The HDs and 16x9 (4K, 3K, 2K)

[Carlos Garcia]

Hey Guys,

We are shooting live events with the Scarlet lately, and are facing the problem of the HD resolutions (4k hd, 3k hd, 2k hd) being slightly wider than 16x9. Therefore, a little black line shows up on the shot, which is an issue, especially when live switching on multicam set ups to other cameras that are "true" 16x9.

Anyone doing live shows out there facing the same situation? Trying to see if there is a work around it... it is a shame not to have a definite 16x9 option for when you really need that precision...I understand the Scarlet wasn't really designed for this kind of thing, but would be wonderful to put it to work in this kind of setup!

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You mean a black line is appearing when you transcode the R3D frames to 1080P?

 

[Carlos Garcia]

No, I'm sorry I mean all this happens live. The slight wider than 16x9 aspect ratio (i am guessing this is the cause of the issue, right?) becomes very noticeable when we shoot live webcasts, especially when switching between Scarlet and other cameras, such as HVX, or EX1. We are just taking a SDI feed out into a switcher. Tiny Black bars will show only on the scarlet shot...

 

[Bastien Tribalat]

I don't own a Red but I'm pretty sure you may have a parameter in the output settings.
If so, you might have to tell the camera to output 1080P (or 720 if needed) from the SDI.

I think (but might be totally wrong) that your problem is due to the fact that when you choose 16x9 format's in the camera, it is only the RECORDED files that are in this format but the viewfinder, monitor etc are still in the original 1.89 aspect ratio with 16x9 markers. But once again I might be totally wrong.
But if I'm right, you HAVE to tell the camera to output 16x9 1080p via the SDI connection.

Hope I gave you some hints.

 

[Sergio Perez]

I think this was corrected in the latest firmware. Do you have the latest firmware installed? Im not sure if this is the same black bar issue.

 

[Ted Parkes]

I think Sergio is right.. An old firmware ... v3.0 fixed that issue or was it 3.2 Either way i bet a firmware upgrade fixes the issue. I get nice clean full 16X9 to my pix240 now.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Ok, that might be it then! Thought we were up to date, but if you did go through something similar and now are looking good, sounds promising. I will check asap, and will also let you know so that it is documented.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I understand the Scarlet wasn't really designed for this kind of thing...

And that was my immediate answer. Red is a fantastic camera for certain things, but at the moment, I wouldn't put "live events" on that list.