GH5 No audio for first seven frames of each clip?

StevenBills

StevenBills

Active member
Hey all, forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I shot my kid's birthday this evening, and I'm just doing a quick edit, and noticed that every time I began recording on the camera (4k, 8 bit, 30p ie: nothing special) the first seven frames of each clip don't have any audio whatsoever. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying. Editing in Premiere CC 2017, if that matters.

Anybody else experience this before? If so, is there a fix? This is certainly my first time. Attached is a screenshot of a clip in the timeline.

Screen Shot 2017-07-20 at 9.15.19 PM.jpg

SB
 
This has been typical of Panasonic GH series cameras all along. I first noticed it on the GH3. Since it's a good idea to pre-roll a few seconds before where you want to start and continue recording a few seconds past where you intend to stop to give you some "edit room" at the beginning and end of each clip, this will pretty much take care of the problem. I developed this habit in the days when I used tape.
 
What format are you recording in ?

AVCHD footage requires that you use an import-tool to obtain proper audio, but the other formats can be copied directly to your drive and then dumped on your timeline.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
This has been typical of Panasonic GH series cameras all along. I first noticed it on the GH3. Since it's a good idea to pre-roll a few seconds before where you want to start and continue recording a few seconds past where you intend to stop to give you some "edit room" at the beginning and end of each clip, this will pretty much take care of the problem. I developed this habit in the days when I used tape.
Click to expand...

Yes this goes back to the old days of "camera rolling"..."action"..film habits are definitely good to cultivate with digital too.
 
Yeah I usually pre-roll all my scripted stuff, but as this was at my kid's b-day party, I didn't exactly know when someone was going to throw a present at him lol

Anyway, I have never noticed this before on either my GH4 or GH5. I'll keep an eye out.

And I'm shooting in .MOV.

SB
 
This was something I had heard of before getting my GH5 and I too have, as expected , the 7 frame delay. Audio is in sync just delayed 7 frames. I usually start many seconds before I need the image so not a problem if you know about it. Not sure why Panasonic cannot get the audio to start at the same time.
 
I am using two different cards. (same brand though): SanDisk Extreme 32gb UH1s. And I went back to an old project shot on the GH4 about two years ago and also noticed the 7 frame delay. I have never noticed it before, and it hasn't ever been a problem because I always pre-roll when I can, but man. Now it bugs me! haha

SB
 
Yes....it's funny how one can miss it if you only use the in camera sound as a scratch track....if it was anything but the SanDisk Extreme Pros one could have looked at the cards used, but the SanDisks are bombproof...great that you brought this up!...because this is exactly how I'd get caught!...My daughter has a 6th birthday coming up so roll for a couple of secs before and after.
 
fboonzaier said:
Yes this goes back to the old days of "camera rolling"..."action"..film habits are definitely good to cultivate with digital too.
Click to expand...

Now that I think about it, I got in the habit of "pre-roll" a bit with film, in those old days one of the reasons for doing so was to insure the camera got up to speed.

I tried to do a few things with VHS and that was a mess, the only way was to use VCR's with flying erase heads to eliminate the "glitch" you got from completely stopping and restarting the tape. The tape copied to for the edited video suffered a quality loss but that was the only way to do it. Digital video on 8mm and smaller cassettes with non linear editing programs got better but I continued the "pre=roll" and some extra at the end of a "take" just to insure "trim" room at the beginning and end.
 
Half none of you edited with old 2xxx series Sony Umatic decks? If you didn't have more than 5 seconds of solid control track, you were screwed at the edit.
 
Yeah, it's just weird that a digital camera does this. I know it's not a huge issue, but is there a place where we can bring this up with Panny?

SB
 
Is the audio out of sync with the video by the same amount, or just a delay before the audio starts recording (but in sync)? Also PCM or compressed audio?
 
Audio is in sync it just starts late. Confirmed with my camera as well as almost everyone who has responded to a post like this. It is consistently the same so clearly by design. Yes it would be nice to have it fixed but seems to be a GH "feature " Not a real problem for me now I know it does this. Audio is PCM with mov . Not tried AVCHD so cannot respond for this encoder.
 
With the GH3 and GH4 the audio track is silent for about 7 frames but is in synch when it starts. There is just a short delay. the video starts pretty much right away and the audio starts about 7 frames later but in synch with the video.
 
Yes it is only on GH cameras where this has been a problem for me as it has never appeard on any other cam or camera,i thought only Micro four thirds had this,i have always cut at least 0.8 of a sec from the start of each clip,then i recently saw some other cameras do have the same problem.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPBqKp_i31k
 
flinty said:
....then i recently saw some other cameras do have the same problem.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPBqKp_i31k
Click to expand...

In the "old" days running professional sound for film, the audio recorder was always started first to allow the crystal sync to stabilize, after which the camera would begin recording. Of course I'm talking about physical motors in that scenario, but while I made a facetious comment a while back about physics, in many ways I think the point still holds.

Although we are handed a composite file when we transfer media out of the camera, the clip is nonetheless made up of two separate components. The results are based on different A/D converters for picture and sound, along with their respective circuits.

I'm no expert but it seems to me that something has to start recording first to establish sync. And in this case I would prefer to miss a quarter of a second of audio over the same amount of video. So I wouldn't classify this as a problem. It's the physics of the whole process.
 
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The GHs has this video sound sync difference,i dont know if all other micro four third models do[presumably so]also the Samsung NX1 i ont own one,but as i said i never had it with any of the many other cameras before,it does add a lot of work if the nasty sound like on the youtube film are to be avoided.
 
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