I took the time to re-shoot some tests I did. I erased the footage of the original tests, but because there was a lot of interests on other forums, I decided to re-run the tests and upload the results.

I am using a Google/Gmail account to facilitate the transfer and you should be able to download my files from there now.

By following the link below, you will find a zip file that contains my newly shot test clips that should help you to see what I see.

Once you download and extract the zip, please read the ReadMe file contained therein before you watch the clips. It will give you some background and logic as well as explaining the files contained and the naming nomenclature.

Please let me know if you can't download the file so that I can figure out why.

As you will see, I purposely shot a high contrast scene at low exposure so that it would reproduce the areas that cause the most noise problems for My GH2.

Please let me know what you think.

The Link to my files:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0J7h38ZfdK4U296TDBtLW1HSWM/edit

@rajamalik @thepalalias @Benibube thank you for the comments guys. @cjdincer

rajamalik, @coors thanks for testing the setting(s) guys; rajamalik Congratulations for your little b...

Releasing the setting, after very long time working on it, the name and some info see 1st alinea:

I know it was/is a challenge (AQ4 and Q8 in the same setting) for most detailed and lower compression setting and want everything constant bitrate-style and rajamalik asking for the most detailed one every time but here is the release of the "OBS AQ4-Q8 161M-setting exTReme-KAYSERI A-GraDetail" setting, the setting shows (due to using lower compression in the setting, but I believe so you see more), maybe say high ISO, a little bit more noise/maybe artifacts, I did not used 3rd party matrix, but the goal is to get every bit (in this situation pixel) what GH2 is seeing/recording, out of it and see everything yourself when playing back and in post too, and cbr-style bitrates too; (do the rest/editing in post).

Okay it's logical to say when you have an very detailed and low compression setting, on high ISO you see some more noise/artifact etc. but you get everyhing out of the gh2 I believe. But I believe, if an "matrix master" can make a matrix especially for this or similar setting then we get an setting with some reduced noise/artifacts directly on the sd-card itself. But matrix by the way is a subjective matter therefor it is up to you to judge or not judge things by matrix way but settings way. And I did not used third party matrix for the setting.

But, on the other hand: maybe there will be enthousiat users to get/shot/capture, you name it, this way and do rest in post, I think and believe it is maybe some personal taste and this setting is on paper very good for low detailed scenes or for someone always looking for it or exactly want details and seeing that little bit more.

The setting gives you constant bitrate-style bitrates and for example 720p50 give you around 100Mbit-range bitrates, this is high in comparison with some other gop-1 720p50 settings/ and some of the other gop-1 720p setting are not working reported earlier by others I though. Don't forget 1080iFSH(50) is available too and also to try for slow motion with deinterlacing in post for 1080p50, maybe this setting is better then other 1080i also, who knows. (This is for some of you as a fan of deinterlacing 1080i to 1080p50 in post, instead of 720p50 give a try too.)

Suggestion: Maybe, from scratch, a matrix master or a matrix maker can make a matrix to also temper some noise/artifacts, high ISO etc. especially for this setting, but also this setting is for people who get the most details out of gh2 and loves to do things in post...

Setting itself, "OBS AQ4-Q8 161M-setting exTReme-KAYSERI A-GraDetail":

(for me unbelievable to let the setting work with AQ4 and Q8 in the same setting at the same time, "All to detail and low compression" at a such high setting, especially when you know that settings for some mode influences the other mode, but I've got them work together for:)

