Where is Barry’s 2fps hack

[Federico Prieto]

Here’s the procedure:

1) Get a scene file text file on an SD card, usually by going into menu 8, CARD FUNCTIONS, and saving scene files to your SD card.

2) Open the scene file text file in the PRIVATE\MEIGROUP\PAVCN\SBG\P2SD directory, called SCENE1.TXT (or scene2.txt, scene3.txt, or scene4.txt) using a text editor like Windows Notepad

3) Look for the next-to-last item in the scene file. Here’s what a sample scene file text file looks like:
00005000: 8 ; DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005002: 8 ; DETAIL CORING : 0
00005003: 8 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 0
00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0
00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0
00005006: 16 ; MASTER PED: 0
00005007: 8 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: 0
00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF
00005009: 0 ; GAMMA : HD NORM
0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO
0000500B: 0 ; MATRIX: NORM
0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF
0000500D: 0 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THIN
0000500E: 0 ; OPERATION TYPE: VIDEO CAM
0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT
00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN :

That next-to-last item is:
0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

You can ignore everything after the semicolon; the semicolon indicates that it’s a “comment” and will have no bearing on anything else (so, in this example, the part that says “; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT ” is useless, it affects nothing, it’s just there for human-readable description).

So the relevant part is:
0000500F: 0

The only thing you would want to change is that last number (in this case, “0”). To get different frame rates, use one of the following numbers:

0 = DEFAULT
1 = 2fps
2 = 3fps
3 = 4fps
4 = 6fps
5 = 8fps
6 = 10fps
7 = 12fps
8 = 14fps
9 = 16fps
10 = 18fps
11 = 20fps
12 = 22fps
13 = 23fps
14 = 24fps
16 = 26fps
17 = 27fps
18 = 28fps
19 = 30fps
20 = 32fps
21 = 34fps
22 = 36fps
23 = 38fps
24 = 40fps
25 = 42fps
26 = 44fps
27 = 46fps
28 = 48fps
29 = 50fps
30 = 52fps
32 = 54fps
33 = 56fps
34 = 58fps
35 = 60fps
36+ = repeat of sequence from 50fps to 60fps

So, for example, if you wanted to get a frame rate of 2 FPS, your modified line would look like this:
0000500F: 1 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

And if you wanted 44 fps, it would look like this:
0000500F: 26 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

(don’t try higher than 35; I tried 36 and it set it to 50fps, 37 set it to 52, so I think it just repeats 50-60 for all fields set higher than 36)

4) Save your modified text file back onto your SD card

5) Put the SD card back in the camera, go to CARD FUNCTIONS, and read the scene files into the camera.

Now, when you go to the appropriate scene file, you’ll see the new frame rate there. But be aware, the only way to assign these “nonstandard” frame rates is through the SD card. If you use the menu to try to change the frame rate, you’ll lose it — it’ll immediately jump to 60, and then only allow the normal rates to be selected. You’d have to re-load the scene file from the SD card in order to re-establish your “nonstandard” frame rate.

[Barry Green]

Hey Federico, thanks for posting that — I didn’t want to post a link to the other forum where I first put this, so copying/pasting the whole thing is probably the only way to go.

BUT: please be aware that there should be a big disclaimer on this, saying something on the order of: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! This is an unsupported, undocumented “hack”, and there’s no way to know if it can cause any ill effects to the HVX200.

Panasonic tested and certified about a dozen frame rates, and they said at the time that they were going to support as many as possible and still meet their shipping deadline. So these other framerates are, by definition, *untested* and *uncertified*. They may work, or they may not, or they may cause errors on your footage, who knows. So use them at your own risk.

With that said, I’ve shot a bunch of things at 2fps, it’s fast becoming one of my favorite frame rates, and I’ve never noticed any ill effects from it. I did get a few “P2 MICON” errors using some of the other frame rates though.

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[James Mulryan]

Frederico and Barry:

Thank you. More great info.

Barry when you say “please be aware that there should be a big disclaimer on this, saying something on the order of: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! This is an unsupported, undocumented “hack”, and there’s no way to know if it can cause any ill effects to the HVX200,” do you mean that this might physically damage the electronics, sensor, or software of the camera? If so why?

Barry does your book go into the details of using SD read/writers for scripting card set ups? The SD implementation still confuses me.

[Federico Prieto]

My pleasure Barry and James….And of course, the disclaimer is very pertinent. May be our Panasonic fellows can add some words about…

By the way I understand that the maximum speed is 60fps, but I am very interested in to know if it can be beaten in the near future to 80 or 100fps…using a firmware upgrade or some like that?….Or is there a physical limitation?

fp

[Uli Plank]

I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t cause any damage to the camera

[Gary Adcock]

[Uli Plank] ” Making the camera faster than 60 fps is probably beyond the hardware limits and not anything a firmware upgrade could change. Since variable speeds are one of the great advantages of this camcorder, Panasonic would have offered higher speeds if possible.”

good point Uli
the reality is that the number of frames on my camera systems are limited by the number of frames that can be laid to tape in real time. In the current video world that number is pretty much limited to 60 frames / 60 fields per second
except when very specialized equipment is used, and that type of gear captures more frames at the expense of resolution- the higher the frame rate the lower the image quality.

That being said there are a number of specialized camera systems that can achieve rates well beyond that , Motion analysis for sports and scientific applications can and do reach rates beyond 10,000 frames a second and I believe that MLB Sports is using a proprietary system now that can capture 1000 fps at full HD rez.

Systems that do this type of work are very very expensive (even in big budget Hollywood terms) and out of the budget of all but a few users.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Chicago, IL