The 'perfect' project

... also working with Lumix G 20mm F1.7 lens and I tested it in all shooting modes -> working
.. yes, without Native 25pN selected.
 
I'm on Mac and the prefab zipped Wine Ptool works perfectly for me (thank you, whoever did that). What you need to do is open the Perfect Tool .ini file, sena.ini I believe, as a text file with any simple text editor like /Applications/Text Edit.app, and then you can copy the settings over to Ptool manually. Opened as a text file, sena.ini is just a simple list of the applied settings.

FWIW I think the Perfect Project is a good stab at simplifying the process for those of us who want better quality without really hanging it out there and risking instability, but it should be noted that AVCHD shooters can up the bit rate more aggressively and still remain in safe territory if they leave auto-iso and auto-everything else off, use the 20mm pancake or better yet an adapted manual lens, and simple shoot manually. This lowers the data chatter and gives you some more room to safely goose bit rate. With manual glass and a Class 10 Transcend card I can shoot 35Mb AVCHD till the card runs out and keep in-camera playback as well. Not a hiccup yet.

Right now the focus is on high bit rate MPEG but in my gut I believe the real breakthrough for ultimate IQ with the cameras will be high bit rate AVCHD. It's a less well understood codec wrapper but I think it offers greater potential.



reggietelly said:
Hi there

with all the other posts this is the first one I have come across that really solves the issue that as great a tool as PTool is it is just way too complicated for the average user. I am no noob but I have followed the development for a while now and to be honest I am more confused than I was at the start. So to have a preset that pretty much offers me exactly what I want is gold. I am not after the highest quality, just a setting that improves the camera reliably.

However I am on a Mac and for some reason the wined version of PTool (either the original exe or the downloadable PTool_Mac) has the A,B,C, etc buttons, but they don't seem to work. Either that or I am missing something. Also I can't see how I can use this ini file on a mac system.

Any Mac users out there successfully used this setting.

all the best

Richard
Click to expand...
 
MarekV said:
Unfortunately yes ... I did almost 60 tests .. and yes .. this is a top for stable recording for AVCHD! From my observations every values with bit-rate over 24-25mbit/s must sometimes freez you camera in high-detailed scene! .. but! Its lens and filming mode depending!!

Are you sure that is almost as the original values?!

16000000 vs. 25300000
18000000 vs. 25500000
.....
Click to expand...

compare to 60000000 its almost the origianl :)

I had no problems with C settings, even not with the chart. Class 10 card, but no native 25.

Intelligent Auto Mode?
No thank you :)
 
I'm not sure if 24 mbit/s is worth hacking. It would be even more safe if one leaves the original firmware untouched. If there's some way to get 35-40 mbit/s 100% safe - it would be a different story. I can speak for myself - I don't have any problems dealing with some occasional write card errors and benefit from a high quality video. In fact, I'm not going to film grass with nothing on it or doing some crazy panning just to bring the camera to its limits
 
@abolit:

So tell me ... what settings you are using? post the INI file here... or just write the AVCHD values here... :)
 
MarekV,

I'm currently using 'C' (50/52/60 no native 24) setting with Sandisk 16 Extreme (30mgb/s) SD card.
No problems so far in real live filming.
I didn't get a chance to "play" with MJPEG though
 
abolit said:
MarekV,

I'm currently using 'C' (50/52/60 no native 24) setting with Sandisk 16 Extreme (30mgb/s) SD card.
No problems so far in real live filming.
I didn't get a chance to "play" with MJPEG though
Click to expand...

Abolit, they are the same settings and results i'm using/gettin with class 6 cards and manual lenses, even Pappas chart won't fail. Videos and screenshots here.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=2045075&postcount=24

Cheers
 
I'm in the middle of shooting a new music video for broadcast on the 50/52/60 settings and I've had no lockup. I don't have audio (don't know what's causing that). I also have 25Pn checked ON ans am using Contax primes. The camera is in total manual mode.

I'm shooting 720P for slomo and 1080 AVCHD on the Sandisk Class 10 card. I work with high-end HPX2700 cameras and the results on this GH1 video have been extraordinary. It will posted on Vimeo next week.
 
powervideo said:
I'm shooting 720P for slomo and 1080 AVCHD on the Sandisk Class 10 card. I work with high-end HPX2700 cameras and the results on this GH1 video have been extraordinary. It will posted on Vimeo next week.
Click to expand...

Glad finally sorted it out Pete, looking forward to seeing what you do with it. How are you nailing focus??

R
 
Still having hassles upgrading to new firmware, but the current results are looking good. I just bought a Sony LMD-940W 9" HDSDI/HDMI monitor which is good to check focus but only on playback. I use the focus assist on the GH1 LCD just before I pull the trigger. I've been lucky! Sometimes I miss the mark! I also have a Chrosziel follow focus but I haven't been using it on this job.
 
MarekV said:
Of course the goal of this project is to avoid all the errors, freezing, stop recording at all time!!!
.. Settings that never fail at any moment or any scene ..
Click to expand...

MarekV, can you check the following chart (Crunchy chart) on a sun light & tripod? On my Transcend 16GB class 10 card and your "perfect" settings, the camera freezes immediately! I would like to see what is the reason: card speed or some inner "run of time" problems. If you have Visio (Microsoft) on your PC, print vsd file, otherwise pdf file. All settings as contrast, sharpness, etc. were 0.
 

