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Beginners: Basic hacks questions, series 2
  • 318 Replies sorted by
  • DeShonDixonDeShonDixon

    @tzver There's many patches that work great but the ones I seem to never have any trouble with at all with is Flowmotion, Sanity 5, and Driftwoods Cluster patches.

  • tzvertzver

    hi there, first, thank you all, its great to be a part of a growing community. i got my NTSC GH2 and i need to use it in PAL mode. it came with firmware 1.1, i use SanDisk extreme UHS-1 45MB/s x300 cards (32 & 16 GB). i tried to hack it using EOSHD patch 44 Vanilla, and it seemed to work well, i was recording almost 40 minutes but then i went outside (while continuing the shot) and after few seconds i got this message "MOTION RECORDING TERMINATED DUE TO CARD WRITE SPEED LIMITATION" (somthing like that) and the camera freezed. only removing the battery restarted it. i wonder is there a known issue with this card type, or that the patch i used isn't reliable to use on originaly NTSC body in PAL mode? i have to run more tests, i loaded the body now with the original 1.1 firmware and changed only the 30 minutes limitation, the ISO expending option and the PAL/NTSC switching option. any suggestions for a reliable patch that'll work for me with these cards & body?

    thanks.

    p.s. - hope its not a too stupid question - what does SPANING means? why is it important?

    thanks again :)

  • ahblezaahbleza

    Just as a help to total beginners, here is my GH2 cheat sheet, so you can figure out which mode shoots at which quality/speed (without hack.)

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mGCYzzdahQ4AIhPfcoHBv9hMbhVCmX5HkfOu5HRQUrs/edit

  • jman246jman246

    Thank you, you're a lifesaver!

  • driftwooddriftwood

    When it goes back for repair its highly unlikely they'll look to see if its been hacked. One of my gh2s failed 6 months ago and they just swapped the mobo over and sent it back as new. Most warranties are serviced by third parties, they work for lots of manufacturers and just order replacement parts in. I dont think they'd know diddly squat about the workings of any one particular camera and codec.

  • jman246jman246

    @lunalobo75 I know that i can expect more noise with my lens as it is f4-5.6 but even in a room with sufficient daylight banding and noise occurs.

    Also how can you revert to old firmware? I thought hacked firmware appears as 1.x where x>1

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    @jman246 You want to get lowlight performance from the stock 14-140mm kit lens? It only has a F/4.0-5.8 range. You'll need a faster lens for lowlight, or more lights. All those great videos you are seeing with the GH2 are with good glass and fast lenses, and/or proper lighting.

    I don't know if it's traceable, but you can revert back to the old firmware.

  • jman246jman246

    Just got a gh2 and i'm not so impressed with low light stock on the 14-140 lens kit (banding and noise fest). Thinking of hacking it but as i have 4 years extended warranty wanted to know if a) Is the hack reversible i.e untraceable and b) does hacking the GH2 void the warranty

    Cheers

  • jeffharrigerjeffharriger

    Never mind. Yes, the answer is I'm a dummy.

  • jeffharrigerjeffharriger

    I'm sure this is covered somewhere, and I'm just not finding it, but in Ptools, where you have the green buttons labeled A-J where you can store settings, is there a way to delete the settings that are saved under whichever letter, or overwrite them, if you have them all filled up? I'm sure this is simple, but any help is appreciated. Thanks

  • silversilver

    Sorry my bad, i found the problem, i had my display preset to zoom in at 125%, that why i can't see the full GUI. Thanks.

  • AshunAshun

    @silver If I set my monitor to 800x600, I can reproduce your problem. But it's 2012, so you aren't using 800x600, right? What are your screen settings?

  • silversilver

    Hi,

    I m new here, when i open up the PTools, the GUI fills up the whole screen vertically, i can only see the 2 big rectangle buttons below, as for the small circle buttons, i can't see or access them, they are practivally out of my screen, i m on window 7. I have double checked on my screen settings, works fine with all other programs so far. What can i do next ?

    Thanks in advance if anyone can spot my mistakes.

  • balazerbalazer

    Those check boxes and the associated numerical fields tell PTool how to modify the firmware image. Checking a box enables the modification. Ptool settings can be saved in an .ini file, which you load by clicking a green circle at the bottom. Read the FAQs: http://www.personal-view.com/faqs

  • RockHunterRockHunter

    Hi, my name is Rock Hunter. I'm a noob when it comes to hacking the GH2, I admit it. But I'm trying to learn.

    When used Ptools, I selected the GH2__V11.bin file. Then I saw Patches for end users and patches for testers. If I open up Patches for end users (since I am an end user and not a tester), I see various items with selection boxes. My question is: do I need to check the boxes of the items I want? If I don't check any of the boxes will I change anything in the Panasonic 1.1 firmware or not? Do I need to select anything at all from the section for testers?

    Sorry if this seems basic to you but it is a little confusing to me and none of the videos that I've looked at on YouTube about hacking the GH2 mentioned these check boxes; they just said to click on the green letter at the bottom and save the file.

