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Beginners: Basic hacks questions
  • 1012 Replies sorted by
  • Tomee21Tomee21

    Should I rename it as 13.bin? I thought that the 12.bin will work every time because the camera see its installed firmware as version 11. If it is the case, should I count the number of reflashes and rename the files one higher every time? Anyway, thanks for Your answer, Tom

  • itscehrisitscehris

    I found a good deal on a Sandisk Card at Best buy.. It's an Extreme type card by the way, 30mb class 10....Hopefully this will work well with a high bitrate patch? I have a GF2...

  • soulkeepersoulkeeper

    A beginners question about white balance..i don't remember where i read it,but it was a "guide" for GH2 users...It suggested to adjust all the available white balance presets ,2 clicks left (towards yellow) and one click down (towards magneta)... Should i do this? Also,using the lcd in all my indoors shots , there's a greenish tint kicking in the whole image the time i press the record button.. Is there any way we could avoid this? Thanks!

  • itscehrisitscehris

    How do I know if I succesfully hacked my GF2?

  • mrbongomrbongo

    So I just did my first install of one of these settings. Been reading about how to do it for days and finally had the chance to go through it.

    Did everything right except the increment part. Bummer.

    Any way to go back to ver 1.1 stock settings now or am I screwed?

  • mozesmozes

    Yes, just download firmware 1.1 again...........

  • h3412t1355h3412t1355

    a noob question

    I tried to install Mysteron patch by Driftwood just awhile ago and shot a test the bit rate is claimed to be around 146mbs but mine is around 82mbs. I tested with Sedna and other patches and it's always around 40-60mbs some are 80mbs but never accurate as it's claimed to be ( most claimed to be around 100+mbs).

    Is there a camera setting i should know about? I use 3.65d for mysteron and v1.1 for the hack. I have 64gb 95/mbs card also. Please help me out and point me towards the light. I'm starting to think it's either my card or my cam is a defect.

  • ChainsawFilmsChainsawFilms

    I'm a week or two away from starting to play with some of the firmware hacks. My requirements will be 24p when shooting, and 25p for general "at home" use. However, I'd like to have 30p and 60p as well for slowmo. So my question is, can you mix PAL and NTSC modes, so with one firmware hack I can have all those 4 (24, 25, 30 and 60). I want to avoid tinkering too much with the camera; once I have a hack on it I like, I'll leave it alone :) Thanks.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @h3412t1355

    You bitrate will strongly depend of the scene that you are filming. Normally stated top bitrate is for very high detailed scenes.

  • jrdjrd

    @h3412t1355

    Are you sure that you have "rec quality" set to 24H, and not 24L? Sedna Q1 A and Q1 C both deliver 146mbs consistently in my tests, with the frame size about 762K and 757K, respectively.

    You will, however, see much more variation on VBR (variable bit rate) settings, with the maximum advertised rate rarely showing up.

  • bmcent1bmcent1

    I have a new GH2 and I'm learning the ropes. I'm using Sandisk 32 GB Extreme cards. NTSC. Primarily interested in 30 fps and 60 fps for slow motion.

    I may be looking for 2 different hacks. First, I'm looking for something that improves over the stock quality of the camera but offers stability. None of my filming is longer than a few minutes a take. I prefer to shoot 1080p/30 (or i/60 if it is the same to Premier Pro.) At another's recommendation, I've tried Sanity 4.1 and it's working well.

    For a more specific shoot, I will be working in a gym with poor lighting shooting gymnastics. Again, I can have a short filming duration so I don't need spanning. I'm looking for something reasonably stable (but I can test before hand) that would do well in lower light and for speedy motion like a gymnast on bars or vault. I would like an ETC mode to work in the hack so that I can extend the reach of my Nikon 70-300 or 85/1.4 lens in 720/60 and 1080 modes. Can someone recommend a good setting for this?

    Just generally, is Creative Movie mode HBR mode always 1080/60i regardless of the installed hack? I saw a recommendation to use 24H 80% and then speed up to 30p in post if audio isn't needed. Is there any difference? Thank you!

