@apefos I like this Gspot hack, looks nice..:D But i just wanted to ask, because i dont have nothing to lose.:p What is best hack for me, im shooting music videos but i want it to be like more of the film look.. I wanna have wide,mid,close range hack..I mean hack that i can adapt on gh2 for every of these 3 also inside/outside. Lenses that im using: Lumix 14-140 f4-5 Canon FDn 50mm f1.7 Cosmicar 6mm f1.2 cctv (now im waiting for macro x0.45 to add on it and make it really wide lol) Avenir 12mm f1.2 cctv lens Fujian 35mm f1.7 cctv lens

Also a question for a mr. @driftwood Thanks in adv. Salute

@frullaccia thanks for the feedback. I do not recomend using the versions 10 october. The versions HML 12 october are tested and approved. Nice to see you got a 7 min clip in setH, but the I and J are supposed to work just in NTSC, not for PAL. Did you test the versions 12 october in PAL or in NTSC?

The most difficult feature to work is the iDynamic, OIS and AF are more easy to camera. Also, the HBR and FSH / FH are more easy to work with the features compared to 720p.

Edit post: in your previous tests you did it in PAL, so it seems the tests with 12 oct. versions are in PAL also. Remember that 720p is the most difficult mode for stability, so before using the new setH in a job, test it.

I believe these are the best patches I ever built. In my tests they are completely reliable considering you follow the instructions. Seems to be the final versions for the GSpot. Something like "State of the Art".

LOW, MID, HIGH - GSpot Mature Settings - Patches for GH2 Hack - Versions 12 october 2014

Developed with PTool 3.65d

Works for PAL and NTSC

Patches with correct datarates considering quality and stability.

24L datarate follows 720p datarate.

24H is higher datarate for better quality.

Versions are separated for 720p considering a choice between quality or to priorize the use of the electronic auto features from lenses and camera body.

Electronic auto features are: Auto Exposure, Auto Focus, OIS image stabilization, iDynamic, iResolution, Noise Reduction.

H-switch: in 720p the I frames size and the P frames size is different in the SH and H slots. Use the SH slot for most situations including high iso low light, and use H slot for low iso good light details. In the H slot the I frames increases in size and the P frames decreases in size, the datarate is similar to SH in good light low iso, but is lower than SH in low light high iso. The H-switch amount is proportional to the needs of each version, and makes more sense in the LOW version for NTSC and PAL and in the MID version for NTSC. H-switch was developed because the use of electronic auto features does not allow enough datarate in 720p for both noise and details simultaneously. With these features disabled the HIGH version allows both noise and details quality simultaneously for NTSC.

Also, in terms of stability for 720p, try both SH and H, a small difference in datarate, one can be a little more stable than the other. Same thing for FSH and FH.

The versions:

LOW: setA

• h-switch for better details in H mode in both PAL and NTSC, a must have
• electronic auto features works for PAL and NTSC
• good quality for 720p50 PAL, average quality for 720p60 NTSC

MID: setB

• h-switch for better details in H mode, makes more sense for NTSC
• electronic auto features works for PAL in all modes
• electronic auto features works for NTSC in almost all modes, not in SH, try only one feature in SH NTSC
• top quality for 720p50 PAL, good quality for 720p60 NTSC

HIGH: setC

• no h-switch, not needed
• electronic auto features does not work
• top quality for 720p60 NTSC, superb quality for 720p50 PAL

SUPER HIGH: setH

• no h-switch, not needed
• electronic auto features does not work
• maximum datarate for 720p50 PAL before camera freeze
• for the datarate freaks, can be unstable

HYPER HIGH: setI

• no h-switch, not needed
• electronic auto features does not work
• 720p always freezes the camera in PAL when shooting the death chart
• only worth try for NTSC
• for the datarate geek nerds, can be unstable

ULTRA HIGH: setJ

• no h-switch, not needed
• not tested, settings are math calculations,
• small chances to work for 720p60 NTSC, but never for PAL
• are you crazy? better go to the coffee shop, maybe you meet Alexa there

The patches use low GOP to get better texture and noise quality.

There is no GOP 3 for 720p60 in the LOW, MID and HIGH because it makes the I frames size to be below the quality limits. Comparing the amount of time that each I frame and each group of P frames in each GOP keep on the screen, 720p50 GOP3 and 720p60 GOP4 are similar, so the texture and noise perceiving are similar.

