GH1 firmware research volunteers required

[tyampel]

Hi,

I don't know if what I am proposing is possible or not, but may be worth a look: the GH1 has the infamous rolling shutter problem. However, it is not that bad with higher frame rates. E.g. 720p 50fps rolling shutter is much less visible than 1080i 25fps. This means two things:

1. Has anybody checked the effect of 720p 24/25fps modifications on the rolling shutter issue? 50fps was acceptable, but changing to 24/25fps may reintroduce the issue.

2. It may be worth a look if it is possible to get 50fps from the sensor in 1080 mode, and skip every second frame in the generated AVCHD file. This would mean that the rolling shutter would be reduced while having a nice 1080 file.

I am not saying that these are easy modifications, maybe they are impossible without the source code. I am just mentioning to keep them in mind

AFAIK the rolling shutter effect is caused by relatively long exposures. As the sensor data is being read sequentually, by the time the lower part of the frame is being processed the subject may have moved a bit causing visible distortion of vertical lines. That is why with shorter exposures the effect is minimized. Lowering the frame rates allowes slower shutter speeds, which cause the effect. But some users like the 24/25fps mode as it produces more of a "cinematic film look", whatever that is.

[rotrier]

Got your wish. Congratulations.
Check the first page.

What? Already? Wow, didn't expect this quick, awesome. Will try to install it tonight but first, I need a PC, I am MAC. Guest I'm going to get a copy of Parallels Desktop.

Again, thanks a bunch. Keep it up!

[Greg_Smith]

AFAIK the rolling shutter effect is caused by relatively long exposures. As the sensor data is being read sequentually, by the time the lower part of the frame is being processed the subject may have moved a bit causing visible distortion of vertical lines. That is why with shorter exposures the effect is minimized. Lowering the frame rates allowes slower shutter speeds, which cause the effect. But some users like the 24/25fps mode as it produces more of a "cinematic film look", whatever that is.

Rolling Shutter is more of an artifact of the CMOS sensor used and less of the camera itself or codec. But your right, since you have longer exposures the more noticeable the effect is. CCDs and Uniform Synchronous Shutter CMOS sensors aren't afflicted by Rolling shutter.

The Foundry, the company that makes the compositing software Nuke, has a plugin for After Effects and Nuke called "Rolling Shutter" that is designed to take out the artifacts from a line-scan CMOS sensor camera.

[rotrier]

What? Already? Wow, didn't expect this quick, awesome. Will try to install it tonight but first, I need a PC, I am MAC. Guest I'm going to get a copy of Parallels Desktop.

Again, thanks a bunch. Keep it up!

It works! English instead of Japan language. Thanks!! Going to test MJPEG 24fps now.

[DanDOF]

What? Already? Wow, didn't expect this quick, awesome. Will try to install it tonight but first, I need a PC, I am MAC. Guest I'm going to get a copy of Parallels Desktop.

Again, thanks a bunch. Keep it up!

Definitely avoid Parallels, in my opinion , and try a demo of VMware Fusion 3. Its really powerful and feels seamless with switching between Mac OS X and Windows XP or 7 etc.

The best thing is you can use it with, or even better, without bootcamp.

[tyampel]

It works! English instead of Japan language. Thanks!! Going to test MJPEG 24fps now.

The best $50 you invested ;).
Congratulations.

[alignment1]

ok....so a little slow on the uptake, (apologies in advance), but are these FW updates not available for OSX?

[DanDOF]

ok....so a little slow on the uptake, (apologies in advance), but are these FW updates not available for OSX?

Not quite. The Firmware Updates are being created by testers using free software only available on Windows. Eventually I think we can just freely distribute the already patched firmware, as long as we don't charge anyone for it. Do I understand this right?

[tyampel]

Not quite. The Firmware Updates are being created by testers using free software only available on Windows. Eventually I think we can just freely distribute the already patched firmware, as long as we don't charge anyone for it. Do I understand this right?

I think it will not happen. Distributing copyrighted material is against the law regardless if money is charged or not.

[cocomonk22]

You cannot distribute the already patched firmware, but you could distribute a patch that patches the original firmware, creating the modified firmware.

[Vitaliy Kiselev]

We won't distribute modified firmware. It must be clear.

For Mac users use http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/
Must be enought. If it'll allow our tool to work, I'll add it to first page.

