Anamorphic Cinemascope in Native 1920x810 MJPEG Mode

[Lpowell]

Update: See below for a new INI file which combines Anamorphic Cinemascope with my 100Mbps Max Latitude Native 24/25p Patch

Widescreen Video Frames in MJPEG
One of the more intriguing patches in PTool allows you to alter the dimensions of the video frame in MJPEG HD mode. Back in the early days of the GH1 hack, it was hoped that this might enable recording of FHD-sized 1920x1080 videos using the MJPEG encoder. Unfortunately, the high bitrates required to support a 1080p30 frame rate produced sporatic recording failures. Though stable settings were found for narrower 1440x1080 and 1280x1080 MJPEG frame sizes, these non-standard aspect ratios produced warped videos that required post-processing to restore normal-looking dimensions. With these difficulties, the practical value of resizing MJPEG video frames soon lost its appeal.

When you set a non-standard MJPEG aspect ratio, both GH1 and GF1 cameras extract the specified number of horizontal and vertical pixels from the 16:9 image sensor. And on playback, the pixel width and height you have set are used by the video player to size the video frame that is displayed on-screen. For instance, if you patched in a 1440x1080 video mode, the normal 1280x720 MJPEG frame would be expanded into a 1440x1080 frame. While it would look similar to simply stretching the video player's display window, what's different is that the MJPEG encoder would actually pack 1440x1080 pixels into each frame of the video.

Anamorphic Widescreen Video Dimensions
The warped appearance of these altered video modes reminded me of the horizontal squeeze effect that is produced by an anamorphic lens. Anamorphics have been used in film production since the 1950's to produce the widescreen cinemascope effect of movies with an impressive 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Anamorphic adapters were also used in the pre-HD video days to expand the 4:3 aspect ratio of SD videocameras out to the 16:9 aspect ration of HDTV. When these SD anamorphic adapters are used with a lens on the GH1, it expands the GH1's native 16:9 screen out to the same 2.35:1 dimensions of widescreen movies.

When a commercial widescreen movie is mastered for distribution on Blu-Ray disc, it's rendered at the full 1920-pixel width of the FHD format. Due to its wide aspect ratio, however, the movie's height covers only about 810 pixels of the 1080-pixel height of the screen, with upper and lower borders letterboxed. This 1920x810 frame is the native size of widescreen Blu-Ray video.

Native Anamorphic Video Modes on the GH1 and GF1
Using PTool, the GH1's MJPEG encoder can be readily hacked to produce a 1920x810 video mode, and my 60Mbps MJPEG Patch works very well with frames of this size. But like the other non-standard MJPEG modes, the images turn out warped. When you combine this mode with an anamorphic adapter, however, the anamorphic squeeze compensates for the warped aspect ratio, resulting in native widescreen videos produced directly in-camera! (This requires an anamorphic adapter with a 1.33x ratio, such as the Panasonic LA7200.)

This Anamorphic 1920x810 MJPEG Patch gives the GH1 and GF1 the unique ability to record in anamorphic widescreen cinemascope, producing videos that can be viewed directly off the SD card, with no need for post-processing in a video editor.

For those without an anamorphic adapter, this patch can also be used with a standard lens to record clips that can be post-processed to produce FHD-sized 1920x1080 MJPEG videos at 30p. To do so, simply take the 1920x810 video produced by the patch and use a video editor to stretch it vertically to 1080p. The resulting image will have the correct, undistorted FHD aspect ratio and show only a minimal decrease in sharpness from the vertical resampling (preferably using bicubic interpolation).

Anamorphic 1920x810 MJPEG Patch Settings File:
This zipped INI file can be used to apply complete patch settings to firmware loaded into PTool 3.50d. To use, unzip the INI file into the same folder as the PTool application. Launch PTool and load the firmware for either GH1 v1.32 or GF1 v1.22. The settings contained in the INI file will automatically be installed in the lower row of buttons in the PTool main window.

Note that with the following PTool Settings File, you may at any time re-install the original Panasonic GH1 v1.32 or GF1 v1.22 firmware into the appropriate camera model. You may also copy each type of patched or original firmware to separate SD cards, and use them to quickly switch between patches as often as you like.

*** WARNING ***

The Anamorphic 1920x810 MJPEG Patch will not work properly with previous versions of PTool.
The best way to insure that you have the latest PTool release is to download it directly from the following link:

Download PTool here: http://www.gh1-hack.info/ptool3d.zip

AVCHD patch files for use with PTool: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...aring-thread&p=2039780&viewfull=1#post2039780

In the PTool INI file below, I've combined the Anamorphic 1920x810 MJPEG Patch with my 100Mbps Max Latitude Native 24/25p Patch. Once installed in PTool, you can use the "A" button to apply both patches together.

