Panasonic today announced an updated version of its venerable LUMIX GH5 camera. The new GH5 Mark II is a relatively modest upgrade over its predecessor but if you look at the other thing Panasonic announced today, you’d realize it’s just a stop-gap.
The GH5M2 features a revised set of specifications, largely due to the upgrade to the newer and latest generation Venus Engine processor. The camera is now capable of internally recording 4K 60p in 10-bit at 4:2:0, which is an improvement over the GH5 that could only do 8-bit internally. The GH5M2 will also be able to simultaneously record in 4K 60p in 10-bit 4:2:2 to an external recorder.
The GH5M2 comes with the Panasonic V-Log L log profile pre-installed, which was an optional paid extra on the GH5. This allows you to color match the camera to other Panasonic cameras using V-Log (S1/S1H) or V-Log L (GH5/GH5S). The GH5M2 also adds two Cinelike presets (D2 and V2) along with MonochromeS and L.ClassicNeo.
The 20.3-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor is nearly identical to the one on the GH5. The GH5M2 sensor features anti-reflective coating, which should reduce the amount of flare around bright objects.
The use of a faster processor has enabled some improvements to autofocusing. While the GH5M2 still uses the same contrast-based DFD system, it is not faster to lock focus and 2x faster at detecting eyes and faces than the GH5.
The GH5M2 also features improved in-body image stabilizer and is capable of 6.5-stop slower shutter speed.
The GH5M2 features a smaller 3.0-inch display compared to the 3.5-inch display on the GH5. However, this new display has higher 1840k dot resolution and is also brighter outdoors.
The connectivity hasn’t changed much but the microUSB port has been ditched in favor of USB-C with USB-PD charging.
Finally, the GH5M2 is capable of live streaming to YouTube or Facebook directly through the camera. All you need is the camera and an internet connection, either through home Wi-Fi or through your phone’s data connection and the Panasonic app and you’re good to go. Aside from the two services mentioned above, you can also stream to any other RTMP/RTMPS protocol compatible streaming service and stream at 1080p 60fps at 16Mbps. A future update will also add wired IP streaming (RTP/RTSP).
Aside from that, this is basically the same camera as the GH5. All you get to differentiate externally are some red accents and a reassigned F1 button. However, this isn’t a bad thing, as the GH5M2 is being launched at $400 lower than the launch price of the GH5 and starts at $1699.
However, the thing to look out for is Panasonic’s upcoming GH6, which the company also teased today. The camera is said to be in development and will be launched by the end of 2021. The GH6 will be able to do 4:2:2 10-bit DCI 4K 60p internal recording without any time limits and also 10-bit 4K 120p HFR recording. The Gh6 will also be able to do 10-bit 5.7k 60p video with the new Micro Four Thirds sensor.
The Panasonic LUMIX GH6 will be priced around $2500.
It is competition time again – this time, we have teamed up with Punch Technology to give away a high-end gaming PC worth £2799! Featuring hardware from Patriot, Cougar, Palit, Intel and Gigabyte, with an RTX 3070 and i7-11700K, this PC will be ready for any game you can throw at it.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
The full specifications for this PC include:
CPU: Intel Core i7-11700K
Graphics card: Palit GeForce RTX 3070 GamingPro
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z590 VISION D Intel Motherboard
SSD: Patriot VPN100 1TB M.2
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel RGB 32GB DDR4
Case: Cougar Gaming Blazer case
Cooling: Cougar Gaming AQUA ARGB 360mm AIO-Cooler
Power supply: Cougar Gaming GEX 850W 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular PSU
TO WIN:
This competition is being hosted via Gleam, so all you need to do to enter is follow the instructions below. Alternatively, you can head to the competition directly on Gleam.
KitGuru Giveaway
This competition is open to UK residents only. The competition runs from Monday the 24th of May until the 7th of June. Shortly after closing, a winner will be announced on KitGuru.net. In compliance with GDPR, your entry data will be deleted after the competition is closed and your details will not be shared, we respect your privacy.
