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Firmware hack for Canon Vixia Legria?
  • 38 Replies sorted by
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    @Stears @Aria asks a really good question above. It's difficult to see what you're trying to do. I mean, camcorders are really useful for their form factor etc, if you are shooting run and gun etc, but if you are asking why no-one has hacked some of the Vixia Legria models, then I guess it's probably because they're not worth hacking.

  • flapixflapix

    I have an XA10 camcorder that I use side-by-side with my DLSRs due to its useful focal range, image stabilization and compact form-factor. For example, if my 5DmkII is equipped with a 35mm f1.4 and I suddenly need a telephoto, the Camcorder can fill that need in a pinch quickly. For me, the hacks that would be really useful would be higher bit-rate and higher FPS. It can't go above a true 30p. 60p, even scaled down to 720 would be useful!

  • AriaAria

    I have both Vixia cams and Sony top models and I prefer the look of my GH1 . Perhaps you could mix the two as each has certain strengths but I find DSLR to be more artistic in how you can achieve different looks with different glass.

    What are you trying to improve in terms of hacking a consumer HD cam?

  • StearsStears

    IHello CRFilms!

    I spoke about Canon HF series (memory cards with AVCHD codecs). The Panasonic & JVC camcorders have progressive HDMI out.

    I think that flag-ship consumer camcorders are more interesting than DSLR cameras, due to the Higher Video Resolution materials of camcorders (see ISO chart tests of camcorderinfo.com) Moreover flagship consumer camcorder models are not cheaper than DSLR cameras.

    Firmware hacks for consumber camcorders have more benefits (due to their superior video-image quality) than firmware hacks for DSLR cameras.

  • CRFilmsCRFilms

    Not sure about some of these other cams, but the HV20 recorded HDV 1440 in tape, but output full 1080p and the interlaced wrapped 24p was full resolution, as good as it got until the HDSLRs came out.

    http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?9670-Uncompressed-grabs-from-Intensity-vs-film-scans

    You can get used ones on Ebay for around as cheap as $200 and if you get a "damaged" one with a jammed tape deck, maybe even less.

    Used HV20 $200, BMD Shuttle v1 $180, $130 for 120gb SSD, = $510, cheapest uncompressed 1080p you can get. I've got a damaged HV20, but...the GH1/GH2 is good enough. I don't need uncompressed or 4:2:2 just yet.

  • StearsStears

    Yes, these canon memcard camcorders have HDMI output, but they haven't 60p/50p or 30p/25p progressive outputs. Their HDMI out support only interlaced (or Progressive Segmented Frame interlaced) output, which will be deinterlaced automatically by HD-TV sets. The deinterlace process significantly worsened the video sharpness/resolutions of the video materials of Canon camcorders. :((((

  • CRFilmsCRFilms

    A lot of those video cameras have full HDMI output. You can then buy a recorder and capture uncompressed. I know the HV20 could do it and while it was 60i, if you set the 24p setting, it was in the wrapper and you could then remove pulldown. The last and only test I saw was 5 years ago, before the cheap BMD shuttle came out so it wasn't very cost effective back then since you needed a PC with a raid setup. Now if you have a old HV20 lying around you could do it cheap now with the BMD Shuttle v1.

  • StearsStears

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev Ok, but what is the difficulty with the firmwares of camcorders? There are a lot of version of firmware hacks for DSLR cameras on the internet, but there aren't for videocameras. (Only HV20 30 40 camcorders have hack)

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @Stears

    If you ask me, no I can't. And do not use titles made from caps if you want answers.

  • StearsStears

    It is not a joke. The so-called flag-ship consumer camcorder models have higher price than most DSLR cameras, therefore their higher detals and sharpness is not a wonder.

  • GaboGabo

    Yeah, I was wondering if you guys could hack my refrigerator. Increasing my freezing ratio would be awesome.

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