GH1 Noob Questions and help w/ firmware settings please

B

BMW_Stu

Member
ok, so i've been lusting after the gh1 for a long time, and finally got one! I'm primarily, a still photographer and i shoot Nikon, i thought the transition to video could be seamless, but the more i read into it, the more clueless i became,

First off, i would like some suggestions on how to configure my firmware and in camera settings, i'm not looking to tune my camera to the max, but i'm looking for:

what will give me 1080p w/ minimum rolling shutter "jello"

Is that possible in Moving Jpeg mode?

NTSC or PAL?
i know the difference but why would i want one over the other?

720p and 59fps or 720p and 50fps for awesome slow- motion?

whats the drawback of doing 59fps, and the advantage of 50fps

24fps or 25 fps for normal shooting? drawback/advantage

also, in moving jpeg mode, my record time is like 8 min and some seconds, but in avchd i have like an hour and some mins. i have an 8gb class 10 card, is there a clip limit for moving jpeg?

i am looking for the most compatibility i can get, i have a Macbook pro w/ duo core and 4gb ram, so i can't really do the max max high quality stuff and format conversions.

i have iMovie but i'll probably get final cut pro


thats all i can think of at the moment, i will have more questions later cuz i know how certain things can affect all the other settings


sorry for my ignorance, but i'm just trying to get up and running.

its not much but $10 paypal to the first person to give me good explanations for all of my q's. thx guys
 
Everyone on here is going to tell you do do searches on all the questions you have asked, they are all here and in various faqs.

But because I know being a newb sucks, I will give you the shortbus to GH1 hood:

1: 1080p with minimum jello is achieved by a> carefully shooting on tripod and if hand held, some form of rig or at a minimum... handheld stabilized aginst your body with a wide lense and not 'whip' panning the camera fast.. sticking to the general rules of 24p film making on actual film. The jello is a side effect of the cmos chips, however with careful moves you can keep it to a minimum. Jello is more noticeable and you have to be more careful in 1080p than 720p, but it is worth it because 1080p looks so much better, detailed, and filmic.

2: MJPEG mode with the standard camera is limited to 720p 30fps. There is a 'hack' available that greatly upgrades the features of the camera to an entirely new quality level, but it does void your warantee and you will need to do all your research firmly before stepping into those waters, but like most who see it, you WILL want to step into those waters. Do a google search of gh1 tester13 hack or see the special section here on DVX just about it and all the things possible.

3: NTSC or PAL. Where do you live? Use that one. There used to be a bigger difference because the PAL version was easier to to pulldown removal than the NTSC version, but with the ptool hack it really doesn't matter as much. The NTSC version does 24p, the PAL version does 25p. I want 24p... so it's kind of a tatsers choice. If you are in the USA there is no advantage to getting the PAL version.

4: 720p 59.94 fps dropped into a 59.94 timeline and then slowed down to play at .4 percent rendered into a 23.976 timeline = awesome slow motion. There are various ways to go about it, I find sony vegas easiest but you are on a mac you have to find the mac workflow. imovie is poo... get final cut or at least premiere cs...5 now if you're on a mac. I'm a Windows 7 guy so can't help you much there.

5: drawback of 59.94 is that it's only 720p so if you are doing a 1080p production you have to blow it up. It also doesn't look as filmic when you shoot at 720p 59.94 and then do what is called 'conforming' to 24p. To just shoot 24p 1080p and only use 720p for shots you need and blow those shots up looks a LOT better to me but that's my personal preference.

6: 24fps or 25fps isn't a choice on the camera it will be determined by if you have a NTSC or PAL camera... I would go NTSC for 24p... but many people can't tell the difference.

7: this relates to the earlier msg about imovie being poo. If you have a macbook pro you are going to have to import and remove the pulldown and convert to prores... when you are ready for 'the hack' you can shoot at native 24p and not have to do pulldown removal but some people have issues when they check the 24p native in the hack, and you will still need to convert to a digital intermediate like prores or cineform so it sounds like final cut pro for you. That's what everyone uses on the mac.