KitGuru Says: Good luck to everyone entering! We’ll be back in a few weeks to announce a winner.
Many casual fans and tech enthusiasts alike were left surprised when Epic Games showed off Unreal Engine 5 for the first time last year. Just over a year after its blowout showcase, Epic Games is back with another look at the impressive technology of the next Unreal Engine, with a showcase set to go live tomorrow.
Making the announcement, Epic Games said “In May 2020, Epic Games provided a first look at Unreal Engine 5 through ‘Lumen in the Land of Nanite,’ a real-time demo running live on PlayStation 5. Prior to this, in January 2020, we went behind the scenes with the team at Epic to discover the inspiration for Nanite, a virtualized micropolygon geometry system that will enable you to create games with massive amounts of geometric detail.”
With that, they revealed that fans and developers alike can take a new look at the upcoming engine tomorrow, when the next Unreal Engine 5 showcase goes live on YouTube at 3pm UK time.
The initial reveal of Unreal Engine 5 universally impressed viewers last year with its showcase of incredibly detailed models, dynamic lighting and more. As we inch closer to the release of the first Unreal Engine 5-developed title, it is interesting to see what Epic Games has planned one year after the first look – and whether they can wow viewers a second time.
KitGuru says: What did you think of the first Unreal Engine 5 showcase? Were you impressed? How long do you think it will be before the first UE5 game launches? Let us know down below.
If you’re struggling with your audio quality, you may be tempted to buy a dedicated microphone to improve your work calls, live streaming, content creation. Some of you may not want to splash too much cash however, so today we’re taking a look at a very affordable microphone by Tonor, the TC30 USB microphone, which comes in at just £37.99. With over 8500 4.5-star ratings on Amazon, it comes with absolutely everything you need to get started, including a pop-shield, shock mount and desk stand. Is it actually any good – or should you pass on this one?
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
Specifications:
Microphone type: Condenser
Cardioid Polar Pickup Pattern
Frequency Response 50Hz – 20kHz
Input Sample Rate 48kHz
Bit Rate 16Bit
Output Impedance 2.2kΩ
S/N Ratio >68dB
Sensitivity: -32dB±3dB
Cable Length 2m
Detachable cable
Cable Type: USB-C to USB-A 2.0
Included desk stand, shock mount and pop filter
Plug and play, no software needed
You can purchase the Tonor TC30 on a limited-time offer from Amazon for £26.99 HERE! The usual price is £37.99.
Tonor have also let us know that KitGuru readers can get 15% off on the Amazon US store with code USBMIC15.
Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.
Pros:
Plug and play, you get everything you need including a shock mount.
Detachable USB-C to USB-A 2.0 cable.
Excellent price point.
Brilliant audio quality when used correctly.
Cons:
No gain control knob or mute button on the mic itself.
Plastic threading on the shock mount.
Fully plastic design.
KitGuru says: If you’re on a restricted budget this is the microphone for anyone looking to improve the quality of their business meeting calls, gaming with friends online, content creators doing voice overs and more. With the very affordable nature of the Tonor TC30 at just £38, we definitely recommend it as the audio quality really is very good considering its price point.
Despite the massive ongoing semiconductor, GPU and general technology shortage manufacturers are facing right now, the desktop PC market continues to grow, with new data revealing that nearly 1 million PCs are currently being sold every day. This has led the IDC to project an 18.1% growth rate for the market across all of 2021.
These numbers are astonishing to see, given how nasty component shortages have been for all computer-related devices over the past year. If demand is this high right now, we wouldn’t be surprised to see even more market growth once component shortages start expiring in the next year or two. While it’s true that a potential end to the pandemic might see demand drop a little, the IDC expects a 5-year annual growth rate of 3%.
Ironically, a large driving factor behind recent desktop PC sales has been the decline of laptop volume; the IDC notes that while the more technologically advanced components in laptops like CPUs, GPUs and memory are gaining in volume, laptop bottlenecks are arising elsewhere.
