Syncing TimeCode problems

ripupthehwy

ripupthehwy

Well-known member
Hello all,

We are usuing 2 HD100 cameras to shoot a dramatic tv show. We have had problems syncing timecode on both cameras. You are supposed to be able to connect a firewire cable and put the units on free run and one of them on DV input (or something like that, don't have the cameras here right now). Anyway I;ve gone through the manual a dozen times and it doesn't work!!! Also I've noticed that one of the cameras "drifts" its time code. Even on free run when I try to manually sync them as close together as i can, one of them drifts over time. Has anyone had success or problems with this other than me???
 
I think what you're referring to in your proceedure is "dubbing". That is not the same as genlock which is required in order to sync timcodes. The HD-100 does not have/support genlock. The best solution is to use a clapper/slate in order to sync the video (if you stop rolling in the middle of a tape).
 
We have had success synchronizing four HD100s by recording all four over Firewire at the same time. We use a "software clapper" to start recording on all four at the same instant, and then we just count frames from then on. We've run it for 12 hours (using HDV30P) and the cameras are still within 1 frame of one another at the end, so I'm disappointed to hear about your drift problems. How much drift are you seeing?
 
If the lack of genlock on the HD100 is killing anybody, it would be fairly straightforward to build an add-on out of a $400 Mini-ITX PC that took in the Firewire from an HD100 and output genlocked HDV over Firewire with synchronized timecode and frame synchrony (by adding in extra B frames to the slow camera). You would buy one of these boxes for each camera and hook them to each other over Ethernet to share the clock. Anyway, I suspect that the availability of the HL-X1 and genlock on the HD250 would make this more trouble than it's worth, but if anybody is dying for genlock on the HD100, let me know and we can talk about cooking this up for you.
 
KeithW said:
We have had success synchronizing four HD100s by recording all four over Firewire at the same time. We use a "software clapper" to start recording on all four at the same instant, and then we just count frames from then on. We've run it for 12 hours (using HDV30P) and the cameras are still within 1 frame of one another at the end, so I'm disappointed to hear about your drift problems. How much drift are you seeing?
Click to expand...
How are you doing this? Do you set the record item to "Syncro" in the menus? I know we use this in order to simultaneously start record to tape as well as the Liquid logging tool (via firewire). Does this work between cameras for you?
 
How are you doing this? Do you set the record item to "Syncro" in the menus? I know we use this in order to simultaneously start record to tape as well as the Liquid logging tool (via firewire).
Click to expand...

No, we're just doing a live shoot, so we don't use the tape at all. We have the four HDV streams coming in to the computer, and our software just picks an arbitrary point in time to be the start of recording. The next frame to come in from each of the cameras is designated frame #1, the next set of four are frame #2, etc.
 
I see. I though you were inferring the trigger is from camera to camera, not camera to capture device.

Thanks for explaining..
 
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