Sound Devices PIX 240 ProRes/DNxHD Video Recorder with EPIC

[A. Clint Litton]

I've been using a PIX240 with my Epic on a feature, and we've been getting a lot of recording errors (green and magenta partial/intermittent corrupt frames)...

I've tried to figure out where the problem is coming from...originally thought it might be bad BNC, but I've tried multiple cables, different batteries, two different SSD drives and two PIX caddys...there never seems to be a consistent reason.

Some points of consideration:

we've used right angle connectors for SDI coming out of the Epic, as well as going directly from camera to PIX (no connectors)
powered from Sony L batteries, also d-tap to hirose connector
mostly held by the director or an assistant...have built a handle so that nobody is holding the pix directly or handling the caddy portion (I was hoping maybe it was due to an intermittent connection from caddy to pix, but alas, the problem persists). can it be bad drives? bad caddy's? RFI? handling? almost everything seems to have been ruled out from corruptions occurring under so many different variables (different cables, different drives, different pix caddy's, being handled or sitting untouched).

Our camera/PIX settings:

5K 2:1, 23.98, clean SDI feed, build 1.6.46

Pix recording same resolution as camera feed (1080p, 23.98), recording off SDI flag, using red filename structure, prores 422, firmware 1.03
recording to samsung 470 series 256gb drives

Has everybody who's been using this with Epic (flawlessly) been genlocking to camera? are there any other settings i'm overlooking? This problem is really killing our workflow, as we don't have a redrocket or the man/machine power to handle transcoding/syncing for post (very small film), and we thought the PIX would be our way to handle the edit efficiently...now it seems as though it's just adding to our work, as we now have to go through and double check what takes are corrupt and then organize/transcode certain clips.

Any insight is very welcome...very unhappy to have a device that should be an integral part of workflow that is not performing as needed or expected. It's disappointing, as it seems to otherwise be a very well-engineered device...I really can't wait until these problems are solved once and for all.

Best,
Clint Litton

clintlitton AT gmail DOT com

[Deanan]

Do you see the corrupt frames when playing back on the pix or only after offloading?

[stu aull]

Thanks for posting Clinton!
Presume you have contacted Sound Devices too. Anxious to hear what (1) caused the problem and (2) the solution! Feedback as to their tech support would be helpful, tho my own experience has been excellent (as a Mixer owner) so far.

Very encouraging to see Deanan expressing interest too!!

Stu Aull
Alaska

[Taylor Morrison]

Clint, I don't know if my situation was unique or not but after I upgraded firmware on my PIX 240 to 1.03 I had a lot of trouble recording off of my Epic. Went through a bit of testing with the great support at SD and although have not identified the problem for sure yet, holidays and all, they were able to give me a link to Version 1.02 which works flawlessly on my Epic. I would give the support people at Sound Devices a call on Monday morning. They have been great for trying to get to the bottom of this for me. It must be a difficult task staying on top of each new firmware build for each camera to make sure everything works as it should. I am sure they will want to hear about your difficulty as well. Good luck

[Olivier Madar]

Thank Clinton,

I wanted to buy 2 pix 240, so keep us informed please with this issue !


Olivier

[A. Clint Litton]

Thanks for replies...

Deanan...I'm using the samsung 470 series SSD's (256gb, recommended by SD). I have two of them, with two pix caddys...

Taylor...I was using 1.02 and was having this same issue...intermittent, some takes are completely fine. I have heard back from Sound Devices, who gave me some ideas of what to try in terms of testing, which included the suggested firmware update to 1.03. They also suggested trying to genlock the pix to the camera, which I haven't yet been able to do, but I also wonder if this is something that should be necessary. It seems that this isn't part of the explained setup when recording the Epic feed, and I'm not ecstatic about having any more wires tethered to camera.

How are people handling the Pix? Is it mounted to the camera? Or are people holding onto it and using it as a hand held monitor? Just trying to figure out how I can remove as many probable causes as possible...

[Mike Van Laanen]

What would be nice is a cradle with a locking screw to match the 240's thread and an ability to lock onto the Epic/Scarlet by some means. Not sure if I would trust something the size and weight of the 240 on an arm screw hanging out there.

[Mike Van Laanen]

Didn't mean to hijack the thread hear. Really want to be able to provide clients with an alternative to working through the R3D files. I am hoping that a solid mounting option for the 240 appears. If I can locate a rock solid mount that would eliminate one possible cause for the dropped frames.

[Mark de Blok]

My pix 240 is on the epic and works without any problem, time code via sdi, run stop via sdi

Regards

Mark de Blok

[DJ Meyer]

My pix 240 is on the epic and works without any problem, time code via sdi, run stop via sdi

Regards

Mark de Blok

Are you able to playback slow-mo footage on Epic and cap that to the Pix? 120 fps?