Shoot 2K, 3K & 4K on a T2i/550D?

[Canon Rumors Guy]

<strong><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5615" title="4k-Firmware-for-the-Canon-T2i-550d-on-1_1_11-1" src="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/4k-Firmware-for-the-Canon-T2i-550d-on-1_1_11-1.jpg" alt="" width="549" height="289" />

From Philip Bloom</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>I was just notified on my Facebook page by Forian Bottger about this that someone called Earz62801 will be releasing a firmware hack for the T2i/ 550d (not the other Canons) that will give it 2K, 3K,4K video recording capability and bit rates between 45mb/s and 175mb/s. . The date of the release is Jan the 1st. This is nothing to do with Magic Lantern, just totally out of the blue from this person.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Read More: <a href="http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/12/4k-hack-firmware-for-canon-rebel-t2i550d-coming-on-jan-1/">Planet5D</a> via <a href="http://philipbloom.net/2010/12/30/shoot-2k-3k-and-4k-on-the-canon-550d-t2i-coming-in-2-weeks/">Philip Bloom</a></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong>

 

[kubelik]

if true ... thats amazing

 

[MK5GTI]

can somebody tell me what exactly is 2k, 3k and 4k video? better than 1080p?

 

[stark-arts]

Video out of the cameras now is like a jpg - 4k would be akin (not exactly before i get based) to raw

this is the very very simple explanation...

 

[kandrews]

@MK5GTI

Taken from Wikipedia:

720×480 : D-VHS, DVD, miniDV, Digital8, Digital Betacam (pro)
720×480 : Widescreen DVD (anamorphic)
1280×720 : D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray, HDV (miniDV)
1440×1080 : HDV (miniDV)
1920×1080 : HDV (miniDV), AVCHD, HD DVD, Blu-ray, HDCAM SR (pro)
2048×1080 : 2K Digital Cinema
4096×2160 : 4K Digital Cinema
7680×4320 : UHDTV

 

[kubelik]

it has nothing to do with the lines of resolution - which is what 1080p deals with but rather with the amount of info that is being contained....

Video out of the cameras now is like a jpg - 4k would be akin (not exactly before i get based) to raw

this is the very very simple explanation...

stark, I'm not sure that's correct. as kandrews noted, 2K, 3K, and 4K are actually resolution sizes, which would relate to the number of lines on a screen.

raw video is a whole separate issue, and I don't know that we'll be able to sneak that out of existing cams purely with a firmware hack.

 

[Admin US West]

stark, I'm not sure that's correct. as kandrews noted, 2K, 3K, and 4K are actually resolution sizes, which would relate to the number of lines on a screen.

raw video is a whole separate issue, and I don't know that we'll be able to sneak that out of existing cams purely with a firmware hack.

Here is yet another explanation.

Video Formats

Unlike other video formats, which are specified in terms of vertical resolution (e.g. 1080p, which is 1920x1080 pixels), digital cinema formats are usually specified in terms of horizontal resolution. As a shorthand, these resolutions are often given in "nK" notation, where n is the multiplier of 1024 such that the horizontal resolution of a corresponding full-aperture, digitized film frame is exactly 1024n pixels. Here the 'K' has a customary, improper meaning: it should be the binary prefix "kibi" (ki) instead.

For instance, a 2K image is 2048 pixels wide, and a 4K image is 4096 pixels wide. Vertical resolutions vary with aspect ratios though; so a 2K image with a HDTV (16:9) aspect ratio is 2048x1152 pixels, while a 2K image with a SDTV or Academy ratio (4:3) is 2048x1536 pixels, and one with a Panavision ratio (2.39:1) would be 2048x856 pixels, and so on. Due to the "nK" notation not corresponding to specific horizontal resolutions per format a 2K image lacking, for example, the typical 35mm film soundtrack space, is only 1828 pixels wide, with vertical resolutions rescaling accordingly. This led to a plethora of motion-picture related video resolutions, which is quite confusing and often redundant with respect to nowadays few projection standards.

