Panasonic to Integrate Consumer and Professional Video Divisions

[hoodlum]

https://news.panasonic.com/uploads/tmg_block_page_image/file/21105/en231220-3-1.pdf

 

Quote

Panasonic Connect Co., Ltd. and Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co., Ltd. (PEAC) announced today that they have decided to transfer the Professional AV business and Panasonic Visual Co., Ltd. from Panasonic Connect to Panasonic Entertainment & Communication. Foreseeing future growth in the overlapping markets for consumer and professional video production, and livevideo streaming, the move to integrate the businesses will enable the Panasonic Group to strengthen its imaging business and achieve high growth. The integration is scheduled to take place on April 1, 2024.

In recent years, the imaging market has seen increased demand, particularly for mirrorless digital cameras, due to the expansion of video production for solo creators. While on the other hand, the professional video production market, such as cinema and broadcast production, is also growing, and due to the increasing size of sensors in mirrorless digital cameras and tighter budgets for production the lines between consumer and professional video production markets are quickly blurring.

Furthermore, in the field of live broadcast and video streaming, there is an increasing demand for diverse video shooting and streaming equipment that satisfies the requirements of video creators and caters to improved video and audio quality, as well as advancements in visual expression.

In the future, there is expected to be further integration of consumer and professional video production and live-video streaming, leading to the continued growth of the imaging market.

Both companies have determined that in response to this trend, there is a need to bridge the divide between professional and consumer uses in order to provide timely and consistent support throughout the entire process from video shooting to editing and streaming, while developing products and services that exceed the expectations of video creators. To achieve this, the imagingrelated businesses spanning both companies will be integrated into one organization within the Panasonic Group.

As a result, the Group's resources in this market will be consolidated within Panasonic Entertainment & Communication, which will make the imaging business a pillar of its growth strategy and strengthen its ability to adapt to market changes and respond quickly to the needs of a diverse range of video creators,.

 

[Eric Calabros]

There are more stubborn seniors in their professional/broadcast business. May god help the consumer Imaging department. 

[Andrew Reid]

Hmm. I see this as Bye bye pro AV business.

Could see it coming with the lack of Panasonic cine cameras and no EVA1 follow-up, and quite a lot else from the pro AV division seemed to have reached a dead end.

Looks like the pro AV business has basically been folded, and merged into the consumer business.

If it were such a successful and profitable business it could have stood apart and independently, but no.

 

[kye]

I've seen enough corporate shenanigans up close to know that (unfortunately) it's often the case that the political interests and motivations of the people in charge are completely divorced from the purpose of the business, and sometimes, reality itself.

For example, I've seen decisions between two options which each had pros and cons get taken to a committee of senior leaders and emerge with the decision of a magical new third option that is clearly worse than either option originally proposed.  I've seen this happen more than once across more than one organisation.

Let's hope that some semblance of common sense prevails.  You'd imagine that the demand for products in a marketplace would help drive things in the right direction just by sheer economics, but you'd be amazed at how isolated and deluded organisational decision-making can be, especially in committee.

 

[Al Dolega]

Hopefully this means a simplified and more unified product line. Looking at their fixed-lens camcorders the last few years, they would have one or two "prosumer" models that were 99% the same as one of the "professional" models; apparently this was done because the "prosumer" model was handled by the Lumix/consumer division, and the "professional" model was handled by the pro A/V division, and I guess both needed to show they had produced something. I think fewer, better models would work better. With the S5ii and G9ii sharing a body, maybe some consolidation is already happening.

I would assume that this means no EVA-1 replacement anytime soon, if the S1H replacement has the internal ND they patented a while ago.

[sanveer]

Its curious. Panasonic has 2 Inexpensive Netflix Approved Lumix cameras, namely the BGH1 and Panasonic Lumix BS1H box cameras. Both are great for the price, even if they have a few minor hiccups (moiré, HDMI lag etc). Somehow they were meant to replace it's other cinema cameras, at a much lower price point. But that project didn't really take off, maybe mostly due to the modularity and the lack of great autofocus. 

Panasonic needs to have the G9ii, the S5ii and S5iix Netflix Approved. And ensure that they improve their marketing greatly. I feel ever since the GH4, which may have been the first 4k consumer camera (apart from some Nikon one), Panasonic hasn't marketed their 4k filmmaking cameras enough. They haven't communicated things properly to the right audiences, and their supply chain is still very off from Canon, Nikon and Sony.

