GUIDE FOR SONY HDW-F500 HDCAM DECK

by Keith Troester
PREAMBLE: This deck uses PF1 and PF2 buttons, which when pressed, contain
programmable quick-access menus. You can map items from the system menu
into these for quicker access. When you have changed a setting in one, the
corresponding option changes as well. So if you alter a setting in PF1, that same
setting in the system menu will change. This guide, when referring to the PF
menus, assumes the machine defaults, since they are programmable to a user’s
liking, and thus, not every one will be the same. Machine defaults are
unalterable, so that is the constant I will maintain.

SETTING HD FREQUENCY (remove tape prior to setting)

1) Using the tip of a pen, press the MAINTENANCE hole (to the left
of the display, under the F4 button). The display should change
when you do.
2) While holding the SFT (SHIFT) button, press the F8 button
(MAINTE/EXEC).
3) Press F9 (OTHERS CHECK).
4) Press F9 (SYSTEM MENU).
5) Press F2 (SYSTEM FREQ) to toggle between the frequencies.
1080i, 59.94 material is 59.94i. When you have the proper one
highlighted, press F9 (EXEC).
6) Press F9 again.
7) You will hear an obnoxious series of beeps, and the deck will re-
boot itself.
8) In the display (under CHANNEL CONDITION) in about the middle
of the deck, you will see INTERLACE and 29.97 lit in green for
1080i, 59.94 material.

- STRIPING A TAPE (USING INTERNAL GENERATORS—THIS

ASSUMES THE DECK HAS PROPER REFERENCE)

1) Press the TC button.

2) Here are your TC settings to stripe a tape:
 - F5 button (press to toggle between the options): TCR SEL:
AUTO
- F6 button: TCG SOURCE: INT-L
- F7 button: TCG MODE: PRESET
- F8 button: RUN MODE: REC
- F9 button: DF/NDF: DF (this varies project-to-project)
- F10 button: VITC: TCG

3) Press the SETUP button.

4) Press F6 (VTR SETUP).
5) Using the arrow buttons, arrow down to T02: INT VID SG (way,
way at the bottom of the menu). You can also use F2 (NEXT
CATEGORY) to move down faster. When you have highlighted it,
press F7 (CHANGE DATA) to change it to BLACK. Keep
pressing F7 to toggle between the options. When you are on
BLACK, press F10 (SAVE/EXIT). Now in the menu, you should
see it set to BLACK.
6) Now arrow down to T03: INT AUD SG. Using the same workflow,
set this option to SILENCE. When done with both options, press
F10 (SAVE/EXIT) to exit the menu.
7) Press the TC button.
8) Using the numeric keypad, enter the starting timecode. An
example might be 00:58:00:00. When you mess up, you can hit
the CLR button to clear your entry, and start over.
9) When satisfied, press the SET button.
10) Press F3 (TIMER SET).
11) Rewind the tape (no REWIND button on this model—use the
jog/shuttle wheel), and press REC and PLAY to begin striping.
Press STOP when you have striped to your liking. Rewind the
tape enough to park it in timecode.
12) Press the TC button.
13) The only option you need to change is TCG MODE (F7
button). Toggle it to REGEN.
14) Using the workflow from step 5 above, change INT VID SG
and INT AUD SG in the menu back to OFF for both.
- OUTPUTTING TO TAPE

1) Below are some menu items to change/verify. To get to the

menu, press the SETUP button, and then press F6 (VTR
SETUP). Some of these items may exist in the PF1 and PF2
menus, but I will work from the system menu (see preamble).
- 004: CAP LOCK: Set to 4LOCK (4FD).
- 005: SERVO REF: Set to INPUT.
- 006: EXT REF SEL: Set to HD. (Note: This deck is finicky
with HD reference, so ensure the ref matches your
frequency. Channel Condition errors can pop up from
improper reference.)
- 102: REF ALARM: Set to ON.
- 754: DOWNCONVERT: Set to whatever you need, if you are
crashing to an SD source, or you are viewing this on an SD
monitor.

2) Press the TC button.

a. F5 button (press to toggle between the options): TCR SEL:
AUTO
b. F6 button: TCG SOURCE: INT-L
c. F7 button: TCG MODE: REGEN
d. F8 button: RUN MODE: REC
e. F9 button: DF/NDF: DF (this varies)
f. F10 button: VITC: TCG

3) Assuming you need embedded SDI audio, you can press the SDI
buttons on the deck (to the right, under AUDIO INPUT/MONITOR
SELECT). When it’s getting an active audio SDI signal, the
orange lights will be solid. This also applies to the lights under
REF SYNC (INPUT VIDEO should be lit). You can check an
input by hitting the INPUT CHECK button. Ensure that the REC
and PB pots on the left of the deck are pushed in (i.e., not
activated). If they are even slightly off unity and pulled out, your
audio levels will be altered, including SDI audio.