Hacks and Patches

AVCHD: Extreme settings

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 07:25:33 +0000

Topic devoted to extreme settings for AVCHD modes.

GF2 ALL I-FRMAE CROSSED 100Mbit

kirankdwd — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 08:23:46 +0000

GF2 720P PAL ALL I-FRMAE CROSSED 100Mbit

Settings for Testers discussion - A Primer.

duartix — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:53:12 +0000

I believe we could benefit from an advanced thread that should be dedicated to discussing those settings that have little or no documentation at all. It could even be the primary source of material for the wiki. This could aggregate a lot of information that is spread among dozens of threads.

Things like what are they expected to do, how and which cares must be taken when changing them and what effects have been observed from their change would be precious information for members who undertake the challenge of making a parameter set (that's what I'm naming it since we can't call them patch sets now).

Who wants to start?

Rock Solid Settings

Griffin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:24:45 +0000

Lets share very stable & error free patches here,....(for above 30m/s class 10 cards + gh2)

We need a benchmark for codec testing

duartix — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:56:16 +0000

Seriously, shooting static torture charts doesn't cut it, nor does it bring any useful information on how a patch is doing except for Full Intra. We need something that is pure (uncompressed), has texture, has rich tones, has complex non linear motion (like fire or water), that is repeatable and easily accessible to everyone to play on a Full HD screen.

I've been searching the Web for flash animations to no avail. Does anyone have an idea or can come up with something that fits this bill?

An OpenCL/GL or DirectX demo perhaps?

95 Minutes Long Concert & 7 GH2

willianaleman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:20:54 +0000

We are in a preproduction stage for a GH2 Hack multicamera set up, (7) for a classical chamber music concert. The concert is about 90 minutes. We are trying to obtain at least 95 minutes continue recording with the GH2 hack later version. The recordings have a random stop- interruptions before the card even reach 11, 30, 44 minutes.

Setting: Movie Mode/1080/24/ 44MB/s. We have reformatted the card, used a different ones.The cards are Sandisk 32MB 95/s. Any help would be appreciated

Spanning settings for long multicam interview?

Hazna — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:10:02 +0000

Is Cbrandin the only option?

GH2 - Modular settings - anyone interested?

duartix — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:41:42 +0000

Cheers.

Since there are 4 AVCHD + 4 MJPEG modes on the GH2 it's nearly impossible to get a complete settings file that fulfills everyone's personal needs, wouldn't it be useful if the patches would be more modular, ex: (separate settings for 24H, 24L, 1080i50/60, 720p50/60, various MJPEG, etc)? This way anyone could make their own mixes tailoring them to how much bitrate they want to spend for each setting, or to their SD card speeds by merging the modular text files together for a complete personal patch.

It's been hard to try to do this myself because I don't know the correspondence of each setting to each mode. I don't even know if this is impossible due to shared settings between modes but it would be nice if we had that power.

What do you think?

GH2 Maximum Variation Experiment

cbrandin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:10:46 +0000

Attached is a variation of my 66M patch taking a completely different approach.

So far most patches have attempted (deliberately, or not) to achieve a fairly high constant bitrate. In other words - bitrate has been king. This patch takes an entirely different approach. In this patch measured quality is king, and bitrate use and buffering is allowed to vary.

The basic architecture of a VBR H.246 codec is to set up boundaries for min/max bitrate and QP settings. As a frame is encoded a range of QP (quality) values are attempted for each macroblock. The searching stops under one of two circumstances - either the macroblock reaches a quality level within the number of bits allocated for it, or the quality is degraded until the allocated bits are not exceeded. The problem with this is that the codec isn't perfect, so it may degrade the image somewhat before the frame is finished as all this is estimated, and few higher QP values are attempted.

This patch allows many more QP settings to be attempted for each I frame. Thus if a desired quality level is reached with a higher QP value it will be used and bandwidth is made available for later macroblocks that may need it more. The best way I can put it is that this patch does more to use actual measured quality rather than theoretical quality.

I've done some testing - but I would like additional input. Unfortunately, spanning is still an issue. This is pretty experimental at this point, so don't rely on this patch yet.

Chris

In Camera Playback - Audio issues with High Bitrate

skyak — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:04:15 +0000

When I play back high bit rate recordings in camera (166/176 mbps), the audio is garbled. When I import the same files into premiere they play fine. Do others experience this?

Highlight Recording and Frame Guide Options?

kholi — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:15:26 +0000

So these two things are actually decently useful. Curious if they're able to be modified at all?

