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4 HVX200 Sync Advice


Rob Lewis

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Hello everyone.  I have a upcoming shoot (Reality i guess) that will have 4 HVX200 cameras shooting on P2.  I don't have Frame Rate info yet.  I know that these cameras will not take a EXT. Timecode source and that they will drift with the firewire jam.  I know that the edit will be done in Final Cut, but don't know the experience of the Editor(s).  That info will be coming soon! I Hope.

Rundown: 2 talent on camera (RF's), small group of people watching.  2 Hand held reality cams, 1 Roving Cam, 1 Lockdown cam.  Because these cameras cant be jammed I would like to give them a timecode source so they can edit properly.  So her are the options I may present.

Option 1:  Feed talent audio to 2 reality cameras via wireless and the other cams have camera mic.

              downside: no timecode source for edit

Option 2 (The one I want):  Record all audio ( talent & boom for small gallery) on 744T Iso tracks and feed timecode via comtek to audio channel 2 on all cameras and hope the editor can use it to sync up all footage.  Put camera mics on CH1.

downside:  Don't know as of yet if editor knows how to use BWF poly files as well as use the timecode audio tracks to sync.  Final Cut may have issues with the LTC Timecode track as an audio track.

No redundancy or backup audio being recorded to camera if there is a recorder problem

This of course is a low budget pilot, but I think that it should be done right and the editors should have the most options available to put it together.

Any suggestions?

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Are all the cameras going to run all the time or only the lock off? I would send my mix to the lock off if it was to run all the time. Put a good mic on the rover and then maybe a wireless scratch mix to the hand held  cameras.  Hard to say without more info, but like you said, the post staff is the unknown. Good luck.

CrewC

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I would rent 4 Zaxcom Hops and feed audio to each camera but that sounds out of the budget

All P2 cameras have four channels of audio on them even the hvx-200 so all cameras will have the camera microphone on them.

To be budget friendly I would do the following:

Camera Microphone on 3/4 Timecode on Channel 2 Mono mix via G2 wireless to Channel 1 with the 744t with ISO. That way they have many options in post. Also before every scene or anytime they cut or can I would have them shoot a time code slate The denecke 1/2 slate readout works great for this as you can easily mount it to the front of your audio bag

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Some good points here, thanks guys. 

Crew:  I'm assuming that the reality cams and lockdown will be running all the time.  The rover may start and stop, and sync may not be an issue.  But a good mic is a must.

Whitney:  The gear I own for this project is a 442, 411's, 1 Zaxcom Stereo Hop, CMIT5, CMC641, 416, and Comtek 216's.  Your ideas seems ideal, but production will need to rent me at least 1 more Zax RX. if not 2.  I would feed both reality cams, and the lock down. But we will be mobile at one point. As far as TC slates, 744T, and Lockits, they would have to Rent them for me.

Scott: would all the cameras have to stop and reshoot the slate?

I may be over analyzing the TC situation, and it may not be that big of a deal to the editors (especially if they are choosing to use cheap cameras) but it should be someones responsibility to make sure that they can sync this in post.

I cant be in two places at one time either, so the roving camera is on its own.  They need to hire another mixer! But its not going to happen.

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Scott's method, more or less, has worked for me on concert shoots with twice as many cameras over several hours.  The key to it working is having a scratch mix from you on ALL the cameras, or as many as possible, wired or wireless.  Since you are shooting a series of non-repeating events, the audio will be your best syncing guide, and having the cam audio be an feed from you will make their waveforms more or less match those of your files.  You can send timecode to these cameras all daylong but that does not address their drift from each other since you have no way to clock them together (ie genlock).  This, along with shooting a TC slate once in awhile and starting with the cam TC generators as close together (what we refer to as "3-2-1-go" sync) with your TC gen is about as good as you can do.  Extra hint: have the shooters stop recording as seldom as possible.  Longer runs=fewer syncs=happier editors.

Philip Perkins

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