4 channels audio

Cees Mutsaers

Cees Mutsaers

Veteran
The switching from 2 to 4 channels in the audio menu is always blue and stuck on 2 channels. Blue means you can not change it but untill know it has been always blue whatever HD codec I chose. Is there another menu setting I have to change before I can switch to 4 channels??


edit : page 131 at the top : it seems that 4 channel recording is only possible in DVCpro and DV. Hmmmm I rember that Barry once told that you can do 4 ch recording in all codecs !!!
 
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Hi Cees,

its blue because you cant change it. And thats because you ALWAYS record 4 Channels in HD.
This Option is only available in DV/DVCPro25, where you can change it. Just like DV-Cams, were you can select between 2Ch/16bit/48Khz and 4Ch/12bit/32Khz.....
Try to set the Cam in SD/DV and change it. Then set the Cam back to HD, it will be blue, but with 4Ch... Because this setting just not necessary in HD....

You can check the Channels 3/4 when you set the Monitor-Switch to 3/4. Look at the meters in the Display/EVF, they change to 3/4 and you should see the levelmeters moving.
 
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Ok now I understand it. Thanks very much. You have to change it in SD if you want it in HD, very strange way of Panasonic, not very obvious :-))
 
Oh no, sorry, you missunderstood me! You dont have to change it in SD to get it in HD!
You ALWAYS have 4CH in HD! No Matter if the item is set to 2CH or to 4Ch!!

I just wanted to clear up why the item is in blue, and that there is no difference between 2CH and 4CH in HD, because that is ONLY relevant in DV/DVCPro25. And thats why you can only change it, if the Cam runs in DV/DVCPro25-Mod. Because only in this modes it takes effect...

Sorry, sometimes im too complicated... :-)
Just remember: You have always 4 Channels in any HD-Format and in DVCPro50....
 
I will tell you how it is in my cam. Right out of the box in all "HD" modes in the menu "2 CH" in blue was visible which you can not change directly. The only way to change it is to go to DV/DVCpro mode change it from "2CH" to "4CH" in the audio menu and than go back to any HD mode. Than you will see "4 CH" in HD mode. Maybe I misunderstood your advice but this is really the only way to change it in HD. Maybe your HPX was on "4CH" out of the box but you can change it to "2CH" and vice versa but only via DV/DVCpro mode.


Emmet Brown said:
Oh no, sorry, you missunderstood me! You dont have to change it in SD to get it in HD!
You ALWAYS have 4CH in HD! No Matter if the item is set to 2CH or to 4Ch!!

I just wanted to clear up why the item is in blue, and that there is no difference between 2CH and 4CH in HD, because that is ONLY relevant in DV/DVCPro25. And thats why you can only change it, if the Cam runs in DV/DVCPro25-Mod. Because only in this modes it takes effect...

Sorry, sometimes im too complicated... :-)
Just remember: You have always 4 Channels in any HD-Format and in DVCPro50....
Click to expand...
 
The spec on the camera is 4ch audio in HD modes and 2 or 4ch in SD modes.

This is the same on other hybrid HD/SD cameras from sony etc and means that you can get four channels of full bandwidth audio in HD modes. 2ch of full bandwidth in SD modes or 4 ch of reduced quality audio are available in SD modes.

It is all down to codec and the selection remains blue in any mode that is is not relevant to, other menu selections stay blue as well if they are not available for selection.

If you read the on-disc PDF manual this is clarified in full.
 
Cees Mutsaers said:
I will tell you how it is in my cam. Right out of the box in all "HD" modes in the menu "2 CH" in blue was visible which you can not change directly. The only way to change it is to go to DV/DVCpro mode change it from "2CH" to "4CH" in the audio menu and than go back to any HD mode. Than you will see "4 CH" in HD mode. Maybe I misunderstood your advice but this is really the only way to change it in HD. Maybe your HPX was on "4CH" out of the box but you can change it to "2CH" and vice versa but only via DV/DVCpro mode.
Click to expand...


What i mean is: You dont have do change it to 4CH, because the cam always records 4 Channels in HD and DVCPro50. You can leave i at 2CH and the cam will still record 4 Channels....
Maybe the non-relevant menu-items should disapear instead of getting blue to prevent this confusions...
 
This reminds me of the "side crop" option in DV or DVCPro 50 modes - if you switch it to "side crop" (4x3) mode, and then change the settings to either 720 or 1080 modes, the setting for "side crop" will be listed in blue... but that doesn't mean you are recording HD in 4x3... the things in blue just mean that they're unavailable - HD is 16x9, and HD audio is 4 channel, regardless of what is in blue in the menu.
 
The PDF manual clearly states that 3ch is only in SD modes:

25M REC CH SEL
Selects the audio channels to be recorded in the DVCPRO and DV formats. 2CH: Only recorded on CH1 and CH2. 4CH: Records on all four channels.
• Not available in the following conditions. - When SYSTEM MODE is 1080-50i
(1080-59.94i) or 720-50P (720-
59.94P). - When SYSTEM MODE is set to 576-
50i (480-59.94i) and REC FORMAT is
set to the DVCPRO50 codec. - REC SIGNAL is set to 1394
(operation depends on 1394 input status).

Does anyone know what the 25M stands for?
 
yes page 131 in the cd pdf manual, that is how i started at the top. Conclusion : the blue "2CH" when in hd mode is confusing when it is always 4CH anyway and if you want to change it in 4CH for the sake of looks/principle you can only do it in sd mode. Case closed and this thread can be closed moderator :-)))
 
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By the way. Does somebody know how or better what I should set, that I can see all the 4 Channel audio level and not only two channels? I'm using the Sennheiser EK-3241 but it's not so easy to set a level without seeing an audio level :/
 
Look in the display setup menu, there should be something in there about either showing all 4 channels, or there's a user button that lets you switch between monitoring channels 1/2 or channels 3/4, I don't remember how the 300 does it...
 
Im not sure if you can monitoring all 4 channels at the same time. But if you switch the monitor-switch to 3/4, the levelmeters in the display/EVF changes too.
 
I think it is not possible to see 4 channels at the same time , you can only hear 2 via phone anyway or do you have four ears LOL :-)
 
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