Weird 60p HDMI Output on Sony A7sII and Sony A7rII to BlackMagic Video Assist Recorder Monitor

• • 57 Comments

Someone commented earlier about a problem with the BlackMagic Video Assist Recorder/Monitor stuck capturing only 1080/60p. This is actually a problem I ran into a while ago even on the Atomos Shogun, so the problem is not with the BMVD, it's with the Sony A7RII and Sony A7sII.

Even if you set your HDMI output to 1080/24, it will only output 60p 'if' you have your camera recording set to 4K/24. In order to fix (more like workaround) this issue, you have to change your camera recording to 1080/24, and then your HDMI will output properly.

It's annoying, but not a big deal if you know how to work around the issue. So I just wanted to clarify that the issue is not with the BlackMagic Video Assist Monitor.

The monitor has been great over the last few days, and i'm excited to use it more but my SDXC cards aren't fast enough. I'm getting dropped frames when recording 60p footage. Anyone have suggestions on what you're using for 60p footage?


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57 thoughts on “Weird 60p HDMI Output on Sony A7sII and Sony A7rII to BlackMagic Video Assist Recorder Monitor”

  1. Aaron

    I have this same issue. Tried this fix from 4K to 1080p, but my HDMI still outputs only 1080p59.94. Any recommendations now 3 years later in 2018. Patching to a switch and I need hdmi to be in 24fps. However, I know I'm not on the latest firmware...wonder if that will do the trick, but also terrified of bricking my cameras.

  2. Alberto

    Still bugged for PAL users.

    In NTSC the trick 4K to 1080 to get the 24fps works. It doesn't work from 4K 25p to 1080 25p. It is still stuck at 1080 50p.

    I also tried a camera reset. Any idea how to fix this???

    Thank you

  3. Kiedamackem1

    Does this mean that I won't be able to record 1080 @60p in the BM video assist whilst recording 4K internally on my a7rii? It's a deal breaker for me - I literally almost purchased one until I saw this. Looks like I'll be going with the ninja blade. If anyone could confirm that would be appreciated.

  4. ERON

    I was hoping the above video would solve my problems, but alas. I have an A7Rii and want to shoot 1080 25p (not 4k, not 24p, not 100 fps - yet) just plain old 25p at 1920 - 1080. I tried setting (file format) to XAVC S HD, then under RECORD SETTING 25p - then under HDMI settings HDMI RESOLUTION 1080p. First up, the SHOGUN FLAME displays 4KUHDp25, then if I randomly scroll through the A7Rii menus the INPUT on the shogun will switch to 1080p 50p not 25p!!!. It's all very bizarre I truly hope someone had a real solution / workaround. ATOMOS, who I called squarely blame SONY... Of course. Thanks!

  5.

    @alan yuen - What size card are you using? If you read carefully on some cards, the READ speeds are all the same, but depending on the size card, the WRITE speeds are faster with larger cards. I had to buy different cards as a 32GB doesn't write as fast as a 64GB, and a 64GB may not write as fast as a 128GB. I learned this lesson the hard way. Sometimes you have to dive into the product details because all they advertise is READ speeds, but it's the write speeds that can be different with different size cards. Which card are you using exactly, and where did you buy the card from? Sometimes if you buy online and not from a reputable seller, there are a million counterfeits out there.

  6. alan yuen

    i did format, no help. i only run pc so i cant use hfs...... how can they make a recorder that no card can support the highest codec?

  7. alan yuen

    is hfs only for mac? i run windows... formatted in recorder and still getting dropped frames.... how can they not have a card handle their highest codec??

  8.

    @alan yuen - For the Sandisk, make sure you've formatted the card properly in the monitor. If it was previously used in another camera, it may not be formatted to the right file system for it to support the write speeds. Try both HFS and eXFAT to see if any of those work better.

  9.

    This is late, but the UHS-II cards are not supported by this recorder, the newer 7 inch 4k assist does use it. I'm getting dropped frames logo even with the Sandisk Extreme Pro 95/mb....from the brief footage I was testing it doesn't seem to have an issue...can some one confirm?

  10.

    Hello Everyone,

    If you set your camera to output 1080i (I know it sounds stupid, but it's the workaround) then set your monitor to do a 3:2 pulldown, you can record 4k24P in camera, and record 1080p24 on the monitor. I'm using a Nina Flame & A7Sii and that's how it works.

  11. Byrd Anthony

    Does anyone know, or tried (with a atomos higher end model) to OUTPUT 1080 120fps since the new update? I shoot a lot of motocross at this frame rate and was looking into the assassin for this ability with amazing codecs.

    Also, does 4K work with the assassin? 24 and 30? Since I would prefer to shoot that than 1080. Thanks!

  14. Hawkeye Pierce

    Hi,
    same Problem with my A7sii + Atomos Ninja Assassin.

    in my Case (Germany) i record in PAL.
    I want to Record 1920x1080 in 25p but the Atomos just want to record in 50p.

    first and second Frame are the Same when i record this way.