8: send the $10 bucks paypal to donations@blackout.com

Don't make me come after you.

PS: most of what I am talking about can be seen in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO_h_Irqn_4&hd=1 (make sure to change 720p to 1080p and hit full screen on a 1080p display)

It's 1080 24p the whole way and has almost no jello except for a tiny tiny bit.. also, the scene with the puppet smoking was shot 720 30p by accident and conformed / blown up to 1080 24p and most people would never know.

Enjoy.
 
Last edited:
awsome, thats enough to get me going, i'll send u the 10 bux this weekend, acouple other questions tho.

i thought the gh1 was only capable of 1080i in stock form, and i read that w/ the hack it was possible to enable 1080p and configure it in such a way that the overall "jello" would be reduced greatly. i know that it is caused by panning but i just thought that there were other means of further cutting down via firmware hack.

since i have a good SD card, should i go ahead and max out the bit rates?

also, can i get 1080p 24fps, 720p 59fps, and 720p 24fps all in moving jpeg mode so that i can switch btw thom in camera?

better yet, what mode/setting allows me to do the 720p 59fps and what mode and setting allows ms 1080p 24fps
 
Last edited:
I think these type of threads are good fodder for all newbies.
I got a lot out of Blackout's reply, even though I've been reading all the GH-1 threads for a couple of weeks.
Not only am I a GH-1 newbie, I'm a DSLR newbie and video newbie.
So everything including Mac workflow and YouTube/Vimeo scenarios are a mystery to me.
Thanks for the info.
 
BMW, the camera in stock mode takes 24p pictures, but then puts a pulldown on them to wrap them into a 1080i 59.94 stream for playback straight out of the camera. Everyone hated that they did this but that's the route they took.

Without the hack, you have to do 'pulldown removal' from the 60i and bring it back to 24p using your log and transfer process into prores. Again, there are myany differnt ways of dong this and workflow is discussed to death on the mac and final cut in other threads.

As for the hack, you should apply it if you want to and are ready to and yo have read and studied enough aboput it that you know what you are doing and how to do it and how to go back if you screw up your camera. There are quite a lot of little changes you can make. I recommend sticking to the a / b / or / c settings and setting those numbers exactly as show to be stable from many others who have tested. This is if you want to get to work in really using your camera... if you want to just keep testing your camera to push it to the limits you can buy the fastest most extreme class 10 sandisk card and set numbers as high is 70mbits
but I am not noticing any more improvement past my 50mbit native 24p c settings on anyone else's footage and my cam has been very stable so that is where I am staying for now.

Enjoy... (holds out donations@blackout.com paypal hat)

;)
 
Last edited:
I think this thread sets a very bad precedent and should be deleted.

Why should a new member be allowed to come into this forum and with their first post offer money (bread crumbs) for info that they are too lazy to find on their own. Many forum members here donate many hours of their time to post info for free here and I think it should be kept that way.

Just my "free of charge" opinion,

Randy
 
Caveman I would of answered regardless of paypal cause I was here drinking some coffee and have time today. Most would have just said 'do the research'. They payapl hat wiggle was me being silly, but at the same time, someone offering money for something they can't, won't, or don't want to spend time on is nothing new. I think all users should have their paypal donation buttons under their profile and when someone comes up with something really great that you needed whats the harm is sending a few bucks their way. Tester13 put a big fat paypal donation button up and I have have no problem supporting him for providing info I don't know. Micropayments is the way of the future. Get used to it, at the same time, perhaps it should be restricted to a certain section like 'pay an expert or something' if newbs don't want to do the research or can't find what they are looking for they can post paypal bids in a section for it and others can do and help them out and make lil spare change. It's win win.
 
Tester13 provided you a hell of a lot more than just info or did you forget you recently installed a free firmware upgrade in your GH1 that you are raving about? You got that firmware upgrade for free with no donation required, as it has always been optional.

