GH2 Hack questions

N

noam

Well-known member
Hey Guys,

I am considering applying the hack to my GH2 and had a few quick questions:

1) How stable is the hack? Are there any glitches/issues with it that still need to be worked out?
2) What are the best settings to apply for increased quality and low light performance, but without pushing things too far that there are issues?
3) In your opinion, how big is the difference between the hacked footage and standard footage.

Any and all advice would be appreciated!
 
1. It depends on how one clarifies the word "stable".
It will become more stable as VK, Chris and many other testers improve on ptool and its settings.
I can suggest you use Sandisk Extreme 30MB/s Class 10 SDHC. do not use the 45MB/s Extreme Pro class 10 version. Too many user are having issues with these cards in the GH2.

Currently, any bit rate over 32Mb/s will (or can) cause issues with spanning files over the FAT32 4GB limit. So, currently if you're looking for long event shoot times, stay with modest
settings of 32Mb/s, or wait until this issue is addressed in future ptool versions.

2. Currently, I believe the best setting (ptool v3.62d) for all around static and motion improvement is Chris's 66Mb/s AQ2 (GOP12) setting. Shadow detail and motion are both improved.
Detail just holds up better all around. It's quite amazing. Again, remember your file size will be limited to 4GB, but that's usually plenty of time for most takes and it's easy enough to stop and restart recording.


3. I believe I answered this in the above reply. First of all, the GH2 stock footage looks great. This is the reason we bought the GH2 in the first place. On thing you will notice right off is the increased clarity of detail.
It's now able to resolve finer details that would be normally masked by the stock GH2 somewhat deprived compression. With less compression, the fine details adds a higher quality level to the footage. Also note that
noise is also fine detail. Noise now appears in its pure form and is easier for programs such as Neat Video to remove. Before the hack, noise could make shadows muddy which swarmed smearing details.


Ralph_B was very helpful displaying uncompressed HDMI frame captures to the same same frame at a given hack setting. e.g. 66Mb/s AQ2....

BTW, Driftwoods 132Mb/s AQ2 GOP3 is jawdropping good and right now is the best quality.
When comparing to the HDMI uncompressed frame, if it we not for the indifference in color balance, they were damn near identical in detail.

Granted 132Mb/s can eat almost 1GB per minute. You may want to have several Sandisk 32GB Extreme 30Mb/s SDHC cards with you.
 
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I've been away from the forum for a bit so thanks for these posts. Is there a FAQ or condensed thread that I could read to quickly get up to speed on the hack and its ongoing development? Search is bringing up too much information to sift through easily.

Thanks.
 
Eximious said:
I've been away from the forum for a bit so thanks for these posts. Is there a FAQ or condensed thread that I could read to quickly get up to speed on the hack and its ongoing development? Search is bringing up too much information to sift through easily.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Not that I could find. I dedicated an entire day to reading through threads here and at presonal-view.com. I'll share what I was able to dig up...

Besides tracking down the link to Chris' 66Mb/s patch earlier in this thread, I found this helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohHvJOY_NGE

It's a how-to video for hacking a GH1 and bringing it up to a GH17. The same rules apply to the GH2. It was the best tutorial I could find.

Here are some other helpful links:

http://www.gh1-hack.info/wiki/PToolSoftware

http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/666/ptool-v3.62d-topic

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?212263-Ptool-for-beginners-Ptool-FAQ/page30
 
Thanks!

Sam Mallery said:
Not that I could find. I dedicated an entire day to reading through threads here and at presonal-view.com. I'll share what I was able to dig up...

Besides tracking down the link to Chris' 66Mb/s patch earlier in this thread, I found this helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohHvJOY_NGE

It's a how-to video for hacking a GH1 and bringing it up to a GH17. The same rules apply to the GH2. It was the best tutorial I could find.

Here are some other helpful links:

http://www.gh1-hack.info/wiki/PToolSoftware

http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/666/ptool-v3.62d-topic

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?212263-Ptool-for-beginners-Ptool-FAQ/page30
Click to expand...
 
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