For native 24p

You must enable BOTH
"Native 24p/25p attempt"
and "60i wrapper" patches.
In this case it must work as in 25p case.
I'll combine both patches later.

[Path]

Not quite. The Firmware Updates are being created by testers using free software only available on Windows. Eventually I think we can just freely distribute the already patched firmware, as long as we don't charge anyone for it. Do I understand this right?

Once the changes are known for a particular firmware version, a binary patch should be possible and available for other platforms. This can be applied using the Unix patch command line utility which is available in OS X. The firmware itself is not really run from the computer, tester13 is simply using the best tools available to him for dissassembly, i.e. IDA 4.9 free.

For Mac users, you can run Windows as a virtual machine using one of several virtualization packages. I agree with other that of the paid ones, VMWare Fusion is great. I have tested tester13's program in VirtualBox and it works fine, as does IDA 4.9 Free. VirtualBox is free and available at http://www.virtualbox.org/

It is not wise to distribute modified versions of the firmware, as there are copyright issues. If ever there is a completely re-written firmware after all is understood then that can possibly be distributed.

tester, may I re-iterate what others have said concerning the downgrade capability. If we cannot downgrade, then we can never re-install official Panasonic firmware until they release one that is "above" the version on the camera. This has warranty implications in the mean time. Also, is it not possible that since the loader is in the binary, that Panasonic could (for some reason) come up with some clever way to disable the installation of unofficial firmware?

Thanks for your work tester, you deserve the camera! I hope when you get it you post some video!

[Vitaliy Kiselev]

Once the changes are known for a particular firmware version, a binary patch should be possible and available for other platforms. This can be applied using the Unix patch command line utility which is available in OS X. The firmware itself is not really run from the computer, tester13 is simply using the best tools available to him for dissassembly, i.e. IDA 4.9 free.

For Mac users, you can run Windows as a virtual machine using one of several virtualization packages. I agree with other that of the paid ones, VMWare Fusion is great. I have tested tester13's program in VirtualBox and it works fine, as does IDA 4.9 Free. VirtualBox is free and available at http://www.virtualbox.org/

Look at solution above I gave link. Give it a try, as you don't need to own Windows copy to use it.

tester, may I re-iterate what others have said concerning the downgrade capability. If we cannot downgrade, then we can never re-install official Panasonic firmware until they release one that is "above" the version on the camera. This has warranty implications in the mean time. Also, is it not possible that since the loader is in the binary, that Panasonic could (for some reason) come up with some clever way to disable the installation of unofficial firmware?

Try to read thread carefully. I already stated that I have closed patch making version independant firmware (but I do not advise you to downgrade, only back to original firmware). It'll be only provided in case of serious trouble as it is crucial and could result in working camera that is not able to upgrade anymore (it is very improbable case, but) :-).

[billy fattey]

We won't distribute modified firmware. It must be clear.

For Mac users use http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/
Must be enought. If it'll allow our tool to work, I'll add it to first page.

For native 24p

You must enable BOTH
"Native 24p/25p attempt"
and "60i wrapper" patches.
In this case it must work as in 25p case.
I'll combine both patches later.

Wow, it works. Very impressive. The only hiccup I see is that the camera freezes when trying to play a native FHD 24p .mts file. But...

1. I can now play the FHD .mts files with VLC. It always stuttered with the old 60i format.
2. My workflow for ingesting clips into Final Cut is cut by more than half. I used to have to use "Log and Transfer" to transfer to Prores, and then compressor to remove pulldown. Now I only have to use "Log and Transfer" which is the faster of the two processes and I'm done. Amazing.



One thing about the version number issue, though. I increment it each time I create a new firmware and I'm now on number 32. When the GH1 shows the upgrade screen is asks if I want to upgrade to "1.4". So, either I'm doing something wrong or we only have about 10-20 (maybe 16?) firmware upgrades between 1.2 and 1.3 and so on.

[Vitaliy Kiselev]

One thing about the version number issue, though. I increment it each time I create a new firmware and I'm now on number 32. When the GH1 shows the upgrade screen is asks if I want to upgrade to "1.4". So, either I'm doing something wrong or we only have about 10-20 (maybe 16?) firmware upgrades between 1.2 and 1.3 and so on.

Look numbers above input incriment field, they show you exact number, this is hexadecimal number, so 1.2D also exists and works, you have about 65.000 version numbers to go :-)
Plus we have version revert patch in reserve.