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Beginners: Basic hacks questions
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  • @RRRR I hadn't anticipated all these bugs, as the GH1 hack is so stable and bug-free.

    Thanks for your advice. When you say that I should shoot in the VIDEO rather than MANUAL, what do you mean? The creative Video mode (camera symbol) has only 24p options - no 720p at all! For 720p, it seems you have to go into any of the other modes, of which I presumed M was the most user-controlled. Not only was the AUTO-ISO displayed during recording, but it also gave me no exposure indicators.

    I do hope there is a 1080p25 option this side of Christmas, as I am not able to use this for anything serious and that's what I had intended to do.
  • @RRRR OK i see i can change to pal and if i reformat the card everything is working. I also found out that this 1080i limitation is from panasonic and has nothing to do with hack. Btw i see that hack does not work for pal settings. my 720p bitrate is 12, on ntsc its 38. Am i right, does the hack only change the ntsc or both.
  • @Lanzar: you should be able to switch to PAL output then.. Not sure why your camera started up in NTSC, unless you bought it abroad. The issue with external monitoring and interlacing has nothing to do with the hack as far as I know. I'm interested in a way around this myself.
    If you cannot switch to PAL output, I suggest you redo the patch just to make sure everything is A-OK.

    @LucasAdamson ignore "AutoISO" whilst recording. It's a display bug. The camera does not suddenly switch to Auto when you shoot unless you make it shoot in Auto. Do you shoot with the dial in Manual? I suggest setting the dial in Video instead for best reliability that you actually get the settings you want / that everything is what it says.
    Unless you have artificial lighting in the scene, I would not worry too much about shooting 24p. Even if you have some artificial lighting it might be ok. It depends on circumstance, really - but you will no doubt notice flickering if there are problems with a certain scene. If there are artificial lights nearby - but no flicker - Just check the light sources nearby (by pointing towards them) - because stray light can cause flickering that is harder to detect. A good general tip is to push record before doing the actual shot to see what you get.

    Did you format the card in your camera with AQuarius installed? I had to do that even with a low level formatted card to be able to use AQuarius without issues.
  • Oh, by the way I tried AQuarius first, the latest one, and it crashed my 30MB Sandisk Extreme after 1 minute of 720p50 so I gave up on it for now and installed the 44Mb to see how it looked.
  • I had a nightmare trying to use my GH2 today, on a visit to an arboretum near where I live (a big park with lots of diverse trees, all turning red right now).

    HEaring of all of the 24p troubles for us in PAL-land, I figured I'd shoot in 720p50, so I loaded the CBrandin 44Mb patch, as I wanted a long record time.

    So, unlike the GH1, I discovered you can't shoot 720p in the creative movie mode, so I did so in M mode.

    In M mode, I set the video out to PAL, and mode to SH, etc. so it should be 720p50. Set the ISO to 160, as it was a nice day, hit record, and the ISO instantly turns to AUTO, and the exposure meters vanish!!??!! What the f*£k? Why? What am I doing wrong?

    I am sorely missing the standard 25p and 50p of the GH1 right now.
  • RRRR yea i enabled pal/ntsc switch. We are using the cammera on Oktokopter and i need it to see what i am i filming.
    Not only the output of the camera, the recording also switches to interlaced wich did not happen with no hack.
    Why is that???
  • Did you enable pal/ntsc switch in the patch?
    Live view - you mean you use an external monitor? It's a well known issue that the camera switches to interlaced when plugged into external monitor.
  • Live wiev problem with recording. ONLY 1080i while live view on. read down for info.

    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
  • @LucasAdamson re:

    1. It's the way to switch between PAL/NTSC modes, yes. Same for both cameras.

    2. If you want 720p50 gop 1, go with AQuarius patch. You just have to read on or ask for specific traits for a patch if you want further assistance. However, 720p50 and 50i are not extensively tested and they can definately use time and care from someone. I'm sure there are many who can help you get started if you are interested.

    3. The advances are too fast for efficient FAQ - there are also many who don't seem willing to read up but want to use the latest advances, and many don't even bother to read Vitaliys guides for using / testing the hack. So one could question what use there is for a FAQ. IMO people get help quickly on here, regardless of what their problem is. That said, a "GH2 - known issues" Topic could be very useful for those who want to educate themselves quickly.
  • @LucasAdamson
    FAQ would be nice, but they never seem to happen for cameras. Probably because by the time the info crystallizes and becomes FAQable, a new model comes out rendering the FAQ obsolete.
  • OK, I've been reading endlessly, but still I have questions:

    1. Is the "Video Out: NTSC/PAL" still the way we switch from 720p60 to 720p50 modes n SH mode, the same as GH1, or is a PAL purchased camera always a PAL camera in GH2?

    2. I am in PAL land, with PAL camera. Will stick with 720p50 until 25p firmware is released (hopefully), or "made accessible," by Panasonic. I am trying to ascertain my best (hopefully GOP1) option. Are all the patches focusing on the 24p modes only? How do I know? Pre-made patches are seldom accompanied by detailed explanations of what modes do what.

