Nokia N8 Compression Module Hacked! – Smooth 30FPS video and 11MB 12MP noise reduced images.
During my lecture I read some comments here (thanks Alex68 for tip) and on twitter about hyperX’s mod for the N8 (he’s the guy responsible for giving the i8910 life after the glorious abandonment from Samsung) – google didn’t show anything but vaibhav from the handheldblog found the original hyperX post.
First to note is the N8′s image sizes. They’re incredibly compact. 12MP images are around 1-2MB. In comparison, the i8910 form samsung has 8MP at 3-4MB with the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 (camera) at a hefty 5MB for its 12MP shooter.
With file compression, you loose a touch of detail. Remarkably that’s less evident with the N8. This mod unfurls the compression from a slight 1-2MB to 11MB.
Just bask in that heavily noise reduced image. Look at the leaves and the clarity of the licence plate at this crop. Now the N8 has very high detail anyway (despite what engadget shows in their tests), and it would be interesting to see a comparison image of non-hacked N8.
Next the video. A change from 25FPS to 30FPS.
YouTube upload and Original file.
Download the original file from here.
Damien Dinning (head honcho, Nokia Imaging) has mentioned before that they are working on increasing frame rate (as well as possible continuous autofocus) – whether that will ever reach consumers and if so when is uncertain.
YouTube version below, though note that it’s still processing and youtube does mangle the quality/frame rate of the uploads.
- Based on the original file – The panning whilst super quick is very smooth. There’s no sense of being inside jelly and the screen just wobbling. (But in the youtube video it seems to have dropped some frames as the jelly effect is much more obvious – though no where near as bad as on the SE VIVAZ where it feels like you’re in a blender)
- Again for comparison of improvement we do need 25FPS version.
- Colours look similar to the original photo but when uploaded there seems to be some sort of contrast boost.
This hack sets the bar high for the N8 and S^3. I wonder what’ll come in future?
If this is something that a hacker can (easily) make possible, and i presume in a reliable way. Doesn’t the Nokia SW team suck at it?
@Rant
Surely the point isn’t that Nokia can’t implement this – they just chose not to, so as to simplify the user experience.
Hmm, I don’t know. The fps simplifing the experience :S The smaller images I can understand, large images would stuff the memory to the brim in no time.
building a house takes a lot of time and prep but bulldozing it is very quick
i havent slept yet so im confusing myself even with that comment..
i think i should be saying… “its a lot harder to design and build a house than it is to spot its doors and windows and open them”
(@Rant)
Yep true that. Guess I’m just wanting the best out of the N8. Eventhough it already pushes out one of, if not the best images.
I meant specifically about the image compression.
what should i do with the file downloaded to get higher quality pics???? Plsss do help!!!!!
You should put the link to the original video in the description box on youtube.
Also put some tags, make it easy for people to find that video. =]
Great work! This is not even the beginning! =]
[...] reading at mynokiablog (function() { var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; [...]
Speaking of Hack
I know its very early but is there a possible way to overclock N8 CPU??
maybe up to 800mhz..
I wouldn’t doubt that the CPU can and may be clocked higher in the future, by Nokia themselves.
See Nokia 5800. Originally clocked at 369Mhz and clocked to 434Mhz since V21 IIRC
so does hyperx give us the .raw image files or just less compressed images?
The second option.
thats what i was thinking but 11mbs is .raw image file level (for smaller p&s)
and HyperX mentioned Raw files in a reply to someone who commented on his page but i wasn’t sure if he was referring to RAW files in general or saying that his mod is for RAW
the Canon EOS 1000D RAW image files is in the 10mb range
I really need sleep… wow I can’t think straight at all…. HyperX even identifies his sample file as the “RAW” image file; lol
@Stylinred – I second RAW. If he does, it I’ll buy the N8. The JPG image is very impressive but it is not RAW. You can still see the effects of JPG compression. JPG won’t get much better than this though.
He references RAW, but its to the full video file not to a RAW image file.
[...] VIA [...]
Well how do I apply it and where do I get it? Will it be released?
nice job hyper ))))
n8 hd video recording is better than all hurraa
720p/30fps/stereo sound
[...] Yesterday we saw a post with N8 compression hacked, giving nigh on RAW output (virtually noiseless) increasing file size to 10.9MB (as well as 30FPS 720p video) [...]
@George
If the JPG compression is at a low enough level, it shouldn’t be much of an advantage to have RAW. The bigger advantages for RAW would be increased bit depth, lack of post-processing (which on phones, can often be quite extreme), etc.
@Adam – You’re exactly right and that’s why I need (want) RAW. By the time it’s converted to JPEG they’ve already tone curved, noise reduced and 8-bit converted and that for me is too much. I can get a lot more out of the photo using RAW and that is my personal preference. If this had it I’ll get it, if not, I’ll wait for the N9. I have RAW on my N900, though it’s got some issues.
woah what the n900 can take RAWs??
i’ve gotta look into that! wish i had known earlier
There’s a program out of Stanford University called FCam (Franken Camera). It’s for developers. FCam is the API and FCamera is the program.
It’s pure unadulterated RAW. Truth be told, the camera on the N900 isn’t very good so you kinda need the Nokia processing on the image to address color and lens issues.
Post processing helps but I have not figured out how to get images to match N900 OOC images in terms of color.
For most people the stock camera will be better. With FCamera you have more control, but you won’t necessarily get better images, just different.
This is why I dream of RAW (FCam) and the N9. FCam is all in Linux so as far as I know, no way to get it on Symbian.
yeah hardware might be 1 ghz for this type of phones and the latest additions.
[...] saw in excitement the renowed hyperX mod Nokia’s latest flagship – the N8; first bumping up image quality to reduce pretty much all the compression so that the already high detail N8 produces something quite remarkable for such a compact phone. [...]
i own nokia n8. can u tell me the procedure to install the hyperx ?
thanks in advance…
Good afternoon, looked at many more sites I am not able to download that program for 30 frames, I would like to tell me where to download the right program, I downloaded several more until all gave error, would send me by e-mail the right program for can download on my nokia n8?
e-mail: amilcar.armando@gmail.com
[...] Remember when hyperX released the 30FPS 720p video mod for the Nokia N8? [...]
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