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High Bit-rate recording now solved

After a couple of weeks of hard code tracing Coderat nailed the where/how of the bit rates for Nikon DSLR movies recording are set. The sad thing is the source of the bit rates is just a simple function that had been documented for a couple of years, the completeness of it’s effect was just not understood. Sigh.

But now we have patched in higher bit rates. To that end 34mbps and 54mbps have been tested on a D5100, and I’ve tested 34mbps, 49mbps and 64mbps on my D7000.

There are some D7000 video’s that can be reviewed if that’s your thing 1080 24fps 18mbps (default) 29MB 1080 24fps 30mbps (default) 47MB 1080 24fps 45mbps (default) 60MB

The online patch tool now lets to install these rates, on D5100 and D7000, and only at 1080p, but I’m sure more models/modes will follow as requested.

I had no record problems with 64mbps (really 60mbps as I had no sound being recorded), using both my slow Transcend Class 10 card, or my fast SanDisk Extreme Pro, which I purchased for these very tests back in 2012.

SD Cards that worded for me
SD Cards that worded for me

So if you want to test or talk about this come on over to the Nikon Hacker forums.

Comments:

Derek 2014-02-27 22:04:17

Hi there simon i have test the firmware beta V1.04 and i find it is still buggy on the nikon D7000
i have installed the firmware and the and recorded the video and it works but when i wanted to play it back it dose work at all ..
but anyways the next message i send i ll will upload a video to see what it can improve
please keep up the good work …

but at the meanwhile i hate this though that since the nikon have a wireless dongle or usb connection can you make a app that talks to the smart phone like the android or the iphone to change iso aperture ev and focus point as a touch screen since nikon dosen’t have a touch screen .

keep up the good work with my big fan and support

Simeon 2014-02-27 22:39:00

Hi Derek,

It has been reported on the forums already that playback of same movies does/does not work. For example Coderat could playback the video’s I posted to my website on his D7000, while other have not. But the reality is the only people who should really use the higher bitrates are people doing video editing, as the extra data provides more flexibility in post production, and they typically are not view in camera. That is a around about way of saying, it’s not 100% expectable for the camera to be able to play back video’s due to buffering requirements that may be out of the hardware’s limited resources, but the video’s are still valid .mov files that a computer with gigabytes of ram can handle.

So we have no intention of even “trying to fix” this issue, and if it does not suit your production needs, you are welcome to return to stock firmware.

Ronn Kilby 2014-03-03 05:38:40

When will the firmware patch for the D600 be available?

Simeon 2014-03-03 08:53:39

I didn’t know we were making one.

If you’re asking nicely, if a high bitrate patch could be made for the D600, then sure it could, and now that someone has expressed some interesting, it has a high than zero chance on happening…

Ronn Kilby 2014-03-03 09:07:24

I was most definitely asking nicely. Sorry but I misunderstood the description I read here of high bitrate patch beta for D600: https://simeonpilgrim.com/nikon-patch/nikon-patch-beta.html

NOTE under “available firmware alterations”:

D600
Video 1080 36mbps Bitrate - BETA
Video 1080 54mbps Bitrate - BETA

That definitely seemed like you “were making one” otherwise why is it “available?”

Thanks for your work in this area.

Simeon 2014-03-03 09:50:30

Ok, so it’s done then.

Thor 2014-03-07 19:23:33

Hi there,
Would just like to inform you that the 54 mbps does not work on the d3100 with full hd 24 fps. It does however run fine with 720p 30 fps..

Simeon 2014-03-07 19:42:11

Thanks for the feedback, but it has been tested and worked already. So I’ll wage it’s your SD card. If it’s not a class 10 card, I’d start by getting one of those, and if it is class 10, format it in camera, and try again.

Thor 2014-03-08 20:45:30

Okay thanks.
I’ll see if I have one of them laying around!

Luke 2014-03-10 17:30:55

thank you for your work, it is real exciting and hoping someday the Nikon user can have all those extensional functions like Magic Lantern have.

I found a problem is that the D600 can’t play back the video which is cracked with 54mbps Bitrate, but the 36mbps Bitrate works fine.

Simeon 2014-03-10 17:37:26

Nod, the playback “lack of” is well reported over on the forums.