This was a new member on his first post wanting to pay someone to post info that he was too lazy to search for on his own, that's completely different. Micro-payments to forum members in any forum is certainly not the wave of the future. This type of "payola" should be done in private and not posted in the forums here.

Randy
 
Calm down there big guy. I am just saying in essence, the firmware hack is information.. it's data... and I found it very valuable so I did donate and will continue to do so. I mean if you want to get into legal nitty gritty technically he shouldn't be aloud to get any money because he is providing an illegal product in essence. So calling that 'legit' and this request for info 'payola' is just silly. 'Payola' is paying someone to swerve things in your favor or manipulate someone. This is just someone who was like hey, I'm new, I know I should be researching, but if someone can just answer these questions fast it would help me and I'll throw ya ten bucks. I wouldn't quite call that payola. I'm sure you do that in other areas that you are not knowledgeable in.. it's a service.

In any case as I said I was in a answering sort of mood - weather or not he sends it is a moot point I don't think you should be making a big deal about it.
 
Cavemandude said:
This was a new member on his first post wanting to pay someone to post info that he was too lazy to search for on his own, that's completely different. Micro-payments to forum members in any forum is certainly not the wave of the future.
Click to expand...

I agree.
I took it as a flippant remark and assumed Blackout and others would have responded anyway. Also, the info in this thread has been very helpful to me.
I'm 'doing the research', but that involves numerous threads on multiple sub-forums, sometimes you just need a simple answer to a few simple questions.
 
Well, this has nothing to do with the helpful info Blackout provided, people do that everyday here, it has to do with a forum member starting a thread and offering money for information. Do this in private or start a thread in the Jobs section of this forum and hire someone there which is where this thread should be moved to.

The first post and payment offer read as a pretty straight forward list of questions by BMW_Stu especially since that was his first post here. Also Blackout gave a legit email addreess to send the payment to, the same email address he uses to ask for donations on his website. He also asked for the payment twice so I don't think he was kidding either.

I'm sure Mr. BMW will now backtrack just like Blackout did and say he was just kidding.

It's also an insult to Tester13 and DVXuser.com that Blackout thinks that what he is doing here with the firmware is illegal. If this is the case, then you have to assume that DVXuser.com fully supports open illegal activity on its forum which they obviously don't.

And as far as the "payola" definition, Blackout defined it as someone being manipulated into doing something which is exactly what happened to him.

Finally, to think of the Tester13 firmware software as just "data" or "information" that Blackout didn't know already is sorta silly too. I'm sure he must feel the same way about Photoshop.

Randy
 
Last edited:
Ok this is just way outta hand Cave... you woke up on the bad side of the cave obviously. I love what Tester13 did but I don't see how you are comparing it's apples and oranges and I'm glad he did it, BUT as far as I know, tampering with another companies code and then telling everyone how to do it is illegal. People used to do this with their cable box software too to get 'more out of it'. Not that I am playing mr lawyer here but you have turned this into a huge deal from nada. This person posted and offered $10, I answered and gave him the info he wanted and sure, I'll take $10.. why the hell not..!? But I didn't demand it it anything less than in a playful way and now you've got your panties in a bunch because por que why? I don't know... the most I could possibly agree with you on is that perhaps it should be posted in the jobs section but honestly I didn't expect to get the $10 (as of yet I have not) but why the hell not, and the info helps more people than just him anyway. I know sometimes I have needed to find something out that was buried in a thread with 9000 posts and I didn't really feel like wading through it....
 
Last edited:
How can you compare modifying your cable box to get more channels to the GH1 firmware hack when you signed a legal contract to only get specific channels from that cable box that you're paying a monthly fee for? Did you sign a contract when you bought your GH1 to keep it in stock condition?

What about all the people that modify there cars to perform better (using modified computer chips for example, go figure - can you say hack?) than how it came from the dealership they bought it from? Just like the GH1, they can to do certain modifications that may void the manufacturers warranty but certainly have a right to do so.

Ever heard of overclocking a computer CPU?

