Tagged with 422 - Personal View Talks

Do we really need the GH4 and 4:2:2, 10 bit, 4K, Raw file? GH1 and GH2 still rock for me

eurocameraman — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 04:20:33 +0000

I am just asking myself a simple question I would like to share with the independent filmmaking community: Do I really need all of this? 4:2:2, 10 bit, 4K, Raw file, ProRes… Do I really need to invest as soon as something new and fancy is coming out?

On my own experience, I would say not so sure as I am very pleased with the result I am getting out of my GH1, GH2 and now GH3. And my GH3’s video is not making a huge difference compare to what I got with the GH1 or GH2. I am still using the hacked GH1 every summer, as a copy is stored in my home country (France) and I love its color rendition compare to GH2/3. FYI, I am living and working in China since 9 years.

Every year I am shooting a short movie or an experiment with the hacked GH1. Some complained about the AVCHD format, but I never got problem in post with it as I am using Premiere CS6 on a powerful enough PC (Dell M6400). I also tested heavy color grading without problem on my GH1 footage, as you can see here on the following videos. Sorry one of the short film doesn’t get English sub yet, but I am posting a link to those video for their visual quality first, so enjoy that part. La Deuche from Hell HD (US sub Version) (there is a longer French version too)

Revolverte HD (F)

In China, I am also using my GH camera beside a Panasonic AF100, which is well known to NOT be the most exciting camera on the market (4:2:0 8 bits, AVCHD at 28MB/s, what a shame!). I had to buy an AF100 as no serious client in my field would accept to pay my usual fee (I was working with a HVX200 + Letus Ultimate prior to the AF+GH) if I were shooting with a GH2 only. After 2 jobs my AF100 got paid back and I can enjoy the use of it with my GH2 and GH3 on project now. ,

AVCHD, 4:2:0, bits… Nevertheless, I shot this Making Of video on huge project with my newly arrived AF100 and GH2 (not hacked yet). Production house, agency and client were delighted by the result. I did everything: shooting, lighting (for interview), sound recording and editing… I am a one man crew shooter (kind of MacGyver sometime) and I prefer to keep things, cheap, simple and light. CrossPolo TVC Making OF HD (US)

To keep the story short, since 2012, I had completed bunch of projects with my M43 equipment without any complain from clients (VW, Audi, French Consulate, TV Channel…) and I might invest in the GH4 if it solves the 3 main problems of the GH3: Viewfinder definition (GH3 is a nightmare compare to GH2 for manual focusing) + real video assistance (Peaking + zebra + waveform) + full time display of histogram and sound recording level while shooting.

4K or higher bit rate are not important to me as my video will NEVER be projected on a big screen and the file of the GH3 are already big enough in term of storage. Quality wise, I really like some of my GH1, GH2 or GH3 shots, and I don’t see much of a difference in term of emotion, and I think this is a more important feature for an independent filmmaker than pixel count or comparing numbers on data sheets…

You can see more of my work here: http://vimeo.com/channels/659428/videos

Automated Avid, ProRes & LW format conversions - auto file renaming tools

notrons — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:48:16 +0000

I'm looking for people who are interested in automated .mts file conversions to ProRes and Avid DNxHD 4:2:2 formats, or for import into Lightworks, to test my new DSLR Post Prep Utility Windows application. The program is designed to automate the process of creating either and or both HQ and proxy conversions on demand, automatically by watched folder, or can be scheduled for off-hours. It uses the ffmpeg engine for all of the conversions (which run in their own minimized windows). When in watched directory mode it can also be minimized to the system tray where it continues to provide notifications and watch for new files. The following conversions are currently supported;

HQ Formats - 4:2:2

Uncompressed 4:2:2 10bit (working with LW)
ProRes 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 176Mbs HQ
DNxHD 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 176Mbs HQ
MPEG4 Wrapper for Lightworks
MPEG-2 4:2:2 I-Frame w/ M701 tag (for Lightworks only)
MPEG-2 4:2:2 I-Frame (w/out M701 tag) 