• working (/or say, I tested) for the modes => 1080p24H, 720p50SH, HBR, 1080iFSH(50), 80%24L but, with such high bitrate setting it was not easy to get, all the modes above, working
• for all the modes I've written above, constant i-frames-style (+ b-frames for 720p50), cibf-style, except for 80%24L though it has high i-frames between around 360KB to max around 780KB, average around 600KB, and constant bitrate-style, cbr-style, for all the modes I've written above too, (including for 80%24L mode)
• tested with manual lens, (auto-lens check for yourself)
• there is a time-limit 3:45min but every mode is working for me with my setup (sd card and manual lens), so recording and also in cam playback available for, maybe including but not limited to (does mean other modes such as 720p60 needs testing, test for your country, I tested the PAL), the modes from above
• sandisk 8GB SDHC 95Mbits/s card

some bitrates I've got during testing, setting for 1080p24 is high to the 150M range, but see others very good ones: - 720p50 100M (for slo-mo see 1080i fsh(50) mode too, for using deinterlacing in post) - 1080i FSH (50i) 100M (especially for people who want 1080p slow motion with deinterlacing) - HBR 100M (I think very good one for hbr) - 80% 24L 100M

here is the setting as .zip file attached

(sorry I started my previous question in the wrong section, sorry mods)

You guys have made me almost sell my 5Dmkii, almost...!

But, I have to say that at this point I'm a little disappointed with the GH2.

First, the hack I'm using is spanmybitchup v2b. I'm shooting on a Nikkor 50mm 1.8.

I was shooting a music video yesterday and had the GH2 as my B camera. I tried to shoot on HBR...when I got home to edit, I realized that it's been shot in 30fps...super let down. I can't use this footage as everything I ever shoot in in 24p....sigh....

Last weekend, I brought it down to Houston for a celebrity basketball tournament. I get there, set up my 5D and walk the floor capturing dunks and stuff like that in 60fps. I get home to edit, interpret the footage to 24fps...its VERY jittery. So, I take a look at more footage. Also jittery and not a smooth slow motion. Some of it was. Weird.

Questions: If I shoot in 24p cinema and I have the hack installed...am I even shooting with the highest quality the hack has to offer or is this still just normal, stock GH2 footage?

60fps. Why is it that I am getting jittery slow motion when conformed down to 24fps? Why is it smooth sometimes? I REALLY don't like to roll the dice especially for events...if you sleep on capturing a moment, or it doesn't turn out good...it's gone forever.

That's all!

Thank you guys so much!!!

I see on small lcd of gh2 that when you change hack, you see directly if shooting is more stobo or not, also if you not record it. I'm going to see the external recording by ninja or hyperdeck, to have smooth motion and high quality, but... if is correct that i just see difference on lcd, is right that HDMI out is modified from hack? what part of hack touch it ? Is AQ parameters? is bitrate? is allocation table or what? anyone can tell me more about it?

http://www.mindomo.com/ (as it makes it possible to collaborate and also have desktop apps, but any similar platform is also suitable)

To make mindmaps for settings, making it easy to find suitable ones.

It can be different veiws to problem, starting from all GH2 settings to specific GF3 settings with custom tables.

I'm looking for advice on which patches to use. I would like to be shooting 1080 25p Pal. I'm looking for a patch which is reliable for long takes, documentaries. A patch which is good for motion and doesn't give the strobing effect when panning or moving the camera around, I will be shooting on a shoulder mount a lot. I'd also like to be able to project the final production. Am I looking for too much out of this tiny camera?

I also need advice on settings. Because I want PAL 1080 25p does this confine me to shooting in HBR mode only? I see a lot of work has been done in the cinema 24p setting but I need 25fps and therefore this is useless for me, advice appreciated.

I have tried many of the patches and so far find Flow Motion V2 to be the most stable in my limited experience. Some of the other patches freeze the camera when I'm in HBR mode or don't span, I'm probably missing a setting.

Finally this is what I'm using:

GH2 Nokton 25mm Zeiss 28, 45, 50, 180mm Takumar 135mm 1x Scandisk 30mb/s 16gi 1x Scandisk 95mb/s 64gig 3X Transcend Class 10 16gb

I'm really looking forward to hearing any advice, especially from people who shoot in PAL land. Thanks guys.

Albi

Namely, I thought that GH2 native progressive files (24H or 24L) will solve all the problems with Broken Chroma upsampling which I experienced with GH1 "interlaced wrapped" progressive files. Now the situation is slightly improved. However, as I am really picky about the quality of my footage, I noticed that colour resolution of the clips, when imported into Sony Vegas and then exported by using loseless codec, is not retained. The colour (spatial) resolution becomes lower.