Instead, the shortage issues have been driven down to audio ICs, sensors, PMICs, and display drivers, which use much older (mature) nodes of 40 nm or larger. Over 50% of the entire semiconductor industry functions on these older nodes, and production for 40nm (or older) is only gradually increasing with no plans from fabs to aggressively accelerate production.
This has led the IDC to anticipate a change in the laptop and PC market, where laptop buyers will instead opt to buy desktop PCs, which will become the much more affordable option as laptop components become rarer and more expensive.
The IDC also notes that desktop PC sales, in general, are steadily increasing due to the continued popularity of PC gaming and content consumption (YouTube, Netflix etc). But, we’re still far away from a complete rebound from the shortages. Luckily, the consumer market is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels first, before any other market. We don’t know when that’s going to happen, but it’s still good news nonetheless.
Philo has become the latest live TV option for cord-cutters hoping to skirt cable contracts to get a price bump — but there’s a workaround for current subscribers.
Beginning June 8th, Philo’s monthly subscription cost for incoming customers will hike to $25 from $20. But those who are subscribed to the service before that date will be able to keep their plans at the current cost with no change, Philo CEO Andrew McCollum said in a Tuesday announcement on the company’s blog. To offset the price increase, Philo will be increasing its unlimited DVR storage period to a full year, up from 30 days, and existing customers who’d like to upgrade their storage will be able to bump up to the new price tier if they so choose.
McCollum cited an increase in contract fees with content partners as being behind the price change. Philo is “relentless in our focus on keeping our price low,” McCollum said, but the company “can’t offset these rising costs indefinitely, and this change reflects that reality.”
Philo’s hardly the only cable alternative of late to get a price hike. Other live TV cord-cutting services that have seen their subscription prices rise over the last couple of years include Fubo TV, Hulu with Live TV, and YouTube TV, all of which currently start at around $65 per month before any additional premium add-ons.
Philo reported last November that it had reached 800,000 subscribers, meaning it’s substantially smaller than larger live TV services like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV, both of which have subscriber figures in the millions. It hasn’t technically seen a price hike since its launch back in 2017 (though it did initially offer a cheaper “skinny” tier that cost $16 per month before the plan was axed in 2019). And at $25, it still remains one of the cheapest ways to access live and linear TV, particularly given its unlimited DVR and 63 live channels.
But with Philo, you will be missing out on some premium features available on other services. For example, the service doesn’t include dedicated live sports channels, but some of its channels do occasionally run live sports programming. It also lacks local news channels, and its live channels only stream in 720p resolution while on-demand programming streams in 1080p. Philo also doesn’t have originals, though a spokesperson told The Verge that original programming “is something we may consider in the future.”
If you’ve been considering a Philo subscription, now’s the time to get it. June 8th is swiftly approaching, and that extra $5 a month starts to add up — particularly when accounting for any number of other subscriptions you may already be paying for.
Turntable.fm, the social platform that lets people collaboratively build and perform DJ sets, has raised $7.5 million in venture capital funding, according to a Medium post by CEO Billy Chasen. Turntable.fm was revived by Chasen as a response to the pandemic, after it shut down in 2013. But it’s not the only version of Turntable in the works now, which makes that funding more interesting.
The investment was led by the Andreessen Horowitz firm, also known as a16z, which has invested in products like Clubhouse, Coinbase, and Robinhood. The list of investors also includes Seth Goldstein, who was a co-founder and investor for the original incarnation of Turntable.fm in 2011.
While Turntable.fm is being run by its original creator, another group is trying to create a competing revival of the service. It’s also called Turntable but is located at tt.fm. It’s helmed by another former member of the original Turntable team, Joseph Perla, who hopes to turn it into a mobile-first service with a revamped design.