View attachment LPowell - 100Mbps Max Latitude Native 24-25p Anamorphic Patch.zip

 

[Lpowell]

Anamorphic Sample Video Frames

Anamorphic Sample Video Frames

Click here to see a gallery of anamorphic lens and sample shots:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...0-MJPEG-Mode&p=2126471&viewfull=1#post2126471

To illustrate how the Anamorphic 1920x810 MJPEG Patch works, I exported sample frames from a test shot in three related MJPEG video modes:

1280x720 MJPEG - Standard 720p30 HD video mode
1440x810 MJPEG - Standard 16:9 frame encoded at 810p resolution
1920x810 MJPEG - Anamorphic 2.35:1 video mode (requires an anamorphic lens)

Here are half-scale shots of a metal ruler, illustrating the relative frame sizes:

1280x720 MJPEG:

1440x810 MJPEG :

1920x810 MJPEG(Anamorphic):

Notice how the ruler in the above 1920x810 image is distorted by the GH1's anamorphic MJPEG video mode. Attaching a 1.33x anamorphic adapter to the front of the camera lens would compensate for this distortion, producing a perfectly scaled widescreen cinemascope image.

There has been speculation that the GH1 may produce larger MJPEG frames simply by scaling the default 1280x720 video frame up in size, much as Photoshop would do. To evaluate the resolution of these three frame samples, I magnified them in Photoshop by 500%, using the "nearest neighbor" scaling algorithm to preserve the contents of the original pixels:

The preceding comparison displayed all three frames with the same size magnified pixels. In the following comparison, I scaled up both the 1280x720 and 1440x810 frames to the same dimensions as the 1920x810 frame, using "bicubic interpolation" to produce high-quality upscaling results. This shows how detailed the GH1's real-time 1920x810 mode is compared to post-processing the video frames in Photoshop:

 

[kprince]

Saweet, any video samples online yet?

 

[kprince]

PS: any good leads on where to pick one up. I just trolled around and they seem quite hard to find : )

 

[raymondluo]

what about a 1.85:1 aspect ratio? (to negate the use of an expensive or hard to acquire anamorhpic adapter)

 

[ryancglover]

Very nice, clear testing lpowell.

I tried doing this with my 2x anamorphic lenses and a 2560x720 frame size earlier this summer, those hasty test shots are here if anyone's interested, doesn't seem to hold up that well when pushed that far though.

Keep up the great work!

 

[gmoe]

Wow! Great Stuff lpowell. Nicely done!

I tried doing this with my 2x anamorphic lenses and a 2560x720 frame size earlier this summer, those hasty test shots are here if anyone's interested, doesn't seem to hold up that well when pushed that far though.

Is it possible to adjust frame size settings that would work with 2x anamorphics?

Can't wait to try this with the Pany 7200 adapter.

 

[Lpowell]

Is it possible to adjust frame size settings that would work with 2x anamorphics?

As Ryan mentioned above, the native MJPEG frame size for a 2x anamorphic adapter would be 2560x720, producing an exaggerated 3.56:1 screen aspect ratio. Not only is this much wider than any commercial film or video format, it's also not possible to patch MJPEG widths greater than 1920 in current versions of PTool.

Of the types of anamorphic adapters that are usable on the GH1, almost all have a horizontal "squeeze factor" of 1.33x, 1.5x, or 2x. The 1.33x adapters are perfectly suited to the 1920x810 Native Anamorphic MJPEG video mode. 1.5x and 2x adapters can also be used in 1920x810 mode; they simply require additional horizontal stretch in post-production.

I use Adobe After Effects for this purpose, others familiar with Final Cut Pro may want to comment on what works best for them. After Effects provides an "Interpret Footage" dialog for each clip you import into a project. Here you can set the clip's pixel aspect ratio to automatically handle anamorphic footage with 1.33x, 1.5x, or 2x squeeze factors. Once this factor is set, you can drag the clip into a Composition and it will be expanded to the correct aspect ratio and centered in the Composition's video frame. With a 1920-pixel-wide Composition, 1.33x anamorphic footage will fit perfectly in the frame, while 1.5x and 2x footage will stretch beyond the frame's vertical borders. This is often convenient, as it gives you an opportunity to center the image in a 1.5x or 2x clip as you like, and also eliminates any residual vignetting at the corners of the footage.

Once my editing and compositing in After Effects is complete, I simply render the Composition to the target format and the footage is automatically cropped to the size of the Composition's video frame.

 

[dts]

I am a cinemascope fan too and would like to know if i can

a) increase the avc resolution to 2512x1080 in ptool sensor mode 4??
b) or is it possible to record electronically stretch the image in the 1920x1080 dimension?
c) can i via sensorcut option (mode4) set it to 1080x800 and what about the liveview?

