GH2 DO NOT POST SEPARATE THREADS: GH2 Hack | Questions and Answers Thread

When I first got my GH2s, the "insert SD card" message came up at least three to four times. Each time was a different brand card and prehack so it's not the hack. I haven't had the problem since but I did also notice that when I first received my GH2s the card slot was pretty tight and the cards didn't slide out as easily as they did with my GH13. Now, the cards pop in-n-out smooth and easy as my GH13 did after being "broken in". Not sure how long you've had your GH2 for but consider checking the snugness of your new card.

Btw, the same thing happened to me...camera crashed and clips weren't viewable initially.
 
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Need GH2 110 mbs & 65mbs Settings advice!!

Need GH2 110 mbs & 65mbs Settings advice!!

Hello everyone, I'm about to shoot a rap artist tonight out on the streets run and gun style and I also will do some lock down tripod shots. I need to know the best settings for the 110 mbs hack and the 65mbs hack. If 65 mbs is the best way to go please let me know, but I really wanted to push it to 110 mbs and have the time to do it during the night. I also have a canon 5D as a second angle for safety if the GH2 cuts off during recording.

I'm using the SanDisk Extreme Pro 95mbs 16 gig cards, so how many minute will I get recording in 1080 24p? I also have the 30mbs 32 gig cards as well.

I have heard Cinema style is the best to shoot in for music video but I just need the other settings like Smooth and so on.

Thanks so much,

MCG
 
Please refer to PERSONAL-VIEW.COM for more information, you will get a quicker response and a more accurate one, as it is the hack community.
 
Also I'm not seeing my shutter speed number in my LCD ? I'm in movie mode with Cinema setting 1080 24p.
Did I do something wrong in my menu and where can I change it? I'm using the 65mbs hack.
 
moviemaykr said:
Also I'm not seeing my shutter speed number in my LCD ? I'm in movie mode with Cinema setting 1080 24p.
Did I do something wrong in my menu and where can I change it? I'm using the 65mbs hack.
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The hack has nothing to do with that... if you're just now picking up the camera please refer to the manual for basic functions.

Freebie: press the display button a few times until you see your info.
 
yeah Kholi, I already did all that still not seeing the button. Im in Movie mode on the dial should I be in something else? It has three buttons that are just grey in my display menu.
 
Are you using a hack? Some hack make the ISO indication show auto, but really is is manual. Do a test with all manual if the exposure is corrected when going from a lift to a dark image. I believe you can safely disregard it.
 
First off, apologies if this question has already been posted: I have installed the new GH2 firmware and it looks fine. However, I've noticed that I lose about two seconds of footage from the end after pressing stop record. I now make sure to count to five to cover myself before pressing stop, but has anyone else noticed this?
 
UPDATE 2: Woo-hoo! Was able to successfully repair the file structure using Panasonic's AVCCAM Restorer. The program's first two options were unable to repair the files, but the third and final method, 'Restore the AVCHD folder from the stream files in the specified folder', was able to do so after I removed the 'Stream' folder from within the 'Private' folder. It took about 20 minutes for the program to run the repair. The resultant folder was named 'AVCHDL', which FCP did not recognize. However, after renaming it 'AVCHD' by removing the 'L', it worked! So now all my clips show up in FCP! Now if only I could figure out how to avoid another crash while shooting...

UPDATE: Final Cut Pro (7.0.3)'s Log and Transfer does not recognize all the files on the card, only 78 of them (as did the camera). The El Gato Turbo.264 HD program sees the same thing. Only programs such as VLC or ClipWrap, which can handle individual .MTS files, are able to see them all. It looks to me like the crash really messed up the card's file structure system. The dropped clips are scattered throughout the card, totaling 24 'missing' clips. While I'm grateful the footage is there somewhere, this is a serious pain in the butt. Is there any way to fix the file structure, or at least a way for Final Cut to allow me to work with individual .mts files?