All formats designed for digital cinematography are progressive scan, and capture usually occurs at the same 24 frame per second rate established as the standard for 35mm film.

The DCI standard for cinema usually relies on a 1.89:1 aspect ratio, thus defining the maximum container size for 4K as 4096x2160 pixels and for 2K as 2048x1080 pixels [1] (either 24fps or 48fps). When distributed in the form of a Digital Cinema Package (DCP), content is letterboxed or pillarboxed as appropriate to fit within one of these container formats.

 

[Edwin Herdman]

this is the very very simple explanation...

Unfortunately it is also the very wrong explanation. Without getting into what people do for a living or what terms people think are being used, "4K resolution" is the standard everywhere I've looked for video that's 4,000 pixels wide, which would make it akin to 1080p in fact. You are probably thinking about something like bitrate. There's talk of some cameras having the 4K resolution, or of theaters being ready for digital cinema or for 4K resolution (I fancied myself able to tell the difference between previews being shown in low-res while the main feature was at a higher resolution - but I couldn't say for certain if that was 2K and 4K, or 2K and film which is most likely. Stuff I've read suggests that at least within the last few years 4K movie projectors have made some headway, but aren't found everywhere.

Back to the news topic - I'd be wary of private developers overpromising or even just pulling the collective legs of camera users, but I don't see why it's not possible. I wouldn't make any purchasing decisions based on this, but it does stand to reason that they wouldn't have announced to the world that they were working on something before it was ready (which is a point against the idea that this is not legitimate). So I would say - if you own a 550D, something pretty nice is probably coming your way.

No idea how Canon will react to the number of suddenly melted 550D insides appearing at their shops, though - but it probably won't be used so much as to become an epidemic anyway. I do think that the usual advice of using a battery grip probably won't be all that's necessary to help keep it cool, though. And how would firmware reflashing work? For that matter it'll be interesting to see how this coexists (or doesn't) with the normal camera features and look (the picture is hackertastic, in a nostalgic sort of way, but not big on readability).

 

[Bob Howland]

These are good places to start looking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_film

On other threads in this forum, it has been suggested that 4K video will become popular for consumer camcorders. And when are the 4K televisions being introduced? 4k is a production standard for making movies to be shown on movie screens that are 60 feet wide, but at lot of people I know are watching their movies at home upconverted from standard DVDs distributed at 720x480.

 

[JurijTurnsek]

175mbs = possible 1080/60p or even 1080/120p?

 

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Watch 2k, 3k, 4k Firmware Announcement. Real or Fake?

