Timecode In/Out for Synch with External Audio?
 

A guy on our crew has to go on a two camera shoot in Bolivia or some crazy place. The producer wants to record 6 seperate tracks of audio on an external recording source (from wireless lavs or some such thing) and he wants to be able to record timecode to easily synch the video with the audio.

What kind of options are there for synching external audio with HVX recorded video? I don't have a lot of experience doing this kind of thing and I'm probably not explaining the problem very well.

What are the easiest solutions for sharing a timecode between the camera and an audio mixer?

Thanks in advance.

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to get TC out of the HVX as a separate signal. If it were me, I'd sync the two machines manually on Free Run, so you're well within a second, then clapper slate your takes when possible. Check timecode match between the DAR and the HVX from time to time, but they should stay locked all day. Once you've determined the offset between audio and video in the edit suite, it'll probably work for the rest of the day's shoot. The on-camera mic audio from the HVX would also provide an easy reference track (or a mixed output from the DAR fed to the HVX).

I seem to remember that you can sync multitple HVXs with firewire. I believe I heard that at NAB. Unfortunately, firewire over copper is too short to be practical, and the connector isn't captive. Also, I doubt that any audio devices would sync to it.

The XL-H1 supports genlock, making it a better solution for sync'ing multiple cameras and all that...

Our method
 

Hi:

We recently shot a sitcom pilot with the three HVXs and a Zaxcom DEVA. We rented a smart slate and just used time of day TC. We would meet with the soundman in the morning and we would all try to sync right at 7:00 AM with a countdown out loud. We would get the TC withing 2 seconds of each other and it worked well.

Best,

Dan