Highlight Recording: what's it set to spot? Above 80~85? 75? That'd be interesting to know. And, can you set it to something higher or lower? it'd be good to have depending on your "film mode", I think . Operating like old school DVX/HVX Zebras.

Frame Guide: Any way to add more? Say two more so that you could setup a 4:3 look around? Or have two horizontal ones so that you could setup a 2.35/2.40 loook around?

I did a search, didn't seem to be covered. Any info or discussion would be swell.

Settings Vault Summary chart beta

Farinheight — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:49:34 +0000

Hey guys, per discussions that were going on in the GH2 Hack thread on DVX here's a very rough draft of the chart I was talking about to help keep all the info organized. When developers are ready to release a new or beta patch they can download the latest version of the "Patch Vault Summary" excel file, populate the applicable cells, then send to the person who'll update the master (apply the developers changes), then upload the new version to the thread superseding the previous version. The new patch can be uploaded after the summary has been updated, or before.

As stated this is a very rough draft and I'm expecting revisions will be needed in the columns regarding nomenclature, additional pertinent info, etc. I encourage the developers and of course Vitaliy to chime in and request for any additional columns/rows as they see fit or even reformatting for viewer legibility.

Once the final version has been approved by Vitaliy and developers, the thread containing the excel summary should be locked from public comments. If changes are needed, inquiries can be sent to the moderator of the thread.

AVCHD: Stable settings

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 07:24:46 +0000

Topic devoted to stable settings.

Stable is anything that do not result in card speed errors or freezzing.

3:2 for movie mode?

TekPneumaN — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:19:55 +0000

I was wondering if there is a hack that allows you to shoot 3:2 at 24H on the GH2?
If not, is it impossible and why?

GH1 I frame codec with gop1

bannedindv — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:29:03 +0000

I was thinking about the possibility of creating an iframe avc recording by forcing all frames to be iframes.

This seems really interesting.

GH2 Stalin Quantum V.5 vs. GH13 75Mbps

magnus387 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:54:12 +0000

My brother got me a GH2 for the holidays (yeah, he's the best), and seeing as how I had been using a hacked GH1 since hacking was even possible, I figured a small comparison would be fun.

Not Scientific, but both pixel peeping screen grabs are shot using the fantastic Voigtlander 25mm f0.95. The GH2 was patched with Quantum v.5 ( @driftwood , @Vitaliy_Kiselev you guys are rock stars), and the GH13 was patched long ago with 75Mbps variant (one, I've always been happy with).

(EDIT) Both grabs are f4.0 shutter 1/50 ISO 400

My initial impressions were confirmed when I transcoded the MTS files using 5dtoRGB, and brought the files into FCP7 and brought up the mids using the 3-way color corrector - the hacked GH2 is hiding tons of detail, and the difference is in the numbers - gh2 is at 145Mbps, the GH13 is at 34Mbps. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. The GH2 noise structure is so much finer than the blocking that occurs on the GH13, and it resembles film grain in my humble point of view.

Happy holidays everyone.

GH2 color profile and Hacked vs. not Hacked Shootout

mpgxsvcd — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:50:12 +0000

I finally finished the Color Profile and Hack vs. Not Hacked Shootout video. The link to my thoughts on the test cases are in the YouTube video below. However, that video alone should not be used to make a final conclusion since the examples in it have been re-compressed twice. It should be used as a guideline for what to look out for when you watch the original files as they came out of the camera.

You can download those files at the Vimeo link below. Please note that not all of the clips have been uploaded yet. I am still in the process of uploading them(Some of them are huge). If you don't see a sample that you need just let me know in the comments of the youtube video and I will try to get it uploaded.

http://vimeo.com/user442745/videos

Everything was shot under completely controlled conditions. I shot this in pure manual mode with Manual focus, a fixed shutter speed, and a fixed aperture.

The only in camera correction I made was that I increased the shutter speed 1/3 of a stop for Smooth since the camera meters that mode 1/3 of a stop more than any of the other modes.

The video shows the differences between the most popular color modes for video(Cinema, Smooth, and Nostalgic). In addition it shows the differences between unhacked 1.0 and 1.1 firmware and No Adverse Affects and Driftwood's 187M GOP1 [i-frame only] 1.0 firmware.

Proposition about variable ETC mode

stuckvoxel — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:55:56 +0000

I'm here to make the case again to Vitaliy to figure out how to control the GH2's cropping and downscaling features, and allow us to change them through ptool. (If it's not obvious, this post concerns video, not stills.)