<strong>Real or fake?</strong>

I’m on the fence whether I buy this whole thing or not, what say you?<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong><div id="polls-9" class="wp-polls">
		<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Do you think the 4K firmware hack is real?</strong></p><div id="polls-9-ans" class="wp-polls-ans"><ul class="wp-polls-ul">
		<li><strong><i>No, it's a hoax! <small>(53%, 707 Votes)</small></i></strong><div class="pollbar" style="width: 53%;" title="You Have Voted For This Choice - No, it's a hoax! (53% | 707 Votes)"></div></li>
		<li>What's a 4K? <small>(26%, 345 Votes)</small><div class="pollbar" style="width: 26%;" title="What's a 4K? (26% | 345 Votes)"></div></li>
		<li>Yes it is! <small>(21%, 271 Votes)</small><div class="pollbar" style="width: 20%;" title="Yes it is! (21% | 271 Votes)"></div></li>
		</ul><p style="text-align: center;">Total Voters: <strong>1,323</strong></p></div>
</div>
<div id="polls-9-loading" class="wp-polls-loading"><img src="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-polls/images/loading.gif" width="16" height="16" alt="Loading ..." title="Loading ..." class="wp-polls-image" /> Loading ...</div>
</strong></p>
<p><strong>16K Firmware! This is an apparent parody of the 4K firmware claims.</strong></p>
<div><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dkTN7Ayosq0?fs=1&hl=en_US" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dkTN7Ayosq0?fs=1&hl=en_US" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<div>.</div>
<div><strong>Notes from the uStream Video Launch (<a href="http://www.video-dslr.com/Canon-EOS-4k-Firmware-Hack/">from Video-DSLR</a>)</strong></div>
<ul>
<li>Will be released on January 1st 2011 11:11pm EST</li>
<li>First two releases will be free. Later releases will cost around 50 USD.</li>
<li>4K resolution will be 4096×2304</li>
<li>60p in 1080p mode possible</li>
<li>LiveView doesn’t work while recording</li>
<li>1080p with 175Mb/s Bitrate looks gorgeous</li>
<li>Color-Space 4:2:2</li>
<li>Moire and aliasing “fixed”</li>
<li>5D Mark II support will be released on January 11, 2011</li>
<li>Recording time in 4K is only 6 seconds. Maybe 10 seconds in future release</li>
<li>Writing 6 Seconds of 4K footage to card takes about 30 seconds.</li>
<li>No playback in-camera</li>
<li>25p is NOT going to happen. Probably never.</li>
<li>Heating was a problem until 6 days ago. But not anymore.</li>
<li>Has built in limiter so you won’t brick your camera</li>
<li>Battery will be sucked up pretty fast.</li>
<li>Will NOT record in 16:9 (coming in future release)</li>
<li>Will be first released for T2i (550D) and will later come to 7D, 5D Mark II. No Word on 60D yet.</li>
<li>Monthly updated planned on each months 1st</li>
<li>“Rolling Shutter isn’t much of an issue”</li>
<li>No drop frames</li>
<li>Youtube User Dod3032 will get the firmare one day early and will put up videos on youtube on 2011-01-01</li>
<li>Source code will also be released</li>
<li>HDMI Out will still work</li>
<li>Works only with fast Class10 cards</li>
<li>Working cards are: Sandisk Extreme III class 10 8gb and above. Transcend class 10 16gb and above and Lexar Pro class 10 32gb.</li>
<li>7D Security is a pain in butt because of firmware counter. So no support yet.</li>
<li>Not T1i (they don’t have one)</li>
<li>Development took about 2 month in total</li>
<li>Special Website will be up soon</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong>

 

[Admin US West]

These are good places to start looking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_film

On other threads in this forum, it has been suggested that 4K video will become popular for consumer camcorders. And when are the 4K televisions being introduced? 4k is a production standard for making movies to be shown on movie screens that are 60 feet wide, but at lot of people I know are watching their movies at home upconverted from standard DVDs distributed at 720x480.

I don't expect to see real 4K camcorders for consumers soon.


We are still waiting for it on mid priced professional models. Only a very few high end cinema cameras have 4K at 4:4:4. Most are 4:2:2. The Red epic is likely the forrunner of medium priced 4K cameras, but it is stil way more expensive than a consumer camcorder. Its modular, so you have to buy several pieces to get a working unit. Its estimated that it cost about $2 million for the Red epic, accessories, and lenses for Peter Jackson to shoot "The Hobbit" The camera itself only cost about $58,000, but it is only a tiny part of the total cost. This is cheap compared to other 4K 4:4:4 cinema cameras.

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/peter-jacksons-hobbit-films-to-be-made-on-30-red-epic-cameras-20101129/

You can buy a 4K monitor, but it might be more than your want to pay.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/562026-REG/Astro_Systems_DM_3400_DM_3400_56_Professional_4K.html

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/676516-REG/Astro_Systems_DM_3410_DM_3410_56_4K_2K_Professional.html

 

[frugivore]

Re: Watch 2k, 3k, 4k Firmware uStream Live Video.

Does this have any practical application? With only 6 second clips available using a 4K video resolution, I don't think it is feasible for video production.

Historically, has Canon released such improvements through official firmware?