Proxy formats

ProRes 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 36Mbs
DNxHD 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 36Mbs 1080P 24
DNxHD 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 60Mbs 720P 24
DNxHD 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 145Mbs 720P 60
DNxHD 4:2:2 YUV 10bit 115Mbs 720P 50

DNxHD and ProRes HQ conversions seem nearly identical, but I think ProRes is a little better quality as a proxy format. DNxHD renders much faster than ProRes. I have a beefy workstation with Matrox hardware and it can handle all of the usable formats pretty easily but I would love to hear about how they work out for others. Please give it a try and let me know about the experience!

Check out http://hdcinematics.com/NewWeb/tools.html for more info. Also available are tools that add custom prefixes and timestamps to files on a directory-wide basis - to help keep clips uniquely named and organized (ExtensionCord). You might want to grab the Matrox and Avid codecs while you're there and download a copy of HD-MINI to audition clips on demand.

With this utility you can select a different flavor of HQ codec from proxy codec and have both conversions done automatically and off-hours. If you use ExtensionCord to add a prefix and (file creation) timestamp to your files before converting, you can edit with the proxies and then offline / link to the HQ clips of exactly the same name at render time.

I hope you can find some use for these ...; )

Cheers!

Mjpeg clip

TrackZillas — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:08:52 +0000

Just watch this video on vimeo & the guy claims with his hack GH2 can record MPEG2 4:2:2 @ 2K (2048x1152) let me know what you guy's think about it, or if it's fact or fiction..

4:2:2 color sampling for GH13 in AVCHD 1080p 23.97fps

kronstadt — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:27:02 +0000

Hi all and especially Vitaliy,
I'm wondering about the roadmap of future developments for the GH13 hack. I'm a relative newbie, so if this question sounds stupid, just say so.

I noticed that for MPEG there's a checkbox for 4:2:2 color sampling. And MPEG videos (with Powell's 100mbps and with Blackout-Powell's patch) do look somewhat richer in color. The trouble is that MPEG does not come in 1080p 23.976fps.

So I'm wondering, Vitaliy, do you plan to introduce 4:2:2 color sampling also for AVCHD in 1080p24 ??? (would be awesome to have this)

Hacked GH1 and Final Cut Pro

gohanmj — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:31:05 +0000

I am starting this thread because I have done a lot of research on the GH1 hack but I cannot find any information on what should be a common real-world problem with the hack. Here is the problem and all relevant information:

1. I have hacked my previously unhackable GH17 with all of the popular patches and a couple of my own modified patches using ptool 362.

2. Of all patches I have tried, lpowell's max latitude 100mbps patch seems to have the highest average bit rate according to Media Info.

3. Media Info says the max latitude patch has a max overall bit rate of 108 Mbps and averages 20.8 Mbps

4. Media Info says that footage from my unhacked GH17 has a max overall bit rate of 18 Mbps and averages 11.8 Mbps

5. Once my footage is transferred into Final Cut Pro 7 using Pro Res 422, the data rate in FCP7 of my unhacked footage averages 17 MBps while the data rate of my hacked footage averages about 13.5 MBps.

6. This discrepancy makes no sense to me. And moreover it would seem that if you edit in FCP7 that you are better off not hacking the GH1. Is this assumption correct? Can someone share more information on this issue?

Why do we need HDMI alive: the next big step.

lolodigital — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:03:16 +0000

Thanks so much Vitaliy and Chris for big work done about encoder.
Do I already dream about that I consider to be more important for numbers of us using the GH2 for professional stuff: clear HDMI output to get uncompressed videos ...

I do a brief comparison between hight contrast images, one grab from 42mb hack, the other from RAW picture cropped and resized.

Is there any chance to see something near RAW quality via HDMI link in the future ?