Attachments

I'm over the moon! After much deliberation I bit the bullet and hacked my GH1. Basically it's a brand new camera in my opinion. It's not perfect and I chose the Perfect Project settings because I wanted 720p 50 reliability. In the short time I have had with it I can say categorically that with a 30mb/s card I could play back in camera and was recording with the kit 14-140 lens and the 20mm pancake. I shot at 100 fps and 200 fps. ISO, focus, aperture were all manual.

The footage is a million miles away from the GH1 out of the box. Shooting 200fps with crazy camera work following my son and a ball is almost perfect. There is slight aliasing here and there but the muddiness has disappeared. In areas I do see the compression but only when the frame is frozen. In playback it's hard to tell. But the detail is really good. The old picture had a sort of "median" blur effect on it, skin, brick walls, etc, would lose detail. Now detail is amazing and it's still only 720p. And it holds up surprising well when I give it a savage grade.

There is a compression noise in areas of flat colour and I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on how I can lose this. The files are 9.7MB/sec average when I bring into FCP with Pro Res LT. I definitely think the camera could handle more, but I guess reliability is key. If I wanted to really hit the threshold of AVCHD recording on a good card can I go higher than these settings?

Thanks to all involved in this amazing venture. It really is quite something.

all the best

Richard
 
MarekV said:
*This is fixed version!
- Stability problem improved
- New AVCHD compression values
- Quality little bit lowered (you may see 23mbit/s now)
*This is fixed version 2!
- There was ticked VERSION INCREMENT - fixed
------------------------------------------------

These settings files can be used to import preset patches into the 'A' button in PTool 3.40d.
Extract the INI file from the ZIP file into your PTool folder and it will be loaded along with the firmware. Check a version increment or prevent version compare and save the firmware and load it in to GH1 .. after flashing the firmware just format the memory card in camera...! everything should work fine ... :-)

If you have any problems just send me a message or feel free to ask me here in this thread.. ;-)

Mark
Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

Tried to load your firmware hack into ptool but it doesn't seem to do anything. Whenever I click the "A" button nothing changes on screen, so I don't know if it has actually loaded the changes or not. I have tried to use ptool on various PCs but don't seem to get any of the ABCDE buttons to actually do anything. Is it "invisably" adding settings or should you see the new values displayed in ptool?

I know that Car3o was talking about making a video tutorial, but that hasn't happened so I am trying to go ahead myself and get a version of the firmware ready for flashing. Like yourself, I am not interested in mega-bitrates, just something that will get rid of most of the mud in 1080 which is currently unacceptable. I shoot mainly landscape GV's and locked-offs so would be more suseptible to the camera locking up on the higher bitrate options - I also only have Class 6 SD cards - so your settings looked like the best to try.

Hope you can help.

(tried sending you a PM but the forum keeps logging me out)
 
Energy80s said:
Hi Mark,

Tried to load your firmware hack into ptool but it doesn't seem to do anything. Whenever I click the "A" button nothing changes on screen, so I don't know if it has actually loaded the changes or not. I have tried to use ptool on various PCs but don't seem to get any of the ABCDE buttons to actually do anything. Is it "invisably" adding settings or should you see the new values displayed in ptool?

I know that Car3o was talking about making a video tutorial, but that hasn't happened so I am trying to go ahead myself and get a version of the firmware ready for flashing. Like yourself, I am not interested in mega-bitrates, just something that will get rid of most of the mud in 1080 which is currently unacceptable. I shoot mainly landscape GV's and locked-offs so would be more suseptible to the camera locking up on the higher bitrate options - I also only have Class 6 SD cards - so your settings looked like the best to try.

Hope you can help.

(tried sending you a PM but the forum keeps logging me out)
Click to expand...

Hi there,

I was pretty confused by PTool to start but it is actually really rather simple. The file you download seta.ini needs to be in the same folder. It makes the A button at the bottom of the PTool window green. If it is green and you press it, it then sets all the setting for you. However there is also another way to do it, and that is to open the seta.ini in a text program.

And here's what's inside the seta.ini file


[Information]
Comment=The 'PERFECT' Settings project <br>v. 1.2<br><br>More informations on www.dvxuser.com in selected <br>thread.
SD_Card=SanDisk ExtremeÆ SDHCô 30MB/s
Camera=GH1 v1.32
[Settings]
30min limit removal=Checked
720p30 420->422 color sampling=Checked
E1 Quality=150
E1 Table=86
E2 Quality=130
E2 Table=56
E3 Quality=115
E3 Table=26
E4 Quality=100
E4 Table=4
Video Bitrate FHD/SH=25300000
Overall Bitrate=25500000
Limiting Bitrate=26200000

It is simply then a case of going to each setting and applying as per the text above. This is in fact how I did it and it worked very well.

Use a freshly formatted card, no files on it, and a fully charged battery.

Remember if you are doing this for the first time, you need to version increment up 1. Also by ticking Prevent Version Compare you disable the firmwares need to keep have a higher number each time you set it. If you want to try other combinations then after you have done the first firmware hack, you can simply tick, prevent version compare, and the camera only sees firmware 0.0

Hope this helps
 
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