Capturing with Sony FS5 / FS5 at 29.97 FPS / Interlaced X Progressive

Hello all,

I’m a streaming professional who works with live concerts in Brazil.
One of my clients is using the following setup, and I’m struggling to get Webcaster X2 working along with.

Cameras: Sony FS5 and FS7.
Format Ultra HD 4K 3840x2160
Frame rate 29.97
Switcher Blackmagic Atem 1 ME

Apparently, Webcaster X2 doesn’t accept video inputs of 29.97 FPS and I’m wondering if there’s any workaround you could come up with?

I’m trying to avoid asking the TV Producer and the whole technical team (responsible for the cameras and the video capture) to change the FPS settings on every camera and connected devices.

Thank you very much!

Hi Mauricio!

The Webcaster X2 can only accept 720p or 1080p signals, 4K is not supported. A frame rate of 29.97 should work, the resolution (and progressive rather than interlaced) is the more important factor here. Hope this helps!

Hello Adam,

Thanks for you quick reply!

Talking to the technical team I was informed that the SonyFS7 can only output HDMI 1920x1080 interlaced, so you are 100% right.

It’s not a matter of FPS. It’s a problem that the FS7 is generating. Funny enough the FS5 indeed is able to output 1920x1080P through HDMI but the SonyFS7 is not.

One of the specialists told me he can try to find some sort of converter which can be used to turn interlaced signal to progressive.

Do you know any kind of converter that could be used in this case?

Thank you very much, once again.

No problem Mauricio! We did some of our own research and discovered in the FS7 user manual some tables that seem to suggest than when the right combination of recording options are chosen, it enables a progressive mode on the HDMI output.

This is the manual we found: http://storyartscentre.info/equipmentroom/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/06/SONY-FS7-MANUAL.pdf

Starting on page 94 you can see the tables. Please note that the combinations are different for PAL vs NTSC, it also might be a good idea to verify that the camera firmware is up to date.

Hopefully you can find a solution in there, let us know how it goes!