    ( 100p/120p -> no Way! )

    Same Problem in NTSC.
    The only workflow that work is:
    A7sii: Output set to "Only HDMI-4K" (The Atomos switch to 4K and record 25p)

    has anyone has a solution ???

  15. Jeep66

    Hi, I have the same problem with the Pix E5 and the Sony A7s2, impossible to record in 1080p in 60p, only UHD ... somebody have an idea to fix this problem, I put the new firmware 1.11 on the Pix E5, there is a new firmware for the Sony A7s2 who can fix it ?

  16. noam

    hi guys ! just about to buy a bmva
    please i still haven t clearly understand how it works with the new sony a7s2 ?
    will it be possible to record 4k 25fps ? and full hd @ 25, 50 and 120 ? on the recorder itself ?
    one more question, if it doesn't work properly, can I use the VA as a monitor only ?
    thanks for ur help

  17. Prasenjit

    I had a similar issue with my A7SII with TVLOGIC VFM-056WP monitor. The monitor has in built converter which converts HDMI to Sd-Sdi. This works very much fine with Canon 1Dc camera which is also 4K. We use the Sdi out to Director's monitor using BNC Connectors and cables. But when we try to connect the monitor using HDMI Cable , there is no converted signal in the SDi port of the monitor. I also have ATOMOS H2S (HDMI to SDI converter)...still is not working with Sony A7SII.

  18. Will D

    Hey thanks for the info, I'm having a similar issue with my SONY A7SII and PIX E5. Basically, no matter how I set up my "Record Setting", "File Format" and "HDMI Settings" in the a7sii menu, as soon as I turn on the PIX E5, the Sony automatically switches to 4K and the above menu settings are grayed out. Maybe this new firmware 2.0 that just came out will fix it, but I can't seem to send 1080 over the HDMI. At least it's stuck in 4K, but I was hoping to be able to record 60fps at 1080 on my PIX since 120fps output isn't possible from what I understand. Any ideas out there?

  19. Andy

    Haha yep I'm frightened to turn it off! FYI I did update the Assassin firmware to 6.51 last night, but that's the only thing I changed (it didn't work last night even after this), and turned the 'HDMI info' on and off. 4K Output is set to Memory Card + HDMI. If I change format from XAVCS HD to 4K the Assassin does update instantly. It wasn't before.

  20. Emm

     Post author

    @Andy - Good to hear. So just don't ever power the camera down again. Leave it running forever. LOL. I still have to figure mine out, haven't had the time. Hopefully yours doesn't reset itself to have problems again.

  21. Andy

    Weirdly, out of the blue it seems to be functioning OK.. I can now switch between 4k 24p / 30p and 1080p 59.96...

  22. Andy

    Atomos sent me this link (to your video!) to help me out! LOL.. It would be great if they could get to the bottom of this, whether it's a Sony or Atomos firmware update.

  23. Andy

    Cheers for the speedy reply Emm- send me your unit and I'll send you mine! haha. Fingers crossed firmware sorts this out.. I've got a support ticket with Atomos at the moment so I'll report back if anything useful comes of it.

    Andy

  24. Emm

     Post author

    @Andy - LOL! You're lucky. All I wanted to do was to record a 4K signal from my A7sII to a Shogun, and i'm only getting 1080/60 no matter what I do! I quit trying after a while, but I need to look more into it. It's pretty weird for sure. I'm at a loss right now, but i'll let you know if I find a way to change it. I think the Shogun just doesn't work well with the A7sII. Maybe a firmware update from Atomos would help detect it better. Or maybe it's a bug with Sony, haven't really narrowed this down yet.

  25. Andy

    Emm I am going absolutely out of my mind here. All I want to do is record 1080/60p from my A7S2 to the Atomos Ninja Assassin. It was EASY with A7S mark 1... No matter what I choose in camera, the Atomos unit displays a 4K record resolution...

  27. Louis

    Hi @Emm, I think I have a problem with my HDMI cable. Can you please send me a link or what kind of cable are you using? I need a cable ASAP, thanks

  29. Louis

    @Emm, thanks very much appreciated. I wish I had bought this monitor when it came out. I am traveling for a project starting December 7th and I am forced to rent an Atomos Assassin

  31. Emm

     Post author

    @Louis - Yes I tried that SDXC Card and it did not work for 60p recording. Funny, but the only one that works for 60p recording is the cheaper Sandisk 95/MBs UHS I cards. Which is very weird, because the first time I tried it I was getting dropped frames. Later instead of formatting to exfat, I tried HFS and it worked fine.

  33. Emm

     Post author

    @JL - Yes and No. The GH4 has no issues recording 4k internally while outputting 1080 via HDMI (8 bit), but the Sony has a weird bug in which the output of 1080 is in 60p (when set to 4k recording). So even though you may be able to set this in the A7rii it won't look right.

    If you were shooting on a GH4 it would work exactly as you described. The only time the GH4 can't record internally while outputting 1080 is when you switch the output to 10bit 4:2:2. That's when you would use something like a Shogun 4K recorder to capture full 4K 10bit 4:2:2.

