So, the bitrates for which I can get spanning to work reliably in a worst case scenario are very low. It's disheartening. My test is a tree blowing in the wind filling the whole frame - with sharp focus and high noise (f22, 1/640 sec shutter, ISO 3200, slightly overexposed according to the GH2's meter).

If you use the GH2 in an environment where it is absolutely essential for spanning to work each and every time, but want to get a small increase in quality over the stock video settings, so far I recommend these settings for ptool 3.62. 24H and SH (720p60) span properly in all my tests with these settings on a mediocre class 10 SD card (Patriot LX 32GB).

And just because it spans across two files is not enough - often for me it will span to a 2nd file, but the 3rd will fail. And that is not just an example - 90% of the time spanning fails (at least in 720p60 mode) it is on the 3rd file created. Don't ask me why that happens. So if anyone else wants to test this be forewarned that spanning once does not mean it will necessarily span next time it comes to a file boundary. So span tests need to be loooong. It really really helps to have an AC adapter for these type of tests - I can keep the camera running all day. Just remember to swap in the battery when updating firmware!

On 720p60 what will happen with settings between 20 and 32 mbits is that it will span to the next file fine, but the problem that @WeBcYtE described above (and I've described earlier) will happen to me and it will create a very small file - usually 6 - 12 MB (this is usually the 3rd file) and then stop with the "Motion recording stopped due to slow card" or whatever the hell it says error. This clip will remain playable in camera because the file exists - it just stops recording. This is different from 24H/24L, which when spanning fails, fails to create the next file at all and the file is missing from the number sequence and the clip is unplayable in camera.

I would love to test and see if higher settings work on better SD cards, but i don't have one right now. If anyone has leads as to what I might try to change to help spanning, let me know and I'll test. I played around a little with reducing the upper bitrates in tester patches to a lower value than they would normally be for what I had the main bitrate set to, but so far it did not help.

Well, if Vitaliy is working on it, that's great! I wanted to make sure it got to his attention. I'm betting he'll be able to figure it out.

For now I'll sit tight an stay conservative (at least with my GH2 hack settings that is). It's a pain it takes so long to test this spanning stuff :)

@proaudio4
I think 24P is great if you want to film a movie or documentary, but for example if you wanted to record sporting events, dancing or other high-motion types of scenes then the 1080i and 720p modes are worth tuning as well. The GH2 was well-rounded out of the box and I wouldn't want to make mine into a one-trick pony. Isn't it nice to be able to shoot high quality stills, then simply turn the dial and capture stunning video footage? :) That's what I love about this camera...the flexibility you get out of one device without compromising quality.

I have been running stable 1080i/720p using 32 Mbps (double of factory settings), no changes to GOP and AQ set to 4 and the video buffer doubled. Basically I just doubled the stock values for all of the modes and cranked up AQ. It seems to work well enough in that I haven't been able to reproduce the crashes I posted about earlier. I am of course using a Class 10 card this time around. These settings will not work with my Class 4.

Many people here say 1080i has issues but the video I've shot with 1080i looks fine. I don't like interlaced formats but I'd rather have a higher effective resolution since the video can be deinterlaced manually after recording.

It will 'dynamicly' change the curve that applied before compression, resulting in lifted shadows, thus a little more details there preserved. BUT only god knows when and why it enabling itself and when not (roughly when 2/3 of frame is underexposed..) so if you are for reproduceable shots in pro environment keep it off, and adjust light instead. When running around, taking nice pics keep it on.

This short film was take only with GH2 and 14-140 lens + 66Mb/s. hack, like a Red or??

Funny how dead the "stable" stable settings are. Guess people just wanna shoot "Red" style these days.

Anyone have good luck with highest bit rate/spanning - cheap Transcend 10 cards? :P
I've got a few 32s and a couple 16s, all transcend 10 cards. Im shooting weddings mostly, and have been using "SpanMyBitchUp".
I tested it out, 80% of the time it'll span. Just curious as to what others are using and recommend.
FYI - I shoot 90% 24p, and 10% 720/60p...

@Butt

"here are two stable lowGOP settings:
No. 1 setd = 60MBit GOP3 incam-play transfer works, including 100MBit MJPEG Lpowell "no" incam-play transfer works"

I hve uploaded a test using those settings. Many tanks for posted. I left the link if any one want to see, there are some personal looks to join too. Tanks again Butt!