However, by importing the following Avisynth script

DirectShowSource("name_of_the_file.MTS")

ConvertToRGB

into VirtualDub and exporting by using the same codec, the colour resolution becomes much better. You can see 400% enlarged crop below (the first with Sony and the second with Avisynth-VirtualDub). Please, click on the first two pictures (left & central) to see enlarged view.

So, I still can't use direct way of editing my footage (direct import into Vegas) if the quality should remain on the highest level. So, the first step is to convert the footage, by using Avisynth-VirtualDub, into some codec (e.g. loseless or Morgan) which preserves entire colour information.

However, such workflow is possible with camera factory firmware/settings, but not if I use, for example, Sanity 5 patch/settings. When exporting Sanity 5 footage with Avisynth-VirtualDub workflow, I always get exported file which is more or less garbage (see the third picture) - the picture becomes worse and worse by time.

I know that majority of GH2 owners are probably satisfied with results on the left picture (note again that it's 400% enlarged detail). Unfortunately, I am not. :-(

Is there any other way to get high-quality footage from other lower-bitrate patch (I liked Sanity 5 due to a relatively low bitrate) by using Avisynth-VirtualDub workflow?

In 24H mode, I get about 5 hrs of video on my 64GB card (bought here: walkingad.com/#SDXC), maybe more - never had a chance to run out of space yet. My subject so far was NYC skyline with clouds slowly passing over.

I use Canon 70-200, stopped down via the Redrock LiveLens adapter, and with the circular polarizer + IR cut filter at the front.

Of course I do not anticipate this setup to work well at night, where classic timelapse will shine due to unlimited shutter opening time that can be dialed in as needed.

In daylight situations, with standard video shutter speeds, I think 24H is a great alternative though.

It lets you have real-time video when you want it, and then speed up/slow down as needed, in post. Clearly, stills timelapse is limited to the interval used. The interval is normally no more frequent than once in 1-3 seconds, so about 24 - 72 times faster than real-time.

Clearly, still will have much higher resolution, so one could pan/scan or zoom within the frame. So there's a tradeoff.

But in general, I am amazed how small the video files can be with Sanity v5 - I'm clocking around 50 minutes of real-time 24H video per each 4GB segment!

Series 1 Link

Series 2 Link

Series 3 Link

ALL PRESENT DRIFTWOOD SETTINGS LINKS ARE NOW INCLUDED BELOW ALONGSIDE THE SETTINGS - SEE LINKS.

ALL Settings require Panasonic firmware v1.11 & ptools 3.64D '200212' OR 3.65d required). Settings for GH2 & GF2 Lumix cameras.

THE LATEST SETTINGS

Cluster v2a (12 GOP, 3 GOP & 6 GOP)- Released 31 May 2012

FOR LONG RECORDINGS. VBR Long GOP (12 GOP) edition of Driftwood matrix driving 24pH with deblocking and high i frames (1,180,000 sized i frames in 80% mode). HBR/1080i Modes pushing 24p modes. 720p (GOP6) Working and spanning. mjpeg mode- simply the best around. Inc. Per Lichtmann's (thepalalias) top quality all singing-all dancing and quite brilliant 'Pasadena Pulse' audio settings.

Cluster v2e (The ALL 6 GOP setting)- Released 31 May 2012 V High i frames on 24p (you cant get any higher on death charts) 120+mbps, 80% mode works, V High HBR (800+ on death charts), v High 720p (600/700+ on death charts), 2K HD resolution 2048 x 1152 pixels - Highest quality MJPEG, Highest qual mjpeg SD. Great Audio from Per Lichtmann once again. NOW with in camera playback

NOTE ABOUT CLUSTER:

v2a = is 12 gop on 24p and 1080i50, 6 gop 720p and 3 gop 1080i60. This settiing is aimed at NTSC users.

v2e = all 6 GOP with 2k rez mjpeg & incam playback. (v2b, 2c and 2d are superceded by 2e) work for both NTSC AND PAL users.