    3. There is no beginners FAQ either here or on DVXUser? Surely that means more work for answerers, and more confusion for beginners. I see Driftwood and Stonebat (and maybe others) are keen to colate something together - Kudos, guys - you rock! Thank you!
  • thanks @Vitaliy_Kiselev, and sorry on starting separate topics on questions which I thought were not covered (cause I googled in advance)

    My next question is as follows:

    The 2X crop factor is the greatest annoyance with GH1 and GH2, which also means that a whole lot needs to be spent on super wide lenses in order to get a shot just wide enough. One way to battle that is to use Anamorphic adaptors, and those cost an arm and a leg, and are very difficult to handle (imagine follow-focusing both the lens and the anamorphic adaptor simultaneously; or imagine having to remove and re-attach the anamorphic adapter every time you change a lens).

    It is possible to record AVCHD 1080p (height). But what is the maximum WIDTH of the video that can be recorded with GH13 and GH2? Are we limited to 1920, or is it possible to go wider with some sort of a hack/patch? Would it be possible to record 1080x2581 for example? That's the industry standard 2.39:1 aspect ratio that we get in most Hollywood and DVD productions these days.

    If it would be possible, it would mean that those folks who don't have the fortune to afford anamorphic lenses, can still use their existing lenses and produce a picture that is at least in the same aspect ratio as cinema standard (albeit without the oouie flares and anamorphic bokeh). The other major benefit would be that a 20mm lens can be used as a ~27mm, rather than a 40mm.

    I noticed here http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/5200#Comment_5200 that @sioppa was recording at 3840 x 1080

    Is it currently possible? if yes, how? if not, is it in development?
  • @simensito If you look on this site you'll find links to Panasonics AVCHD/P2 site with repair tools... which just happen to work on... oh, here is the link https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/avc_download.htm
  • @kronstadt

    With about 99.9% answer is no.
    It requires almost full rewrite of encoder, and, most probably, hardware LSI changes.
  • 4:2:2 color sampling for GH13 in AVCHD 1080p 23.97fps
    -----------------------------------------------

    Hi all and especially @Vitaliy_Kiselev,
    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)
  • @alcomposer Thanks for the info, found the famous 'Aquamotion' A 1080p24 the AQ2 INTRA 100M 80% speed (30p) from driftwood =)
    But any idea on the 88meg gop3 ?
  • @zeston What you need help with zesto? =)

    BTW can someone point to me where is the stable 88meg gop3 or the famous driftwood 100meg aquamotion, i believe. Thanks in advance
  • anyone in NYC who can help me hack the gh2?
    I'll make it worth your- their while.

    thnx

  • @jazzwalker try putting your card into the camera and format it from inside the camera. Then take out the card and put it into the SD slot of your computer and put your OWN Gh1__13X.bin file into the root directory of the SD card.
    Make sure that your battery is full when you begin the hack.

    Also if you connect your GH1 with your computer through USB and try to upload your .bin file like that, it won't work - it won't allow you to upload files into the card. Your computer must either have an SD slot, or you should get a USB flash card reader (that was my mistake few months ago).
  • Thanks onlocatoin, it was extremely helpful. The problem was simply that I had tried downloading the files before registering on the forum. I Logged back in after reading your post, and after a couple unexplained bumps getting the green lights on ( I will go with pilot error), it is working with ptool without issue now. I will wait till tomorrow to install one of the hacks.

    If I may ask one more question. Is there any thread pertaining to how specific memory cards perform? I have a SandDisk Extreme Pro Class 10 which is rated as 45mbs up ad 45mbs down. I am expecting this card to perform well, but would like to know if any info on what this card will or will not handle is floating around on the forum, or where an appropriate place to ask would be. I am not planning on getting any other cards till prices go waaaaay down, so I just want to know if I have any limits to obey other than the limits of the Camera itself.

    Thanks again onlocation, I wasn't expecting a reply so fast.
  • @mee

    First be sure you are logged in to personal-view forums, visit the patch vault thread, download the patch you want by right clicking on the icon and selecting "save link as". It will save a .zip to wherever you specify. Now un-zip that and place the .ini file in your ptools directory (the same folder your ptools software is in). The file will be named seta.ini, setb.ini, setc.ini, etc. Now open ptools and you can see along the bottom one of your a, b, c, presets are green. For example if you have setj.ini then in ptools the "J" icon will be green. You can click on that letter to load those settings, then save a new firmware file, put that new firmware file on your sd card and update your camera like you already did. Hope this helps.
  • Hi all, I have been nosing around here for half a year since I moved to Japan March 22nd of all times. I was expecting to be getting a used GH1, but my wife chipped in as my early Christmas present and I got a GH2 Yesterday !! Woot to the MF woot I say. Anyways to get to my question, and please excuse my ignorance if any is present. I patched it using ptool v 3.63d and what I think is the leaked panasonic firmware update (GH2__V10). I simply patched the language support so I can see what it looks like standard before getting into the more interesting patches. I felt smart since I had absolutely no problem doing this, but then I found the "GH2 Patch Vault, most popular patches in one place" thread, and could not for the life of me figure out how to use those images with Ptool. So after being a bit wordy here, my simply question is, How do I use those ini images, or where can I find this info? I have honestly been looking for 6 hours straight, and my eyes are going crossed. please help.
  • Is it possible to get auto iso to work when in M exposure mode, so it will meter, and set the ISO accordingly, for still photographs.

    I am the second or third person to ask for this, right here in this thread, and neither of us got a reply.

    Vitaliy, please tell us no, if that is the answer.

    Is it possible to hack the slowest allowed shutter speed, in A mode, with flash on? Right now it defaults to 1/60 second.
  • I´ve read some forum posts for the same problem, and it seems the repair utility has some issues, among others deleting files? Anyone tried it?
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