Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 208)

Chapter 15 Connecting Professional and Non-DV Equipment 207
III
A blackburst generator provides a common timing signal (or clock) to lock together
the timing clocks of all devices in a system. This is sometimes referred to as external
sync or house sync because every device in an entire facility can be timed to this
common reference.
Professional VTRs, camcorders, audio devices, and interfaces often have the ability to
accept sync signals from an external device. These connectors are labeled genlock
(short for generator lock), external sync, or reference input. On some equipment, the
normal composite video input of a device can be used to lock to external sync.
Important: To synchronize your video or audio devices and interfaces, they must all
accept an external clock source (such as a blackburst generator).
When you genlock a deck and a video or audio capture interface, one output of the
blackburst generator should be connected to the external sync input of the video or
audio deck, and another output should be connected to the external sync input of your
audio interface.
3 When your deck and video capture interface are genlocked together, you still need to:
 Calibrate the timecode capture offset (found in the Device Control Presets tab in the
Audio/Video Settings window) prior to capture. For more information about
calibrating timecode for capture, see Volume IV, Chapter 25, “Device Control Settings
and Presets.”
 Make sure that “Sync audio capture to video source if present” is enabled in the
General tab of the User Preferences window. For more information, see Volume IV,
Chapter 22, “Choosing Settings and Preferences.”
PCI card
Computer Analog or digital VTR
Video
Reference video Reference video
Breakout box
Audio
Blackburst
generator