Panasonic MX-50 Video Mixer Questions and Answers

Q: Can you activate the Still button on the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer to capture a picture from the Event Memory mode?
A: Yes. Just push Still (either 1 field or Frame), combine it with any other effects that you want to have occur at the same time (including wipe transitions an their respective transition speeds), and then press Memory followed by 1-8.

Q: Can a Still picture on the Panasonic MX50 video mixer be combined with a Compressed picture?
A: Yes. Provided the Still picture is from the non-Compressed buss. For example, the B Buss picture freezes with a live action compressed picture-in-picture within it from the A Buss.

Q: How long will programmed effects remain in memory after the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer is turned off?
A: Indefinitely, provided the MX-50 is plugged in and the main power switch on the back is turned on. The user memory section will also hold it’s data for up to about a week and a half, even with the MX-50 unplugged.

Q: How does the Panasonic MX30 video mixer compare to the Panasonic MX50 video mixer? Does it do anything that the MX-50 can’t?
A: Side by side tests that we did with a Panasonic WJ-AVE5 video mixer showed a noticeable improvement of resolution by the Panasonic WJ-MX30 over the AVE-5, but not quite as good as the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer. The Panasonic MX-30 video mixer does not have true compression capability, only three pre-set sizes of P-I-P. It does have Luminance Key, but not Chroma-Key. It does have a nice feature that I would have liked to see on the Panasonic MX-50: you can put two Picture-in-Pictures on screen simultaneously side by side, one from each of the two input video sources.

Q: Can the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer be used for video formats considered superior to S-VHS or Hi-8?
A: Yes. The Panasonic MX-50 video mixer is excellent for formats such as M-II, Betacam SP, Digital, and even D-2.

Q: Sometimes when I transition to the “B” buss of the MX-50, I get a black & white video signal. When I check the color corrector, it’s not even turned on and looking at the digital effects panel shows that “mono” is not pushed. What’s happening?
A: 99 times out of 100, the “mono” button is pushed on the “B” channel of the digital effect section, however, you won’t notice it until you call up the “B” channel in the digital effect section. This is usually the result of not having the MX-50 video mixer boot up to the factory default (little switch on the back of the unit called “Factory Preset”) when the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer is turned on. When the MX-50 powers up to the default setting, no effects are engaged.

Q: How do I assign one input to both the “A” and “B” busses without rewiring the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer?
A: Simple. If you want your playback VCR that is plugged into Input Source #1 to be assigned to both busses, just select “Input 1” on the “A” buss and “Input 1” on the “B” buss (such as in the “Color Blocking” effect on Volume II of the MX-50 instructional video or to “scene grab” a portion of a video screen and move it).

Q: I’ve tried plugging my professional low impedance microphone into the low impedance XLR audio jacks on the back of the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer and I can’t hear a thing. What gives?
A: With high-end video and audio equipment, both microphone level signals (-60 dB) and line level signals (0 dB to + 4 dB) use XLR connections. On the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer, the XLR jacks are for line level signals only (i.e. audio output from a playback VCR). Mic level signals need to be “pre-amped” before they can become line level. On the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer, there is no pre-amplifier in line after the rear panel XLR jacks. To get mic level signals into the the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer, you can use the 1/4” mic jack on the front of the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer or run your mic through an outboard mixer first or a microphone pre-amp and then into the line level jacks.

Q: I have a Panasonic MX-50 video mixer and a stand-alone time-base corrector. Where does it go in the system, before or after the mixer?
A: A TBC should always follow the video output of a playback VCR, not after your Panasonic MX-50 video mixer or any other digital mixer. If possible, connect the appropriate sync cables from the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer to the “sync in” on the TBC and to the “external sync in” jacks on the playback VCR if it has one. This insures that all three pieces of equipment are “marching to the beat of the same drum.”

Q: The manual for edit controller says that you should be able to get accurate match-frame edits from my industrial-level VCR set-up with an WJ-MX50, but how do you do that.
A: Send your MX-50’s black burst output to the “sync in” input on your edit controller. Combined this, with reference signals going to your playback VCRs, you should improve the accuracy of your edits.

Q: How do I apply digital effects (strobe, negative, mosaic) to both buses of my Panasonic MX-50 video mixer when there’s only one row of effects buttons.
A: With the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer, the digital effects buttons perform double duty. The desired bus to which you wish to add effects is selected by pressing the “A” or “B” buttons in the digital effects section of your mixer. Even though the LED light is not lit, you’ll still be getting effects on the bus that isn’t selected at the time.

Q: Is it possible to freeze a compressed PIP with an Panasonic MX-50 video mixer?
A: Yes you can, however, don’t push the Still button until after the PIP has been created. Also, you will loose the frame when you exit the PIP mode. On the MX-50 you loose the freeze-frames when entering or exiting the compressed PIP mode.

Q: Does the Panasonic MX-50 video mixer have an “external sync in”?
A: The external sync in on the MX-50, MX-30, AVE-7 and AVE-5 is labeled “External Camera In.” Any stable video signal from an external camera, an reference sync, black burst signal, a genlock feed, or even the video output from most TBCs will connect to the External Camera In on these mixers and make them sync up to the other timing source.

Q: I have seen a rainbow flagging after doing a video insert on a tape that’s been pre-blacked with my MX-50 mixer. How can I prevent this?
A: Panasonic digital mixers generate black at 0 IRE. This is dangerously close to the video sync part of the signal. The sync resides in 0 IRE to -40 IRE range. The NTSC broadcast standards for the USA states “video black” should be set at 7.5 IRE. You might want to try pre-blacking the video tape with a dark blue, which is at about 15 IRE. Or you can get 7 IRE black on the Panasonic MX-30 and Panasonic MX-50 video mixer by selecting the dark blue matte background color and then turning the matte color level control all the way counter-clockwise.