There's a universe of old C-mount lenses out there, in 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1 inch, and 16mm, each of which makes a different sized image circle. To use each of these lenses to their fullest, you want your camera's sensor to be slightly smaller than that image circle. With the GH2 we have a camera with the capability to have any sensor size you want, up to 4/3. The "universal-format camera" is in our hands, we just need some awesome hardware hacker to unlock it!

The "proof" that the GH2 is capable of this is found in the facts that 1) the GH2 is currently able (has the processing power) to take the entire 4/3-inch, 4976x2800, 16:9 portion of the sensor, and downscale that to 1920x1080 or 1280x720 (did I see that some of you had got the GH2 to use other sizes?); and 2) the GH2 is also capable of using only part of the frame, with no downsampling (as demonstrated in ETC mode). So it's not much of a stretch to believe that the GH2 is capable of taking any 16:9 subset of the sensor's pixels AND downscaling that to any 16:9 pixel size! (Indeed, by de-centering the crop region, you could correct for the inevitable misalignment between lens and sensor.)

So the challenge to you, Vitaliy, is to figure out how to choose that subset of pixels and add that item to ptool. Then, for example, I can take the 4160x2340 subset of the GH2 sensor's 4976x2800 pixels* that my cheap, fast, good 1-inch format C-mount lens can cover, and get great video. Right now, the only way to use this lens is to crop the video in post, which kills resolution (up-sampling, yecch) and wastes bandwidth encoding parts of the frame that are going to be cropped away.

(*yes I know it's more complicated than that, since it's a Bayer sensor, and the full sensor is more like 4976x3456, but you know what I mean.)

Further, as balazer pointed out in the posting "GH2 ETC-mode noise penalty" ( www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/27293 ) the GH2's downsampling achieves 95% of theoretical efficiency at noise reduction by binning. So in my example above, where I'd be using about 70% of the area of the whole 16:9 portion of the sensor, my lens would have only a half-stop noise penalty compared to some way overpriced lens that could light the whole 4/3 frame--if such a lens even exists in this focal length. And spatial resolution (as in lines per picture height) would still be excellent, since the downscaling to 1920x1080 would still be a reduction to around 45% of the raw image. So the result would look far better than the existing ETC mode.

Suddenly, all that old C-mount glass, as ridiculously overpriced as some of it has become, will finally be worth using. No more dark corners. No more frustration with not knowing what image format a given C-mount lens that you find on eBay was designed for. If it's a C-mount lens, your GH2 would be able to use it to full advantage. As a side effect, this would encourage more reasonable pricing of Noktons, Noktors, and the rare cine lens that happens to fully cover 4/3.

Here's hoping that with Panasonic's release of the v1.1 firmware, this level of control will finally be possible! Perhaps this feature can be implemented as a modification to ETC mode, which would provide a handy way of turning this feature on and off through the camera's menu in the field.

Thanks again, Vitaliy, for all you've done.

GF1 - what's now possible?

belfryman — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:07:03 +0000

Sorry to go back in time but I did a lovely job of frying one of my GH2's yesterday and need a quick, cheap back up, not sure whether to get an old GH1 or GF1. How good can the GF1 get with the fantastic hack now? Does it do true 1080 and what are the frame rate options? Have been trawling the web but not finding too much consistent advice and guy selling hacked GF1 says 1080 not possible but that seems not to be the case. Does anybody own a GF1 and what drives you mad about it!? I liked my old GH1 but looking at some samples of hacked GH1 and GF1 they didn't look thaaat different, how do people get round the lack of manual controls on the GF1? Basically I want to be convinced the GF1 will be fine because it's cheap but my head says it's probably a false economy. Thanks for any input.

SeAQuake + Remote

paleface — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:01:18 +0000

Trying a cheap (china) remote and wondering if SeAQuake is able to use it? The remote doesn't work, is it perhaps broke or SeAQuake just not supporting it? The idea was to use the remote as start/stop with my thumb when handling the camera on a one hand steadycam rig to shoot video.

gh2 motion blur 1080i PAL

aaron74 — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:29:07 +0000

All MTS clips shot in 1080i PAL on hacked gh2 have motion blur.
Need to edit 720 X 576 movs on fcp without motion blur...
Help please, much appreciated.

iDynamic Range possible to hack?

Matt — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:20:55 +0000

Okay, so I've recently been very impressed with the "iDynamic" setting on the GH2, and the results it can achieve. It is a phenomenal feature to have, and is pretty unique out of all the video recording devices out there.