The choice of versions is more related about if you need electronic auto features or not. This is because the camera cannot handle high datarates with these features enabled in 720p, so it is a matter of priorize quality or features. For PAL this is not an issue, using the MID setB solves both things, but NTSC is different, see:

Advice for PAL: use version MID setB because the image quality is great for 720p and the electronic auto features works.

Advice for NTSC: use version MID setB if you need electronic auto features, the image quality is good in all modes, in 720p use the H which is better for detais and works with the features. If you need better textures and noise quality in 720p use the SH but maybe just one electronic auto feature will work at a time. A tip is to avoid camera shake and exposures changing from bright to dark areas, this avoids stop recording in SH NTSC in the MID setB version. Other option will be to use the version HIGH setC to get great image quality and use version LOW setA to get the electronic auto features working in all modes. If there is no artificial light in the shoot it is possible to shoot PAL in NTSC lands.

Changing PAL/NTSC or NTSC/PAL: before changing in the menu, turn camera off and remove the memory card. Then turn camera on, change it in the menu and turn camera off again. Then remove battery, insert battery again, insert another memory card, and turn camera on. This is a must to make the camera to work properly. You need two cards, one for NTSC, another for PAL, both formated in camera with correct PAL or NTSC in the menu. Label the cards to know the video format of each card. If you have only one card, you need to format it after changing the menu.

When using the camera and/or lens features, try to perceive which features can be combined and used together without stop recording. 24H, 24L, HBR, FSH and FH are more stable with these features. SH and H are the most difficult to work with the features without stop recording, this is the reason there are the HIGH, MID and LOW versions. Also it is good idea to try to use one feature at a time.

These patches push the GH2 to the limits in 720p so it can stop recording, but the ini files was tweaked to avoid camera freeze. In LOW, MID and HIGH versions, if it stops the file will be saved and camera return to stand by mode, so if stop recording happens, just wait camera return to stand by and it can start recording again, no need battery pull, no lost shoot.

LOW, MID and HIGH versions have more conservative datarates because very high datarates just increases chances of stop recording with minimal benefits in terms of image quality, even in very fast memory cards.

Careful tweaking in GOP TABLES and DATARATES.

Using FlowMotion MAtrix.

Tests done with the Lumix 14-42mm 3.5-5.6 kit lens.

Tested with and optimized for the Sandisk 45MBps 32GB SDHC card, and above. Try setA and setB in lower speed cards. Try setH and setI in higher speed cards. Best luck on try the setJ.

Great job, @apefos!

H-switch

This is a new feature developed specialy for the LOW setC patch version of the HML bundle.

The LOW setC version from the HML bundle is useful for 720p60 NTSC because it allows the use of the electronic auto features of lenses and camera body, but to make this possible the datarate is low to avoid stop recording in 720p60... So I developed a switch to increase the I frames size when shooting a good light detailed image:

Use the SH slot for most situations, including low light, or good light without so many details, also for shoots with motion.

Use the H slot for very detailed images in good light, better for more steady shoots, it increases the I frames size which is useful in low datarate patches to get good details.

Probably some people are wondering why I do not put a high datarate in the SH and a low datarate in H instead of using different patches. The answer is simple, it just does not work. the datarate becomes lower in low light, but in good light detailed scenes the datarate keeps the same in both slots no matter the numbers. This behavior is also present in the Cluster GOP3, seems to be no way to solve, so the low gop patches with gspot configuration in gop tables cannot have different datarates in the SH and H slot. this is the reason I developed two patches for 720p60: HIGH and LOW and also the H-switch in the LOW. People in PAL lands are lucky because the PAL 720p50 has a sweet spot in quality and stability to use the electronic auto features, the MID version.

Things got very mature now, the HML bundle and now with this H-switch are the best patches I did until now.

@apefos I just started trying the last hml 45 zip (not the updated version) and I found it unstable (but with a wonderful 24H performance). I was using a 90Mbps card.

Probably you are right about sd cards speed. A faster card could not improve the camera stability.

@apefos Your previous patch is excellent. Of course you are right: changing the datarates doesn't help at all. I could see it yesterday during my working test.

Going to try this last one.

@apefos Ok, I will use the 96Mbps. In any case today the patch has done a very good job. Frankly, the camera stopped two times this morning, but after a little time everything was ok. This patch is a damn good one! I think I will keep it for tomorrow.