The two sites, however, don’t get along — there’s controversy over whether Perla was a co-founder or just an employee (Turntable.fm’s about page throws shade about this, listing Goldstein as the “only other co-founder”), and over the trademark. Both sides say that the other made legal threats, and that they wish the other would just leave them alone to work on the project. The top of Turntable.fm’s Wikipedia page is filled with warnings about disputes and close connections, and Chasen and Perla have both written Medium articles addressing the situation (both with their own versions of the story). If it reminds you of the Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme, you’re not alone.
a16z, though, has seemingly chosen to back Chasen’s version, which has the original turntable.fm URL. Chasen doesn’t discuss much about what the future of the service will look like in the blog post, other than the fact that he’s turning off the Patreon crowd-funding. I spoke to him right after the site originally came back, and at the time Chasen said that the site only played YouTube videos but that SoundCloud integration was in the works. It seems that he’s made good on this promise, as that integration is now in place.
The Medium post also says that Turntable.fm is looking to hire engineers or designers to work on its team, which makes sense now that the company has some money to spend.
At the moment, the service is still hidden behind a password, which is sent to users after they join the waitlist by emailing Turntable their favorite song (the site’s message implies you’ll be judged on your taste).
Compared to competitors like YouTube TV and Hulu, Sling TV has never had the flashiest app, and the overall user experience leaves something to be desired. It’s been easy enough to overlook these faults since Sling TV undercuts those rivals on price, but today the company announced a completely redesigned app that focuses on more polish and personalized recommendations.
The new Sling TV app is rolling out first to “select customers” using Amazon’s Fire TV devices, and other platforms will be added as the year stretches on. (It’ll arrive on Roku sometime this summer, for example.) The Dish-owned company describes this as the “most comprehensive update in Sling TV’s history.” And based on screenshots and the GIF above, it does look like a significant makeover.
“After a year of talking to customers and working with our design and advanced engineering teams, we’re happy to roll out the new Sling TV app to deliver the best in live sports, news and entertainment, at the same unbeatable low price point,” Michael Schwimmer, group president of Sling TV, said in a press release.
The redesign comes with a lot of changes, including a left-side navigation column and a new homescreen that focuses on content recommendations. The channel guide has been “reimagined” to make favoriting channels and filtering easier, though it will still feel familiar to customers who want that traditional cable-like grid.
A dedicated DVR section provides easy access to your cloud recordings.Image: Sling TV
Sling TV’s cloud DVR now gets its own tab, which should make it easier to sort through your recordings. By default, the service comes with 50 hours of DVR space, but you can expand this to 200 hours for an extra $5 per month.
“If a streaming app is done right, it should be practically invisible, allowing the user to get to the most relevant content quickly and easily — the new Sling TV experience does just that,” said Jon Lin, Sling TV’s VP of product.
Panasonic has announced not one but two follow-up cameras to the Lumix GH5, a camera that’s been popular with videographers since it launched in 2017. There’s the GH6, which Panasonic says features a brand-new sensor and will launch by the end of the year for $2,500, and the GH5 Mark II, which is going up for preorder today, with a body-only package coming in at $1,700.
The GH6 will feature a new image engine along with the sensor and will have the capability to record 10-bit 4K at 120fps and 10-bit 5.7K at 60fps. The camera also promises DCI 4K60 at 4:2:2 without a recording time limit. The GH6 is currently in development, so Panasonic didn’t provide many more details, but it did say that the camera would feature a Micro Four Thirds sensor. The impressive video capabilities might sound familiar, as they’re very similar to the full-frame Sony A7S III (which also has a much heftier price tag).
While the details on the GH6 were light, we got a very good look at the GH5 Mark II. It’s, as the name implies, an improved version of the GH5, and Panasonic’s idea for it seems to be that it’s built to serve people who aren’t looking to spend $2,500 on a GH6 but want something more capable than a G7 or older GH4. When the GH5 originally launched it was $2,000, so it seems like Panasonic is trying to split the difference with the Mark II and GH6, offering cameras on both sides.