Therefore, anything inbetween 2a and 2e, forget about them!

So, in summary, v2a or v2e are all you need to know about in this v2 release.

Driftwood Mysteron. - Released 29th March 2012

Top notch 24pH Intra setting with deblocking. 720p50/60 (GOP3/6) Workling and spanning. HBR / 1080i INTRA. Plus special burst mode setting of Mysteron giving 170M+ recordings and 900k Intra frame sizes at 5 secs hi detail, longer at less detail.

Driftwood Sedna 'Settings' - Release 15th March 2012, 01:30am

Stats: 24p Intra, 1080i/HBR Intra, 720 GOP3/GOP6 all settings as Orion with Sedna Matrices:-

A = High Detail matrix Good for Wide full detail shots.

B = Good allround detail matrix Great all round wide / mid shots.

C = Softer detail matrix Softer skin tonal detail.

Two packs, one at Quantisation 20 (default), the other AQ1 (pushed the Quantisation and bitrate further still). Note: AQ2 to 4 is unnecessary. Q20 is REALLY pushing the Quantisation to best levels without having to use AQ. Q20 Bitrate is measured to detail and will achieve in places AQ3 or AQ4 size bitrates without distorting Q so much as before.

Driftwood 'Cluster' v1 With Orion (AVC Intra adapted) Matrix VBR 'Settings' - Released 9th March 2012 1am

Stats: Upto 72M 24p, Upto 36M HBR, Upto 36M 720p modes. (*All REC MODES include B frames)

Driftwood Quantum X (v4d Orion) 'Dark Matter' Matrix Pack + HBR FIX - CBR 'Settings' - Released 18:30pm 06/03/2012

Details: Featuring the new 'Dark Matter' matrix set (three version variations) based on current Orion Matrix with hi/lo freq adjustments. Plus 720p on 9/6 GOP. AQ is NOT required. This is a constant Q (Q8) CBR setting which performs measurably better than with AQ4 on. All other settings as before. INFO: Orion 4d with Dark Matter matrix pack. Three adjusted matrices to try out, all scaled from perceived HVS Great Quality (v1) to middle of these (v2) and perceived HVS Highest quality (v3). HVS = Human Visual System. This is sharper than the Orion matrix of yore which is still great but many of you wanted to pull out a few extra stops. Let's see if this helps YOU. Only other changes from Orion 4b are GOP Releated, 720p is 9/6 for NTSC/PAL.

Driftwood Quantum X v5b and v5c 'β Pictoris' (baby Quantum X) VBR & CBR versions 'Settings' - Released 10:30am, 01/03/2012

INFO: Two versions - 1) CBR constant Bitrate at 75M, 2) VBR Adaptive Bitrate 35-75M

There are actually four versions (two in each pack CBR/VBR versions) for you to try out of Pictoris, two different matrices - v5b is the new hybrid matrix, v5c is the Orion included matrix. with NEW Driftwood scaled Panasonic GH2 Matrix meets AVC-INTRA Matrix hybrid (somewhere in the middle of Orion matrix meets GH2 Stock matrix) inc;- Settings primed for 50/75M Standard Rec Modes plus additional 25M for Etc Mode, 1080p24 on INTRA 50/75M Standard/75M Etc Mode, 1080i50/60 INTRA 50M /75M Etc Mode, 720p50/60 GOP6/9 40/75M, Standard/75M Etc, MJPEG Highest Quality 1920&720 Mjpeg modes. Good standard SD card recommended

Two Zip files below contain the settings: Download all packs and try them out:

Driftwood Quantum X (v4b Orion) CBR 'Settings'- Released 00:15am 28/02/2012

INFO: Settings include;- Quantum v9b style constant bitrate patch with full AVC-INTRA Matrix ; Requires firmware v1.1 and ptools 3.64d '200212 dated' (*Not compatible with 180212 dated ptools); CBR style 154M INTRA 108024p; CBR style HBR & 1080i INTRA 100M+ Max; CBR Style GOP12(PAL)/GOP15(NTSC) 720p 50/60 - 80+ Max; AVC Intra Matrix all round; GOP related Adjustments for B frames; EX Tele and 80% mode support. SD_Card=V good Class 10; SanDisk Extreme HD Video recommended

Driftwood Quantum X (v3b Rocket) RC VBR 'Settings' - RC Released 00:15am 28/02/2012

INFO: Settings include;- Adaptive Hi Bitrate INTRA on 1080p24 upto 154M; Adaptive Hi Bitrate 25p(50i PsF) upto 100M; Adaptive Hi Bitrate 30p (60i PsF) upto 100M+; Adaptive Hi Bitrate INTRA 1080i modes upto 100M+; Hi bitrate 720p modes on GOP 12/15 with B frames upto 50M safest; Highest Quality tested MJPEG on 1920x1080 (720 compression mode); Highest Quality tested MJPEG on 1280x720 (480 compression mode); EX Tele Mode support (will increase bitrate usage by around 20M); 80% on 1080p modes (will increase bitrate usage by around 25M)

Driftwood Quantum X 'SpanMyBitchUp' v2b - Released 10:15am 25/02/2012

INFO: Updated version of SpanMyBitchUp.

Settings include;- Adaptive Hi Bitrate INTRA on 1080p24 - upto 100M. (* Only for GH2); Adaptive Hi Bitrate 25p(50i PsF) INTRA - upto 100M; Adaptive Hi Bitrate 30p (60i PsF) INTRA - upto 100M; Adaptive Hi Bitrate INTRA 1080i modes - upto 100M; 720p modes on GOP 6 with B frames - upto 98M; Highest Quality tested MJPEG on 1920x1080 (720 compression mode); Highest Quality tested MJPEG on 1280x720 (480 compression mode); EX Tele Mode support; 80% on 1080p modes; 24L, 720/1080i FH/H settings on Trick mode (encoder calcs bitrate)

Driftwood Quantum X (v2 Rocket) 'Settings' - Released 22/02/2012

INFO: Adaptive bitrate settings. (See attached settings zip file below). Settings include;- Adaptive Hi Bitrate INTRA on 1080p24 - upto 154M. (* Only for GH2); Adaptive Hi Bitrate 25p(50i PsF) INTRA - upto 100M+; Adaptive Hi Bitrate 30p (60i PsF) INTRA - upto 120+; Adaptive Hi Bitrate INTRA 1080i modes - upto 120+; 720p modes on GOP 6 with B frames - upto 98M; Highest Quality tested MJPEG on 1920x1080 (720 compression mode); Highest Quality tested MJPEG on 1280x720 (480 compression mode); EX Tele Mode support; 80% on 1080p modes; AVC INTRA Matrix on I Frame coding with Flat 16 Matrix on P/B frames

These settings are dedicated to VK @Vitaliy_Kiselev (master in control) and Chris Brandin @cbrandin (thee font of information).

IF YOU LIKE THESE SETTINGS PLEASE PAYPAL DONATE (ABOVE) TO VITALIY FOR HIS TIRELESS WORK ON GIVING US THE HACK.

(Yes I am a fool for not taking note but I've shot so much good stuff with this hack I lost track!)

Also, do I have to switch back to the factory settings before installing a new hack, or can I just bump up the new hack to a higher version number? Thanks in advance for all your help!

I understand that is not possible to e.g. use a GOP1 setting for 24H and a GOP3 setting for 24L, but would it be possible to e.g. use a GOP3 setting for 24H/L and a GOP1 setting for HBR?

And apart from being possible - would such a blend be useful for comparison, or are those modes depending so much on parameters not subject to ptools that any comparison of IQ would be moot?

