I don't really understand what this news means other than V got a job. What should we expect to change? Does it mean V will have resources to further enable and optimize the GH2? Like uncrippled HDMI?

April's fool or not it's good news in any case! Worst case, we lose Vitaly for 2 years, best case an amazing GH3 in fall 2012 or whatever the next "big thing" is (pun intended). If you have your FF glass, it doesn't really matter what camera comes out, when and by whom.

@brianluce +1 (for the most part)... I think the GH2 has hit that point at which the amount of work that has to go into changing the perceived quality is too great for the small changes that in practical situations are becoming negligible or imperceptible. You can download all of the hacks and store them on your computer if you wish to change from hack to hack.. but I think we have gotten to a point where the changes are all very small.

From Seaquake to Sedna I see little change in most practical settings...

NOW if we could get custom picture profiles / profile editor that would be a big change, however with the GH3 around the corner and new 'Venus LSI' i feel more attention is going to be placed in future gear. The GH2 is still a great camera for its buck, and will still be when the next model comes out... lets not forget that.

Vitaliy is hinting at a major change with firmware 2.0.... lets hope that this picture profile change is awesome but that using the 1.1 hacks (sedna, gopzilla) is still possible with the apparent 'awesome' changes to come.... we can only hope...

but if they make us choose between using 1.1 hacks and custom high bitrates/matrices or 2.0 firmware that is unhackable with custom picture profiles and other advanced features (framerates, etc) then some may have issues. Hopefully the 2.0 firmware is hackable and someone is willing to pull the weight of hacking it or at least updating ptools to accomodate if Vitaliy can not contractually hack.

Now I'm starting to get that recent post about chebols and big corporations

Yep.
I am looking at the beast's mouth :-)
It is smart beast. But it is stiil a beast.

@vitaliy_kiselev as long as the picture quality/bitrate remains high ENOUGH, Im sure I will welcome the changes possible that you guys are planning. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes, as im sure all of us are. Congrats again, we look forward to hearing more.

OK, if it is a joke, I think this thread should be sent to Pany! Because this ain't no joke, Pany, EMBRACE the hacks!

Oh, and offcourse, you can always buy the GH3 which goes "UP TO" 44Mbps on "selected framerates". Or 49mbps would be the best, for all those who hope to get their footage to BBC :)

This is a great news for those who favor moderate settings like @cbrandin's 44Mbps. I really hope VK isn't joking.

This Panny locking down it's higher end units by buying off the leader of the GH2 hack community. The best way to control the hack is to own the guy who wrote it.

@brianluce sounds like the andromeda... haha. tech got bought out. except this is firmware/software/ideas.

No one hears anything about the andromeda and DVX, that could have gone places.

Hey but if we can get more reliable stuff going. You never know.. Im hoping its good news.. if not.. wait for future gear or save money to get better gear.. or better yet. start working with the cam you have, and make some money to buy better gear.

looks like the glass is full for you, empty for the community you created and lead.

Where did you get all this?

Big thing wow! Congrats Vitaliy! :-)

At CES, I spoke to representatives of numerous camera companies (all the big names) about releasing a software development kit (SDK) for at least one camera in their line up. I told them while Apple makes a nice smart phone, it is the software developers who have enhanced the iPhone with thousands of apps that make the iPhone successful. Same story for Windows - operating systems are boring without the creativity of 3rd party software developers that add value to the OS. I challenged them to come up with an SDK for a camera so that the software development community could add value to their products and establish their product as the iOS or Windows of the camera world.

Panasonic reps were the only ones I spoke with where at least a few said they liked the idea and would take it up with the corporation. I have no idea if anything ever came of it, of course.

The other companies I spoke said "It will never happen. We will not open up our cameras to 3rd party developers" (at least officially).

I hope that Panasonic's direction includes this and this isn't just April 1st!