 

[Bob Howland]

These are good places to start looking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_film

On other threads in this forum, it has been suggested that 4K video will become popular for consumer camcorders. And when are the 4K televisions being introduced? 4k is a production standard for making movies to be shown on movie screens that are 60 feet wide, but at lot of people I know are watching their movies at home upconverted from standard DVDs distributed at 720x480.

I don't expect to see real 4K camcorders for consumers soon.


We are still waiting for it on mid priced professional models. Only a very few high end cinema cameras have 4K at 4:4:4. Most are 4:2:2. The Red epic is likely the forrunner of medium priced 4K cameras, but it is stil way more expensive than a consumer camcorder. Its modular, so you have to buy several pieces to get a working unit. Its estimated that it cost about $2 million for the Red epic, accessories, and lenses for Peter Jackson to shoot "The Hobbit" The camera itself only cost about $58,000, but it is only a tiny part of the total cost. This is cheap compared to other 4K 4:4:4 cinema cameras.

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/peter-jacksons-hobbit-films-to-be-made-on-30-red-epic-cameras-20101129/

You can buy a 4K monitor, but it might be more than your want to pay.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/562026-REG/Astro_Systems_DM_3400_DM_3400_56_Professional_4K.html

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/676516-REG/Astro_Systems_DM_3410_DM_3410_56_4K_2K_Professional.html

Thanks!

 

[stark-arts]

this seems almost impossible to me but if it's true - wow. While 6 seconds isn't much - the 2k and 3k numbers if true are very usable. If i could somehow get 120 fps out of my 5DII i'd be very happy as well.

 

[jonah]

The sensors on HDSLRs, being still sensors, are incapable of being read at full res at full speed for video. They skip lines to achieve this, and the result is that the 1080p video recorded on those cameras is not actually anywhere close to maxing out the detail on 1080p.

Proof:
http://prolost.com/blog/2009/12/3/you-didnt-believe-me.html
http://prolost.com/blog/2010/9/2/ha-ha-very-funny-canon-now-get-back-to-work.html

So I really don't think this anything but a way to write that same inadequate signal at a higher resolution and bit rate. I think 2k at a much higher bit rate might be worth it (better compression is better for sure), but since the signal can't even fill a 1080p signal I think 3k and 4k are going to just be absolutely pointless.

For those that don't know, 2k = 2048x1024, 4k = 4096x2048 resolution. Since the signal can't fill 1920x1080, what hope can it possibly have of filling quadruple that many pixels?

 

[deeznuts]

Since I'm a hobbiest, I just want to see the 720p 120fps in action.

Actually I'd be happy with 60fps (5dmii)

 

[Quellik]

Sounds too good to be true.

I am uploading the audio from the QA Session right now and have published all released facts:
http://www.video-dslr.com/Canon-EOS-4k-Firmware-Hack/

 

[Master_of_the_Universe]

I don't believe it.

I'd love to be wrong though.

 

[licht]

I red that the codec is m-jpeg to push the 4K through the max bandwith of 175mb/s
I did knew it's possible to add codecs at the canon's OS, it's not cpu implemented ?

Maybe they use the"regular" jpeg output of the processor, the one for stills and bypass the poor line-skipping
and H264 encoding ... The result maybe encoded easily as Motion-jpg ?

Basically, if you look at what the firmware seems to offer, it's what you might obtain when using rafale mode
and buffers at speeds and power that bypass Canon safety rules and marketing positioning ...
You add the codec to put the mjpeg datas at 175Mb/s
and you get an interesting project ....

I can not imagine Canon accepting that someone sells firmware updates for their products !
Or perhaps they will let it go because of the great number of dead smoking Eos bodies
people will get back to shops with no hopes of refunds because of an overheat using a non-Canon firmware ...
:-*

Look like also that you have to wait 30s between two shots at full lenght !!!! time to transfert datas from the buffers to the media card.
so, wait 30s between two 90s 2k shots, ok I could manage ... but 30s of wait each 6s in 4k !
That won't work on field !