For more info, see the following link:

http://www.personal-view.com./talks/discussion/3337/gh2-flow-motion-v2-100mbps-fast-action-performance-reliability-for-all-class-10-sd-cards/p1

GH2 100Mbps Flow Motion v1.11 Failsafe Patch with HBR 25p & 50p modes

Released below is a minor revision to Flow Motion v1.11, tuned and tested for failsafe operation in all PAL video modes, including ETC zoom mode. In addition, it also supports failsafe operation in all NTSC modes except for ETC mode in HBR 30p and FSH 60i. As an alternative to using ETC in HBR 30p mode, I recommend using ETC with either 80% Slo-mo 24H mode, or MJPEG HD mode, both of which produce high quality results at 1080p30. To download the Flow Motion v1.11 Patch INI file, select the last attachment at the bottom of this post.

In short, this is the 100Mbps GH2 version of my Reliable In-Camera Playback Patch.

Congratulations once again to @Vitaliy Kiselev for cracking Panasonic's recent firmware v1.1 update for the GH2! PTool v3.64 now provides support not only for the new HBR 1080p25 and 1080p30 video modes, but for custom Quantizer Scaling Tables as well. Custom tables enable patch developers to tailor the compression properties and image quality of each of the AVCHD 1080p, 1080i, and 720p video resolutions. In addition, @cbrandin's invaluable Stream Parser and Scaling Table development tools have made it possible to quickly take advantage of these new PTool features, providing an unprecedented level of control over the GH2's video recording functions. Combined with the capabilities of Panasonic's v1.1 firmware, this has resulted in numerous improvements to the reliability and motion picture quality of Flow Motion v1.1. Here is a concise list of its features and specifications:

• 100Mbps AVCHD in 24H 1080p24 and SH 720p50/60 at 8-10 keyframes/sec.

• 75Mbps AVCHD in HBR 1080p25/30 and FSH 1080i50/60 at 8-10 keyframes/sec.

• 50Mbps AVCHD in 24L 1080p24, FH 1080i50/60, and H 720p50/60 video modes

• 100Mbps MJPEG 1080p Patch maintains high bitrates regardless of light levels.

• Full support for all NTSC and PAL video modes.

• In-camera playback of all AVCHD video files. (MJPEG HD videos not playable in-camera.)

• 4GB AVCHD file-spanning in all video modes with 95MB/sec UHS-1 SD cards.

• File-spanning in 24L, FH, and H modes supported on all Class 10 SD cards.

• ETC zoom mode with failsafe operation in all modes except NTSC HBR 30p and FSH 60i.

• 80% Slo-mo 24H video mode with ETC and file spanning in 24L mode.

• Combines optimal I-frame size with compact, 3-frame GOP file size (GOP-6 in 720p modes).

• Customized Scaling Tables produce P and B-frames that match I-frame quality.

As with any complex video camera, there are a number of considerations and limitations to bear in mind:

• Listed bitrates are the maximum seen in practice, filming well-lit, sharply-focused, highly detailed scenes. Average shots will produce average bitrates. In low-light conditions, I recommend trying MJPEG HD 1080p30 mode for its ability to maintain high bitrates in near dark conditions.

• If shutter speed is set longer than the frame rate (e.g. slower than 1/60 at 60p), low-quality video files may be produced. High shutter speeds will reduce motion blur, which may force the encoder to operate at higher bitrates.

• ETC zoom mode increases the bitrate and puts significant stress on the encoder. With Flow Motion v1.11, Failsafe ETC mode is now supported in all PAL video modes, and in all NTSC video modes except HBR 30p and FSH 60i modes. ETC actually does work in all modes, but I've found that with Panasonic distortion-correction lenses, it's not 100% failsafe in HBR and FSH modes under the most extreme conditions. With manual-focus vintage lenses, it has so far proven to be failsafe in all modes.

• Flow Motion v1.1 has been tested extensively at ISO 3200. It is not tuned to work reliably with PTool's extended ISO patch, but higher ISO can be used reliably in underexposed, low-light conditions.

• Panasonic Lumix distortion-correction lenses are now fully supported in Flow Motion v1.11. For smoothest results, I recommend using these lenses with a mild diffusion filter to reduce their over-sharpened edge artifacts. My favorite is the Tiffen Black Diffusion FX3.

