# Conductor camera delay



## JChenault (Sep 10, 2013)

We are in the midst of a renovation and want to install a "Conductor camera' in the space. Our consultant tells us that analog equipment is being phased out and will be completely unavailable by the end of this year. Therefore we will have to go digital, and there is a small delay between the action and what the actors will see.

Just trying to do a sanity check on this. Does anyone know what the state of the art in conductor cameras / monitors, etc is at this time.

Our consultant is recommending:
Camera - Panasonic AW/HE2
HDMI transmitter Extron - DTB-HDMI230 D TX
HDMI Receiver Extron - DTP-HDMI230 RX
HDMI DA Extron - HDMI DA2
Monitors. Sharp - PN-E421


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## BillConnerFASTC (Sep 10, 2013)

Is this have to live with a delay or have to on your budget? Not my field but I cannot believe you can't do it at the speed of light - or electrons along a wire. Imag is not going away.


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## Edrick (Sep 10, 2013)

How long of a delay is he talking? I can tell you for sure your option isn't "only digital with a delay because the industry has dumped analog" your consultant is selling you a load of crock. What's your budget and end goal? Just a camera with a monitor on the other end? With no delay? How many feet are we talking?

Take a look at black magic plenty of options there.


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## museav (Sep 10, 2013)

The signal transmission itself is not generally the issue, however a HD camera can often incur 1 to 3 frames of latency or delay within the camera. There is typically also display processing latency involved, although that can often be reduced by feeding it a native resolution signal and operating it in a low latency 'gaming' or direct pixel mapping mode where it is not scaling the image. The DA and 'extenders' would not normally add latency unless they are providing some reclocking or other processing.


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## JChenault (Sep 15, 2013)

museav said:


> The signal transmission itself is not generally the issue, however a HD camera can often incur 1 to 3 frames of latency or delay within the camera. There is typically also display processing latency involved, although that can often be reduced by feeding it a native resolution signal and operating it in a low latency 'gaming' or direct pixel mapping mode where it is not scaling the image. The DA and 'extenders' would not normally add latency unless they are providing some reclocking or other processing.




Not sure I was clear with my original post. I guess I am asking:
Is HDMI the right approach?
Is analog really going away?


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## FMEng (Sep 15, 2013)

A display that uses anything other than a CRT (tube type screen) employs digital processing. There are very few CRT monitors left and they tend to be small and black and white, which means analog is dead unless you are comfortable with used equipment. Analog cameras are still available as security cameras.


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## Edrick (Sep 15, 2013)

The question still is how far are you going and what's your end goal


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## JChenault (Sep 16, 2013)

Edrick said:


> The question still is how far are you going and what's your end goal


Going about 40 to 60 feet
Goal is to let the singers follow the conductor


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## Edrick (Sep 16, 2013)

Lots of cameras still have analog outputs it'll just downscale it to SD. That or look into SDI devices. I wouldn't recommend HDMI. But realistically the delay with a run that short isn't going to be noticeable. We routinely run camera signals over extron baluns across buildings for robotic television cameras.


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## FMEng (Sep 17, 2013)

Just because the interface between the equipment is analog composite doesn't mean there isn't latency. The length of the cable is irrelevant. The point is that any camera or display that processes the image digitally has latency. The latency varies greatly depending upon the equipment design. It could be so short that it doesn't have any impact on this sort of use or it might be long enough for the image to be significantly behind the director's motion. Unfortunately, the video manufacturers don't seem to publish specs. Your best bet is to take your consultant's recommendation, with the understanding that they will be responsible for ensuring the system will perform to your needs. Otherwise, you are just rolling the dice as to whether what you buy will work.


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