AHD demosaic beta update - Much better sharpness for in-camera h264 saving

[tesla500]

This beta update adds a greatly improved demosaic for in-camera h264 saving. This brings the quality of saved MP4 files near that of externally processed RAW files. We've been using this regularly without issues, but as always with beta software, don't use it for anything mission critical where you can't recreate a shot.

This replaces the old bilinear demosaic with one based on AHD (Adaptive Homogeneity Directed), with some modifications for fewer color artifacts around single-pixel objects, and lower resource utilization.

Installation
This update must be installed over V0.3.0, if you have not installed that, follow the instructions on the software update page. Once you're on V0.3.0, you can download the attached update, the installation instructions are exactly the same as for V0.3.0 update linked above. Once installed, the application revision will remain the same but the FPGA revision will be 3.9

Let us know how it works!

[Nikon1]

Thanks a lot for further improofing the Image Quality.
Keep up the good Work.

[JamesB]

Here are my image and video tests on the new Demosaic Patch.  Highly recommended install.  There are some slim black borders on the top and bottom of h.264 not on RAW which are being fixed by the team already. Other than that the patch is solid.  Should be ready for wide release soon.  Thanks, Krontech Software team! 

http://www.hispeedcams.com/chronos-1-4-new-firmware-improves-h-264-image-quality/

[jasonfish]

Did you happen to do any comparisons before and after the patch?

[NiNeff]

I installed the update without problems and did try to take a comparison, however i nudged the focus and therefore the test was invalidated
I just trust you guys and I'm not going to revert the update...

[JamesB]

Did you happen to do any comparisons before and after the patch?

No, but shot a lot with the regular h.264. I had no available time to apply the update at separate locations.  There is a big difference in quality for the demosaic now.  Before it was dancing moire and aliasing everywhere fine detail was observed, now it is about 70% of what the RAW offers.  I will still shoot RAW for maximum quality where I need it but for just playing around the h.264 would do well. 

WHen direct DNG saving is ready it will also save the conversion step which is kind of a pain.   Maybe the DNG could be compressed to save space also.  Right now a typical session in RAW with the camera is about 30GB worth of data. Where it could really be 3GB if it was JPG like.    I wouldn't be opposed to a JPG saving feature either as long as the conversion is adequate.

[patrickrebstock]

i am having a problem with install
im on version 3 firmware
i can back up calibration data but then it says no software update found, tried ejecting and repluging lots of times
any ideas?

[nik282000]

Are you using the same usb stick that you had for previous updates? I have found that only out of the pile I own will work for updates even though they all work for backing up callibration and saving video.

[patrickrebstock]

Are you using the same usb stick that you had for previous updates? I have found that only out of the pile I own will work for updates even though they all work for backing up callibration and saving video.

ill try another i think its same one

[patrickrebstock]

just tried three diffrent ones with no sucess,
i have used one of these to do my updates in the past
do you guys just put the extracted folder on the usb stick? camupdate folder?

[NiNeff]

do you guys just put the extracted folder on the usb stick? camupdate folder?

Yep. Just the camupdate folder extracted from the download zip to the root of an USB stick. You might also try an USB harddisk. If i remember correctly I also had trouble using some older thumbdrives and only some of them work.

[patrickrebstock]

hmm ok, ill keep trying to find more ones to try...

[nik282000]

If you want I can send you an image of my updated SD card. You would need to restore your callibration data (mine is part of the SD image). It's ~700mb but I think Google drive will share stuff that big.

[patrickrebstock]

im not sure how that would help? can you explain?
thanks

[nik282000]

Every time updated my Chronos I would take out the OS SD card and make an .img file, that way I could always restore an image if I broke something. If you can't get your camera to update you could use one of my backup .img files, write it to a microsd card and put it in your camera, then you would have the up to date software. You would also have to restore your calibration data because my backups contain my calibration.