Varicam

Chris Leong · April 27th, 2007, 12:53 AM

Hi there.

Need a quick double check that I'm not doing something foolish here..

A friend is on a shoot right now where the principal camera is a Varicam.

The shoot is a 720p24 shoot, and the edit will presumably therefore also be 720p24, which makes the audio 23.97 something, to HD finish.

Now, I know that the Varicam actually records 720p60 and then plays back selective frames for its varying rates.
If there were such a thing as a VariRecorder, then it would make sense to record that 5997 as well, just in case the Varicam playback rate turns out to be altered in any way.

In the absence of such a device, however, and if we already know that this show is going to be cut in 720p24, I guess his best bet is to record onto his 744T i in 23978 and jam sync his time-of-day TC off the camera?

Of course, if he tries to sync his HDD recorder to the Varicam in native, one of them's going to be in trouble because of the native 60p playback. of the camera.

However, after ingestion of video at 720p24, the timecode from his audio should lock up, correct?

Ian Savage · April 29th, 2007, 05:37 AM

I'm amazed no body has tried to help you with this.

First off I'm no Varicam expert at all, but the #1 rule I was taught and have always been gratefull for is never trust or use the Timecode in a camera, Sony being the worst culprit but not having used a Panasonic Varicam I can't vouch for it's usefullness, what I can say though is that his 744T will have a more accurate Timecode, I trust Ambient above all others (even above my HHB Portadat which is superior to most in that respect), the only true way to do this before you even get into frame rates is to be using Lockit boxes, any other way of doing it is going to leave you with possible trouble in post.

The fact the shoot is already happening I'd find extremely worrying if I had anything to do with it.

Oh I should point out I THINK the Timecode out from the varicam is actually 30fps even though the camera is shooting at 60fps.

As to what you record audio at, well that rather depends on the edit system, will you be ingesting at 24 fps ? I mean to be honest this part of it should already have been discussed with the post production facility, that's the whole point of camera test days and the recordist should be there for that regardless of what camera crews think, more than once we have had to demand to be there for that, it involves the audio crew just as much.

Chris Leong · April 29th, 2007, 12:37 PM

Thanks Ian
Well I think they tried using Lockits on set and I believe that's the way it's going down at the moment.
I think they'll be okay with 720p24 at 23976 but the post facility's not returning calls to me so I guess they'll have worked out something that syncs by now.
Haven't heard from my recordist friend either, so no news is...???
Thanks anyway, though. Much appreciated.

April 27th, 2007, 12:53 AM	#1
Chris Leong Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Los Angeles CA USA Posts: 507	Varicam - best audio TC choice? Hi there. Need a quick double check that I'm not doing something foolish here.. A friend is on a shoot right now where the principal camera is a Varicam. The shoot is a 720p24 shoot, and the edit will presumably therefore also be 720p24, which makes the audio 23.97 something, to HD finish. Now, I know that the Varicam actually records 720p60 and then plays back selective frames for its varying rates. If there were such a thing as a VariRecorder, then it would make sense to record that 5997 as well, just in case the Varicam playback rate turns out to be altered in any way. In the absence of such a device, however, and if we already know that this show is going to be cut in 720p24, I guess his best bet is to record onto his 744T i in 23978 and jam sync his time-of-day TC off the camera? Of course, if he tries to sync his HDD recorder to the Varicam in native, one of them's going to be in trouble because of the native 60p playback. of the camera. However, after ingestion of video at 720p24, the timecode from his audio should lock up, correct?

April 29th, 2007, 05:37 AM	#2
Ian Savage Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: England Posts: 88	I'm amazed no body has tried to help you with this. First off I'm no Varicam expert at all, but the #1 rule I was taught and have always been gratefull for is never trust or use the Timecode in a camera, Sony being the worst culprit but not having used a Panasonic Varicam I can't vouch for it's usefullness, what I can say though is that his 744T will have a more accurate Timecode, I trust Ambient above all others (even above my HHB Portadat which is superior to most in that respect), the only true way to do this before you even get into frame rates is to be using Lockit boxes, any other way of doing it is going to leave you with possible trouble in post. The fact the shoot is already happening I'd find extremely worrying if I had anything to do with it. Oh I should point out I THINK the Timecode out from the varicam is actually 30fps even though the camera is shooting at 60fps. As to what you record audio at, well that rather depends on the edit system, will you be ingesting at 24 fps ? I mean to be honest this part of it should already have been discussed with the post production facility, that's the whole point of camera test days and the recordist should be there for that regardless of what camera crews think, more than once we have had to demand to be there for that, it involves the audio crew just as much.

April 29th, 2007, 12:37 PM	#3
Chris Leong Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Los Angeles CA USA Posts: 507	Thanks Ian Well I think they tried using Lockits on set and I believe that's the way it's going down at the moment. I think they'll be okay with 720p24 at 23976 but the post facility's not returning calls to me so I guess they'll have worked out something that syncs by now. Haven't heard from my recordist friend either, so no news is...??? Thanks anyway, though. Much appreciated.