Call me dumb if you like ,but I did not know you can upload the (.m2ts) files right from the camera to YouTube. saves me time in Sony Vegas rendering just for a test. Here is a short test of sanity 4.1. Panasonic GH2 Hack ..SANITY 4.1( by Ralph_B) 1080 24 FPS ,average 68 MBS , Vibrant -2-2-2 0 mode

@AKED

"Can we gt your evaluation for the Sanity 4.1 as well, once you havbe tried it?"

Just a first quick test with Sanity V4.1 ...

As expected at first glance footage looks super (24h & HBR/25p). This goes for the PAL version.

However HBR/25p on a death chart produces "only" 22Mbit/s with I-frames below 700K in a GOP-18 stream (see attachment), while for instance 24p25p-NINE produces around 42Mbits and I-frames above 1MB (also larger P-frames and B-frames) in a GOP-9 stream on the very same death chart (see here: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/uploads/FileUpload/45/9a51aa12eb928592e5b827302e1c14.png )

I've shot a static texture (to moderately stress the codec) containing deep blacks. When I lift the blacks on HBR/25p in post I notice the noise pattern is "pulsing". So I think something is not working quite right yet (in HBR/25p ... 24H looks clean).

I've not yet tested real world scenes in daylight ...

@rorykane

in what mode? For 24H you have plenty of great choices. For HBR/25p the choices are more limited (HBR/30p I don't know).

"Wedding" asks for long takes and probably also for spanning, right? So I would use a setting with moderate bitrates (Sanity or 24p25p-NINE). I have not yet tested "Cake". This version of the former Sanity patch is rock solid (in PAL mode!): http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/42716#Comment_42716 ... or just take Ralph's original patch for NTSC-mode. 24p25p-NINE does not span if the codec is stressed (it will span if only moderate bitrates are utilized).

Generally ... I would NEVER use a patch for an important job (you can't repeat a wedding...) that I have not tested by myself under a lot of different shooting scenarios on my camera with my lenses and my SD cards (we are talking about consumer products with a relatively high sample variation). In case of doubt just use the stock firmware (really!).

@peternap

"@towi You've used Flo Motion a fair amount"

Actually I didn't. I need 25p and the Flowmotion patch doesn't cut it in HBR/PAL mode IMHO. I do like the look of Flowmotion at 24H, but then again even at 24H it shows more artefacts on fine edges than bkmcwd's GOP3 patches. YMMV ...

@peternap

"Time to toss another donation in the kitty I think!"

very true and great advice!

How much would you spend on a good lens? Think about it and evaluate how much the great work of Vitaly and all the busy patch creators (driftwood, cbrandin, bkmcwd, LPowell, Ralph_B, balazer etc.) is worth to you in $ ...

I loaded up Sanity 4 and took it down to the beach. Standard -2-2-2-2 with a Nikon 50mm 1.8 Transcend class 10

I had no problems recording or playback. I'm loving what I see. I've graded different scenes with different looks, the patch grades very nicely.

Thanks Ralph_B this is great work you have done.

@Imaginate Those are some interesting looks. Where is that beach? Very unusual to see a railroad track running along it.

I'm giving Sanity 4.1 pal a try now :) But just to be sure, do I understand it right that HBR won't span at all? In other words, when recording in HBR I'm always limited to approx 15 minutes?

I just tested with Lexar class 10 133x card, and it didn't span in HBR (Sanity 4.1 pal). Not sure if it's any point testing faster cards, but giving sandisk 95mb/s a try..

UPDATE: It spanned in HBR with my Sandisk 95MB/s Card. But I'm not sure how reliable this is, was just filming a static scene.

UPDATE 2: It failed to span in HBR with my Sandisk 45MB/s card.

@Ralph_B I'm not sure about similarities with Cake 2.0 patch, but it seemes like it spans in HBR with 30MB/s sd cards. Do you think this is achievable with Sanity? Anyways, thanks for your efforts on this patch :)

@evero I only tested Sanity with Sandisk 30M class 10 cards, and with these cards, HBR did not span. I see you had success with a Sandisk 95mb card. So, keep us posted with your results.

Can anyone mention on best patch for 720p? Looking for highest detail. Is sanity where it's at? In firmware 1, I was using the NiNE patch and it was running at 80mbps on 720. With 1.1 and new driftwood matrices it all changed. So best 720?

@ricker That's a hard question and you have to look at all your requirements. These patches come fast and require a lot of testing. Right now Driftwood and Ralph are running a dead heat for king. Driftwood's Mysteron is damn good and maybe a tad better in low light and perhaps a little more detailed. It's a very small difference if there is any and I don't have two GH2's to compare side by side. It does have a few quirks I haven't weeded out yet but I like it overall.

Sanity 4.1 is the undisputed winner in the stability department. Image quality and post friendly traits are near perfect for me. It is a little higher bitrate in 720 but I also don't use bitrate as the ultimate test of settings.

To give a bottom line of my opinion right now, I can't decide but if I was told I could not change after picking one, it would be Sanity 4.1...but you have to do a lot of testing for yourself.