Ursa Mini Pro and Timecode

Hi guys,

Some days ago i shot footage during a concert for TV. I switched in the menu to external reference and sucessfully got the TC from the OB Van. Then i turned off the camera and unfortunatley the camera didn't remember the TC. So i guess there is no buffer battery .
Does anyone know a not so expensive solution which holds the TC ? Something like Clockit but not so expensive

regards

Does anyone know a not so expensive solution which holds the TC ? Something like Clockit but not so expensive

Tentacle Sync

NanoLockit

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?I ... ch=&sts=ma

http://cheesycam.com/tentacle-sync-time ... ideo-fast/

http://ambient.de/en/product/nanolockit/

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... tml?sts=pi

Hi Leon

Thank you very much. I get a TC Signal from the OB-Van via BNC cable. So what i need is just a box which holds this TC while i shut down the camera.

regards

Paul, you can do this with the Tentacle sync.

You just jam sync the Tentacle from the OB-Van via your BNC cable (get the BNC cable from Tentacle and an male to male adapter and you should be ok).

Then just have the Tentacle attached to your TC-in on the UMPro and everything should work as wanted. The Tentacles work great and have I believe their stated accuracy is 1 frame drift over 24 hrs. I have never had a problem with them, and I have shot about 30 multicam jobs over the past little while with them.

Chris

+1 for Tentacle Sync

Am i missing something.?? While you are still connected to the BNC cable it will sync up directly when you put the camera on again?

As long as you still have the Tentacle attached to the camera it will continue to us the TC from that.

Chris

But what do you mean then.. You sync up once at the beginning with LTC from the OBV.. And disconnect the cable after that?

I mean if you leave the LTC cable attached to the camera.. You turn it off. Turn it on again it will boot at 00:00:00. But will jump to LTC right away??

Daniel,

Please check out the following video - hope it explains everything.


password: sync

Chris

@Chris
Great , this is exactly what i'm searching for. Thanks a lot.

Glad I could help Paul.

2 suggestions:
1) maybe think about getting more than 1 - especially if you do any kind of multi-cam jobs with mixed camera types as well, they save a lot of time.
2) Make sure to get all the cables you need/might need in the future.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

C

Chris,

I am dying to better understand the timecode synch with the Ursa mini Pro... I tried your video and its not available. Are you still able to share it? thank you

Hi Darin,

Tried the video - works fine, remember the password. If you have any specific questions just let me know.

Chris

Late to the party here..but can someone explain to me how you get the time code info from the tentacle sync desktop application to davinci resolve if you shot the footage in Raw Cdng’s ? I don’t see where I can import my raw files into the tentacle sync studio app to convert to an xml to send to Davimci resolve ..or can I just import the files directly into davinci resolve, Click update LTC..etc..and sync via time code and append tracks.
Thanks

Late to the party here..but can someone explain to me how you get the time code info from the tentacle sync desktop application to davinci resolve if you shot the footage in Raw Cdng’s ? I don’t see where I can import my raw files into the tentacle sync studio app to convert to an xml to send to Davimci resolve ..or can I just import the files directly into davinci resolve, Click update LTC..etc..and sync via time code and append tracks.
Thanks

If you're using Resolve, it's the later. Since Resolve can read LTC from the audio on the file, you don't need the Tentacle desktop app.

Jamie you’re the man! Thank you. I’m about to purchase 3 now.

2 Quick questions for anyone familiar with this topic ..I think Jamie can answer one for me. Did the problem with the 3 frame delay when using time code with the ursa mini 4.6k ever get fixed via firmware ? Also how would I go about feeding a aux time code track into a Tascam 680mk 2 since it has no time code input. What input would I use to connect the tentacle to it? Thanks

Did the problem with the 3 frame delay when using time code with the ursa mini 4.6k ever get fixed via firmware ?

Yes, it did. It's now accurate to the frame. One thing to note, however, is that without a genlock signal (as used in multicamera TV studio setups) the frames won't all start at exactly the same millisecond. So, if you're syncing to audio for example, your slate is going to be within 1 frame, but not exactly matching within that frame. For lip sync, being within 1 frame is good enough, but if you're syncing audio coming from multiple cameras, you may hear the sub-frame difference between them.

Also how would I go about feeding a aux time code track into a Tascam 680mk 2 since it has no time code input. What input would I use to connect the tentacle to it?

The tentacles have a cable that sends out the LTC pulse to XLR. Just run that into one of the inputs. Then in Resolve have it read that pulse as the timecode for the audio files from the Tascam.

Late to the party here..but can someone explain to me how you get the time code info from the tentacle sync desktop application to davinci resolve if you shot the footage in Raw Cdng’s ? I don’t see where I can import my raw files into the tentacle sync studio app to convert to an xml to send to Davimci resolve ..or can I just import the files directly into davinci resolve, Click update LTC..etc..and sync via time code and append tracks.
Thanks

Donnelly - if you attach the Tentacle to the TC in port using their 3.5mm to BNC adapter the TC gets written directly to the files. There is no need to use the Tentacle Sync software seeing as the TC is not written to the audio track.

Chris

Jamie thank you for that detailed explanation. You saved me from buying a recorder with timecode for the moment. So basically the recorder records an extra track with the TC info with the tentacle attached using a 3.5mm jack to XLR. When I get in resolve, select the main track to be used for syncing and the Aux track with the timecode info that sounds like a fax machine then I use the setting update time code from audio LTC to extract the Tc, then sync that to my camera files. I hope I got that right. Great that the 3 frame delay got fixed. I have a simple two camera set up. The main external audio coming from the recorder ( Tascam Dr 680 mark 2 ) Is what i’m using to sync both cameras “scratch “ audio to in resolve. The takes/clips are less than 8 minutes at a time. So I might be able to escape using genlock. As far as I understand time code which is very little, as long as the takes are not extremely long example over 30 minutes I have a better chance of avoiding drift between cameras. I will be keeping those tentacles locked on all the cameras and recorder until the end of the shoot. Hopefully with that setup things wouldn’t get too crazy

Chris thank you as well my friend. Awesome I learned something new. It’s great to be able to bypass the tentacle sync software and go directly into resolve.

You guys rock!!!!

If you're running a tentacle to SDI into the timecode port on each Ursa Mini Pro, you should not have any drift even through a whole day as long as you keep the tentacles powered on. If you need to break and turn them off at some point, just re-sync the tentacles to each other, reattach to the cameras and audio recorder all will be in sync again. They are wonderful little boxes.