Kate 2014-03-17 05:56:57

Hi, Simeon! I have some problems with patch-beta on my D3100. Video 1920х1080 with bitrate 36 mbps is playing on my camera for 1 sec =( So i can’t review videos, Please correct this mistake

Simeon 2014-03-17 09:53:16

Hi Kate, this is a known issues, the understanding is the camera cannot allocate enough internal resources to playback the file, but they are fine, and work well on your PC. Not everything is free, and no on camera review is a cost of this change.

If you must have on camera playback, revert to standard firmware.

Ben 2014-03-17 21:38:07

Hi Simeon, great work!!

Unfortunately I cant update the firmware of my Nikon D800. I installed Silverlight in IE. Then I tried to update the process with the newest firmware D800_0102.bin

No updates presently exist?

Simeon 2014-03-17 22:41:57

Hi Ben. You will get the best answer by reading the change log at the very bottom of the page. For each model I note which firmware version this applies form and if it’s released or beta. Also of note not everything is ported from release to release due to complexity/time/effort. Simeon

Bob Spez 2014-04-19 17:21:05

I just installed the current patch on my D3100 today. Quite spectacular. Lowering the exposure to 1/15th of a second gives me an image brighter in my lcd and on the video than the actual light in the room.

My bitrate is 54mbps, and a one minute video is about 400MB. Is the camera no longer using the H.264 codec? If not, what is it using?

An important question I have is if I increase the exposure time to something high like 1/250 of a second or more, will I overheat the camera (burn it up)? Are there upper or lower limits for exposure time beyond which I risk harming the camera?
Thank you.

Simeon 2014-04-22 07:44:32

I would have thought that 1/15th was possible as your recording at 1/24 or 1/25 or 1/30, so I assume you mean in liveview. There could be two reasons for that one the LCD is set too bright, or if on film, it ether slowed the frame rate, as the exposures are too long to maintain 1/24.

H.264 is the only supported protocol. The engine is just allocating more bits to the encoder, so there is less macro blocking.

Not sure why a faster shutter speed would have any impact on heat of the sensor. You can record at 1/250th normally. The sensor makes heat from running, so it’s more the process of running that makes head verse the speed the electronic shutter process is running. The camera’s also have a heat override in them and the units shut down if they get too hot.

Ronn Kilby 2014-04-22 08:09:08

Bob: increasing the shutter speed does not increase the exposure - actually the opposite. Longer the shutter is open, the more light, therefore, the more exposure, all other factors being equal. Lowering your shutter speed to 1/15th will actually give you a staccato blur effect if your framerate is 30 (or anything higher than 15fps). You generally want to have a shutter double your framerate, for smooth motion. That is, 1/60th at 30p, 1/50th at 24p. Shutter speed has no effect on overheating.

Bob Spez 2014-04-22 16:25:45

Thank you Simeon and and Ronn for the info. I feel relieved to know that changing the shutter speed will not harm my camera. Also thanks for letting me know about the codec.

The frame rate in HD on my Nikon D3100 is 24 fps, but shooting test footage in manual mode, indoors in available daylight, at shutter speeds of 1/15 sec, 1/30 sec and 1/50 sec respectively, with the lens wide open, has the same effect on lighting as it would in a still photograph. The 1/15 sec footage is brighter than the 1/30 sec, and the 1/50 sec footage is considerably darker than the 1/30 sec.
I just now took more test footage with shutter speeds of 1/15 sec, 1/8 sec., and 1/4 sec, and the lighing on the footage and lcd screen both continue to get lighter as the shutter speed gets slower, the same as it would with still shots. I loaded the footage of all the different speed clips into my editor and the properties were all shown as 24fps, and there was no dilation of time, so the csamera is recording 24fps in all cases. I only shot video of a non moving object so I don’t know what filming something in motion would look like, but i should get more blur at the slower shutter speeds. I don’t actually understand the reason for this phenomena but it is a great addition to the camera’s ability.

Frank 2015-02-07 07:22:04

hi Simeon,

I tried to add a language on my D7100. I need Italian and there are japanese and english right now.
With your patch solution I cannot do, the system told me that there is not any patch for that firmware (c 1.01 or c 1.02).
Can you help me please???

My wife is becoming crazy……and my hears too!!!

Thank you

Frank