@apefos Today I'm using your last patch for our documentary film about a famous artist. I already used Wkhrs Flmtn 120 and Gspt Nbl 112 in HBR Pal. I have changed the datarate of this last Gspot to 104. Later I will tell you more about this patch.

Special versions: NTSC and PAL working in same patch - FlowMotion Matrix

setC = 64Mbps

setE = 80Mbps

setG = 96Mbps

64Mbps, for situations where the electronic features of the lens and camera are a must have. lower datarate allows more stability and works better with the electronic lenses. try using some of these features enabled together, auto focus, auto exposure, idynamic, iresolution, ois image stabilization.

80Mbps, a mid point which allows some electronic funtions to work, but not all. when using electronic features, try use one at a time, many features enabled together can make stop recording to happens. these features must be use with care and not combined: auto focus, auto exposure, idynamic, irasolution, ois image stabilization.

96Mbps, higher datarate increases image quality but just works good with manual lenses without electronic contacts, manual exposure, idynamic off and iresolution off. Try it with electronic lenses, but with all features disabled.

tip: changes in exposure when recording a video can make the camera to stop recording in all versions. when the camera is pointed to an area with sunlight and then it is moved fast to a shadow area this strees the codec and can make the camera to stop recording. pushing the camera to the high limits will never be so stable as can be a conservative settings in the patch. the lower the datarate the less this issue will exist.

Careful tweaking in the GOP Tables after comparing with Cluster patch. Stable versions considering that there is no camera freeze with the Sandisk 45Mbps card. if the camera hardware are puched so far it can stop recording, but it saves the file and camera go back to stand by mode. so there is no problem in the ini file. it is the camera and/or card limits. Try a faster card or load a lower datarate version.

Format the card in camera for better performance. After changing the camera PAL/NTSC always turn camera off, remove battery, insert battery again, turn on again and format card.

when pushing the camera and card to the limits there are some tradeoffs, no free lunch... due to this there are different datarate versions, to chose best one for the camera+card+lens combo combined with the features to be used.

Tests done with the Sandisk 45MBps card

Enjoy

Special Patch Version - GSpot FlowMotion

NTSC and PAL working in the same patch.

AF, AE and OIS working in the SDC4 death chart without freeze.

GOP TABLES tweaked carefuly for 720p50 and 720p60.

GSpot configuration for noise and details quality with improved quality/stability balance in 720p

Try both SH and H, try both FSH and FH, same datarate, but probably there will be one more stable than the other.

My tests shows that more stability than this only can be achieved lowering the datarate.

@frullaccia @TrackZillas @zsound @spreeni @JayUKB @driftwood reports and feedbacks are very welcome.

@driftwood @frullaccia

I did new tests and found some good things:

did a try in a similar gop table from the "cluster v4 all gop3" , not a direct copy, but a similar design. it delivers a variable bitrate: when there is details it increases datarate, when there is just low light and flat surfaces it lowers the datarate. I perceived that this is not good because it hurts the noise quality in low light, so the previous gop table settings from GSpot are better to hold and keep the noise quality because it makes the gh2 almost constant bitrate no matter the image or light or iso.

did a try in my last uploaded versions using GOP4 for ntsc 720p60 and using the number 42 instead of 43 in the gop tables for 720p60: good results!

the GOP4 is very good for 720p60 because it allows the I frames to increase more the size when there are details in image delivering a better quality. Also, in the low light noise image, the gop4 does not hurt the fine random noise, it is good. comparing gop3 for 720p50 and gop4 for 720p60, the amount of time that the I frames will be on the screen are similar, and the amount of time that the PP (in gop3 pal) or PPP (in gop4 ntsc) will be in the screen are similar also, so the noise perceiving is pretty equal to the eye when comparing gop3 for pal and gop4 for ntsc in 720p.

the number 42 in the gop table instead of 43 did not hurt the image quality and seems to be more stable.

give a try in the GSpot FlowMotion version uploaded september 30 setJ version with the number 42 and gop4, it should be stable and great quality, give it a try on the death charts with AF and OIS desabled and also with AF and OIS handheld in outdoor shoots. If not stable enough compare it with the setI september 30 which has gop4 and the number 43 in the gop tables for 720p60. one of these may be the one for 720p60 ntsc.