I like how Reid now calls the Hack "unreliable" before it was all awesome hack this and that.

Oh! How fickle these Bloggers are! :-D

I personally await the facts not the rumours from some gobshite (remember that we had news of sources that there was to be global shutter in GH2?).

Either way (going from the absurd pricing on the G5) its gonna be a pricey upgrade in comparison to the GH1>GH2. Especially with the new X kit lens.

+1 @Mimirsan bloggers bloggers bloggers smh. Can't wait for all the rumors and dust to settle down and GH3 is finally revealed.

@Mimirsan too funny. !!!

IMO the Hack's biggest benefit isn't just the improvement in quality, but the instructive nature of the improvement and the users needs and desires for the camera. Panasonic, Canon et al, have been aided ENORMOUSLY by the hacking community. They may have stumbled into this realm, but there was a community of film makers that were already in existence using other exotic and cobbled together means to try and achieve a higher quality of image. These users already knew what they wanted and once DSLR's had video capability the flood gates where opened and users expanded the possibilities and only after that have the camera makers adjusted their goals to try and meet the needs and demands of the users.

The GH3 has a chance to be much more than it may have otherwise been if not for the Hack and the input of the user community. I think now there is a pressure in the industry to give the users more of what they want and with the BMC adding even more pressure I think that also had an effect on what the GH3 would be. I'm very hopeful about this camera. Giving users options for higher bit rates, frame rates and more range of adjustment on settings seems like a very painless thing to give to users and it was prompted by the Hack and user community. I actually don't want the Hack to go away. It's not unlike the PC community that loves to overclock and otherwise tweak their computers to do more. Opening up the BIOS was a good thing and to be embraced by the manufacturers.

I'm willng to start a paypal, those who want to bet on what Andrew said being right candrop 10 bucks in.

Let me know, I need extra money

@Astro

Please, keep on topic and not turn it into other "hack" thing.
This is about GH3.

I was simply suggesting that they make the firmware tweakable on the GH3 for ongoing interest and development, how is that not part of the GH3?

It is just getting old :-) No one must make anything tweakable.

If the higher bit rate for the GH3 is true, then it would mean that Panasonic is being responsive to the demands of the users. I'm sure they are very up to date on just what is going on in the User community of the DSLM/R world in terms of Hacks and HDMI recorders in order to extract the highest possible quality. They fully intended the GH line to be hybrid Cameras so none of this conjecture would seem off base given the factors. Sooner or later someone was going to do something like this. The GH Hacks have pretty much proven the logic of in camera high bit rates and a need for greater flexibility in parameter adjustment.

They now know that many users don't care about making the files smaller at the expense of less quality. They now know that real world experience proved the strength of their product and that it could be pushed much further without fear of damage to the camera. None of this cost Panasonic a dime. Now they can reap the benefits of this user research and experiment.

I just hope that they extend the range of adjustment of settings. It's one of the things that frustrates me most. Just a bit more range on the setting adjustments would be great. New and more useful Color profiles would be HUGE! I wonder of they'll do a LOG profile of their own?

@Kholi It sounds like you know more than we do. Were you part of the testing or do you just have your own sources? It also sounds like you're unofficially confirming Andrews rumor (good news!). :-)

@boxfx

y0 Boz, long time man.

I tap people's phones and dig through trash a lot. Andrew's telling accurate info here, dunno who is source is but yeah. xD I'm sure there'll be a lot more info soon.

Hey @Kholi , it has been a while! :-)

The higher bit-rate is a good thing, if true. It means that Panny is truly kicking things up a notch with the GH3. Now if they can give us better lowlight and a bit more dynamic range, I will be truly happy. Better colorscience & flatter image control (ala Canon's picture styles) would be icing on the cake!

Anyway, up until dealers and press will get details we won't get good rumors.