

So now both the master and the slave are running separately on their own generators but in sync with each other. Once the slave has synchronized, the master is disconnected and the slave switches to using its own generator. This means connecting the master device and a slave only for a moment so that the slave can sync to the master’s clock. The solution is for a device to have both a reader/generator and jam sync to the master. This is not too common, though, because then every single slave would have to be constantly connected to the master either via wire or wireless.įor static shots, this may not be a problem, but for shots where the camera is moving, it can be troublesome.
TIMECODE LOCKIT GENERATOR
So technically you only need one actual generator to synchronize every device on a film set. Unless you’re working in high-end sound production, you do not need to worry about wordclock either.Īs with all forms of synchronization, there needs to be a master device designated for all other devices ( slaves) to follow. You do not need to worry about genlock in post because software will automatically align the frames of all footage. Any time you need to combine two or more videos’ sources into one.

It is a common mistake though and you’ll look like a jerk correcting everyone.Īn important thing to note is that genlock is only important during live feeds, such as for television broadcast. If someone uses the word sync to mean timecode, that is technically incorrect. Genlock (generator locking) is most often simply called ‘sync’, it’s even labeled as such on lockit boxes.

This is used to synchronize multiple devices and media (both audio and video) on a metadata level. This is used to synchronize multiple digital audio sources’ sample rates to be in phase with each other. This is used to synchronize multiple video sources’ field rates to be in phase with each other. There are three types of sync: Genlock (Sync) Terminology Of Various Forms Of Synchronization
