What about for not so densely detailed shots with little movement... for example, locked down shots on a tripod in low light, GOP 3 rather than 12 is preferable? Or does it really not make much difference?

Audio sync issue with low GOP.
I'm experiencing lots of video-->audio lag with Kae's low GOP original settings (July 21st - setj.ini) I just shot some footage with people talking and the audio is really ahead (out of sync) from the onboard camera mic. I'd guess by as much as 300ms. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with the 'blip' frames not syncing with the audio track. Anyone else seeing/hearing this with any low GOP settings?

Update: Playback sync issues are an issue with FCPX ingest. I put the SD card back into the camera and clips do playback correctly in camera.

@Butt I will try out your GOP 6 settings today with some test footage.

@Butt and @kae
Tried an hour long test - moving camera at night and interior. Here's the first 4gig grab and times grab.

@driftwood

Your hour long test looks pretty stable. Did the clip play back oka? Could it ingest into your NLE? Did 3 GOP make a difference in low light?

@jfro

I've been testing/posting a lot of settings and I have had no crashes like you are talking about. But just to be sure -- the following is all you need to change to test high quality 1080 24P at 3 GOP:

Video Bitrate 24H=65000000
1080i50 and 1080p24 GOP Size=3
Video buffer=0x3000000
Video buffer 24p=0x3600000
1080p24 High Top Setting=42418
1080p24 High Bottom Setting=29692
1080p24 Low Top Setting=31178
1080p24 Low Bottom Setting=21824

(PAL users wanting to shoot 1080i/50 may need to add the following as the above settings force pal 1080i GOP to 3:
Video Bitrate FSH/SH=42000000
Video Bitrate FH/H=35000000

You can leave all the other settings ALONE until you have the 1080P look that you want dialed in. Then start adding the other tweaks or you won't know what's making you crash.

To vary the bitrate all you need to change is "Video Bitrate 24H=65000000" to 60mill, 50mill or whatever you want. Above 65Mill it will not work.

To vary 1080P 24 GOP just change: "1080i50 and 1080p24 GOP Size=" to 3, 6 or 12 (perhaps 9, haven't tested). Changing GOP to 2,4 or 5 will result in stuttering clips.

None of the above settings should break 1080i or 720P NTSC. It might affect 1080i Pal as the GOP for 1080 24P and 1080i pal are interlocked in this version of ptools and cannot be changed separately.

Let us know what you find out. I like "Video Bitrate 24H=65000000" which so far is the max possible, but 60M looks great too. I never let the shutter go below 50 and prefer 60 or above, so if you're in A mode watch what your shutter's doing and bump up the iso if you need it. The GH2 is producing very usable stuff with these settings even at 3200 iso.

The only major glitch I had with these extreme settings was playing back a death chart clip in camera. It froze and I had to remove the battery. After doing so when scanning the card I noticed a corrupt directory had been created. I had to copy my clips off (they were all fine) and reformat the card. It has not happened since but for safety's safe I don't play the death chart clips back in camera. Remember, we're on the bleeding edge here with this thing and this is normal beta-testing.

Note: When using these high data rate settings WAIT until the RED WRITE/ACTIVITY ICON disappears from the LCD before trying to play back or removing the SD card. I've noticed these high data clips take longer to finish writing to the card. If you pull the card out early it could cause problems.

@kae

"Still hoping others can eliminate the 10 frame glitch"

I think that VK & Chris have noted that the c. 10 dead frames in the beginning are consistent with the AVCHD codec- this is something that is present in an unhacked GH2- just not as noticeable. So don't worry about that @kae- have seen many of the videos with your settings- they are amazing! Good job!

@alcomposer
"have seen many of the videos with your settings- they are amazing! Good job!"

Any and all accolades MUST be laid at the feet of Vitaliy ;-)

@kae
Your 24p settings for 3 GOP work fine for me. I got some nice footage walking around the water front yesterday.

I've had 2 problems, 1 of which I'll let lie for more testing as I don't think it has anything to do with your settings.

