Version 1.1-Video in manual mode-Canon have posted a useful rundown.
 

Now that the new firmware is released, Canon have added a useful document to their website explaining the video manual and auto modes.

Canon Digital Learning Center - EOS 5D Mark II: How to Use Manual Video Exposure

Dave T

"What this firmware does NOT do, at least at this time, is add or change features like the camera’s 30 frames per second framing rate, its fully automatic audio gain control, or add in-camera time code capability."

Time code? It's cool that they acknowledge theses features, but does anybody expect timecode? That (plus 24/25p, manual audio gain, and audio monitoring) would end any discussion about "not professional" for good.

Anyway, I'm still REALLY HAPPY that we got manual control. It feels like a new camera!

And, FWIW, that's a nice guide for the new feature.

"Armed with Firmware version 1.1.0 or higher, the EOS 5D Mark II becomes an even more valuable tool to a wide range of users, and its video capabilities now take a giant leap forward in their potential for professional applications."

"What this firmware does NOT do, at least at this time"

interesting...

I was thinking the exact same thing. If Canon released another firmware that addressed these issues as well... CANON WOULD BE GOD! I seriously think that my head would explode from the excitement.

"An Epic Begins with 'M'" ;)

It sure feels like there's more to come...

This is a far cry from the official line in March that I received by email , which was something like "Canon does not add new features with firmware updates." Corporations can be responsive afterall. This actually supports some rumors being posted that testing is going on with a 24p update.

Man, if they added all three, the 5D2 would absolutely dominate (at least for a while). And for PJ's, it'd be THE camera to own (if it's not already). One thing not mentioned would be tweaking the framerate to an actual 29.97 instead of 30.00 (which contrary to what some believe is the actual framerate today).

As far as timecode goes, that doesn't surprise me that much really, I mean totally consumer pieces of garbage have timecode. But don't confuse that with jam-sync'able timecode, that's something altogether different.

Off the main topic here, I was just amused to see in their Shutter Speed Comparisons, just how much "jello" is there in the moving cars.
Those circular wheels are some pretty amusing ovals.
I'm not complaining, mind you. The benefits of this camera FAR outweigh this minor inconvenience. I'm just saying I'm easily amused and it was making me chuckle over here to myself.

Maybe manual control was not a new feature and was there all along. It must have been a bug in the previous firmwares that prevented it from showing up in the menus. ;-)

While were on the topic of receiving emails from Canon support. I have previously posted an email from them that clearly states that they (Canon support) think that the frame rate is 29.97 fps. Of course, it's really 30.00 fps (or at least the file header says so), but the problem with it is that to mix the 5D2 MOV files with video shot in parallel on other 30p/60i video cameras, you run into all sorts of problems on a 29.97 fps timeline. Many NLEs seem to have a cow with the 5D2 MOV files, just for that reason and often produce timelines with the audio and video out of sync.

At least Cineform NEO Scene provided a simple workaround, by producing a converted CFHD file with a header at 29.97 fps and the audio synced to that frame rate. The actual video frames were only converted from h.264 to CFHD, with no interpolation between adjacent frames to achieve 29.97 fps.

I think everyone should be thrilled that they even gave us a firmware update like they just did.Maybe the next firmware will include a set 22's for my Expo;)

Just to nail this down, I'm pretty sure it was the Cineform guys who eventually figured out that it was true 30.00 and the header is correct. It's just that there was some ambiguity there for a while, and then tons of threads sprouted up discussing it, and now we have a lot of folks who aren't sure one way or the other and searching the net for answers isn't very helpful. Ans yes, NeoScene is very helpful on this front no doubt.