Bad Navigator said:
GH2 Crash with CBrandin 44mb GOP12 AQ4

This was the first time I've experienced a crash with this hack. I had been shooting all night with the camera, and after 13 minutes of recording a new clip, the camera automatically stopped recording. I pressed the playback button to see if it had captured the clip. It showed black and said it was unplayable. Uh oh. I started thumbing through the rest of the clips on the card. They all showed the same thing- black screen and 'unplayable' status. UH OH. Trying to remain calm, I switched the camera off, and turned it back on. Thankfully, I was able to see all (so I thought at the time) my previous clips and play them back, but not the last one that got stopped in the middle of recording. After bringing the card into my computer, I am actually able to see and play the clip that got interrupted. I also noticed something else- while the camera indicated I only had 78 clips on the card, I in fact have 102. Something must have happened during the crash that caused the camera to not only not see the clip that got interrupted, but a large chunk of other clips as well. I was shooting on a 32GB Sandisk Extreme Pro (95MB/s) card. I believe this is the fastest card they make. I was also shooting at high ISO (2500 I believe), and for this particular clip, I increased the shutter speed to around 100/125 as the lights on the stage I was shooting started to get brighter and started to blow out the image. For what it's worth, I also activated the AUTO LVF/LCD switch (sensitivity low) so I could quickly go from looking at the LCD to peaking in the LVF to check focus without pressing the button. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with it, but the crash seemed to occur at the exact moment I put my eye to the LVF, as it switched over from the LCD. However, I had been doing this all night without problem (I had already filled up another 32GB card)...

Also not sure if this has anything to do with it, but when I inserted this particular card into the camera to begin shooting (having just filled up the previous), the camera said 'Please insert SD card again' or something to that effect. I had never seen that before. So I did, and the camera seemed fine. Just to be safe, I formatted the card again before shooting. This is a brand new card, opened today. I inserted it into the camera once before, to format it, and then the second time it was inserted was when it gave me the error message, after which it seemed to work fine (though as I said I formatted it again, to be safe).

The crash occurred after at least an hour of recording on this card. I'm not sure what happened that could have caused the crash, but any insight would be most helpful. I don't want to be an alarmist, but it makes me a bit nervous to use the hack for event filming without being 100% confident in the reliability. Perhaps it was the card? Thanks for any and all info!!
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FarinHeight_Productions said:
Btw, the same thing happened to me...camera crashed and clips weren't viewable initially.
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If I'm not the only one this happened to, it seems to me the hack is a lot less reliable than I had thought. Were you able to recover all the clips from your card? Do you have any idea what caused the crash?

I stuck with 44mb/s because reliability is more important to me than maxing out the bitrate. I used the fastest cards that SanDisk makes, and as far as I know I wasn't shooting anything particularly taxing. Is there anything I can do to mitigate the risk of this happening again on an important shoot, short of reverting back to the original firmware?

Thanks!!
 
I would like to second the idea for creating an excel file listing the types of hacks availalbe, their bitrate, and all the doodads.

Just go understand something. From what i gather, a Higher bitrate hack that has more detail needs less GOP but will then make the motion look too smooth vs a higher GOP? But if you havea high GOP then the files might be too large to be stable on a card?

So one wants a GOP of 3 for the proper motion cadence with a bitrate that is stable?
 
176Mbps hacked GH2 or AF100 for green screen work???

176Mbps hacked GH2 or AF100 for green screen work???

Can anyone advise me which tool would be better for green screen work?

The hacked GH2 that can record up to 176 Mbps GOP 1 or the AF100 that has more controls for reducing sharpness (Vertical Detail, etc).

I have a shoot coming up and have the option to rent one or the other, but I'm not sure which one will help me achieve an easier key. I know that the background has to be evenly lit, but I also have the option to light my green screen using Reflecmedia's Litering system.

Thanks very much in advance.
 
I don't know that an AF100 would be better for green screen than a hacked GH2. And definitely avoid reflectmedia screens. They might be passable for interviews, but i've never seen a convincing key from it.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
Thanks DBP. What external recorder would you recommend? And why the AF100 over the hacked GH2?
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To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about recorders, so there's other who could answer that better than me. I have heard that the Atmos Samurai is good though. My reason for suggesting it was that it would give you 4:2:2 color, where as even with the high bitrates, the GH2 is still only 4:2:0.

Not to say you can't pull a good key with it, but all things being equal, 4:2:2 is always better for keying than 4:2:0.
 
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