HDX900 & Nanoflash

[Robin Probyn]

Hi there

Some newbie questions re HDX900

1.I wonder how the nano would be set up with the HDX900.I heard from Dan that the nano will automatically read the signal being sent.. but the HDX900 has the dual setting ..system setting and camera setting..
So how would the Nano deal with say.. System setting.. 1080i/50i and Camera setting 25p..
Does it record as 50i..or do you have to set the nano for 1080i/25p..?? totally confused..

2.Any other tips..

Thanks

[Dusty Powers]

Hey Robin:

Since you setup your HDX-900 for PAL you set your System Setting at 50HZ then don't worry about your System Setting after that. Now all you have to decide is what Camera Setting you want to use for your shoot. I think your only two choices in the 1080 mode in PAL are 50i or 25p and you can only shoot one at a time. The Nano will automatically detect which one you set it at when you connect it to the HDSDI connector. It's that easy.

I'm not sure how the Nano handles the Progessive / Interlace checkbox between 50i and 25p when setting it up to record the PAL signal. I'm sure Dan could answer that question.

When connecting the Nano to the HDX-900 I suggest using the monitor out connector on the right side of the camera to go into the Nano. Reason is that the Character Switch on the left side panel affects the Video Out on the back side of the HDX so you could accidently record unwanted information over your video into the Nano if the Character Switch is not set correctly.

Hope this helped.

Dusty

[Robin Probyn]

Hi Dusty

Thanks for your post.. I have an HDX900. and have used one for years now.. Iam fine with the HDX set up procedure.. just how this works with the nano.I dont have one yet,so havnt been able to play with one with the HDX900.
Iam still a little unclear.. if I set HDX for eg 1080i/50i 25p... do I need to tell the nano its 25p.. if not will the nano record 50i..
OR does it automatically know its set to 25p.. only used the nano with F900R.. which doesn't have these dual settings ie system setting and camera setting.. would I have to set the nano to 1080i 25p.. ? TBH Ive never totally understood how the HDX makes the 50i into 25p on the tape either :)

Do you find your mostly recording tape and nano..? or nano only..and tape only..?

Thanks again

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Robin,
The NANO just records what your camera SDI outs.
You don't have to set nothing in the NANO but in the camera.
The NANO just transcode that 10b Unc stream to MPEG-2, keeping the time-base and size.
You set the NANO for the quality you want to record with.
Rafael

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Robin,

If you are sending us 1080p25, then you need to set our Record PSF>Prog(ressive) Flag On.
(And you need to tell the camera to output PSF by selecting 1080p25 mode.

In other words, put a check in the Record PSF>Prog Box.

If you want 1080i50, setup your camera for 1080i50, then uncheck the box.

[Robin Probyn]

Hi Dan

Ok thanks..

[Dean Harrington]

Originally Posted by Robin Probyn

Hi Dusty

Thanks for your post.. I have an HDX900. and have used one for years now.. Iam fine with the HDX set up procedure.. just how this works with the nano.I dont have one yet,so havnt been able to play with one with the HDX900.
Iam still a little unclear.. if I set HDX for eg 1080i/50i 25p... do I need to tell the nano its 25p.. if not will the nano record 50i..
OR does it automatically know its set to 25p.. only used the nano with F900R.. which doesn't have these dual settings ie system setting and camera setting.. would I have to set the nano to 1080i 25p.. ? TBH Ive never totally understood how the HDX makes the 50i into 25p on the tape either :)

Do you find your mostly recording tape and nano..? or nano only..and tape only..?

Thanks again

just come over and play with mine.

[Dusty Powers]

Robin:

The thing that's so cool about the Nano is that you can record to tape and the Nano at the same time. The tape can be used for archive and the CF from the Nano can be used to transfer the footage to the edit system. It makes life so simple.

Dusty

[Robin Probyn]

Hi Dusty

Ok thanks.. is that the path most trod..? tape and Nano same time..certainly good backup..

Thanks again

[Robin Probyn]

Originally Posted by Dean Harrington

just come over and play with mine.

May well do that Dean san..

Thanks

[Steve Brown]

Robyn,

I haven't been on the boards much lately and just saw your post. In the future, feel free to send an email to check the boards.

One thing I have time to help with right now... the thing that seems to be your stumbling block...

Don't get confused about the system setting and the camera setting. The system setting has four choices... 1080i or 720p in either 60 or 50 Hz. The camera setting is just the frame rate. The nano doesn't care what the frame rate is and it will automatically sense the system setting (1080i or 720p).

Keep in mind that the HDX900 has a progressive imager, so it NEVER really produces an interlaced image... nope, not even in 1080i. In any of the interlace modes, the camera is producing two identical copies of the progressive image. So, there is never a temporal error between "fields" as you might have with an interlaced imager.

So, if you're shooting 1080i 50 at 25fps, the nano will love that... no problems. It will not be an interlaced image... not really. And that's a good thing, right?

You can't shoot 50p or 60p over 1080i because the camera just can't do that... not capable of 1080p at those frames rates. Of course, if you shoot at 1080i 25p with a 180 degree shutter angle (half shutter), you will get a similar effect. I recommend that shutter angle with all progressive frame rates anyway, if you have enough available light.

Of course, if you're shooting an interview and the subject is not waving their arms about, the shutter angle probably isn't necessary.

[Robin Probyn]

Thanks Steve

I have an HDX900 and been shooting with it for a few years now.. just wasn't sure how the Nano had to be "set" up due to the 50i,but 25p or 60i but 30p. settings in the camera.Thanks for that info.

Also Dan said you have to set the nano for progressive..

So is this right.. the nano will automatically sense 1080i OR 720p.. but if I want to shoot progressive (pretty much 99% of the time) I must tell the nano I want progressive.. then fine to go..

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Robin,

HD-SDI and Progressive Segmented Frames (PSF) are such that no device, as far I know, can detect the difference between PSF and Interlaced signals.

PSF was invented so that Progressive footage can be played on Interlaced HD-SDI monitors and recorded by Interlaced recorders.

As such, PSF looks like interlaced to the electronics.

(The original progressive image, for each frame, is converted to two psuedo-interlaced fields (one frame).

For 23.976, 23.98, 24p, we can automatically set the "Record PSF>Prog(ressive) Setting" to on. We can do this since there is no such thing as 48i, so there is no confusion.

(We do this internally, since all cameras that we know of that send out these 23.976, 23.98, and 24p actually send PSF over HD-SDI. Thus, we set the flag internally, and convert these PSF signals back to true progressive prior to the nanoFlash recording the footage.)

For 25p, PSF footage looks like 50i, so one has to set the Record PSF>Prog(ressive) Setting to one (if the camera is sending PSF (Progressive) footage to the nanoFlash.

Likewise, if the camera is sending Interlaced, then this setting must be off.

The same applies to 29.97p and 30p.

[Robin Probyn]

Hi Dan

Ok many thanks.. I get it now..thanks for your time..