  • DeShonDixonDeShonDixon

    I am super confused as to which hack to download on my GH2. I just got it and read throughout this thread and it seems so far, from what you guys have said. That I should download Sedna AQ1, Mysteron, or Mysteron Burst Mode. Can you guys help me out?

  • balazerbalazer

    ChainsawFilms, you can switch the camera between PAL and NTSC modes, and there are PTool settings that support both. But you will need to reformat your memory card or switch to a different card that was previously formatted in the other mode each time you switch. http://www.personal-view.com/faqs

    bcent1, HBR mode is 25p (PAL), or 30p (NTSC) encoded as 25i or 30i, regardless of which hack you use. http://www.personal-view.com/faqs

    24p is capable of higher bit rates and higher quality than HBR, so you could shoot 24p and speed it up to 30 fps, but that would mean the video would be sped up by 25%. There are PTool settings with good quality in HBR.

  • bmcent1bmcent1

    Thanks balazer. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the different video modes.

    This FAQ -- http://www.personal-view.com/faqs/gh2-usage/gh2-usage -- mentions 'Variable movie mode: AVCHD 1920 x 1080 at 30 fps progressive with no sound, the recordings play back at 24 fps.' If 80% mode is recording 30 fps for 24 fps playback, can you switch it to 30 fps inside Premier Pro and end up with 1080p/30? That is assuming you don't need audio, which it true most of the time in my case.

    If what I wrote is correct, are there any differences between 1080i/60 HBR (1080p/30 in Premier Pro) and VMM 1080/30p?

  • balazerbalazer

    VMM 80% footage can be sped up 25% to get normal speed 29.970-fps playback. I'm not sure how to do that in Premiere, but tsMuxeR can do it.

    The difference between that and HBR 30p is that HBR has sound, and uses interlaced encoding. To use HBR footage, your NLE needs to be told to interpret it as progressive. Also, VMM hacks support higher bit rates than HBR.

  • bmcent1bmcent1

    Thanks! I think I'm getting it :)

    For 1080i, when I set my project to 30p in Premier Pro it seems to handle the clips as 30p without me doing anything. It looks like 30p played back inside PP. If I just play straight out of the camera with Windows Media Player it looks interlaced.

    For anyone it helps, to speed up 80% VMM in Premier Pro, drop the clip on your timeline, then right click, select speed/duration, and set to 125% in the dialog window.

  • ninoseninose

    But after applying Driftwood's Quantum X 4b CBR hack, I'm not getting a constant bit rate. Instead of getting 144Mbps, I'm getting 113, 116, 111, 99, 110, and 112 as Mbps in my clips. Has anyone else had this happen? And does anyone know what I could be doing wrong?

    When you apply this hack, aren't you supposed to be getting a constant high bit rate of 144 Mbps regardless of what you are shooting???

  • jrdjrd

    @DeShonDixon

    Mysteron Burst Rate is designed to run only a few seconds -- to capture high detail at a rate unsustainable for normal recording -- so that wouldn't be your setting of choice. No information was released about Mysteron -- it's a teaser -- so that's a setting you might want to explore only after you've tried other settings.

    If you want the highest data rates possible, Driftwood's Sedna Q1 A, B or C might be a good place to start. A is highest detail, B is medium and C is lower, designed (so says Driftwood) for subjects like faces, where you usually want less detail. Whether you'll be able to tell the difference between any of these 3 versions without an electron microscope is an open question.

    If you want to start with lower-rate settings, which could prove to be more reliable for recording and playback, and which require less storage space, you could try the latest Flow Motion or Sanity 5 settings.

    Note that unless you look very closely, and know what to look for, you may not be able to see the difference between any of these settings. All of them improve by orders of magnitude on the native compression of the camera. Where the camera reaches the point of diminishing (or zero) added benefit is an unanswered question. It's unlikely that you need to use a 154mbs CBR setting (as provided by Sedna) to get the best quality the camera is capable of, for 99% of the shots.

    Note that Driftwood is promising new and improved settings by the end of the month.