The other that I'm playing with is getting the 60p to work with your 24p gop 3 settings. I get a blip and it switches back to 24p 1080 mode automatically. If I shut off right then and restart camera I can capture in 24p mode with your settings.

If I try to capture before shutting off, lock up. Must pop battery.

Again, your settings work fine for me, I just can't switch over to manual mode and 60p.

I tried butt's 42000k settings and gop 6 and both 24p and 60- worked.

I'm liking your 24p gop 3 settings so will keep working. Will let you know what I can figure out.

fyi, on playback in win 7, the 24p gop3 plays back fine, with the exception of when I try to scrub ahead. It takes a while to figure out and start playing back again. I'll try on another machine to see if it's computer specific.

@jfro
"I get a blip and it switches back to 24p 1080 mode automatically"

Two things to remember, in the settings I listed in long form above I didn't put the 1080i or 720p settings, just the ones you need for 1080 24p. I did attach the full settings I've been using in my 65mill zip posted in this thread at 12:26pm (attached again here). This file contains the 720p and 1080i settings I assembled from Butt's tweak and modified for 6 GOP. Try shooting with these exact settings, I am using them now and I do not have the problem you describe. Be careful not to tick an extra box or change a setting as that could lead to issues.

The 1080i/50 is always a worry because it's forced to a 3GOP due to the link between it and 24p. Hopefully, Vitaliy can separate these two in a later ptools.

Also, haven't done much testing with the 720p or 1080i modes as I never use them so I'm waiting for others to come up with the bulletproof settings for those modes -- hopefully they won't break the 1080 24P 3 GOP settings!


EDIT: SEE MODIFIED SETTINGS PAGE 6 FOR MORE STABILITY IN OTHER 720P/1080I MODES!

@jamesgh2

Ok. Let's fix this (remember I'm just including 1080/720p settings from others I focus on 24p). What were the exact settings you used that made the ntsc 1080i work earlier? What was the GOP length for 1080i/60, and were the following three settings in your previous ini file:

"Video Bitrate 24H ADD=
Overall Bitrate=
Overall Bitrate 2="

This is critical as Vitaliy and I concluded they were redundant for 1080 24P but maybe they're crucial for 1080i/720P to work with the modded 24p settings.

Also, do you have a native NTSC GH2 or a PAL? I'm assuming you're using a Class 10 card? By crash, do you mean stopped on a write error or camera reset like others have experienced?

Edit: I just did 2 minutes on the death chart in 1080i 60, no problems perfect playback in cam. But I did get a write error after 1:30 in 720P 60. I will add back in the above three settings and see if it fixes it.

@jamesgh2

Just added back these three settings (thanks Butt!) that I dumped earlier:

Video Bitrate 24H ADD=70000000
Overall Bitrate=70000000
Overall Bitrate 2=54000000

This seems to add to the stability of 1080i/60, 1080i/50 and 720P 50/60. Doing two minutes on the death chart at each rez NTSC and PAL all clips laid down perfectly EXCEPT 720P 60, it had a write error after 1.37 minutes. But that's on the death chart, you probably won't crash it real world. Still if you want to further tweak 1080i or 720P settings others should chime in as I have never tested them. Perhaps raising overall Bitrate 2 to 70mill would help? Perhaps doubling the high/low/top/bottom settings for 720P? I'm just guessing, here - Vitaliy??? Setting GOP+12 or 15 for 720P? I'll try and test some on Tuesday. Hope this helps you a little. I've attached the 65m 1080 24p settings with the above three settings now included so you can have more stable 1080i and 720P until this gets sorted.

If you have to have stable 720P or 1080i settings now I would be hesitant to load our 1080 24p settings until all is well. If you're just shooting 1080 24p then I think the settings are worth a lengthy test - BUT NOT ON A PAYING GIG YET - these are beta.

EDIT: SEE MODIFIED SETTINGS PAGE 6 FOR MORE STABILITY IN OTHER 720P/1080I MODES!

@APXmusic
they share their opinions to GOP6 with - thank