EVA1 and External audio, multiple cameras and Atomos timecode and sync.

Ben Scott

Ben Scott

Veteran
Hi all,

Has anyone done shoots with timecode jams and dual sound or multiple cameras?

How are you syncing and solid are you finding it? If you are also running to an Atomos recorder how are tou dealing with TC sync?

I currently have a Zoom F4 and an Ultrasync One. Just waiting on some mounting gear to arrive before trying to set everything up.
 
I just do the shooting part, but haven't had any phone calls from producers about drifting sync. Typically for something multi-cam the audio person will have a tentacle system (or similar) and I just set all the cameras to accept timecode in from the Tentacles, which are of course feeding the cameras constantly. The audio guy's recorder is normally the TC source. I do make sure that DF/NDF is set the same for all cameras - in case a tentacle goes down and the Jam Sync takes over. I don't know if my EVA1 would maintain frame accurate TC after a battery change - most of the Sony cameras do not, and I've never run a test on it with the EVA1.

I'm not normally using an Atomos. Most of the shoots I've done with one have been regular HD and we've been feeding with HD-SDI which of course carries TC. I can't vouch for the TC over HDMI - just because I haven't dealt with it... though I'm guessing it should work??
 
Thanks for your experience so far. I seem to recall TC not necessarily being 100% between cameras and earlier Atomos products so wondered. It probably makes sense for me to just get a second ultrasync to use them as you would the tentacles.
 
When you say 'not 100%' are you talking about TC that's coming down the wire as part of the video signal? I was under the impression that TC over HD-SDI or HDMI should be rock solid to the camera's output.

What I wouldn't trust would be an external feed into the Atomos - since the camera's output through HDMI is normally delayed slightly due to processing time, and thus any audio or TC going directly into the Atomos would need to be delayed accordingly - but the actual delay might vary somewhat!

But it was my impression that any TC in the camera's video output should be properly delayed (as is output audio) to match the picture delay.
 
Yep in the past lots of people trying to use an Atomos for proxy recording found TC didn't match internally recorded footage. A problem when using dual sound even if not proxy recording. Wondered if it was sorted with the Shogun Inferno.
 
You can configure the EVA's TC output Jack to either output live (matching the internal recording) or delayed (matching the SDI output).

If configured to receive timecode, the EVA will always be receiving and updating it's timecode to the external source when in standby. Once you start recording it relies on it's internal TCG, and when you stop recording it again syncs to the external input.
 
Barry_Green said:
You can configure the EVA's TC output Jack to either output live (matching the internal recording) or delayed (matching the SDI output).

If configured to receive timecode, the EVA will always be receiving and updating it's timecode to the external source when in standby. Once you start recording it relies on it's internal TCG, and when you stop recording it again syncs to the external input.
Click to expand...

You're a superstar Barry. Many thanks.
 
morgan_moore said:
threadjack Ben - maybe you want to start a thread comparing this camera to the FS7 End Threadjack
Click to expand...

Haha I had enough arguments on here last time I was active that started off as innocent as that premise.

Life's too short. I can wrangle a decent image out of most things and then I can rent when I need something more. Look forward to finding where that line/limit is on the EVA1.
 
Barry_Green said:
If configured to receive timecode, the EVA will always be receiving and updating it's timecode to the external source when in standby. Once you start recording it relies on it's internal TCG, and when you stop recording it again syncs to the external input.
Click to expand...

Thanks Barry,
I hadn't really thought it through that fully, though what you say makes complete sense technically. So once you start rolling the timecode would only drift if the cameras are running at different speeds.
 
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