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PD-6 workflow


MT Groove

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I just completed 2 low budget features with the PD-6.  So far I like this unit but there are quite a few things that baffles me.  I had to use the PD-6 as a bag system for most of the second feature due to the location.  We were in the middle of nowhere in the woods where a cart is impractical.  I was running it with Li-Ion NP1 batteries.  Here are a few questions I'm hoping some of you could help me with.

- When using the Li-Ions NP1 batteries, the battery level meter is very misleading.  It shows full power for a while then drops to about say 85%.  Then all of a sudden, the PD-6 would shut off.  So I would pretty much change the battery the minute the battery level drops.  I have the battery warning set to 11.0V now.  Should I change it to a higher setting? 

- I'm feeding 2 RED cameras a mono mix.  That is what they requested so I reluctantly do it.  Problem is, 1 camera is build 18 and the other is build 17.  The audio levels are totally different.  When I feed the build 18 camera a -20dBfs tone, it seems to line up to the hash line on that camera just fine.  However, when I feed the build 17 camera, the levels are way hotter.  I have tried swapping the TA3-XLR cable between the 2 cameras and the results are the same.  Both cameras are set to line level input and 0dB.  I don't believe the cables are the padded ones, so should I obtain a padded cable for one of the cameras?  Is the difference in level due to the build number or is it due to a difference in the audio board?  My current workaround was to feed the Build 18 camera from the channel 6 output of the PD-6 and have that channel set to R BUS; while feeding the Build 17 camera from the Hirose output set to -10dBu.  Even at -10dBu, the -20dBfs tone is still a little over the second hash mark on the level meter of the RED.  Is the solution as simple as putting a padded cable on the Build 17 camera? 

- I need to provide my boom op a headphone feed of just the boom channel.  How do I do this w/o an external mixer?  Do I need some sort of battery powered headphone amp tapped into the output of the boom channel?  Is there another workaround?

- Why does the timecode generator offsets a few seconds when powering the PD-6 on and off?????  This is annoying.  Every time I power down the PD-6 I have to re-jam the slate.  When the PD-6 is in a bag rig, I will need to power down frequently to conserve battery.  But it is a PIA to have to re-jam the slate every time.  Is there a workaround? 

- After jamming a TS-C slate, the slate's timecode "visually" looks to be very slightly ahead of the PD-6.  Is this normal?  Am I thinking too much into this?

- I have set the Real Time Clock to the correct time and date.  However, after recording and transferring the files on to my laptop, the file "last modified" time on the BWAV is a few hours earlier than the actual time the file was created.  I'm not talking about the time code here.  Just the file time.  This is not a big deal but I'm wondering why it is offset by a few hours.

- The tone switch is intermittent.  For me to check camera audio level, I would sometimes have to get someone else to push the tone switch up while I go look at the camera.  Is there a way to set a tone output w/o having to hold the tone switch? 

- Limiter:  No matter what I set the limiter to, the levels can still hit zero and clip.  It doesn't seem to work at all.  Am I overlooking something? 

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I just completed 2 low budget features with the PD-6.  So far I like this unit but there are quite a few things that baffles me.  I had to use the PD-6 as a bag system for most of the second feature due to the location.  We were in the middle of nowhere in the woods where a cart is impractical.  I was running it with Li-Ion NP1 batteries.  Here are a few questions I'm hoping some of you could help me with.

- When using the Li-Ions NP1 batteries, the battery level meter is very misleading.  It shows full power for a while then drops to about say 85%.  Then all of a sudden, the PD-6 would shut off.  So I would pretty much change the battery the minute the battery level drops.  I have the battery warning set to 11.0V now.  Should I change it to a higher setting? 

In my experience, the Li-Ion NP-1s will sit at about 14.5v for a long time, once they come off there, they head downhill pretty quickly.

Once they hit 13.5v, they are just about to fall off the "cliff". 

I would move your voltage warn point higher, at least 13.5v.

Can't help much with the rest of the PD-6 specific questions.

---Matt

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The highest setting on the PD-6 for Batt warning is 13.0 volts.  I guess I will leave it there.

Brian, I jam the TS-C slate from the PD-6.  They stay in sync as long as I don't turn off the PD-6.  I was running it in 24Hr Mode.  However, I just re-read BobD's post on this thread http://jwsound.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3983.0

I set it to Free Run and it works!  I can turn it off and on and it's still sync'd to the slate. 

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