Once and for all can we deal with the Pedistal isue in NTSC land?

musman wrote on 5/16/2004, 5:11 PM

I've asked about this before, but continue to be very confused. To date I've been using my firewire out to my pd150 and then the rca or s-video out from the camera to the external monitor. As I understand it, there needs to be a 7.5 IRE pedistal added when going from digital to analog and prosumer cameras often add around 2-5 IRE just so things don't look horribly wrong. Still, is would not really add accurate results.
Can anyone tell me how much, if any, IRE the pd150 adds? If it doesn't any anything, would it be possible to add an Output FX of Broadcast colors to get accurate previews?
Also, if I am wrong about anything I've stated above I would really appreciate a correction (and yes I have read Adam Wilt's article and seen the jvc commercial several times).
Thanks for any help!

Comments

SonyEPM wrote on 5/17/2004, 7:18 AM

I'm pretty sure the PD150 doesn't allow you any control over setup during A/D conversion*, so you are advised to handle this in Vegas. If you are going from DV to analog, applying the Broadcast Colors filter w/the "Conservative- 7.5 setup" preset to the output (on the video preview) should solve any potential analog level issues.

*Higher-end decks like the DSR1500a do allow for a setup add but this functionality is rare in cameras and lower cost decks.

musman wrote on 5/17/2004, 11:41 PM

Cool, thank you for the help. One last thing, we shouldn't add the "Conservative- 7.5 setup" to the project when making a DVD, right?

StormMarc wrote on 5/18/2004, 2:34 AM

Yes you're right, for DVD work do not add set-up or it will look washed out. The DVD players seem to add their own set-up. I use a proc amp when recording to VHS or a converter like the Canopus one.

When using the PD-150 as a pass through unit it will not add set-up to the analog outputs which is not good if your TV or monitor is expecting a 7.5 signal. My pro monitor allows me to set it at 0 IRE but I leave it at 7.5 (because I also feed a regular Sony TV that expects a 7.5 signal) and add set-up from the Canopus unit. This keeps everything proper for level corrections as long as I've calibrated to color bars. This is how I've been doing it and everything is coming out well.

Also I would not recommmend using your 7.5 IRE set-up switch on the PD-150. It only adds set-up while recording and will give you non standard DV footage like Adam Wilt talks about in his article.

musman wrote on 5/19/2004, 12:54 AM

I appreciate the help. I just found out from dvinfo.net that the pd150 does add 3.7 IRE to its video outputs, but adds nothing to the actual recording.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&postid=180695#post180695

I guess this is another of Sony's little half measure fixes, and actually makes me quite angry. I'm not sure how you're supposed accurately use a field monitor when you're working with that situation. I wonder if other prosumer cameras have the same problem.
But I guess this means I should go ahead and get a Canopus ADVC-100. Great.

addavis wrote on 5/19/2004, 10:21 AM

If you know that the pd150 records proper levels, can you not simply adjust your external monitor slightly to compensate for the 3.75%, when viewing - perhaps make special colorbars for this purpose.