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Word Clock or Video Sync when locking Pro Tools to a digital Beta deck
10/27/2000

"I have a Pro Tools Mix system. I need to playback audio tracks to my client's picture on digibeta. This digibeta has 'video sync' in and 'word clock' in. I have a black burst generator I've been syncing to. What's the difference between using video sync and word clock to lock the audio to the video? Which hole should I plug the black burst generator in to?"

Black burst is video sync, so that's the proper place to connect that signal. Whether you should sync everything to black burst or word clock depends, but usually either will do.

With analog video, the resolution of any video system is only as good as its frame rate. Black burst is considered the most stable timing source for such a system, and when audio gear syncs with video black burst is used as the reference to which any synchronizers or digital audio equipment derive their timing. Of course some house sync generators provide black burst and word clock (and sometimes even super clock) so everything in the studio can easily reference the one source, which is preferred.

In a digital video system, which also has digital audio, you now have word clock available. Word clock has a higher resolution than black burst - thousands of samples per second versus 30 or so frames per second. Thus it is generally considered best to go ahead and lock to the word clock. In your case the word clock and the black burst are almost certainly going to be resolved to one another inside the digital Beta deck, but you may as well just use the word clock anyway. Besides, in order to use black burst with Pro Tools you need additional hardware. You can just tie the digital audio out of the Beta deck to a digital input on your Pro Tools interface and use that to clock the Pro Tools system. There are other ways to skin this cat, but this is the simplest.





Other Techtips from October 2000:
October 31 - IDE Master/Slave support on Beige G3s
October 30 - Synchronizing separate audio and MIDI computers to each other and ADATs
October 27 - Word Clock or Video Sync when locking Pro Tools to a digital Beta deck
October 26 - Headphone outputs used as line outputs for line level gear
October 25 - Getting data off of your Roland BR8 or VS zip drive
October 24 - A word to the wise on price versus value
October 23 - How to use digital mic preamps in a digital system - issues with limiters & clock sourcing
October 20 - USB related Tech Support updates
October 18 - Basics of how to put audio and video on a disc together
October 17 - Sample Rate Conversion - what's the big deal?
October 16 - Transferring tracks from a digital multitrack to a Digi001 - synchronization issues
October 13 - Some possible solutions for clicks and pops in your host based PC recording system
October 12 - Mac OS X - boom or bust?
October 11 - Putting larger or faster ATA drives into your computer
October 10 - Long periods of delay when installing Pro Tools software
October 09 - Connecting two Mackie D8B mixers together
October 06 - New "error free" CD burning; is it for you?
October 05 - Phantom power voltage, and why some mics may not work
October 04 - Doing audio on a Powerbook; will Firewire drives work?
October 03 - Alesis' 20-bit Light Pipe is now 24-bit


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