[Ray Palmer]

[Peter Perry] “That is why these freqs will become unusable…not because of new digital TV transmissions, or legality or illegality, or cable vs rabbit ears or whatever. “

That is exactly the way I see it also. I am amazed that there isn’t more “chatter” regarding this. I, for one, don’t want to be caught without the knowledge that this change is heading our way and knowing what my options are.

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

I just found this on Shure’s site. The last line is a killer!

During the transition period, public safety agencies will begin to use TV channels 63 – 64 (764 – 776 MHz) and 68 – 69 (794 – 806 MHz) for two-way radio communications. As these frequencies gradually become busier, wireless microphones operating on these TV channels may encounter occasional interference.
After February 19, 2009, TV channels 60 – 62 (746 – 764 MHz) and 65 – 67 (776 – 794 MHz) will be opened up for use by new commercial wireless services. Licenses for these new services will be awarded by competitive bidding. Some of these auctions have already occurred, but the winners will not be able to use this spectrum until it has been vacated by the television broadcasts.

Wireless microphones may continue to operate on all of these frequencies, just as they do now. However, wireless microphones that operate on frequencies above 698 MHz should not be used after February 19, 2009.

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

Robin,
It appears to be a problem on the DSP Board on one of our cameras.
We are into our busy season so I am hesistant to send the camera out for repair.

The seasoned shooters can shoot without Zebras until we have a window wide enough to send the camera out.

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

Ty,
What a hoot you are. I enjoyed your guitar solo this morning.
Is there any end to your talents?
To quote Tim Conway on “Mad About you”.
“I am a preacher and I can fix a boat”.

[Ray Palmer]

We do a lot of time lapse and we have a varicam and two HDX900 cameras.
We have found that using a digital SLR, such as the Canon Rebel, works better than using one of our video cameras.
1-The camera is a lot cheaper. Incase someone decides to “borrow” it.
2-The camera takes higher resolution than our HD video cameras.
3-We don’t need to worry about cold or heat issues.
4-The camera is smaller and can be mounted in a variety of places that a full size camera cannot.
4-There isn’t any wear and tear on our production cameras.

We capture the files on the digital SLR and then bring them into After effects to make a movie.
We use a simple timer relay to tell the camera when to take a frame.

Let me know if you have any questions.

It is a shift in thinking to use a still camera.

Ray Palmer

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

[John Cummings] “did you check the switch on the front of the VF?”

Thanks for the suggestion, John.
Yes, we checked the VF switch. We have two HDX900 cameras. When we swap VFs, both VFs show zebras, both cameras do not. This verified that the switch on the VF is working.

[Ray Palmer]

Resetting to factory was the first thing we tried.

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

[john sharaf] “viewfinder being too high obliterates the zebra pattern”

I thought of that too. I swapped the viewfinder with another HDX900 and the problem stayed with the camera. Both viewfinders had zebras, only one camera had zebras.

I just don’t want to send the camera to Panasonic and then find out that it was operator error.

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

[Jan Crittenden Livingston] “load those settings into the second camera”

That is obvious and yet I never thought to try it.

Thanks for the tip and the product support.

All the best,

Ray

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.

[Ray Palmer]

I agree with Peter. You need more help.
When we do this we use an automated mic mixer. It will gate the audio on the mics that are not being addressed. You only hear the audio from someone speaking. We have used this system with up to 24 mics in a discussion group.

I understand that you don’t have this in your budget but keep it in mind for the future if the audio you get from the gear that you have now doesn’t give you the results you hoped for.

Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t.