Thank you

 

[gmoe]

I use Adobe After Effects for this purpose, others familiar with Final Cut Pro may want to comment on what works best for them. After Effects provides an "Interpret Footage" dialog for each clip you import into a project. Here you can set the clip's pixel aspect ratio to automatically handle anamorphic footage with 1.33x, 1.5x, or 2x squeeze factors. Once this factor is set, you can drag the clip into a Composition and it will be expanded to the correct aspect ratio and centered in the Composition's video frame. With a 1920-pixel-wide Composition, 1.33x anamorphic footage will fit perfectly in the frame, while 1.5x and 2x footage will stretch beyond the frame's vertical borders. This is often convenient, as it gives you an opportunity to center the image in a 1.5x or 2x clip as you like, and also eliminates any residual vignetting at the corners of the footage.

Thanks lpowell. That's fantastic help. I have both a Panny anamorphic 1.33x and Kowa 2x so that's great to hear that I can still shoot with this hack with my Kowa and use AE via interpret footage and pixel aspect ratio. Much easier and better than I was doing before. Many thanks!

 

[Petanque]

... After Effects provides an "Interpret Footage" dialog for each clip you import into a project. Here you can set the clip's pixel aspect ratio to automatically handle anamorphic footage with 1.33x, 1.5x, or 2x squeeze factors. Once this factor is set, you can drag the clip into a Composition and it will be expanded to the correct aspect ratio and centered in the Composition's video frame. With a 1920-pixel-wide Composition, 1.33x anamorphic footage will fit perfectly in the frame, while 1.5x and 2x footage will stretch beyond the frame's vertical borders. This is often convenient, as it gives you an opportunity to center the image in a 1.5x or 2x clip as you like, and also eliminates any residual vignetting at the corners of the footage.

Once my editing and compositing in After Effects is complete, I simply render the Composition to the target format and the footage is automatically cropped to the size of the Composition's video frame.

First off, thanks! Question: in the above, are you saying that you can shoot with the patch, but without an anamorphic adapter and AE or FCP (which also has an anamorphic checkbox) can re-size it properly?

 

[Lpowell]

...are you saying that you can shoot with the patch, but without an anamorphic adapter and AE or FCP (which also has an anamorphic checkbox) can re-size it properly?

You can definitely use this patch with standard lenses without an anamorphic adapter. The 1920x810 frame will look horizontally stretched, but you can readily use After Effects or Final Cut to upsample the vertical scale from 810 to 1080 pixels. Since it requires resizing only in one dimension, this technique retains sharper details than magnifying an entire 720p frame up to 1080p resolution.

Here is a comparison image magnified by 400%, using "nearest neighbor" scaling in Photoshop to preserve the shape of individual pixels. On the left is a section of an AVCHD frame shot at 1920x1080. On the right is a comparable section of an MJPEG frame, shot at 1920x810 and upsampled to 1920x1080. As you can see, it's quite practical to produce FHD-size 1920x1080 video at 30p using the MJPEG encoder.

 

[Lpowell]

I am a cinemascope fan too and would like to know if i can
a) increase the avc resolution to 2512x1080 in ptool sensor mode 4??
b) or is it possible to record electronically stretch the image in the 1920x1080 dimension?
c) can i via sensorcut option (mode4) set it to 1080x800 and what about the liveview?

At the present time, AVCHD frame size cannot be usefully altered. The widest MJPEG frame size that can be set in current versions of PTool is 1920 pixels. There is currently no known way to use either liveview or Sensor Mode 4 to enable useful recording features on the GH1 or GF1.

 

[VinceDelorean]

@lpowell: is it possible to combine these widescreen settings (1920x810) with:

a) MJPEG FPS: 720p30 -> 720p24 in MJPEG
b) MJPEG Color: 4:2:0 -> 4:2:2
c) [MJPEG FPS: 720p30 -> 720p24 in MJPEG] AND [MJPEG Color: 4:2:0 -> 4:2:2]

and get stable results???

and is it correct: with these widescreen settings "in-camera playback" is not possible?

P.S.: much thanks for your work!!!

 

[terra1]

great post IPOWELL

i've actually been toying with cinemascope straight off the camera using this method, i have been using the totally pointless 1280 x 544 dimensions tho :smile: was still working superb!

my battery is charging as we speak! :smile:

your anamorphic patch has the 60mbps settings within... perfect! two birds... one stone... rock n roll!

no in-cam playback?

happy birthday john lennon :smile:

 

[Lpowell]

..is it possible to combine these widescreen settings (1920x810) with:

a) MJPEG FPS: 720p30 -> 720p24 in MJPEG
b) MJPEG Color: 4:2:0 -> 4:2:2
c) [MJPEG FPS: 720p30 -> 720p24 in MJPEG] AND [MJPEG Color: 4:2:0 -> 4:2:2]

and is it correct: with these widescreen settings "in-camera playback" is not possible?

a) Unfortunately, the MJPEG FPS patch does not produce a true 24fps frame rate, it simply drops frames from the 30fps stream as needed. For proof, see this post:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...era-playback&p=2037747&viewfull=1#post2037747

b) Using 4:2:2 color with this 65Mbps MJPEG 1920x810 patch increases frame data size a little too much to be completely reliable. With the increase in frame dimensions, I felt that maintaining the highest reliable bitrate was more important than increasing vertical chroma resolution.

c) Sorry, this won't work the way you want it to.

