the original reason for the upped bitrate was because of the macroblocking artifacts that appear on high detailed scenes when you quickly pan or move. this was due to the AVCHD being a variable codec so when nothing happens in the scene it drops its bitrate for efficiency sake to minimise file size, but when you suddenly move it gets ambushed and doesn't have enough bitrate to recover and it produces "mud" ugly smearing of the footage.
a quick test to see for yourself is to shoot a bunch of trees/leaves/foliage on the stock firmware then whip it. more evident in the lower bitrate formats like SH and FSH that are only 17Mb stock. real life scenarios would be kids bday parties, sporting events, motorsports, anything with explosive movements really. so if you know you are not going to be filming anything like this then you will probably be happy with the stock firmware.
the added bonus of higher bitrate is the retention in detail of the image, IQ just simply gets a whole lot better. You will not clearly see this on any youtube or vimeo clip unless you download the original files because it all gets re-encoded.
Another thing to consider is do you film more in 720 or 1080, 24p or 25p(ntsc or pal).
And yes, the high ISO video is amazing, especially in black and white. 12,800 anyone? lol link at the bottom of the link for more patching info
http://www.eoshd.com/content/5248/latest-gh2-hack-unlocks-stunning-iso-12800-with-film-like-grain
uestine - I am currently trying out the Sanity patch which has 720 and 1080i at 44Mb (although i think 1080i might need to be dropped down alittle in order to work on slower cards) and 24p Cinema at 66Mb until i get a faster card.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
a quick test to see for yourself is to shoot a bunch of trees/leaves/foliage on the stock firmware then whip it. more evident in the lower bitrate formats like SH and FSH that are only 17Mb stock. real life scenarios would be kids bday parties, sporting events, motorsports, anything with explosive movements really. so if you know you are not going to be filming anything like this then you will probably be happy with the stock firmware.
the added bonus of higher bitrate is the retention in detail of the image, IQ just simply gets a whole lot better. You will not clearly see this on any youtube or vimeo clip unless you download the original files because it all gets re-encoded.
Another thing to consider is do you film more in 720 or 1080, 24p or 25p(ntsc or pal).
And yes, the high ISO video is amazing, especially in black and white. 12,800 anyone? lol link at the bottom of the link for more patching info
http://www.eoshd.com/content/5248/latest-gh2-hack-unlocks-stunning-iso-12800-with-film-like-grain
uestine - I am currently trying out the Sanity patch which has 720 and 1080i at 44Mb (although i think 1080i might need to be dropped down alittle in order to work on slower cards) and 24p Cinema at 66Mb until i get a faster card.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!