6 GOP - Middle Earth 'Nebula'

Latest update notes: Trial 6b - 1080p24 mode massively adjusted HUGE quality improvement. 1080i/720p modes stabilised and tested for iA modes. *Minor update to HBR25 for stability reasons as reported by top tester @towi - many thanks.

Cluster X Series: 6 GOP - 'Nebula' Trial 6b (Released 03/3/2013)

Great middle ground setting - even 6 GOP with i frames closer together than classic GOP reporting quality in motion and excellent picture resolvement at decent bitrates - adjusting itself to picture requirement accordingly.

• Excellent 1080p24p around 90Mbps Lo detail to 130Mbps Hi detail.

• Superb quality 720p60/50 50Mbps lo scene detail to 70Mbps Hi detail and fast action.

• Top notch 50Mbps HBR30p/25p/FSH 1080i50i/60i setting.

Earlier Nebula trials can be found on the Cluster X Series 1 thread.

1 GOP Intra 'moon' T7 - Top Grading - Best Motion - Best Setting Ever? (You decide)

Update News (updated 21/07/2013) Two months after the experimental moon T6 and lots of new research I present you 'moon' T7.

• INTRA 24p minimum 130-147Mbps - best looking ever with extreme Quant values - period.

• INTRA 25p/FSH50i at 80Mbps

• 3 GOP 30pHBR/FSH60i at 72Mbps+

• 720p modes minimum 50-70Mbps max - best ever 720 setting? ;-)

• new softer matrix - targeted at Pany lenses.

• iA modes working it appears

• iDynamic mode on 24p best on Low.

• Great sound from per (Per Lichtman of Pasadena Pulse AKA thepalalias!!!!) ;-)

• Includes the long-time best looking mjpeg setting and greatest Quant.

• Please don't forget to donate to personal-view and help this site continue.

What's so good about moon T7? In simple terms, after looking at the rate control, quantisation and scaling matrices found in the GH3, Nikon D800 and Canon 5DMKIII I decided upon a radical approach to find out if the GH2 was capable of getting near their very low QP values (which range from predominantly 1 to 30 depending on the detail and luminance of the subject).

What I found was (and this had me concerned before) was that Panasonic's implementation / or ptools labelling!) of rate control using the GH2's quantisation parameter isn't too clear. I needed a way of having a minumum Quant and a desired maximum quant. Strangely with Initial Quantizer = 30, Quantizer for 1080 modes = 3 (+-2 can offer a QP of 1 !) and Quantizer for 720 modes = 30 I could sortof achieve this!!!!

With 720 using B frames (switched on in the 720 encoder 1 settings as = 3) Quantizer for 720 modes seems to work as a highest Quantisation setting (high is worse, low quant is best) together with Initial Quant of 30 (don't worry about such a high starting value here - after the first frame it settles straight back to lowest achievable (best) for the scene. Subsequently, Quantizer for 1080 modes = 3 gives me my lowest desired (best quant).

This quantizer rate control now seems to work as in newer High Profile Level 5 (5.1) cameras such as the 5DMKIII and Nikon D800 (and seemingly the GH3) and when matched with a new softer looking matrix - as analysed on the Canon 5DMKIII (with adjustments) - brings a degree of softening to the over sharpe Pany lenses.

I'm also sure that 1080i/FSH?HBR modes work better with half the coded picture buffer size of 720p modes (indeed I switched off 720 Bottom setting (the buffer amount) whilst offering a fairly low buffer in bitrate settings in 'patches for testers'.

In summary, the range of QP will be (certianly in 1080p24 modes) from 1 to 30 - often staying very low (less than 10) all round. I believe (although only tested by myself) that the result offers extremely good looking 720p modes (probably the best ever), certainly superior 24p WITH Intra, and great looking HBR/FSH and iA mode control (though further strenuous tests may well be required). High dynamic functions work it seems too.

Your reactions are now needed - so give it a try and lookout for similar based theories employed in the other Cluster X settings shortly - 'DREWnet' coming next. Enjoy :-)

moon T6 is now demoted. moon T7 can be downloaded by right-click saving on the icon below.

Big thanks to VK for his great work and site.

Cluster X Series: 'Moon' includes 1 GOP Intra 24p & HBR25/ 3 GOP 720p50/60 and HBR30p/FSH modes Trial 6 - (Released on 21/07/2013) A very experimental set of three settings. Tryout only to test.

Update News (updated 18/02/2013): Released after 720p/HBR/FSH renumerations - Great quality and QP all round in the moon tradition ;-) - 'moon' (trial 5) 1080p24 stays with the sharper 'Blue moon' matrix and the QP of Trial 3 - nice all round mix.

Cluster X Series: 'Moon' includes 1 GOP Intra 24p & HBR25/ 3 GOP 720p50/60 and HBR30p/FSH modes Trial 5 (Released 18/02/2013)

Including;-

• 1080p24 All Intra - Low 14-16 QP avg picture quantisation - hi-bitrate 100+ to 151Mbps superior quality

• 1080i50/HBR 25p All Intra - 14-16 avg QP - 60Mbps Med detail scenes bitrate excellent quality to 90Mbps hi bitrate/hi detail great quality

• 1080i60/HBR30p 3 GOP with P frames avg 14-16 QP 50Mbps Lo bitrate great quality to 72Mbps Hi bitrate hi detail

• 720p50/60p 3 GOPwith P Frames - avg 14-16 QP - 50+Mbps to 72Mbps stabilised hi bitrate / detail / quality

• 80% Mode recordings should be operated on the high bitrate 'L' setting primed for this mode.

This setting is primed for 1080p24 'in tight', medium, and busy detail scenes offering even sharper quantisation performance and is in the middle of trial 3 and trial 4 to please everybody (inc. me).