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GF3 Stable Settings topic
  • I have used PTool to “upgrade” my GH2 since the first version supporting GH2 came out. My favorite settings have been cbrandin 44 and 66, and they still works, but actually I have found that simple “settings for end users” in current PTool also works very well for settings that is not as extreme as many of the “expert” tester and developers settings like @cbrandin, @driftwood, @LPowell and others.

    I have found a gap between stock and extreme settings in the forums for us interested in an enhanced GF3. In current version of PTool 3.65d @vitaliy_kiselev in the background of the tool have built in the experience from the testing by the core team so when we end users are using “settings for end users” a lot happens in the background. I have tested a number of different settings only using “settings for end users” with bit rates spanning between 24 and 66 mbits and stock GOP’s of 12/15 as well as 6 and 3. When doing this I have adopted cbrandin’s method of using a multiple of stock bitrates.

    With this Topic I encourage people like me to discuss and disclose basic settings in between stock and “extreme”. I start to include three different settings, one stock GOP, one GOP6 and one GOP3.

    My Standard GOP caled Nature and my GOP 6 GOP 6 you now find bellow:

  • 147 Replies sorted by
  • Bellow you see StreamParser output for stock settings:

    GF3 Stock FSH_Frames.PNG
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    GF3 Stock SH_Frames.PNG
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  • 2x bitrate is good. Thanks. Try AQ4, too. At least it didn't crash.

  • @stonebat In beta I got 38/30 to work. I also tested 48/36 and it worked, but I am not sure if it went into falback or not. My subject might not challange the codec. Today is a gray day, yesterday was suny with high contrast. Yesterday AQ4 crashed with fast panning/tilting and 48/36.

  • 48 would be too high for AQ4. 32Mbps and AQ4 worked.

  • I also have tested Balazer Cake 2.0 modified with all GOP = 3. This gave a so far stable setting at 42mbits:

    3.65_e_Balazer_Cake_V2.0_GOP_All3 FSH_Frames.PNG
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  • I'm happy with the 32Mbps AQ4 default-GOP settings. It gave ave I-frame size around 700Kb. You'd need to get around 75Mbps bitrate to get such large ave I-frame from GOP3 settings.

  • The GF3 is producing some very nice footage with Sanity v4 and stable so far with Sage's Death Chart.

    Thank you VK! Thank you Ralph_B :)

    Sanity 4.png
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    GF3 Sanity v4.png
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  • Suppose we get mud from ave I-frame size 200KB out of stock GF3. Would ave I-frame around 300KB from hacked GF3 solve the issue?

  • I like @pvdog's GOP6 idea at 48Mbps for GF2 that is 3x base bitrate. That gives roughly 600KB ave I-frame. Seems in the ballpark. http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2681/another-gf2-stable-settings

    Hopefully he maintains and improves his settings. Otherwise I'm gonna use the 32Mbps AQ4 stock-gop settings http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/42044#Comment_42044

  • I forgot to say. Thank you Vitaliy!!!

  • @pvdog's 48Mbps GOP6 setting is stable. I like it. Try it out on GF3. It gave 672KB ave I-frame.

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/51297#Comment_51297

  • I have added a GOP 6 with 32/24 mbits to my initial post.

  • Anyone have any success with 108030p and a high stable bitrate?

  • @APXmusic Have you tried End User Settings 1080 = 32 and 720 = 24? You can also try to set AQ to 4 or 3. This gives you 2x bitrate compared to stock. You can also set all GOP to 6. This works for PAL 1080/720. More advansed settings can probably come up to at least 3x stock bitrate.

    Also se my earlier post where I tested Balazer Cake 2.0 modified with all GOP = 3. This gave me a bitrate of 42 and very god looking video. I think you will be able to find opther medum bitrate settings around 40-60 mbits that also work as towi's 24p25p-NINE HQ-Matrix 66M44M32

  • I think the AQ settings are designed with stock GOP in mind. 32Mbps GOP6 or 42Mbps GOP3 would give ave I-frame below 300KB. Improving B and P frames based on such I-frame wouldn't make much difference.

    Roughly 3x bit rate (i.e. 48Mbps) for GOP6, 4.5x (72Mbps) for GOP3, 7x (112Mbps) for GOP1 would match to the ave size of I-frames from 2x (32Mbps) AQ4 stock-GOP settings on GF2 and GF3.

  • So If I am using the 42Mbps setting, I shouldn't be using anything lower than GOP6?

    Also, I guess I didn't form my earlier question properly. Where do you enable the 30p?

  • @apxmusic I don't know for sure. One thing I check is ave I-frame above 500KB. But that doesn't guarantee image quality.

    I just like @pvdog's setting. Gotta move on.

  • Natural and Portrait photo styles seem the most flat on GF3 for color grading. They have about same DR, too.

  • @stonebat Thank you for your help just the same! I will post some results when I test it out tomorrow.

  • @stonebat. Does the hack give manual control with the GF3?

  • @kavadni You kind of do have manual control on the GF3. You have to set the camera to "M"

  • @APXmusic @kavadni : Unless my understanding is incorrect, "M" is for manual control of still photos only. Once you start recording video, the camera reverts to picking aperture, shutter speed, and ISO by itself. If you've got legacy lenses, you can regain control of the aperture (as it is set manually), and the "Flicker Reduction" function can let you lock the shutter speed to 50, 60, 100, or 120, but as of yet there's no way to stop the camera from adjusting ISO automatically. VK has mentioned before that he is working on manual controls for GF2 and GF3, but I've seen no promised implementation date.

  • @KeithLommel Thank you for the info. I just got the camera today. I thought it would be like most DSLRs but I guess not. Thank you!

  • @APXmusic : Well, implemenation of video modes varies greatly, even among DSLRs. Canon has manual controls and fully selectable frame rates (both PAL and NTSC) on all of its DSLRs from the entry level up to the pro. Sony has only recently added manual controls to some models, I believe... older Sonys also reverted to full auto. Nikon is also a mixed bag, with some cameras offering manual controls and others not doing so.

    For stills, though, GF3 should operate more or less as you'd expect from any DSLR.

  • I have tested cbrandin original very first settings from last year. It looks like it is slightly better than my end user only settings. This is what it gave:

    setc.zip
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    3.65_c_cbrandin_32_24 FSH_Frames.PNG
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    3.65_c_cbrandin_32_24 SH_Frames.PNG
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