There’s also a kit that comes with a 12-60mm f/2.8-4 image-stabilized lens for $2,300.Image: Panasonic
The GH5 Mark II has the same body as the GH5 (making it compatible with any previous accessories or cages), but it packs internals that make it an even more powerful video camera. While the original did support 4K recording at 60 frames a second, it was only 8-bit — the Mark II supports it at 10-bit 4:2:0, which can simultaneously be recorded internally and externally (with some HDMI recorders supporting 4:2:2). The cinema 4K mode, which provides a wider-than-16:9 aspect ratio, also now supports 30p and 25p, where the GH5 only supported 24p.
The color profiles have also gotten a revamp in the Mark II, with the camera including Cinelike D2 and V2 profiles. It also now includes the V-Log L profile for free, which was previously a $100 upgrade to the GH5. In addition to the improved color, the sensor (which is the same as the one found in the GH5) has also gotten an anti-reflective coating to avoid unwanted lens flares, and Panasonic claims it has 25 percent wider dynamic range.
The GH5 Mark II’s in-body stabilization is getting a bump in performance, too: the original could provide five stops of compensation, according to Panasonic, while the Mark II will be able to compensate up to 6.5 stops (though for longer lenses, achieving this number will require the lens to also have optical stabilization).
Panasonic is also saying that the autofocus system will be improved — a good sign, given the GH5’s lackluster performance in the area. The GH5 Mark II will feature head and body detection, as well as support for tracking animals, in addition to the eye and face detection found on the previous camera. The tracking will also be twice as fast, with the system looking for objects 60 times a second, while the GH5 tracks at 30 times a second. Panasonic also says that the system should lock on to subjects better and will have better support for tracking people who are farther in the distance.
Panasonic says the screen is 1.5 times brighter.Image: Panasonic
The Mark II also has some creature comfort improvements and really nerdy additions. The rear LCD is both higher-resolution and brighter, and the USB-C port is now compatible with the Power Delivery standard so it can run the camera and trickle-charge the batteries at the same time. It also takes higher-capacity batteries, though the older batteries the GH5 used will still work in the camera, and vice versa. There’s also now the option to add a red border around the screen when recording, and the ability to have two levels of zebra patterns to help determine exposure.
When shooting with supported lenses, creators will now be able to change the focus ring mode, setting it to be linear if that’s what they prefer, and even setting a specific focus throw if their use case calls for it. Panasonic has also updated its in-camera anamorphic de-squeezing feature (which allows people shooting with the special lenses to get a non-distorted preview of their picture) to include more lenses: the GH5 supported lenses with 1.33x and 2x aspect ratios, while the Mark II also supports lenses at 1.3x, 1.5x, and 1.8x. There’s also now support for image stabilization with anamorphic lenses.
The GH5 Mark II can, of course, also shoot pictures, but it seems like Panasonic knows its audience is mostly made up of video people: new photo features were largely absent, apart from a brief mention of improved color science and some new profiles. But while Panasonic doesn’t seem to be putting in a lot of work to entice photo shooters to its platform, it does seem to be trying to make the GH5 Mark II appealing to a different breed of video creators: the livestreamers.
The GH5 Mark II’s presentation for journalists focused heavily on its livestreaming capabilities: it can stream to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch directly over Wi-Fi, with compression being done on-camera. The streaming compression can be done at various levels and resolutions, depending on the requirements of the platform. Streamers can either input their streaming URLs and keys manually, for platforms like Twitch that support RTMP (or RTMPS), or they can directly sign on to Facebook or YouTube if they’re using the Lumix Sync smartphone app to set up the stream. Panasonic says that the ability to hardwire to a phone or even directly to a LAN via USB will be coming in a future firmware update.
I was shown a live demo of the streaming, which was conducted over YouTube, and to my eye it looked about as good as a stream can be expected to. Panasonic also said that the XLR microphone adapter built for the camera would work while streaming, and that an HDMI recorder could be used to capture a full-quality recording of any stream (though internally recording stream footage isn’t possible).