• The 24L, FH, and H video modes make use of a special "Trick Mode" that ensures reliable file-spanning at 50Mbps. It does this by setting the video file's transport stream bitrate to a much lower level than the video stream's bitrate. These files play back correctly in video editors with no need for post-processing. However, MediaInfo and Windows will report incorrect duration and bitrate for these files when examined on the desktop.

• I recommend using the camera to format your SD card at the start of each shoot, to guard against SD card memory fragmentation.

I've got a new GH2 from Amazon and wanted to check the difference between two hacks on two GH2s with same lenses (20mm Pana). I have 3D rig, so they can start recording simultaneously.

My intention was to check the difference between unhacked camera (just got from Amazon) and the one with Sanity5 patch. The result was somehow unexpected, since the files from a "new" camera were larger in average. I've checked them with StreamParser and here is what I've got from freshly bought camera on Amazon (see the first picture). The already hacked camera (with Sanity 5) resulted with the file which parameters are shown in the second picture.

Am I right that the newly bought camera was already hacked? There is 30min time limit on this newly bought camera, but it doesn't look to me the original FW. Does anybody know which hack is used? GOP seems to be 18 and all I frames are 1170000 bytes in size (in my opinion quite large). The cameras were in 24H mode.

As noted above, it was false alarm. Left picture is Sanity 5, and right picture is factory default video.

In VGA mode how to do I lay down SD 16X9 since VGA mode is 4:3? What do I set the hack frame size to?

And no, I don't want to shoot at 720p and downsize, I just want to shoot simple 480P 16X9 mjpeg and write it to a DVD without a bunch of needless transcoding. A simple $150 camcorder can do this so our almighty hacked GH2s should be able to do this too.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I corrected references to mpeg to 'mjpeg' which is what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

The release of Saving Dinah will include theatrical using D-cinema projection (2K), and of course all the usual distribution windows thereafter. We're not planning any transfers to film.

Recording media is SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s.

As we all know, there is a range of patches available, and all seem good. But, given this site is the GH2 patch brain trust, what choice or strategies would "you" adopt in my situation -- and why?

In advance, let me offer my appreciation for any recommendations offered. We're in a new, new world of film making here and everyone's thoughts are invaluable.

By the way, here's the video I shot, in case you're curious about the result (there's grain added to the whole final render of the video, I must say, to simulate resolution and hide the extreme cleanness that the footage ended up having after applying Neat Video):

Now the strange thing is that I failed to reproduce the issue, even when voluntarily shooting very low light scenes at ISO 12800. There was, of course, lots of noise in the clips, but no clearly recognizeable banding.

So I wonder: What did I do "wrong" that I could not reproduce the banding issue? What settings can you "recommend" to reproduce the banding issue?

Please everyone list the patches you used and the memory card you used in a orderly manner, so that we know does...it...span.

Make sure your 100% sure that its spanning on every mode if possible & include a small photo of the memory card.

I am wondering if there is a list of all the hacks, with each hacks average memory card usage. I think this will really help us in sorting out which hack is best for which situation, and really help those of us who are a little slower in getting HUGE cards for various reasons.

To get it started, I'm using the quantum x orion v4b , and it gives me 27m10s, on a 32gb 95mb/s extreme pro card. How about you all?

Here is a video I did with the patch stated above. Fast Motion, slow motion, and I think the ISO bug got me a bit.

Again, thank you all, keep the dream alive.

I understand that most patch settings tamper with the number and type of frames in each (open) GOP, but I have not yet found any mentioning on how many frames are written into one closed GOP.

Or does anybody know what the maximum amount of reference frames is that the GH2 output uses? (H.264 would allow up to 16, but since many decoders are not willing to store that many decoded frames for later use as a reference, the lower H.264 profiles are limited to much less.)

So far everyone is just saying "to my eye, X hack looks great/better/worse than the Y hack"

But how do we measure the actual differences?