  • ChainsawFilmsChainsawFilms

    @balazar thank you for that. Switching cards is fine, I'll just need to be careful :) I just need to run some sensor tests to make sure the camera is fine "out of the box", get through a corporate shoot on Thursday, then I can start playing around with the firmware. Memory cards arrived today, looking forward to getting going :)

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @JValal In answer to your questions that you posted at http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/57024#Comment_57024

    When you hit the Record circle in another mode instead of hitting the shutter button in "Movie M" then you do not have as much control. It stills uses whatever setting you patched in (Sedna, Mysteron, etc.) but you don't always have control over ISO, shutter, etc. in the same way you would if you changed to Movie M.

    Also, in Movie M you can shoot at more different frame rates. There are certain things you want to configure to get the most out of this, so feel free to ask away but they are not specific to a particular Driftwood setting. :)

    When you switch to Movie M, your view should appear to have a 16x9 crop. If it is also zoomed in, you may be in "EX" crop mode. You can tell because at the top the letters "EX" appear in front of your movie mode (for instance "EX 24H").

  • jvalaljvalal

    @thepalalias Not following 100%. Thought I'd have more control in those other modes over the IA setting. Let me set this up and you can let me know if I'm tracking.

    Least amount of control = IA and Red Video Record Circle. Pretty much auto-pilot. Does this also inherit X patch settings?

    Medium Amount of Control = Dial settings used in conjunction with Red Video Record buttons. So every setting, but the (video M) dial setting and shutter button

    Most Control - Custom FN setting or (video M) dial setting? It is also zoomed not just 16:9. I'll check the EX crop mode. I think I turned that on.

    Ultimately I'm looking for great detail, richness and great low-light settings. My gut tells me that I'll have to compromise somewhere.

  • bmcent1bmcent1

    Looking for best quality out of the GH2, not too concerned about long record times. I did some testing today with Sanity 5 at ISO 160 of a scene in my garden with a 150mm macro lens and a lot of out of focus background in the frame. I was mainly checking noise levels in the smooth background, those that looked good vs those that were distracting.

    I liked the modes in this order from best to worst: VMM 80%, 24H (very close to tied for 1st), SH, MJPEG HD, HBR, FSH

    Would that order work as a rule of thumb for the common settings in the settings vault? Or is each patch tuned differently enough that you'd need to retest or get advice from the patch author to figure the best video quality of the modes?

    Can anyone recommend a good patch/setting when 1080/30 (or 60i) is desired with audio? For indoor shooting of sports.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @jvalal If you are using a SanDisk 64GB 95MB/s, you shouldn't have to compromise. Most of the patches that are good at one of the things you mentioned are also good at the others. Mysteron and Sedna AQ1 both span properly in 24H mode.

    You get the best image quality and stability out of the Driftwood settings if you record in 24H mode and the only way to use it is in "Movie M" mode or by assigning it to C1, C2 or C3. The only time I ever use the "record circle button" to shoot video is if I am taking a picture and I suddenly need video (like an animal leaps into frame, etc.)

    Now as far as your other issues, if things are looking zoomed in, then it sounds like you do indeed have EX mode turned on.

    Do turn EX mode off, you can push the "Menu Set" button, then use the left arrow to move to the left side. Move to the second icon from the top to get to the "Motion Picture" menu, then push the right arrow once to enter the menu. Move down until you get to the third page. There you will find that "EX . TELE CONV." option. Push right once more to get to choose on or off. Select "off" and push the menu set button.

    Before you leave the "Motion Picture" menu, go the first page and find where it says "EXPOSURE MODE". Make sure to set that to "M" if it is not already, then push the menu set button twice to exit.

    That should help.

  • DeShonDixonDeShonDixon

    @jrd Yeah thanks I tried Mysteron but then I just download Sedna AQ 1 B after reading what you said. Could you help me with picture profile settings? Like cinema, standard, smooth and stuff like that?

  • jvalaljvalal

    @thepalalias most helpful dialogue I've gotten off a forum in awhile. Super n00b question, what is 24H? Is this a setting I need to be mindful of?

    What does M in Exposure Mode do? Is that just for all manual exposures? I feel like what I see on the screen isn't always what's recorded.

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