AC160 HDMI 4:2:2 out & Ninja 2?

[wolfi]

Hi,

I'm thinking about getting a AC160 as for most of my projects AVCHD 4:2:0 will work, although for green screen stuff I'll need something more robust. I thought about recording to a Ninja 2 via HDMI.
Is the HDMI output of the AC160 uncompressed 8-Bit 4:2:2 or only the HD-SDI port?
Is stereo audio embedded?
Also, anyone knows, will the triggering of start stop recording work from the AC160 to the Ninja 2?

Thanks a lot!

wolfi

 

[LanceOregon]

Is the HDMI output of the AC160 uncompressed 8-Bit 4:2:2 or only the HD-SDI port?
Is stereo audio embedded?

Both ports output uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 with audio.

Also, anyone knows, will the triggering of start stop recording work from the AC160 to the Ninja 2?

Only the HD-SDI port has the ability to send START/STOP signals and also timecode data to an external recorder. These features, and the more secure locking connector that HD-SDI offers, gives it an advantage when using external recorders.

If you can live without those features, then you can certainly use HDMI as an alternative.

 

[wolfi]

Thanks for your answer.
Have you tested it with the Atomos Samurai? I asked the Atomos Support, but unfortunstelly they didn't know if it works with the 160.

 

[LanceOregon]

Thanks for your answer.
Have you tested it with the Atomos Samurai? I asked the Atomos Support, but unfortunstelly they didn't know if it works with the 160.

That is most odd that one of their support staff would you tell you that, as Atomos lists the AC160 as being officialy tested by them and being compatible with both the Ninja and Samurai.

He must be a new employee perhaps, and not aware of this Atomos webpage:


http://www.atomos.com/discovery-what-cameras/
.

 

[wolfi]

The guy from the support told me that their ninja will "work" with the 160 which seams to mean that the 160 has a clean uncompressed 422 out and the ninja can capture that. however start/stop triggering with hdmi won't work, he told me, and he couldn't say anything about sdi, as they haven't been testing this yet.
i think the compatibility list is more like "does the camera has clean hdmi/sdi".. a little confusing.

 

[Bucknfl]

I recently did a green screen shoot with an af 100 and a black magic shuttle 2. My editor could see no difference between the sd card and the shuttle. Your mileage may vary.

 

[wolfi]

hm.. maybe it would be better to go with the 250 and "spend" the money on frustration free in camera recording..

 

[LanceOregon]

The guy from the support told me that their ninja will "work" with the 160 which seams to mean that the 160 has a clean uncompressed 422 out and the ninja can capture that. however start/stop triggering with hdmi won't work, he told me, .

Yes, that is indeed true. As I said earlier, the HDMI port does not support that feature, while the SDI port does.

and he couldn't say anything about sdi, as they haven't been testing this yet.

Well, all that I can say about that is that the AC160 supports embedded timecode over HD-SDI, and has the embedded flags to use the camera trigger. So it has the needed feature set.

Perhaps there is an AC160 user here that is using the Samurai, and can give you feedback. I use an AC130 myself.

In some of the other forums here on DVXUSER I can see posts from people using Panasonic's HPX170 and AF100 with the Samurai. So I would be quite shocked if the AC160 was not also compatible.

.

 

[LanceOregon]

hm.. maybe it would be better to go with the 250 and "spend" the money on frustration free in camera recording..

Well, the HPX250 has the additional benefit of recording 10 bit. The HD-SDI output on the AC160A remains 8 bit.

The new Panasonic AF100A and AF105A were both updated to support 1080/60p just like the AC160A. And they were also updated to output 10 bit 4:2:2 on their HD-SDI port, while the AC160A was not.
.

 

[Michael Carter]

Y'know, the web is packed full of people saying they just don't see a diff with card vs. ninja. Many feel the ninja gain structure is less pleasing/more visible, too.

I saw a youtube vid where the guy did a greenscreen test between the two. Crappy test, lots of "should have done it this way", no clear examples but essentially said "now I know that greenscreen really needs the 422". I'd love to see a real test from someone very anal about keying. Send me a Ninja and I'll do it! I'd like to see someone test a few different levels of green with cam vs. ninja.

Seems like if you have a 2-card camera (data security), the Ninja's a little overkill if your cam delivers nicely rendered AVCHD. I'm still very curious about keying though.