  34. JL

    Hi Emm,
    and sorry for chiming in so late on this. I really want to buy this monitor, but I want to understand clearly that if I'm recording in 4K, on my A7rii and although the BM monitor is stating 1080p. Is my recorded footage from the camera in 4K?

    Thanks, JL

  35. Emm

     Post author

    @Charlie - I think the question is 'Why aren't you recording in 4K?'. You can easily downscale 4K into 1080p and have plenty of options in post. The footage is also typically sharper when recorded in 4K and downscaled to 1080, instead of recording in plain 1080. Recording from the output is a good option as a backup recording, or you can also record smaller ProRes (low quality) files externally to share with others. If you have the option of recording 4K internally and 1080 externally simultaneously (the GH4 can do this), then why wouldn't you want to record 4k?

  37. Charlie

    How can you even Record in 4K and output 1080? Those are two completely different Resolutions 1920 x 1080 or 1080 x 720 Is full HD video. 4K is 4096 x 2160 or consumer level 3840 x 2160. So why are you recording in 4k and trying to output HD?

  38.

    @jbww and @emm - very curious to see the test-results with the Sandisk Extreme Pro 280MB/s cards jbww mentioned. Those cards are UHS-II cards with a different (additional) interface. They might work, but never at max. speed.

    Blackmagic themselves already clarified that those new 280MB/s cards will not work with the Pocket Cinema Camera, and I presume the VideoAssist is packed with BMPCC tech - so I'm eager to see if it'll work ..

  40. Paul Kristianne Hidalgo

    Hi Emm,

    I'd hate to be a pain, but hopefully you could shed some light into my query in comment #8.

    Thanks a bunch!

  41. Emm

     Post author

    @Garrick - Sold out everywhere currently. I bought mine last minute when I posted that article from DVEStore.com.

  43.

    @Emm thanks so much for checking, that is a deal breaker for me .... sad.... so far the only one that works is PIX-E5 5 and the Assasin

  44. pops

    Update: Faulty new Atomos coiled HDMI cable that just arrived today. Sometimes it's the stupid stuff. sigh...

  45. pops

    Well... I guess I need to do some research. I've not been successful with getting the video assist to work with my GH4. Pocket and BMCC work of course and even my D800. Although, I'm not sure of what the benefit is there besides the monitor for my other Blackmagic cameras. And since it doesn't offer it's own peaking it makes using it for a monitor a tad of a challenge.

  47.

    @Emm , will the GH4 trigger Start Stop on the BMVA? please test that out, I have been wondering about this for a while.

    Thanks a million !!!!!!!

  48.

    It seems as though the menu buttons for hdmi output use on my sony a7s ii are mapped incorrectly. For instance if I select 1080 p at 24 fps like you did above it of course gives me 1080 p 60 fps. However, if I select 1080 I it gives me an output of 1080p 24 fps. I've noticed it does this with a number of menu items. Just my experience so far.

  49. Paul Kristianne Hidalgo

    @adam

    I don't that would work. The 1080 60p files that the BMVA records from the 4k 24p signal isn't actually true 60p. Your NLE recognizes it as 60p, but it still looks like 24p footage. Slow motion won't be nice amd smooth.

    It's like the BMVA gives your 4k24p footage, a 60p wrapper.

  50. Paul Kristianne Hidalgo

    Emm,

    Will the following situation work with the BMVA?

    I would like to record 1080p 24fps on the BMVA as well as internally om the GH4. I want the BMVA to continuously record, and every now and then, start/stop recording internally WHILE changing cards on the GH4.

    I wonder if the BMVA can handle uninterrupted recording while I swap out cards internally.

  53. Emm

     Post author

    @Adam - interesting theory, one that I would have to test. The only immediate issue I see is that your shutter speed is typically different when shooting 24 frames as opposed to 60 frames.

  54.

    Just to confirm - this is only an issue if you want to record internally at 4K but output 1080 via HDMI? i.e. there are no issues sending out a 4K signal to the Shogun via HDMI?

    sidenote: i think it could actually be kind of useful to ocassionally be able to simultaneously record 4K 24P internal and 1080 60P to an external recorder if that works reliably - if i'm not misinterpreting, you would be able to decide after shooting if you wanted a shot to be in 1080 slow motion or 4k regular speed..?

  55. Emm

     Post author

    @jbww - Awesome, i'll try that out. So far with just 24p i'm able to use pretty inexpensive cards. It's just the 60p that's dropping frames every so often.

  57. Louis

    Thanks for posting this video and clarifying it out. How good is the recorded quality coming out from GH4 with the VA compared to the atomos? Have you tried the recommended SD cards from Blackmagic? Like the San disk extreme pro 64 that they recommend? I was on the fence about this monitor/recorder but I think now I'm in. I hope the next wave of the monitors come in before my trip in early December. If before then you decide to sell yours because you have the wonderful atomos recorder/monitor, let me know, I call first dips lol. Seriously though.

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