Well after a day of trying to sync up an interview. gh2 24p close up with midshot shot on HDV at 25p(with the good sound) here are my experiences.

I could not make it work in FCP. Tried conforming both to 25p and 24p in Cinema tools and FCP, i tried dropping them on a 25p timeline and i tried pluraleyes. All these methods caused the sync to waver over a 10 minute clip, badly.

So i downloaded the Trial of Premiere Pro, dropped the 25p clip on a 25p timeline, dropped the 24p on top, synched up the start and it stayed synched all the way through. To my ears and eyes it looked fine.

I've been using FCP for almost a decade, but i'm starting to think it might be time to move. (unless we get 25p on the GH2 :-))

Hope this helps someone.

Cry here, maybe someone will listen :-)
http://getsatisfaction.com/panasonic/topics/25p_cinema_mode

If baby don't cry ...

Thanks - added my "wah" to Facebook. Bastards!

I saw on the facebook panasonic page (lumix support) a user ranting about the lack of 25p cinema mode :

http://www.facebook.com/Panasonic?sk=app_103744493025213

Maybe a massive flood of messages...

@flyguy - My GH2 is an NTSC model, so the steps I go through are to select the NTSC<>PAL and AVCHD 50P>25P options in PTools, apply the hack, switch the camera over to PAL, and then select AVCHD 720 film mode. At that point it will start shooting 25P; I've confirmed that is so by inspecting with VirtualDub with Viewfields1.2 (both freeware). Streamparser also confirms.

My only suggestion is that if you are starting with a PAL camera, perhaps it somehow works differently? (Seems unlikely.)

Neither 720p50 nor 720p25 are interlaced. Both are frame-based not field based. 50P just has twice as many frames per second. Hope that helps.

I have another ques, the 720p50p is in progressive not interlaced. Does that mean its actually 25p?

I've had a couple of questions about the 50P->25P option that I mentioned in my earlier post, so to clarify:

1) The unhacked PAL GH2 has a 720p50 AVCHD option, and the unhacked NTSC GH2 has a 720p60 AVCHD option.

2) The PTool361d hack enables a PAL<->NTSC menu item that lets you switch back and forwards between these two framerates (be sure to reformat your SD card after each switch).

3) PTool361d also has another two additional checkboxes that allow you to replace 720p50 with 720p25, and replace 720p60 with 720p30. You can select either one, or both, of these options when you apply the hack. So, for example, I have my GH2 presently set to 720P60 when in NTSC mode, and 720p25 when in PAL mode.

Hope that explains things a little better.

@ogelecek
you should do all these things in a 25p timeline, and you will get a lot smoother video

What about modifying 1080p24 time base so it reads faster?

There is a variable somewhere that tells camera how fast to read the chip etc. Is it possible to "hunt it down" and change it? I guess it's a rate at which some crystal clock is divided or such.

probably roughly double the framerate
ie
24/25p 50 shutter
30p 60 shutter
50/60 120 shutter (but I still use 50 shutter)
Theres the usual shutter rules...but rules are made to be broken lol

@Sam
Light flicker isnt a problem with 24p as long as you shoot with correct shutter speed.
30fps can be a issue but not 24p ;-)

@madact Sure, I didn't mean to imply that 25p isn't needed.

From my perspective, I'm still shooting 25p on an old DVX100B, but I'm seriously considering getting a GH2. Since my work isn't for broadcast (more of an expensive hobby), I just figured I'd shoot 24p on the GH2 if 25p isn't available or as nice looking.

I was trying to get a handle of how much of a problem the light flickering effect would be. It seems with the right choice of shutter speed it's not really an issue (since people have always been dealing with this on 24p regardless of region).

Hi guys, been reading this with great interest. I did a test just then with my GH2 in 24p mode and one of my other cams shooting 25p,
put them both on the kitchen bench, and shot for 30min,
every few min i got in shot and clapped hands and stuff,
lighting was halogen (PAL land).
I then dropped them into Premiere Pro in a 25p sequence,
synced the first few seconds, then went to end expecting to have to drag the 24p into sync with the rate stretch tool.
Didnt have to, the whole thing was perfectly in sync from start to finish, I could see any dramas with the lighting, strobing and such ( which I did get in the US recently when shooting at night with my GH1 at 25p 25 shutter).
There was no frame blending that I could see.
So, if you dont need the audio from the 24p cam, are there any issues that would arise in a multi cam shoot where one cam is 24p and the others 25p?
any thoughts greatly appreciated.