Varicam recording audio 2 frames out of sync

[Luke Lindhjem]

Many thanks to all who posted. This certainly clears things up a bit. The best move for us is to compensate for the offset when we capture. My only question at this point is does the Varicam consistently record at 2 frames out or does it oscillate between being in-sync to being 2 frames out? (A video engineer outside the forum told me it behaves this way, and I do seem to have some footage that seems to be only 1 frame out). Jeff’s point that “various processing requires different times to process the video” also stands out in my mind as a reason for oscillating.
Thanks again everyone, much appreciated!
Luke

[Tony]

Luke,

What frame rates did you see any variation occur at?

For example did you see a difference in footage shot at 24P versus 60P?

Powering up and down the camera might cause a slight difference given when and where the cycle of a frame starts compared to where it was before the power down cycle.

Tony Salgado

Tony Salgado

[Luke Lindhjem]

We’ve been shooting mostly at 24P, which is when we’ve been noticing fluctuation. When we shoot at 60 it’s either for recrees or aerials, so sync sound is not something we’ve been concerned with (but for my own curiosity I’ll be paying more attention to it in the future). As far as the oscillating thing goes, I was able to get a response from an engineer at Panasonic who essentially said that yes, it does fluctuate, but it’s so slight that a fixed 2 frame offset will do the trick.
Thanks for all your help!
Luke

[Jeff Merritt]

Hi John,

On the “H” version of the VariCam we introduced a new circuit that has an optional audio delay so it’s possible that audio and video will be in sync or not. And yes, the “H” version also consumes a little more power than the “F” version.

Thanks,

Jeff Merritt
Product Line Business Manager
High Definition Products
Panasonic Broadcast
323-436-3676

[Neil Gelinas]

I can’t seem to figure out how to correct for this 2 frame offset in FCP. I assumed it would be a simple adjustment in the Capture Preset settings or the Device Control Preset settings. Could you tell me how you’re accessing and modifying this offset control.

Much appreciated.
-neil