  • questechquestech

    Believe it or not I will get it eventually LOL

    Thanks, I really appreciate your help!!!!

    I'm about to apply the hack for the first time using the No adverse affects 725B Pxxxxx Settings :-)

    Thanks Again!!

  • balazerbalazer

    I guess it is a semantic argument whether constants are merely "hidden settings". You can say they are settings, in the sense that some Panasonic engineer set them to those values. But they aren't settings in the sense that they would ever be changed by anyone, hidden or not.

    You misused the word "patch" again. Better just forget this word. PTool settings. That's what you care about.

    None of the PTool settings will help noise reduction.

    Flashing your GH2 with a new firmware image will not cause the camera to lose its settings.

  • questechquestech

    Hello & Thanks for the reply!

    Damn - I read that thing casually more than once (and lots more - maybe too much in one sitting) :-)

    • OK, I can see how a patch isn't exactly analogous to a preset, but I get it now... Thanks!

    • "Ptool is an application that allows access to GH2 settings that are normally hidden from the everyday user. It changes the firmware as far as those setting are concerned, but does nothing to change the inner code of the firmware."

    So other than the last part of this statement "but does nothing to change the inner code of the firmware." my statement is true... so I get partial credit.

    • Using Ptool, you can make your own patch much like Driftwood, etc... true?

    Two Followup Questions Please:

    • Regarding Noise - Is there any hack that can help with noise reduction, especially in ETC mode?

    • Once you hack your GH2, do you loose all of your previously saved setting like Custom Mode, Constant Preview, Function Buttons, etc?

    Thanks Again!!!

    I guess I have to re-read everything :-)

  • balazerbalazer

    questech, wrong on most points. :) Please read the FAQs: http://www.personal-view.com/faqs

    PTool modifies firmware images. Each modification is a patch. Any other use of the word "patch" is incorrect. Some of the modifications are simply changes to constants in the firmware image. Other modification are changes to the executable code.

  • HillTop1HillTop1

    How do you switch in the camera from PAL to NTSC and vise verse? ( My understanding is that can be done right? )

  • questechquestech

    Hello Everyone!

    After reading for a couple of days, this newbie is starting to get the picture, but I need your guidance.

    Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears to me that the following may be true:

    • Ptool is an application that allows access to GH2 settings that are normally hidden from the everyday user. It

    changes the firmware as far as those setting are concerned, but does nothing to change the inner code of the firmware.

    • Patches are just like custom presets that you might save in a compression program or your NLE. It is just a

    collection of your favorite settings... am I right?

    • Ptool allows you to make those aforementioned changes and save them to a file, which is then called a patch (like a

    custom preset). Ptool also lets you prepare a SD card with your "patched" firmware to be applied to the camera.

    • Driftwood, Flow Motion, and the like are just these saved files, much like a preset that can be shared and loaded

    into your NLE system.

    • Using Ptool, you can make your own patch... true?

    • If you can use Ptool to make your own patch, you can share it much like Driftwood, etc... right?

    • If that is all true, Ptool has a function to save your patch for sharing and later use... correct?

    • The reason we don't hear much about noise when it comes to the hacks is because the hacks only address settings, not internal code, which handles how the sensor information is processed by the DSP. And noise is probably more of a factor of the sensor circuitry and has physical limitations as to what can be done given the hardware being used.

    Either I finally got it, or I took the wrong train and am heading to territories unknown...

    Which is it? :-)

    All guidance is Truly Appreciated!

    Thanks...

  • Montwood41Montwood41

    I am having the same problem with firmware not being able to be loaded. I took the following steps...

    1. Installed the 44 mbs patch. I named it GH2__V12.bin. It worked fine. I didn't notice a huge difference in quality.

    2. I then installed the 88mbs patch. I named it GH2__V13.bin. My current cards aren't fast enough to support it so I tried to load Panasonic's firware GH2_V11. The firware would not load.

    3. I then tried to reinstall the 44mbs patch and it worked.

    4. Now the camera won't recognize any firware when it's loaded.

    Any troubleshooting suggestions?

  • mozesmozes

    Well i have a strange thing ad the moment.
    I was improving the sports setting, and it says Framerate 50,199 fps ?
    And in ntsc Framerate: 60,150 fps where does that ,199 and ,150 comes from?
    Pal http://speedy.sh/3PUXQ/00000.MTS 46mb
    Ntsc http://speedy.sh/yNMNx/00.MTS 52mb

  • balazerbalazer

    jonbondy, PTool can't increase the frame rate. Please see the FAQs: http://www.personal-view.com/faqs

  • BressonftwBressonftw

    I don't know about the GH1, but I believe for the GH2 it's only possible to film at 60 frames per second max. I don't think PTool can help you there, but I have heard some good stuff about "Twixtor", which can help with slow-motion (check some vids on vimeo for twixtor).

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