HDX 900 advise

[Dave Anderson – roscor]

1 Does the 900 have a 60hz or 59.94hz menu setting like the Varicam
>>>THE HDX900 CAN BE SET FOR 50Hz or 60Hz OPERATION IN THE SYSTEM MODE MENU: 1080-50i, 1080-59.94i, 720-50P and 720-59.94P

2 The footage will be cut into HDCAM (750 / F900) footage 25p,would it be better to shoot the HDX900 at standard 720p or use the up res 1080.Or doesnt it matter either way.I wont be dealing myself with post at all.But the DVCproHD format has been ok,ed
>>>FOR INTERCUTTING WITH HDCAM, RECORDING 1080i IN THE HDX900 MIGHT BE PREFERRED. OR YOU CAN RECORD 720P AND LET THE DVCPRO HD VTR DO THE CONVERSION TO 1080i. TEST TO DETERMINE IF EITHER OF THESE WORKFLOWS IS BETTER FOR YOU.

3 Does it work like the varicam as when you want 23.98p,you set to 24p and change the Hz to 59.94
>>>50Hz OR 60Hz IS SELECTED IN THE SYSTEM MODE MENU. FRAME RATE (24P, 25P, 30P, 60P, 60i, 50i) IS SELECTED IN THE CAMERA MODE MENU.

4 Is the shutter shown as degree,s or fraction of second.
>>>SHUTTER IS DISPLAYED IN FRACTIONS. SYNCRO SCAN IS DISPLAYED IN DECIMALS.

5 Is there a setting for white balance A or B that can be set for Auto white tracing,as with the Sony camera,s
No I wont have this on all the time 🙂 but sometimes it very handy for doc work.
>>>I AM NOT AWARE OF ATW IN THE HDX900. YOU CAN TURN ON SHOCKLESS WHITE FOR SMOOTHER TRANSITION WHEN SWITCHING BETWEEN A AND B WHITE BALANCE SETTINGS.

6 How does the clear scan work
>>>PANASONIC CALLS IT SYNCRO SCAN. RANGE DEPENDS ON THE SYSTEM MODE. 1/60.3 TO 1/249.8 SEC. IN 59.94 Hz.

7 I,ve been advised to use DVCPROHD EX tape stock,that will give me 60mins,is this correct.
>>>HDX900 USES A MEDIUM CASSETTE

[Robin Probyn]

Thanks for your response.Shame about no ATW.

Iam still a bit confused with the 50hz/60hz business.How then would you get 23.98p,is it 24p in a 59.94 setting?

Why does Panasonic have this system,and Sony not,why have 50hz and 60hz choice ?

Thanks again

[Robin Probyn]

Thanks for your response.Shame about no ATW.

Iam still a bit confused with the 50hz/60hz business.How then would you get 23.98p,is it 24p in a 59.94 setting?

Why does Panasonic have this system,and Sony not,why have 50hz and 60hz choice ?

Thanks again

[John Sharaf]

Red,

That’s right; when your systems frequency is 59.94hz the frame rate is the “fractional speed” i.e. 30fps is technically 29.97. When sys freq id at 60 hz the frame rate is a whole number. This allows a universal camera so you can use it in NTSC (59.94) land and PAL land (25p,50i).

Sony has basicly the same thing in the F900’s namely the choice of 23.97PsF, 24PsF, 25PsF, 29.97PsF, 30PsF, 50i, 59.97i. I believe the new model “R” even leaves out the whole number 30 because you would never use it!

Hope this helps!

JS

[Robin Probyn]

Thanks John

But Dave posted that the choice is 50hz or 60hz in the HDX900

THE HDX900 CAN BE SET FOR 50Hz or 60Hz OPERATION IN THE SYSTEM MODE MENU: 1080-50i, 1080-59.94i, 720-50P and 720-59.94P

So Iam a bit confused again :).I understand there is a choice between 1080 50i (PAL) or 59.94i(NTSC)
And that 720p is the DVCproHD native.Then is 50p (PAL) and 59.94p (NTSC)? So there is no 60hz in 720p?
Iam sure this is wrong,but can someone put it in real idiot mode for me!!!

How do you get 1/48th shutter in this camera.Is it the half shutter,or is this only 1/50th 180 degree.

Would it be better to shoot 1080i up res, to cut in with HDCAM?

Thanks again

[Dave Anderson – roscor]

AJ-HDX900 is universal in that it is switchable for operation in 59.94Hz and 50Hz areas of the world, as are many of the newer cameras. The 60Hz setting in the Varicam is now properly labeled 50Hz in the HDX900. 59.94Hz in the Varicam is 59.94 in the HDX.

Regardless of 720P or 1080i:

If shooting 59.94i or P, 29.97P or 23.98P for distribution in NTSC areas, set the HDX900 and Varicam to 59.94Hz.

If shooting 50i, 50P or 25P for distribution in PAL areas, set the HDX900 to 50Hz. Set the Varicam to 60Hz.

1/48, 1/50, 1/60, 1/100 and 1/120 shutter speeds are in the HALF shutter setting, based on the HD format you

[Robin Probyn]

Thanks Dave

So would this be right.I can set the camera to 1080i 59.94hz at 24p with half shutter,would give me 1080i 23.98p(the 59.94hz making the 24p into 23.98 as with Varicam) and the half shutter giving me 1/48th?

OR not ?

Thanks again for your time

[Gary Adcock]

[Redflag] “Iam still a bit confused with the 50hz/60hz business.How then would you get 23.98p,is it 24p in a 59.94 setting?”

First off,
24p for video playback in the NTSC world is 23.98 (rounded from 23.976 or 23.9 in the sony world.)
Very, very few people have the pressing need to shoot 24.0 as a frame rate in NTSC transmission land. This slight slowing of the tape speed allows a simpler realtime conversion to NTSC monitoring.

Most 24.0 projects shot on film are actually telecined to tape at 23.98 so that your NLE could handle it in the early days of Offline editing.

PAL countries use whole number frame rates and do not use Drop Frame Timecode, yet in NTSC land we carry over the old analog drop frame time base even into our HD production just so that everyone has a TV that works with the established NTSC content as well as HD transmission in 2 flavors (1080i and 720p) both at 59.94 even though we erroneously call the field /frame rate 60

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows

[Dave Anderson – roscor]

Correct.

Not sure if it matters here, but keep in mind that when the HDX900 is set to 1080i and 23.98P (24P), the signal recorded and output on the HD-SDI BNCs is 1080/23.98P (over 59.94i); the 24 frames captured by the camera are processed with 3:2. The same is true with 720/23.98, which is recorded as 720/23.98P (over 59.94P). In 720P mode, frames are flagged identically to how they are in the Varicam so they can be extracted by the editing system if desired.

The Sony HDW-F900, on the other hand, can record true 1080/23.98PsF and 1080/60i. This is why the F900 records 50 minutes of 24P or 40 minutes of 60i.

Regards.

Dave Anderson
Digital Cinematography Manager
Roscor

[Robin Probyn]

Thanks Gary

I sort of had a handle on that stuff.Was really wondering about how to set the HDX900 to get 23.98 frame rate.I know with the Varicam you have to change the camera system to 59.94 hz,as opposed to 60hz.
So I suppose the HDX 900 must also be set to 59.94hz,and then select 24p from the camera menu?
Glad to hear this half frame setting will give me 1/48th?

Thanks again