’t been decided yet. They are unsure if the internal boards and processor will need to be changed to allow this. Either way my source thinks an upgrade is very likley on the DVX200 as the GH5 is currently a lower priced camera with higher specs.
Source B: Two of my friends at CES heard from a Panasonic rep that the DVX200 is to get 10bit 4K internal recording, the rep did not say when or if it would be a new model or a paid upgrade, or any more details. Just that it would be available around the same time as it was for the GH5.
Barry Green Replies on DVX-USER..
Of course not. Anything you ever read on those rumor sites is made-up hogwash. They’re about as accurate as a blind man on a shooting range, after he’s had a few drinks and his buddies have spun him around a few times to get him dizzy. You will never hear actual company news “leaked” to some rumor site. A multi-billion-dollar communications company issues press releases, it doesn’t “leak” insider info to some “rumor” site. I mean, think about it — that just isn’t how a major organization communicates with its customers!
Instead of the “FT” in their rumor name meaning “Four Thirds”, I find it more accurate to call them “Full of Turds”.
If there is any shred of a grain of a molecule of an atom of a quark of a string of truth to this whatsoever, it probably came about by some rumormonger asking some salesman “will you upgrade the DVX200 to 10-bit recording”, and whoever they asked said “well, I don’t think so, I mean, the hardware doesn’t allow it, they only way they could do that is you’d have to actually send the camera back to the factory and they’d have to install some different hardware and I’m sure that would cost a lot.” So the rumormonger took that and said “good news! The factory is going to upgrade the DVX200 to 10-bit!!!!” This is nothing more than the “fake news” being decried worldwide. They’re engaged in a race for headlines, and they don’t care about accuracy.
Philip Johnston got it right.
And reading those rumor sites is about as productive as jamming needles under your fingernails. Might be more fun, but ultimately it’s about equivalent in value for time spent.
Lest we forget that the DVX-200 is already 10 bit capable, just not internally. Still, it’s a nice rumour and like the way the GH4 has evolved into the ‘R’ then GH5, I’ll predict a similar development here into a ‘DVX-200 Mk2’ model or an all new DVX-300…
This is disappointing. The GH5 costs half the price of the DVX200 and has more advanced features. I understand technology changes but Panasonic are bound to offer it on the next version of the DVX200, so why not charge a reasonable amount for the upgrade and keep existing and new users happy ?
I would be more than willing to pay a reasonable amount for the upgrade if I could have added low light, DR and 10bit recording on the DVX200. I doubt any new DVX200 II is going to change drastically in appearance so why not make more money and offer an upgrade option?
HDW : Panasonic did not design this as a 10bit camera so to swap out boards would be a major task, not to mention the cost.
Like you mentioned any DVX200 II or DVX300 is bound to have 10bit 4K internal recording.
If Panasonic offered a significant upgrade in the sensors low light capability and included 10bit internal 4K for 1,000 -1,200 I would more than likely go for it. They could offer this along with any new model which would be sure to have additional features.
It would also prevent current owners potentially selling their cameras or switching brand, and would be another revenue stream.
If it made sense economically why not offer the option and see what the uptake was like ?
I think Panasonic might be surprised just how many people would take up the offer. JMO.
Thomas – I haven’t bought but would gladly buy & pay more for e.g. a faster lens. The 10 bit internal isn’t as big a deal to me with the 10-bit 4:2:2 over hdmi + external recorder options out there. As it is, I guess I’ll wait and rent if need be.
Brian hopefully somebody will pass on this suggestion to Panasonic. From my point having improved low light performance from an upgraded sensor, coupled with internal 10bit 4K similar to the GH5 would be worth the upgrade price (once this was reasonable, I would definitely be prepared to pay up to €1,000 for this.
Having an upgrade program running alongside any new camera could be an extra source of income for
Panasonic and would reduce their economies of scale.
They may even be able to improve the effective range of the lens by using the same technology as they have on the GH5 by using more of the sensor when recording 4K.
Fingers crossed they might offer the option!
I couldn’t agree more! I would hope some things could be worked out for build-to-order options, but it may not be worth it to them. I would gladly pay for the faster lens (first choice) or better sensor. External recorders work fine so I’m less concerned with internal 10-bit 4:2:2.
Simple, record half of the colour information to the two cards simultaneously.
Re-concatenate (merge) in post. Voila.