In-camera playback will work reliably if you turn off 4:2:2 color and set a 1920x810 frame size using my 35Mbps MJPEG Patch with a Class 10 SD card. (Fast Class 6 SD cards may work as well.)

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...low-light-MJPEG-patch-with-in-camera-playback

However, in-camera playback is inherently less useful when shooting with an anamorphic lens, since the image is squeezed horizontally to fit within the viewfinder. All things considered, I think it's of more practical value to record the best possible image quality to work with in post.

 

[Lpowell]

your anamorphic patch has the 60mbps settings within...

Please note, this Anamorphic MJPEG 1920x810 Patch has settings only for MJPEG mode. You will need to add your own preferred settings for AVCHD modes in PTool.

 

[terra1]

i've run the MJPEG ANAMORPHIC hack and input my older AVCHD settings, i've been toying about with MOCHA in CS5 today so not had a chance to try the new settings yet.

i'm going to do a test and compare my 1280x544 footage scaled up to 1920x810 against the 1920x810 straight out the camera footage, i cant remember where it was but i thought i read that hacking MJPEG up to higher dimensions had the same effect as upscaling in post. i could be totally wrong i'm not sure.

may i ask why is it 810 vertical and not 816? when i was importing footage into MOCHA i noticed its 816 that gives us the 2.35:1, 810 said something like 2.7ish. again i could be way off but i figure your the fella to ask :smile:

 

[Lpowell]

...may i ask why is it 810 vertical and not 816? when i was importing footage into MOCHA i noticed its 816 that gives us the 2.35:1, 810 said something like 2.7ish.

Yes, 816 was derived from the analog 35mm film dimensions to produce a 2.35:1 aspect ratio when digitizing film stock. Cinemascope aspect ratio was never precisely defined, and ranged up to 2.39:1.

In the digital world, the widescreen aspect ratio is produced by multiplying the 16:9 HDTV aspect ratio by an additional 4:3 factor, producing a 64:27 aspect ratio equaling 2.37:1.

When you multiply the HDTV screen height of 1080 by 2.37:1, it produces a 2560x1080 screen size. There's already a cinemascope monitor available in this resolution. (Note that Philips states the 64:27 ratio imprecisely as "21:9", which would be an aspect ratio of only 2.33:1. Of course, in marketing a product, mathematical precision rarely applies.):

http://www.philips.co.uk/c/televisi...igital-tv-58pfl9955h_12/prd/?t=specifications

When the 2560x1080 cinemascope aspect ratio is scaled down to HDTV dimensions, it produces a frame size of 1920x810.

 

[Lpowell]

Here are some pics of the anamorphic cinemascope video camera rigs I used to test the Anamorphic 1920x810 MJPEG Patch. I used three types of anamorphic adapters:

Century Optics 1.33x Widescreen Adapter (37mm mount)
http://www.adorama.com/CYDS160937.html

Singer (Sankor) 16-D 2x Anamorphic Adapter (50mm mount)
http://www.anamorphic.biz/

Lomo 35NAS4 1.85x Anamorphic Adapter (72mm mount)
http://rafcamera.com/info/movie_lenses.htm

Of these adapters, only the Century Optics 1.33x adapter is currently in production. At about $300 new, it's one of the least expensive and definitely the most lightweight adapter available. It attaches to the front end of a standard lens using a 37mm filter ring mount, and can be adapted up to about a 52mm ring. The adapter is expertly made with a separate tension ring that allows you to lock the anamorphic lens in the necessary vertical orientation after tightening it to the lens filter mount. While the Century Optics usually vignettes with focal lengths wider than 35mm, the Lumix 20mm f1.7 pancake lens is shallow enough to fit it perfectly (and note how small it is compared to the matte box behind it):

The Century Optics-Lumix 20mm combo looks amazingly compact attached to a GF1 mounted on a Manfrotto monopod. It's undoubtedly the smallest auto-focus cinemascope videocamera yet made. With my 1920x810 MJPEG Patch, the images produced by this lens are directly viewable without post-processing. But while the bowed effect is to be expected from the wide angle of the 20mm lens, the anamorphic image quality is noticeably blurred at the outer edges:

More anamorphic lens and sample shots on the next page -->
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...nemascope-in-Native-1920x810-MJPEG-Mode/page3