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Tarion VT770 video tripod

I bought Tarion VT770 from Tarion directly rather than from Amazon. It’s not Amazon itself who sells it but a Chinese seller so you wouldn’t get all that Amazon protection buying from it. And getting from Tarion directly it was cheaper than from Amazon.

I am not a professional video maker and this is my first video tripod. Previously I was using a photo tripod with video head which was shaky when I did panning. So Tarion VT770 is much more stable. It’s a little shaky on full height but that makes it very high and would rarely be needed. When I extend only the middle section it remains very stable.
Tarion has many plastic pieces so the time will show how durable is it. Initially all plastic parts look solid so I hope they will serve for a long time.

To make horizontal panning really smooth I had to loose the triangle knob to the maximum (see photo) – and don’t forget to loose the lock clamp too. Then there was some noise during panning which was caused by the metal blocker used to block the panning (which is tightened by the lock clamp). I applied some silicon grease and the noise almost disappeared – see the photos below.

I’ve seen a comment somewhere about the issue with the camera getting on the way of quick-release plate locking-knob. Note that you can pull the knob and turn it down so it always remains away from the camera (see the photo).

Note that the tripod is heavy and bulky and is therefore not suitable for pedestrian travel. Also the bag isn’t very durable and arrived with a little hole made by tripod during transportation.

So in conclusion it’s a decent tripod overall with some minor issues that are easy to address.

Audio sync issue with MTS video files

Recently I faced a problem with MTS files (AVCHD from Panasonic and Sony cameras) with audio getting out of sync after file edit.
MTS file plays fine with sound in sync (e.g. with Daum Potplayer). However after editing, sound is not in sync anymore. Searching internet I found my problem isn’t uncommon, but I didn’t see a definitive solution.

Note that I haven’t touched MTS files for several months; and in the past I haven’t had any sync issues. During the break I had Windows reinstalled, so the problem must be somewhere on my PC.

The issue shows up with some video editing software but not all (e.g. VirtualDub, Corel Video Editor have the issue). It seems to me it’s related to AC3 encoding of audio stream in MTS files. I haven’t found precise root cause, I guess some codec version or settings on my PC might be the reason; however I found several workarounds that suit my needs.

  • BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve doesn’t have an issue with MTS files. So I can do color correction in Resolve and then save file with an in intermediate codec (e.g. CINEFORM) for editing with other video editing software. Once MTS file is converted to another format, the issue is gone…
  • I can convert audio to another format using AVANTI/ffmpeg. Copy video stream as is; and convert audio to PCM for example – then the sync issue is gone, file can be edited.
  • VSDC Free Video Editor doesn’t have an issue with MTS files. The basic version is free. Unfortunately the latest update of Video Editor made the use of waveforms a paid option, but it isn’t expensive; or you can use an older version which has waveforms enabled for free.