All this while, Panasonic should have marketed their cameras as Indie Filmmaking Cameras, targetted at low budget film projects. They should have targeted film schools, film festivals and film contests online.

I also feel Panasonic needs to work with Sony, like Nikon and Fuji, to create a Prosumer Camera, that will address every issue with its Prosumer Cinema Lineup (mostly autofocus, even better lowlight, and more shooting frame rates and resolution options). And those two sensors should be in the majority of its M43 and Full Frame sensor, for atleast 3 years. 

 

[PannySVHS]

GH4 was the second dslm/r camera with 4K after the Canon 1DC afaik. And it was the first affordable one and approachable one with its 4K 100mbit codec.  First 4k dslr from Nikon must have been the D500 i think. @sanveer

[sanveer]

12 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

GH4 was the second dslm/r camera with 4K after the Canon 1DC afaik. And it was the first affordable one and approachable one with its 4K 100mbit codec.  First 4k dslr from Nikon must have been the D500 i think. @sanveer

You're right, I checked for Canon and Nikon. That $15k price tag, for the Canon was crazy.

[IronFilm]

Maybe them merging is good news?? When we consider all the negative infighting between the pro video and consumer divisions (because they pro division was very jealous of the success of the GH series. I bet for instance that's why we never ever saw a Panasonic EVA1 MFT, even though that made 100% sense!). 

As maybe, just maybe we'll see them now working together?? 

Bring on the Panasonic EVA2 with L Mount!

On 1/5/2024 at 11:58 AM, PannySVHS said:

GH4 was the second dslm/r camera with 4K after the Canon 1DC afaik. And it was the first affordable one and approachable one with its 4K 100mbit codec.  First 4k dslr from Nikon must have been the D500 i think. @sanveer

Yes, Panasonic GH4 was the first non-cinema hybrid camera (as the 1D C was part of Canon's cinema series, although in a hybrid camera form factor). And the Nikon D5/D500 was the first 4K DSLR (as the GH4 was mirrorless). 

[PannySVHS]

1DC is a Dslr and a hybrid, doing video and photo on pro level. Sofore it was 1st by my conclusion, as a hybrid and as Dslr.

[kye]

4 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Maybe them merging is good news?? When we consider all the negative infighting between the pro video and consumer divisions (because they pro division was very jealous of the success of the GH series. I bet for instance that's why we never ever saw a Panasonic EVA1 MFT, even though that made 100% sense!). 

As maybe, just maybe we'll see them now working together??  

Let's hope, but I've seen quite a few in my time, and the phrases "hostile takeover" and "purge" come readily to mind, unfortunately.

[BTM_Pix]

The world needs an interesting larger sensor camcorder IMHO so a new version of the DVX200 with the internals of the G9ii would be a good cross division collaboration.

 

[eatstoomuchjam]

On 1/4/2024 at 10:01 AM, sanveer said:

Panasonic needs to have the G9ii, the S5ii and S5iix Netflix Approved.

Is there that big of a market for people that are hired by Netflix to make content and want to shoot on $2k cameras as the a cam?  Their approved list is only for content they produce in-house.  If you want to sell a film to Netflix, you can shoot it on anything you want - and you can shoot some percentage of footage on non-approved cameras as well.

[Emanuel]

2 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Is there that big of a market for people that are hired by Netflix to make content and want to shoot on $2k cameras as the a cam?  Their approved list is only for content they produce in-house.  If you want to sell a film to Netflix, you can shoot it on anything you want - and you can shoot some percentage of footage on non-approved cameras as well.

Rather true... : ) And the price of such camcorder wouldn't end under the $2K mark either ;- )

[IronFilm]

8 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

The world needs an interesting larger sensor camcorder IMHO so a new version of the DVX200 with the internals of the G9ii would be a good cross division collaboration.

If they're going to release a "DX300", then they should make it with a MFT mount. 

But if they're going to release a new pro video camera with a mirrorless mount, then it would more likely be an "EVA2" with a L Mount 

  

On 1/5/2024 at 2:01 AM, sanveer said:

Panasonic needs to have the G9ii, the S5ii and S5iix Netflix Approved.

Not possible at all while they don't support timecode 😞 

7 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Is there that big of a market for people that are hired by Netflix to make content and want to shoot on $2k cameras as the a cam?  Their approved list is only for content they produce in-house.  If you want to sell a film to Netflix, you can shoot it on anything you want - and you can shoot some percentage of footage on non-approved cameras as well.

True, but there is also a huge class of productions which are not for Netflix but have very similar needs/expectations. 

