on location... help!

[evolvnyc]

So i am shooting on locat6ion and have been shooting the whole time in scene file 5 (24p) and i accidentally shot a few minutes with the dial turned to s1 (normal video) so when i switched it back to s5 i have no timecode anymore, and i can't get it back! also in barry's book it says to use the "thin" setting on V DETAIL FREQ but every time i set it to that, if i turn it off and on, it doesn't save my choice... so if 24p should be in thin, why does it always default to "Thick"??? also: shoul di be recording in 12b or 16b audio? if i do 16b will i not be able to add music in post? and should i just be using the scene file 5 thing for optimal squeeze mode in 24p or should i somehow make my own setting? Should I never use gain if i don't need it? the camera defaults to settings that the dvx user book say are not optmimal, and I just shot 20 hours of tape?!? I'm losing my mind, can anyone please help? and how bad is it that the whole time i was in lp and didn't notice?
hyperventilating in montana,
brad.

It is so frustrating taht the manual tells you "Well this switch lets you record 12 or 16 bit" but never explains what the difference is! Is it not ideal for best quality in 24p and squeeze mode to just follow the scene 5 dial settings?

 

[xl70e3]

Well, first of all... why did you even go out to shoot something, that is apparently more seriouis than just holiday video and requires preparation, without knowing your equipment? Read Barry's book 20 times, if needed, learn all the settings/switches by heart, by experimenting and trying so that you don't have to ask questions like "should I somehow make my own setting?". Well... dang... how would we know what you need? Those settings are there for YOU to choose and see what fits your needs the best... Sorry.

Yes, default scene file 5 is usually enough for any kind of work. And no, never use gain. By using LP you're losing some quality, but I don't how bad it is, never tried myself. Can't help ya with sound, have yet to learn about it.

 

[Scottdvx100]

All is not lost.

If you make a change in settings you will have to save them. Go to the end of the File settings and there will be an option to save/name your setting.

Best to record in 16bit. 12bit is if you need to do dubbing with camera as I recall.

Thin gives you a little more detail vertically but if you wanted to go to film you would keep it thin.

if you lose timecode hit just go past last recorded item and hit Rec Check button on top of camera. it should rewind and pickup the timecode.

 

[pookie_old]

xl70e3 is correct, learn your equipment.

All your questions are answered in either the manual, or (I'm sure) in barry's book.

 

[Barry_Green]

so if 24p should be in thin, why does it always default to "Thick"???

If shooting for television, THICK is an appropriate choice. If shooting for progressive-scan display or film transfer, THIN is the better choice. You can change it and save your changes, but you have to actually tell it to save it. The scene files don't save your changes automatically -- you're free to experiment however you want, and when you turn the camera off, it reverts to its default saved configuration. You can overwrite that by saving your new configurations.

also: shoul di be recording in 12b or 16b audio? if i do 16b will i not be able to add music in post?

I'd say 99.5% of all DV gets shot in 16bit/48khz audio. The only advantage to 12-bit audio is that you get four tracks, which lets you dub in some audio in-camera (i.e., you shoot two tracks of audio, then you can rewind and record new audio into the other two tracks). Nobody does this, in the normal course of shooting -- normally you'd bring the footage into an editing program, add as many tracks of audio as you want, and then the editing program will mix it all together into two tracks of 16-bit audio.

and should i just be using the scene file 5 thing for optimal squeeze mode in 24p or should i somehow make my own setting?

If you're using squeeze mode, you should be using scene file 6, which defaults to THIN. Never use squeeze mode with THICK. If you want to use F5, change the setting to THIN and then save it.

Should I never use gain if i don't need it?

Never, unless you NEED it.

the camera defaults to settings that the dvx user book say are not optmimal, and I just shot 20 hours of tape?!? I'm losing my mind, can anyone please help?

It'll look fine. The default settings still look better than almost any other video camera out there.

and how bad is it that the whole time i was in lp and didn't notice?

LP has *no* effect on your image quality. LP mode makes your footage more susceptible to dropouts however, and it does make it such that your tapes may not play back in other cameras. Never use LP mode unless you have to. However, don't sweat it -- if your tapes play back and they don't have dropouts, then there's no harm done.

It is so frustrating taht the manual tells you "Well this switch lets you record 12 or 16 bit" but never explains what the difference is!

Which was the whole reason for writing the book in the first place!

Is it not ideal for best quality in 24p and squeeze mode to just follow the scene 5 dial settings?

No, because scene file 5 uses THICK mode, and for squeeze you need THIN mode. Other than that, F5 does a fine job.