Randy
 
Last edited:
first of all i would like to say thank you very much to blackout for your helpful information, based on your insight and my gathering of info elsewhere, i can get rolling without having to search through piles of crappy threads for the answers to a few simple questions i was confused about.

as far as me offering money, i did that cuz i just wanted the answers, i know how forums are and i know how folks would rather sit and b!tch about someone not searching rather than trying to help out. If its not worth your time and energy and you have a problem answering the question, why waste energy crying about it like a little girl, just go to another thread and contribute something useful.

now that these questions have been answered, and someone does a search, they can find a thread with info instead of a thread w/ a bunch of unanswered questions and crybabies saying "search"

clean the sand outa your vag caveman and chill out. you can reply if you want to but i'm outa here until i have something usefull to contribute or other questions for other contributing members, i would suggest you do the same.

thanx again 2 blackout

duces.


i'll jeave you guys w/ the setup i am hope will workout for me.

prevent version compare
3rd party battery enabled

i didnt mess w/ mjpeg mode because that just won't do what i bought the camera for so avchd it is!

in avchd

native 24p enabled

i am thinking of just reducing it to 720p in fhd, idk yet.

for fhd and h i chose the "B" bitrate

for l i chose the "A" bitrate

overall i chose "C"

limiting 70000000

for GOP i left that alone cuz i couldnt really figure out what it is or what it does. Care to explain?

final cut pro is on the way...

i figured these settings won't be pushing the limits of my computer too hard, if they do, i may just go back to stock and just do the native 24p and change the 1080p to 720p
 
The newbie issue is something that does need to be addressed.
To often I find new DVX users, newbies to ( in this case the GH13 hack) intimidated to ask for answers to questions that simply cannot be found anywhere else online.
No question should be to dumb to ask. If someone like Blackout wants to spend his valuable time and ask for small donation, what the heck, you don't have to respond.
I spend a lot of time trying to make sense of a thread but often I find the most basic answers often get lost in a myriad of conversations.
Threads like Blackouts and the most recent dummies guide to the hack have been invaluable as they have laid out the technical to the hack step by step.
It's important that those with the greatest tech understanding who hold court on these boards not behave in the elitist manner so often encountered on set or in often unfriendly rental houses or camera shops.
 
Ok let's all make peace. Gelfling friend! FRIEND! FRIIIIIIIIIIEEEND!!!

Remember the 'negativity threshold'.

Also, I didn't ask for a donation, the original poster offered it - and perhaps my 'don't make me hunt you down' and 'pass the paypal hat' were not seen as lightly as I meant them to be. I have been on these boards a while, and if you know me and my posts, and if you know my website, you know all of my stuff is laced with humor. Like I said... I really didn't EXPECT it but hey... if thou offerith...

Somehow Cave twisted this to have something to do with the Tester13 hack having it's value belittled which I don't get, I have nothing but praised that hack and him to all high holy waters, and I have nothing against you personally either Cave but I disagree your vantage point here. Tester13 made the camera new. I highly recommend that all who can DO support and donate whatever you can, even a buck or two if you use the hack to tester13. A lot of some of the free stuff I have provided to people including radio shows and shoutcast stuff has been donation supported and I have always been appreciative, which is why I have that paypal donation address, and I'm sure he would be, and to end this fairy tale of a thread with a happy ending, much to his word BMW did not back down with "I was only kidding" but DID actually send $10 bucks. Lol, again ya didn't have to but thanks! Cave says himself "breadcrumbs" but then why are you getting so mad over it? Guess what, a lot of breadcrumbs turn into a good cookie, or maybe even a cake.

And all lived happily ever after in DVX land, forever and ever, till the next thread,

- The End -
 
The transaction has occurred, book 'em Danno. Prostitution has now officially started at DVXuser.com...

Randy
 
Now that the thread has seemed to veer off topic, I would like to assist it back on its way with a small simple addition to answer one of the OP's original questions in the first post:

As for MJPEG mode, you will have shorter recorder times because MJPEG files a quite larger than AVCHD due to the compression. Thus, the video is taking up much more space on your SD card hence resulting in less record time than AVCHD.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top