[sanveer]

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Not possible at all while they don't support timecode 😞 

Hmmm ...not sure Panasonic doesn't fix the small quirks.

 

 

11 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Is there that big of a market for people that are hired by Netflix to make content and want to shoot on $2k cameras as the a cam?  Their approved list is only for content they produce in-house.  If you want to sell a film to Netflix, you can shoot it on anything you want - and you can shoot some percentage of footage on non-approved cameras as well.

True. Except that its both a case of perception (of both Netflix as well as Indie Filmmakers wanting to pitch to OTTs), as well as a theoretical and real quality standardization (time code like @IronFilm mentioned, being an important factor). Maybe 100% of footage non commissioned as a Netflix is shot on a Non-Netflix Approved list. But, it's not a case od approved or not. Like I've mentioned above, it's an issue relating to perception and quality/ standardization.

For all one cares the Netflix approved criteria is probably too narrow and probably also suffering from fundamental flaws regarding biases and misplaced conceptions, and high bit depth and much higher bitrates would mostly help CGI and other Post Work. But it exists and its probably the industry's biggest or most referred list right now. 

[John Matthews]

15 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

 If you want to sell a film to Netflix, you can shoot it on anything you want - and you can shoot some percentage of footage on non-approved cameras as well.

Look at The Tiger King. There was tons of old MiniDV, interlaced footage they definitely profited from. It couldn't be further from Netflix specs. Content is king. 😉

On 12/21/2023 at 5:16 AM, kye said:

For example, I've seen decisions between two options which each had pros and cons get taken to a committee of senior leaders and emerge with the decision of a magical new third option that is clearly worse than either option originally proposed.  I've seen this happen more than once across more than one organisation.

I've also seen stuff. Usually, great ideas originate from junior or female managers. Almost always, their ideas are poo-pooed by a senior manager, only to be taken up later with a different "wording" by said senior manager. Classic.

Personally, I think this is better new than Panasonic shutting down one or the other division. Who knows? They might find a way to rid themselves of some unneeded employees.

I find it amusing they'll start on April first 2024.

I'm fairly sure the GH2 was the camera that started all of this. Once hacked, it was getting comparable results to DVX series of cameras. The shit must have hit the fan at that point. I'm fairly sure, starting from the GH4, they had reps from the pro video division having their say about what becomes "consumer" and what doesn't.

[ac6000cw]

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

I've also seen stuff. Usually, great ideas originate from junior or female managers. Almost always, their ideas are poo-pooed by a senior manager, only to be taken up later with a different "wording" by said senior manager. Classic.

That scenario underpinned the storyline of the excellent 1988 film 'Working Girl', directed by Mike Nichols (of 'The Graduate' fame). One of my favourite movies.

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

I find it amusing they'll start on April first 2024.

I thought that too 🙂

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

I'm fairly sure the GH2 was the camera that started all of this. Once hacked, it was getting comparable results to DVX series of cameras. The shit must have hit the fan at that point. I'm fairly sure, starting from the GH4, they had reps from the pro video division having their say about what becomes "consumer" and what doesn't.

I think that was said (unofficially) at the time, or at least hinted at. Certainly later on Panasonic implied there had been exchanges of technology and development between the consumer and professional video divisions in the GH5 era. None of which is very surprising, really.

[BTM_Pix]

9 hours ago, IronFilm said:

If they're going to release a "DX300", then they should make it with a MFT mount. 

Nah, I'm thinking actual camcorder so a full on replacement with the fixed lens but with all the new stuff from the G9ii, PDAF,10 bit internal 4:2:2, ProRes.

Even IBIS now that Sony have broken the seal by putting it on the Vic Reeves camera.

My reasoning for a camcorder is that - as evidenced by the amount of angst and hand writing on here over trying to make decisions - having a pick it up and go unit would actually be a godsend.

Paralysis by analysis is a real thing.

Plus, in view of event work evidently being the last holdout against the "AI revolution" taking away work opportunities for video shooters, camcorders with the sort of image quality on offer will arguably be the most appropriate tool.

 

[John Matthews]

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Paralysis by analysis is a real thing.

I spend lots of time debating in my head which lens to take on a family outing. It's ridiculous. Inevitably, I think I have the wrong one. Then there's: "Do I use the EVF or the screen?" situations or "Do I take my big camera or my small camera?" Now, I have fewer lenses; so, it's better and "only" two camera possibilities. Sometimes, there's something to be said for camcorders or super zooms.