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Tentacle Syncs


nbongabong

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these days all the timecode units from all the usual manufacturers are very reliable.

just choose the one that has the features you need and fits your workflow/price.

 

since you mention multi-camera, it's probably worth mentioning to pay attention if you only need accurate TC or true genlock.

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16 hours ago, nbongabong said:

How reliable are the timecode generators for Tentacle Syncs? Would it be safe to use in a multi-camera setup if three cameras are hardwired to mixer generating timecode while the fourth camera is using a jammed Tentacle Sync?

 


You'll be a rich man welllllllllllllllll into overtime before there is major drift happen from a Tentacle 

 

 

16 hours ago, chrismedr said:

since you mention multi-camera, it's probably worth mentioning to pay attention if you only need accurate TC or true genlock.


Yes, go for TCS Ultrasync ONE if you want Genlock as well

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2 hours ago, Constantin said:

But a camera like the Alexa Mini can derive its genlock from a TC stream

 

From my limited knowledge (from this forum) it 'learns' the actual clock speed of the TC generator and adjusts to that.
That is not the same as genlock (you still can't mix two cams, no one will have a setup like this, but for heavy effects it might be problematic, for sync sound it's of course more than

good enough), and it is said to take some 20 min. at least, not really practical in some situations.
(No idea if you can toy around with the cam while it is 'studying'.)

And no, even if my software is branded with the TCS logo, I don't get anything fromTCS sales.

 

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48 minutes ago, Bouke said:

 

From my limited knowledge (from this forum) it 'learns' the actual clock speed of the TC generator and adjusts to that.
That is not the same as genlock (you still can't mix two cams, no one will have a setup like this, but for heavy effects it might be problematic, for sync sound it's of course more than

good enough), and it is said to take some 20 min. at least, not really practical in some situations.
(No idea if you can toy around with the cam while it is 'studying'.)

And no, even if my software is branded with the TCS logo, I don't get anything fromTCS sales.

 

 

ARRI refers to it as "genlock," as in the menu setting: 

 Genlock to “TC In”

 

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On 4/11/2019 at 4:17 PM, Bouke said:

 

From my limited knowledge (from this forum) it 'learns' the actual clock speed of the TC generator and adjusts to that.
That is not the same as genlock.

 

On 4/11/2019 at 5:08 PM, John Blankenship said:

 

ARRI refers to it as "genlock," as in the menu setting: 

 Genlock to “TC In”

 

 

On 4/11/2019 at 8:09 PM, Wandering Ear said:

Also the tuning process on the Arri's happens in the background and doesn't affect normal operation.

All true, but it also depneds wchich "ARRI" you are exactly referring to.

 

Alexa "Classic" (which basically boils down to everything but Amira and AlexaMini - MiniLF to be seen, as this is a weird hybrid of Mini and LF (A.K.A "purchasable-65", so "Classic"):

 

TC menu "Jam Sync" will, as Bouke said,  "learn" TC and adjust internal reference - this requires a low jitter TTL TC signal and the better the signal the quicker the "learn" or "tune" (TC will blink while adjusting).

As this will also drive the internal reference it is as good as having genlock as long the camera stays on.

 

TC Menu set to "Regen" however, will regenerate the internal reference clock constantly clocked by incomming TC - so this literally is a "genlock by TC" Which means the signal must be constantly present like genlock, too. Again this may work unreliable with imperfect TC signals and put out errors.

 

 

Alexa "CAP2" cameras (Amira, Mini and possibly MiniLF):

 

TC Menu as above. Usually "Regen" does the job, due to the quality of circuitry.

But as the Amira was initially designed towards the ENG market it also was planned to accept separate external sync and they merged it by giving the additional option in sytem/sensor menu to reference clock the sensor as per Wandering Ear to TC in and even Genlock (still, (by default, the sync In BNC is not connected to any electronics, btw.). Selecting TC In on top hardlocks the whole system witht he same effect as on the "Classic" range.

 

Oh, and whoever really does need video sync: another contender of genlock spitting boxes was just announced at NAB ;)

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Help please.Has anyone used the "tentacle sync timecode tool for windows" to sync their files. I downloaded 80clips from Canon camera .mov format which had the tentacle sync attached which was synced from my Zoom F8n all looks good, but when I tried using the Windows version of the Tentacle Sync tool on my windows 10 machine it shows the time code on the camera files but it just comes out wrong, dont know what I am doing wrong I contacted Tentacle Sync and they confirmed no tutorials or manual on how to use this program. I have searched the internet and except for a Japanese tutorial (which I cannot understand) there is nothing out there. help please.

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16 hours ago, Mark Owens said:

Help please.Has anyone used the "tentacle sync timecode tool for windows" to sync their files. I downloaded 80clips from Canon camera .mov format which had the tentacle sync attached which was synced from my Zoom F8n all looks good, but when I tried using the Windows version of the Tentacle Sync tool on my windows 10 machine it shows the time code on the camera files but it just comes out wrong, dont know what I am doing wrong I contacted Tentacle Sync and they confirmed no tutorials or manual on how to use this program. I have searched the internet and except for a Japanese tutorial (which I cannot understand) there is nothing out there. help please.


Did you make sure you were sending it at mic level and not the default line level from the Tentacle? How does it sound when you play back the Canon video clips? Do you have DaVinci Resolve?

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4 hours ago, IronFilm said:


Did you make sure you were sending it at mic level and not the default line level from the Tentacle? How does it sound when you play back the Canon video clips? Do you have DaVinci Resolve?

Thanks for the reply David. Yes the tentacle sync was set to mic level, the time code on the F8n and the tentacle sync matched. I downloaded Davinci resolve and tried and used it some clips are in sync, some clips come out still with time code sound and all out of order in takes for example if there were 4 takes of same scene first two in order then and other scene then back to the original scene. and a copy of the F8n audio is also on the end of the end of the exported files. Just so frustrating trying to sort out what is going on.

 

Got the Syncing to work in Davinci Resolve (operator error frame rate in Davinci)

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7 minutes ago, Mark Owens said:

Thanks for the reply David. Yes the tentacle sync was set to mic level, the time code on the F8n and the tentacle sync matched. I downloaded Davinci resolve and tried and used it some clips are in sync, some clips come out still with time code sound and all out of order in takes for example if there were 4 takes of same scene first two in order then and other scene then back to the original scene. and a copy of the F8n audio is also on the end of the end of the exported files. Just so frustrating trying to sort out what is going on.

First thing that comes to mind is a mismatch of frame rates (Tentacle, F8n, camera not set to the same fps).

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