Do you reckon that it might be possible to change the threshold of the iDynamic setting, or perhaps enable some kind of manual settings (an "always on" thing would be sufficient in my book), to give the shooter more control, and stop it from requiring fair underexposure to activate it?

I've attached two pictures that REALLY show what iDynamic is capable of, and how many creative and technical opportunities it opens. Unfortunately, I wanted the interior to be brighter, but when I increased the exposure, iDynamic decided that it didn't have to do its job anymore, and turned off. :\

Hacking electronic shutter in GH2

LittleSword_dot_PL — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:16:33 +0000

Hi,
at the beginning I'd like to say many thank's to Vitalij: great job! And all of you guys! All testers and developers and users, BRAVO!

I have an question, would that be possible to hack GH2 so deep that one could release a mechanical shutter without closing it (ina way like bringing up a mirro in EOS for filming) and then use electronic shutter for shooting pictures (not video).

I am asking because I use my GH2 extensively in time-lapse and stop-motion so the shutter will need replacement soon. Maybe it could be changed by hacking the firmware nad use electronic shutter instead mechanical?

best regards
Pawel

Using 30 min limit as a benefit?

Jon2323 — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:41:55 +0000

Hi Guys,

Might there be a way to manipulate the '30 min limit' to allow for specified recording times? So you could set a timelapse etc and get the camera to record for an hour or so, then stop.

The main reason I ask is because with the latest "driftwood patch" the recording is cutting out at 3:58 (Because of the 4gig limit i've been told) and corrupting the file for Final Cut Pro. So just wondered if we could set the camera to cut out at 3:50 mins, by changing the max record limit, thus not corrupting the file.

Thanks
Jon

Gh2 patch HDMI live view problem

krleas — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:54:58 +0000

My camera is pal by default. When i instaled the hack, i got all the good stuff but the problem is i also got some problems.

I use live view on it and its not working for pal, only ntsc. Problem is that no mather whad mode i wish to record the video is always 1080/60i. I tried to set it to 720p, switched on the hdmi for liveview and recorded. Checked the file info and it was 1080i/60.
If i go movie mode i get 1080p/24.

Is there any way that i can use live view and still record 720p. And i saw like 3 posts that said this is not true that hdmi out and recording are not connected but belive me its true. When u plug in the hdmi, the setting for 1080i or 720 are not awalible.

Help plx

Are there any good: Charts, Low light tests, GH1 comparisions, 5D comparisons, for the Hacked GH2?

Jon2323 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:50:06 +0000

Hey Guys, I've had a look but can't find any of the above tests. Can anyone point a few out please?

Cheers
Jon

G2, Ptool 3.63d, MJPEG 4:3. Aliased/pixelated/weird artifacts

leesew — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:45:47 +0000

Hi,

I'm trying to record somewhat decent video on my G2 (not GH2) using SD aspect ratio, MPJEG, 14mm panasonic lens, no filter and the ini file below. Camera settings: manual, iso 400, shutter 1/30, aperture 2.5, AWB, 'VGA'. Sadly the video looks like it's taken in 640x480 despite using ptool to raise the resolution to 1280x960. Or rather it seems to have some trouble with the scene I'm shooting.

The problem doesn't appear when recording with AVCHD.. but I need to use a 4:3 aspect ratio so I'm forced to use MJPEG.

Here's the video, which despite being re-encoded on youtube accurately shows the problem.

Any idea what's going on here?

update to DIY remote trigger release for Gh1

donf — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:33:54 +0000

I built the remote trigger release shown here. http://ranger9.net/?p=906
However it would not work. See attachment to see what I changed to make it work.

GH2 Settings for 720p50

Botvinic — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:18:08 +0000

I'm starting a new topic to individually test the 720 50p.

Their settings, I wrote here: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/16419#Comment_16419

44M settings were such: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/14632#Comment_14632
They do not work, but work on GOP24, 32M, AQ2

720 60p stably works on driftwood "Beautiful buffers" to 55M GOP12 AQ2-4. But not working at 50p.

There is a want to test 50p? Ptool 3.62D long time ago, but nobody tested it?

SD Cards and exFat formatting? Cure for Spanning.

vanawesome — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:22:22 +0000

I'm wondering if this is something that could possibly be addressed in the pTool. I know everybody is having issues with spanning and if it were possible to get the camera to recognize cards formatted at the new exFat format instead of fat32, spanning would no longer be an issue at all.

Just a thought, sorry if there is a better section to talk about this, please move it and feel free to yell at me. I'd be curious to see what you all have to say about this topic.