It’s hard to find a direct competitor to the GH5 Mark II, especially in its price range: Fujifilm’s X-T4 is no slouch when it comes to video, but it doesn’t have the heaps of options the Panasonic does (for example, you probably won’t get a custom menu for your most-used frame rates and resolutions, or filters to help pare down that information in the main menu like the GH5 Mark II has). The story is similar with Sony’s A7C, and the A7S III has similar specs but costs almost twice the price. And while BlackMagic’s Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has comparable video power as well as RAW video support, there are some places it falls way short when compared to the GH5 Mark II: the lack of a flip-out screen and autofocus spring to mind.
Panasonic has also announced that its G9 and GH5S cameras would also be getting firmware updates, bringing some of the new features from the GH5 Mark II. Both cameras will be getting the autofocus performance improvements, along with the frame indicators and markers, as well as support for vertical video detection. The GH5S will additionally be getting 12-bit raw over HDMI support when outputting to an Atomos Ninja V.
Panasonic also announced that it was working on a new lens, the Leica DG 25-50mm f/1.7. The aperture is constant throughout the 50-100mm full-frame equivalent focal range, and while there weren’t any additional details announced, Panasonic has emphasized it as a companion to the existing 10-25mm f/1.7. That lens features dust and moisture resistance and produces some lovely images, so it’s exciting to hear that the more tele-oriented version in the works will likely be similar in terms of build.
Panasonic is still, for better and worse, dedicated to Micro Four Thirds. In its presentation to journalists, it said that the format was necessary to get all the features and readout speeds it wanted at the price point it was looking to hit. It’s obviously invested a lot into these cameras, with the addition of livestreaming and the upcoming GH6’s monster specs, but the limitations of the format are something aspiring cinematographers will have to keep in mind when choosing their next video camera.
Microsoft Build, the company’s annual developer conference, is kicking off today, May 25th. Just like last year, the conference is happening in an online-only format rather than in-person in Seattle. The developer conference is typically where Microsoft details upcoming changes to its Windows, Office, and cloud platforms.
There’ll be around 48 hours of Build content in total taking place over the next two days, kicking off with a keynote today on May 25th starting at 11am ET. A full agenda is available over on the Microsoft Build website, featuring a mix of keynotes, technical deep dives, and breakout sessions.
How do I watch Microsoft Build?
You’ll need to register to attend the virtual Build conference, but doing so is free and gives you access to over 300 sessions as of this writing. You can use Microsoft’s scheduler to plan out which sessions to attend right here.
Microsoft is also streaming Build over on its developer YouTube channel. We’ve embedded a link to the first day’s livestream below.
What time does Microsoft Build start?
If you’re watching along, Microsoft’s stream begins at 8AM PT / 11AM ET.
Apple has announced that this year’s WorldWide Developers Conference will take place from the 7th to the 11th June. Like last year’s WWDC, the event will go ahead online.
The big news is typically revealed at the keynote speech on day one. Apple CEO Tim Cook will get the ball rolling from 6pm BST / 10am PDT this year, live from the tech giant’s Apple Park HQ. Fans will be able to stream the event via Apple.com and the company’s YouTube channel.
“WWDC21 kicks off with the unveiling of exciting new updates coming to all Apple platforms later this year”, reads Apple’s schedule. That likely means previews of Apple’s new iOS 15, iPadOS 14, MacOS 12, WatchOS 8 and tvOS 15 software.
As for hardware, we could see the latest ‘Pro’ Macs featuring Apple’s processors (the company ditched Intel’s processors last year). There’s also a (slim) chance we could see the company showcase the rumoured AirPods 3 wireless earbuds.
Following the keynote, WWDC21 will serve up “200 in-depth sessions, one-on-one labs, and more”, so that developers can learn about the latest tools to help rustle up the next generation of iOS apps.
