Syncing Nuendo to Pana PV-DV601

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2001 10:17 am

We are ready to get started shooting our first feature with a Panasonic PV-DV601 MiniDV camera. Rarther than recording the audio on the camera, we'd like to record on ADAT and Nuendo. I can't figure a way to do it. If I had a MOTU timepiece AV I still don't think there is a way to sync to the camera. Is there? It diplays 0h00m00s00f at the top of the viewfinder, but I don't think there is any way to generate SMPTE from this. I am a neophyte when it comes to Video sync, being a Music Engineer so and insight is helpful.

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2001 4:35 am

Hi t2b,<p>That camera appears to be a consumer-oriented model, and as such doesn't seem to have the ability to either slave to or output longitudinal SMPTE. If you had a box to regenerate blackburst off the camera's video output, that could be used to slave a BRC. But from many years of experience with ADAT's, I would suggest you skip that altogether. An ADAT will generally play back at the same speed it was recorded at when internal sync is used. Any drift at all, we're talking about samples here. You will not know the difference if the audio is 100/48,000's of a second too fast or too slow.<p>Quck & dirty: Don't bother with sync, just like the old days. Go ahead and record audio on the adat and video on the camera separately. Just make sure you put a "slate" at the beginning of every take. When the clacker closes fully on the video, line that up to the clack on tape. Even if you have a little bit of drift, it won't be noticable unless your shot runs for several minutes. Given the length of shots we are accustomed to seeing in modern film and video, chances are it will never be long enuf for the drift to be noticable. The slate is also a great way to organize your takes, as you can number each one in chalk before you start taping the scene. Keep a list of the takes and a rough estimate of the time on the ADAT, and you'll know exactly which audio goes with which video.<p>Hope that helps. Smile

<p>Disclaimer: I ain't no video cat, audio is my gig. Video's just a hobby to me. Any of you real video cats may spank my ass at any time if what I say is BS. Cheers!

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