Sony Hdw-f500 Hdcam Guide

GUIDE FOR SONY HDW-F500 HDCAM DECK by Keith Troester PREAMBLE: This deck uses PF1 and PF2 buttons, which when pressed, contain programmable quick-access menus. You can map items from the system menu into these for quicker access. When you have changed a setting in one, the corresponding option changes as well. So if you alter a setting in PF1, that same setting in the system menu will change. This guide, when referring to the PF menus, assumes the machine defaults, since they are programmable to a user’s liking, and thus, not every one will be the same. Machine defaults are unalterable, so that is the constant I will maintain.

SETTING HD FREQUENCY (remove tape prior to setting) 1) Using the tip of a pen, press the MAINTENANCE hole (to the left of the display, under the F4 button). The display should change when you do. 2) While holding the SFT (SHIFT) button, press the F8 button (MAINTE/EXEC). 3) Press F9 (OTHERS CHECK). 4) Press F9 (SYSTEM MENU). 5) Press F2 (SYSTEM FREQ) to toggle between the frequencies. 1080i, 59.94 material is 59.94i. When you have the proper one highlighted, press F9 (EXEC). 6) Press F9 again. 7) You will hear an obnoxious series of beeps, and the deck will reboot itself. 8) In the display (under CHANNEL CONDITION) in about the middle of the deck, you will see INTERLACE and 29.97 lit in green for 1080i, 59.94 material.

- STRIPING A TAPE (USING INTERNAL GENERATORS—THIS ASSUMES THE DECK HAS PROPER REFERENCE) 1) Press the TC button. 2) Here are your TC settings to stripe a tape:

- F5 button (press to toggle between the options): TCR SEL: AUTO - F6 button: TCG SOURCE: INT-L - F7 button: TCG MODE: PRESET - F8 button: RUN MODE: REC - F9 button: DF/NDF: DF (this varies project-to-project) - F10 button: VITC: TCG 3) Press the SETUP button. 4) Press F6 (VTR SETUP). 5) Using the arrow buttons, arrow down to T02: INT VID SG (way, way at the bottom of the menu). You can also use F2 (NEXT CATEGORY) to move down faster. When you have highlighted it, press F7 (CHANGE DATA) to change it to BLACK. Keep pressing F7 to toggle between the options. When you are on BLACK, press F10 (SAVE/EXIT). Now in the menu, you should see it set to BLACK. 6) Now arrow down to T03: INT AUD SG. Using the same workflow, set this option to SILENCE. When done with both options, press F10 (SAVE/EXIT) to exit the menu. 7) Press the TC button. 8) Using the numeric keypad, enter the starting timecode. An example might be 00:58:00:00. When you mess up, you can hit the CLR button to clear your entry, and start over. 9) When satisfied, press the SET button. 10) Press F3 (TIMER SET). 11) Rewind the tape (no REWIND button on this model—use the jog/shuttle wheel), and press REC and PLAY to begin striping. Press STOP when you have striped to your liking. Rewind the tape enough to park it in timecode. 12) Press the TC button. 13) The only option you need to change is TCG MODE (F7 button). Toggle it to REGEN. 14) Using the workflow from step 5 above, change INT VID SG and INT AUD SG in the menu back to OFF for both.

- OUTPUTTING TO TAPE 1) Below are some menu items to change/verify. To get to the menu, press the SETUP button, and then press F6 (VTR SETUP). Some of these items may exist in the PF1 and PF2 menus, but I will work from the system menu (see preamble). - 004: CAP LOCK: Set to 4LOCK (4FD). - 005: SERVO REF: Set to INPUT. - 006: EXT REF SEL: Set to HD. (Note: This deck is finicky with HD reference, so ensure the ref matches your frequency. Channel Condition errors can pop up from improper reference.) - 102: REF ALARM: Set to ON. - 754: DOWNCONVERT: Set to whatever you need, if you are crashing to an SD source, or you are viewing this on an SD monitor. 2) Press the TC button. a. F5 button (press to toggle between the options): TCR SEL: AUTO b. F6 button: TCG SOURCE: INT-L c. F7 button: TCG MODE: REGEN d. F8 button: RUN MODE: REC e. F9 button: DF/NDF: DF (this varies) f. F10 button: VITC: TCG 3) Assuming you need embedded SDI audio, you can press the SDI buttons on the deck (to the right, under AUDIO INPUT/MONITOR SELECT). When it’s getting an active audio SDI signal, the orange lights will be solid. This also applies to the lights under REF SYNC (INPUT VIDEO should be lit). You can check an input by hitting the INPUT CHECK button. Ensure that the REC and PB pots on the left of the deck are pushed in (i.e., not activated). If they are even slightly off unity and pulled out, your audio levels will be altered, including SDI audio.