DUMP TO DIGI AND REFERENCE TONE

[Sean Davison]

here in the uk it’s -18db – I believe the US uses -12db as a reference – this shows as 4ppm and 5ppm on a set of ppm meters
repectively

[Joep88]

but that is very low on a digi beta.
Isn’t ?

http://www.multimediasolutions.nl

ASUS P4C800 de luxe
Matrox Parhelia 225
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—————
S

[Joep88]

A standard tone generated within the digirecorder is -9db… so why is it -18 ?
I am really confused because i allready use a -9db tone for over 15 years.

http://www.multimediasolutions.nl

ASUS P4C800 de luxe
Matrox Parhelia 225
BMD Decklink Pro
2 gig internal memory
2x 120 gig HD
Multible Firewire Disks
Adobe Premiere Pro
Combustion 3.0
Photoshop
Adobe Audition
Cubase SE
—————
S

[Jeff Brown]

Are not the DigiBeta meters Vu Meters? Not digital dBFS = dB Full Scale, which quits at 0. Vu references to 0, but major peaks are typically at +3 Vu, with fast transients hitting +6 to +9 at least.

I have seen dub houses asking for ref. level at -12 dBFS, but that doesn’t seem like very much headroom to me. Using the above scenario, where one references 0 Vu to -12 dBFS, you might get 3 dB of headroom. I don’t know what current broadcast standards are for audio (my stuff is mostly silent: animation & moGfx), but I would not be surprised if -18 or -20 dBFS is more common there. I know some Sony Pro DVCam decks have a little tick mark at -18 dBFS.

Let’s see if Bob Zelin or someone else can shed some light…

-jeff

[Erik Lindahl]

Sweden uses -18 dBFS. But the whole audio-level thing is very confusing.

[Trevor Kinsey]

Many Pro DVCam decks do show a tick mark at reference level. However, they can usually be programmed for the reference level you want. In Australia the reference is usually set to -12 dBFS. Digi Beta is usually set to -18 dBFS or -20.

We had so many problems with audio levels on TVCs which we distributed on DVCam a few years ago that we went back to distributing them on Beta SP.

Trevor Kinsey,
Technical Producer,
CVP Film and Television,
Melbourne,
Australia

[Sean Davison]

When I layback the set up tone (as layed down in the dub) measures -18db and averages around the -10db mark.

You can adjust the tone generator and reference point from within the menus in the digibeta set up. If it’s been screwed with (as hire decks sometines are then try a factory reset (I think this is a menu too)

[Chris Borjis]

wierd.

I’ve seen nothing but -20 here in the pacific northwest.
( -20 digibeta, 0 Betasp) Thats including all the major network affiliates.

Everything I do goes out with -20 tone.

What I do see a lot of is people sending out tapes with tone at nearly 0 digital (like an audio cd) and the audio levels are super loud as well.