MORE:
Read our review of the Apple AirPods Max headphones
The best AirPlay speakers you can buy right now
Apple HomePod 2: price, release date, features and rumours
Google has added a way to put a password on your Web and Activity page, which shows all your activity from across Google services, including your searches, YouTube watch history, and Google assistant queries (via Android Police). Without the verification, anyone who picks up a device you’re logged into could see that activity.
To activate the verification, you can go to activity.google.com, and click the Manage My Activity verification link. From there, you can select the Require Extra Verification option, save, and enter your password to confirm that you’re the one trying to make the change.
The page can be very revealing, but also lets you manage a ton of your data in one place.
If you don’t have the verification turned on, visiting activity.google.com will show a stream of your Google activity from across your devices, without asking for a password.
Search history can show a lot about a person.
Turning on verification, however, will require whoever’s trying to see the information to click the Verify button and enter the Google account password before it’ll show any history. For those who share a computer, or who sometimes lets others who aren’t exactly trustworthy use their device, this could be a very useful toggle.
Now no one will know.
While you’re on the Web and App Activity page, you can also take a look at what activity Google is saving, and whether it’s being auto-deleted. Then, you can decide if you’re happy with those settings. If not, this is the page to change them.
At Google’s I/O keynote last week, it talked a lot about privacy with its announcement of Android’s new Private Compute Core, a locked photos folder, and the ability to quickly delete your past 15 minutes of browsing in Chrome.
Swedish band Wintergatan may be widely known for its Marble Machine music video (which featured a machine dropping marbles to play drums, a bass, and other instruments), but today I learned that they’re building a bigger, better version, and documenting the entire process on YouTube. It’s called the Marble Machine X, and it’s driven by a motor instead of a hand crank, is being built by an entire team of people, and, hopefully will be able to go on tour and be played on stage when it’s finished.
Wintergartan also produced a build log of the first machine, but this new project is way grander in scope, offering a deeper look at the creative process that leads to… well, building a massive musical instrument that uses marbles. The band put out eight build videos for the original machine before it released its debut music video — the build log for the Marble Machine X is at 161 videos and counting. (If you were looking for something to do this weekend, that’s quite a backlog of delightfully nerdy content to fill your time with!)
It also turns out that, when you’re building a machine made to sling marbles to make tunes, almost every part of that process is interesting. The music nerd in me squealed in delight when Martin Molin, the band member that’s working with a team to build the machine, showed off the 28-audio channel cable they’re using to keep the machine looking clean and wire-free. There’s also the fascinating video that first got me hooked, where he shows off an immaculately-crafted wood piece that sorts marbles equally into four tracks. Or, rather, the piece of wood that doesn’t do that job properly, which is why he’s now designing a replacement.
The videos aren’t exactly obscure: Wintergatan has over 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube, and some of the videos about the Marble Machine X have close to that number of views. But somehow I, someone who routinely watches videos about people building weird, awesome instruments, had just missed it until now, so I figured I’d share the joy in case the YouTube algorithm had also kept this hidden from you. I can’t wait to hear Wintergatan fully turn the thing on, and do an epic remaster of the original Marble Machine song.
While there was some evidence that Rockstar was experimenting with Virtual Reality while developing Red Dead Redemption 2, no official VR mode has ever been released. Fortunately, modders are stepping in to fill the void.
As one of the most immersive games ever made, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prime candidate for VR support. The modder behind the R.E.A.L mod for Grand Theft Auto V, Luke Ross, is back with a VR mod for Red Dead Redemption 2. UploadVR was amongst the first to try it out, uploading half an hour of VR gameplay footage to YouTube:
The mod is still in early access, so the only way to play it early is to be part of Ross’s Patreon. The mod supports all major VR headsets, so whether you’re using an Oculus Rift/Quest, a HTC VIVE, a Valve Index or another headset, the game should work.
Of course it is worth keeping in mind that Red Dead Redemption 2 is already a very demanding game, so maintaining high frame rates while playing in VR is going to be a challenge.
KitGuru Says: Would you like to play Red Dead 2 in VR?
