video out to ENG viewfinder

[Jan Doggen]

Hi,

 

I am looking for a way to connect an ENG viewfinder to the video-out of a vx2000/pd150 or dvx100 camcorder. (I know there is an adapterbox for the canon xl1 but i am not interested in that.)

I wonder if anyone can get me clued up about this.

If I find the pinout of a viewfinder-connector, will getting 12v into it (i know most viewfinders need 12v) and connecting the video-out to the right pins actually work? Or is some kind of signal conversion needed?

 

thanks for any info on this...

 

JD

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Yes, it's usually just power and video - the other pins are things like the tally light and any internal warning lights. There may be other video-related signals, such as peaking or graphics overlays, but I've never seen one that wouldn't just take a normal video input and display it.

 

You should try to feed the viewfinder from the Y component of a Y/C output, which will avoid your seeing composite colour encoding artifacts all over it.

 

Phil

[Jan Doggen]

You should try to feed the viewfinder from the Y component of a Y/C output, which will avoid your seeing composite colour encoding artifacts all over it.

 

Phil

 

S-Video outputs are Y/C, right?

You know, I hadn't even thought about using the s-video output...

Might there be problems with the levels and/or impedance of an s-video output?

 

I guess I should just get a second-hand viewfinder and try to hook it up.

 

Jan

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

> S-Video outputs are Y/C, right?

 

Yes.

 

> You know, I hadn't even thought about using the s-video output...

 

Well, it's probably the only way you have of getting a proper monochrome feed. You could use the composite output, but you'd see crawling dots all over it.

 

> Might there be problems with the levels and/or impedance of an s-video output?

 

Not in my experience.

 

Phil