streaming with cx350 and gh5

[ade c]

Hi, I am looking at simple streaming with my cx350 and a gh5 and considering the atem mini pro but am wondering if the latency audio sync between the 2 cameras will be different and not adjustable?
has anyone tried? or got other suggestions?
also could i convert sdi from the cx350 to hdmi and therefore have a much longer cable?

thankyou
ade

[soarprod]

Go HDMI out of the 350 and make sure you use 29.97 or 59.94. 23.98 is too much of a difference.

[davedv]

Hi, I am looking at simple streaming with my cx350 and a gh5 and considering the atem mini pro but am wondering if the latency audio sync between the 2 cameras will be different and not adjustable?
has anyone tried? or got other suggestions?
also could i convert sdi from the cx350 to hdmi and therefore have a much longer cable?

Unfortunately, there is a fairly significant output latency difference between the CX350 and GH5. The GH5 like most mirrorless still cameras has a fair bit of HDMI output latency, on the order of 100 ms or so. In contrast the latency on the SDI or HDMI output of the CX350 is fairly low, only around 1 frame.

That may be enough of a latency difference to have noticeable audio sync issues when switching between cameras.

The only real solutions to this I am aware of are:

1) Switch to a different camera. The earlier Panasonic 4K 60 camcorders like the UX180, HC-X1, and DVX200 had nearly identical output latency to the GH5, so these can pretty easily be used for live cuts.

Alternatively, you could swap out the GH5 for a different camera. I would guess that the new compact camcorders from Panasonic like the CX10 and HC-X1500/HC-X2000 probably have very similar latency to the CX350 as they seem to have a similar menu system (which usually suggests similar firmware and electronics internally). If you are looking for a small Micro 4/3 mount camera, you might look at the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K or Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K as both of those cameras have fairly low output latency (the Blackmagic cameras do have somewhat different color science from the Panasonic ones though).

2) Add a video delay unit to the output of the camera with lower latency (the CX350 in this case). Unfortunately video delay units tend to be fairly expensive; the least expensive HD video delay unit I am aware of is the Roland VC-1-DL.

On the streaming side of things, it is possible to stream single camera output from the CX350 directly, but if you need to switch between multiple cameras then you generally need a video switcher. The ATEM Mini and ATEM Mini Pro are good options for inexpensive video switchers, although they are hard to come by at the moment due to high demand.

It is possible to use the SDI output from the CX350 for longer cable runs and then use an SDI to HDMI converter (like the Blackmagic Micro Converter) to convert the signal to HDMI at the end of the run.