Today we are back with another extensive performance analysis, as we check out the recently-released Days Gone. As the latest formerly PlayStation-exclusive title to come to the PC, we test thirty graphics cards in this game to find out exactly what sort of GPU you need to play at maximum image quality settings. Has this game launched in a better state than when Horizon Zero Dawn first came to PC? Let’s find out.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
The first thing to know about Days Gone is that it is developed by Sony’s Bend Studio, and is built on Unreal Engine 4. Interestingly though, it uses DirectX 11, and there’s no option for DX12. That means there’s no ray tracing or DLSS features in Days Gone, something which is becoming more unusual these days.
In terms of visual settings, there are a number of options in the display menu. Textures, lighting, shadows and more can all be adjusted, while it’s great to see a field of view (FOV) slider as well as a render scale setting. There’s also a selection of quick presets – Low, Medium, High and Very High – and for our benchmarking today we opted for the Very High preset, with V-Sync of course disabled.
Driver Notes
AMD GPUs were benchmarked with the 21.5.2 driver.
Nvidia GPUs were benchmarked with the 466.47 driver.
Test System
We test using the a custom built system from PCSpecialist, based on Intel’s Comet Lake-S platform. You can read more about it over HERE, and configure your own system from PCSpecialist HERE.
CPU
Intel Core i9-10900K
Overclocked to 5.1GHz on all cores
Motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero Wi-Fi
Memory
Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600MHz (4 X 8GB)
CL 18-22-22-42
Graphics Card
Varies
System Drive
500GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2
Games Drive
2TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5″ SSD
Chassis
Fractal Meshify S2 Blackout Tempered Glass
CPU Cooler
Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Hydro Series
Power Supply
Corsair 1200W HX Series Modular 80 Plus Platinum
Operating System
Windows 10 2004
Our 1-minute benchmark pass came from quite early on in the game, as Deacon is riding on the back of Boozer’s motorbike, headed to Crazy Willie’s. This represents a reasonably demanding section of the game based on the first hour or so that I played through, and it is also highly repeatable which makes it great for benchmarking multiple GPUs.
1080p Benchmarks
1440p Benchmarks
2160p (4K) Benchmarks
Closing Thoughts
By and large, Days Gone is an impressive PC port that almost everyone will be happy with. I say almost everyone, as currently my main issue with the game is related to visible stuttering when using an RDNA 2 GPU. This didn’t happen for other AMD cards though, or Nvidia GPUs, so hopefully it is a quick fix for AMD’s driver team or the game’s developers.
As a DX11 title built on Unreal Engine 4, if we had to guess before testing the game, we would’ve thought Nvidia GPUs would perform the best, and that is certainly true. RTX 2070 Super is significantly faster than the RX 5700 XT, for example, while RTX 3070 also beats out the RX 6800 across the board, which isn’t something we usually see.
Even then, the game does run well across a wide variety of hardware. GTX 1060 and RX 580, for instance, aren’t far off from hitting 60FPS at 1080p with maximum image quality settings, with just a few small tweaks to the IQ needed to hit that figure. VRAM doesn’t appear to be in high demand either, with both the 4GB and 8GB versions of the RX 5500 XT performing almost identically.
If you do want to drop down some image quality settings, the game’s options scale well. We found that the High preset offered 35% more performance than Very High (which is more than enough to get a GTX 1060 averaging over 60FPS at 1080p), while you can almost double frame rates using the Low preset when compared to Very High.
The only other issue I noticed is what appears to be an animation hitching problem in the game, which is particularly noticeable when riding a motorbike – the game feels like it is slowing down but then correcting itself by speeding up again. This wasn’t a game breaker for me but it was most noticeable when frame rates were below 60FPS – the higher the frame rate, the less I noticed the issue.
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KitGuru says: Days Gone is definitely in a better state at launch than what we saw when Horizon Zero Dawn hit PCs in 2020. There’s a couple of issues to be fixed, but by and large this game performs well across a good range of graphics cards.
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