Quick Rec on Sony HDV cameras

I've always run my Sony Z1 with "Quick Rec" set on (in menu > others) because I'd hate to lose a clip by the camera not starting recording quickly enough. But using HDV Split I do get some messy .m2t clips when I capture. Either they're not split properly or the video stream is a little shorter than the corresponding audio stream. And actually in Vegas the messed up clips are read by the Main Concept mpeg2 codec, not the Sony one, and so they're much more sluggish on the timeline.

So other Sony HDV camera users, do you have Quick Rec on or off?

Those who run with Quick Rec off, how long delays do you get you press record? Has it ever cost you an important clip?

Those who run with Quick Rec on, do you ever get messy .m2t files when you capture?

cheers

i have it on

the only time i get a messy clip is when it has gone into stdby and then i hit record in stead of bringing it back to life first, then hitting record.

but yes, it often doesn't split the scene when doing auto scene split upon capture

I've always run my Sony Z1 with "Quick Rec" set on (in menu > others) because I'd hate to lose a clip by the camera not starting recording quickly enough. But using HDV Split I do get some messy .m2t clips when I capture. Either they're not split properly or the video stream is a little shorter than the corresponding audio stream. And actually in Vegas the messed up clips are read by the Main Concept mpeg2 codec, not the Sony one, and so they're much more sluggish on the timeline.

 

So other Sony HDV camera users, do you have Quick Rec on or off?

 

Those who run with Quick Rec off, how long delays do you get you press record? Has it ever cost you an important clip?

 

Those who run with Quick Rec on, do you ever get messy .m2t files when you capture?

 

cheers

Interesting. I did not know about the "Quick rec" option, so mine is probably at the default.

Sometimes it can take 5+ seconds to record and I have lost shots because of it.

Mine is turned off. With such great viz in Palau I can see whats coming a mile off and prep for that. I don't want the hassle of broken timecode and the associated problems. Time is of the essence when doing daily dailes ........ :-)

Cheers,

Mark.

Yes we have ours turned off as well.

With the Phenom you can bring it back to life if it goes to sleep.

Left Trigger plus right trigger and it will spin the FX1/Z1 back up to standby mode.

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to run with it off and see if it costs me important clips. Broken timecode is a PITA indeed.

I'm in the UK at the moment, away from my gear. Can the L&M Bluefin bring the camera back up to standby like the Phenom? (I don't think it can)

Also topside, how does one wake the camera up like that if it's not in the housing?

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to run with it off and see if it costs me important clips. Broken timecode is a PITA indeed.

 

I'm in the UK at the moment, away from my gear. Can the L&M Bluefin bring the camera back up to standby like the Phenom? (I don't think it can)

 

Also topside, how does one wake the camera up like that if it's not in the housing?

Also, how do you know it needs to be woken up? Often (happened to me this weekend) I seem to have no indication that pressing "Rec" will give me a 5 sec delay, so I wouldn't know to wake it before the shot etc ...

Pity I can't trade off battery power to have it "always ready" as the battery lasts far longer than I need ...

DV cameras on stand by meant that the head was still spinning on the tape and wearing out the tape and head when not recording. Eventually the camera would shut down if left on for long enough.

With HDV cameras what happens is after a few minutes on standby, to save the head and tape from wear the camera stops the head completely. Then when you hit record it has to spin up the head again to speed before it will start recording again hence a long delay.

I don't know if you can put the camera's back into standby (spin the head up again) mode shooting up top but I do know that on the Phenom you can so it's ready to record instantly again if it was asleep.

You can tell if the head has shutdown as you cannot see the green STBY text on the screen.

On some NLE's you can tell it to just keep recording as the firewire is coming in if there are any breaks so you still only end up with one file instead of lots of little ones.