[Bob Cole]

I’m not familiar with the system, except for quickly walking by it at NAB — GREAT magician, scary price tag on the gear.

Is there an actual green background, or does this system somehow create one? How close to the background is your subject? Looks too close.

Have you tried duplicating their instructions exactly (you say you added a light, which may have changed something)?

Can you return it?

[Bob Cole]

[gary adcock] “W is not a truely stable control protocol, with tolerances of +/- 6 frames, and the longer you use it the less accurate it gets.”

Gary, I’m bringing video in through the camera’s component outputs, the audio through the camera’s analog outputs (using the stereo pair only, not the composite video that is part of the same port).

Are you saying that any device that uses firewire for control only (not audio or video) is unstable? So, the Sony HDV decks that use firewire rather than 9-pin RS-422 will be just as unstable?

[Bob Cole]

[gary adcock] “When ingesting audio this over FW and the video is being brought in over a more “stable” or “consistent” connection – yes the audio will drift.”

Audio is coming in via the camera’s analog out, through a mixer.

[Bob Cole]

AJA tech support duplicated both of my problems, the more critical one being the capture. Capturing via component (SMPTE) from Z1, using firewire for timecode leads to audio sync drift. After disconnecting the firewire, the sync problem disappeared. But of course, no camera control and no original camera tape timecode in the captured file.

I have been trying to avoid buying an HDV deck; does anyone know for sure that the cheaper Sony decks which use firewire/iLink don’t have this problem?

[Bob Cole]

Well, the plot thickens.

Those settings did stick, and the played-back audio has no clicks.

But it is out of sync, several seconds over a 16-minute capture. If anybody is capturing successfully from a Z1 to DVCPro HD, I’d like to hear what all their settings are, both on camera and computer.

— Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Sorry, incomplete response. I was recommending that you check under the Final Cut Pro menu — Audio/Video Settings — Video Playback.

[Bob Cole]

[Sean Davison] “the sequence keeps reporting dropped frames all the time”

Novice here, but I just had this problem, when I was downconverting through my Kona LHe, and mistakenly set Video Playback to 525i29.97, rather than the DVCPro HD setting appropriate to my sequence.

[Bob Cole]

[JeremyG] “Keep your KOna CP visible when doing your capture and tell me what happens when you try and capture. The setup and Componenet levels should not stick.”

Capturing now, with Kona CP visible. Component(SMPTE/EBU) and 7.5 IRE are sticking.

And the output from the Z1 is supposed to be Component(Beta).

[Bob Cole]

[JeremyG] “Are you sure you aren’t capturing to SD? That could be your problem is you are trying to capture HD.”

frame size: 1280×1080
compressor: DVCPro HD 1080i60

[Bob Cole]

Okay. I’m getting good capture to DVCPro HD in FCP 5.1.4, but I don’t understand why, especially because some of the “bad” settings make more sense than the one that works. I assume that there’s something else I haven’t set correctly.

Source: Sony Z1, NTSC video shot in HDV format, Menu: In/Out Rec — Component — 1080i (playing back from my camera) It doesn’t seem to matter whether I have the iLink(firewire) connected.

These settings result in audio clicks and sync drift:

Bad Setup 1:
Kona Control Panel-Inputs Tab-Analog Format:Component(Beta)
Kona Control Panel-Setup Tab-0

Bad Setup 2:
Kona Control Panel-Inputs Tab-Analog Format:Component(Beta)
Kona Control Panel-Setup Tab-7.5

Bad Setup 3:
Kona Control Panel-Inputs Tab-Analog Format:Component(SMPTE/EBU N10)
Kona Control Panel-Setup Tab-7.5

This setting gives clean audio, without any sync problems:
Kona Control Panel-Inputs Tab-Analog Format:Component(SMPTE/EBU N10)
Kona Control Panel-Setup Tab-0

Any insights are welcome.

— Bob C