RED Cannot Find CODEC FAULT Problem.

[George D.]

I am having a problem with our Red-One, which Red Support has at the moment while they try to figure what is going on. But, they are NOT able to get the problem to repeat.

The camera is still under warranty, and if they can't find the problem, they say they are going to charge me an evaluation fee. This does not seem fair to me, because I did NOT make this all up. I am NOT lying. Why would I send the camera in, and be without it for weeks at a time, right in the middle of shooting, if there was not a problem?


The PROBLEM:

What our R1 did, more than once, was stop recording and throw up this Codec Error fault. It would then completely shut down. After downloading the Red Drive, I discovered we lost three shots in the process. Not good. Not good at all. But, this time, the camera would not record again, nor did it allow the drive to be re-formatted, saying it was too slow. ???

We were using a "used" 32GB Red Drive I had bought that Red had rebuilt for me. We did not have a back-up drive at the time. The drive cable was new. We were running on AC with the Red AC Adapter. We had the camera HDMI plugged into a large 24" PC Monitor. Shooting Red 4K HD, RedCode36, 30fps, 1/48 Shutter, Tungsten, ISO 1600, with a Nikon lens. The camera had been on for about 5 hours.

We activate recording via a MonsterCine Start/Stop button, connected to one of the 12v Aux ports. The camera is set up for 30 second pre-record, but during this session we were just pushing the button twice, bypassing pre and going immediately into record. It was about the 5th shot when it faulted and shut down.


Have any of you ever had this happen before, and if so, what was the problem, and what did you do to fix it?

Any help or advise would be GREATLY appreciated. We need our camera back.

We are hoping that Red Support can finally discover the problem and fix it so this kind of thing will not happen again. Since we shoot wildlife, we cannot afford to lose "once in a lifetime" shots. Swapping to another drive is not the issue, losing these takes is.

Don't get me wrong, we love our Red-One and the guys at Red. It is just that we MUST have a camera we can rely on.

Thanks.

.

 

[Jake Bastian]

I've had this happen to me, and the first thing you need to do is run REDUNDEAD on your drives to see if you can recover those lost shots. DON'T REFORMAT UNTIL YOU'VE CHECKED THEM - chances are high you'll find those shots.

The only thing you can do to correct it (assuming the reboot didn't fix it, which you say it didn't) is to reinstall the firmware. Pain in the butt, but it works.

I'm not entirely sure what causes it - and it is annoying/embarrassing. But it's one of those problems you face when shooting with what is basically a computer.

Hope this helps you get it sorted out soon.

 

[George D.]

I've had this happen to me, and the first thing you need to do is run REDUNDEAD on your drives to see if you can recover those lost shots. DON'T REFORMAT UNTIL YOU'VE CHECKED THEM - chances are high you'll find those shots.

The only thing you can do to correct it (assuming the reboot didn't fix it, which you say it didn't) is to reinstall the firmware. Pain in the butt, but it works.

I'm not entirely sure what causes it - and it is annoying/embarrassing. But it's one of those problems you face when shooting with what is basically a computer.

Hope this helps you get it sorted out soon.

Can't use RedUndead. Wish we could. It's for Mac only, and we use Windows7.

Are you saying we have to "re-install" the latest Firmware, EVERY SINGLE TIME this happens?

Thanks.

.

 

[Jake Bastian]

If it continues to happen after a firmware reinstall you can try going to a different firmware version, but chances are it means something is going on with the inner workings of your camera and you'll need to fill out a support ticket.

I didn't mean to suggest it was a 'normal' occurrence for me, only that it was possible to correct it on your own in MOST cases.

 

[Marcus Struzina]

Just a thought , did you send the drive cable and red drive in with the camera to be evaluated?

 

[Tom Gleeson]

It's probably worth considering picking up a second hand SSD modiule and a couple of SSD drives. I would get the occasional codec error with my R1 but have never seen this happen after going SSD. Should be some cheap SSD Modules for sale with all the Stage 3 process. It also makes the camera more reliable, lighter and streamlined.

 

[George D.]

Jake: Just did a Firmware upgrade at Red's suggestion. This thing happened "before" and "after" the upgrade. And, I have already filled out a support ticket. Red has the camera right now, and as I said, they CANNOT find the problem.

Marcus: Yes, all parts have been sent to Red, including two drives and the cable.

Tom: Our finances are tapped to the limit now. That's why we're using drives. I can't imagine picking up a good enough deal on an SSD Module, two SSD Cards, and an SSD reader, that we could afford. My question is: How about all those people that have been using Red-One's since long before the SSD cards came into being? Did they have that Codec problem too? When you had the "occasional Codec Error" before, what did you do about it, and how did you remedy the situation?

,

 

[Tom Gleeson]

I found the codec error was random but luckily rare. A reboot usually sorted it. It was weird. You could get 10 in one day then nothing for months but usually just a single error every couple of weeks. Once or twice files got lost but Red Undead always sorted it.
I understand the budget issues but the SSD record is worth thinking about when you can.

 

[jimhare]

George, a friend of mine had chronic CODEC faults across four different cameras, including a RED loaner camera.

Turned out to be environmental, most likely caused by the multiple "cost effective" lighting ballasts in their studio (about 20 lights.)

Even my Red suffered CODEC faults in their studio and nowhere else.

They have worked out a solution that seems to have tamed the issue.

Have you found It happens it a single location?

 

[Jake Bastian]

Jake: Just did a Firmware upgrade at Red's suggestion. This thing happened "before" and "after" the upgrade. And, I have already filled out a support ticket. Red has the camera right now, and as I said, they CANNOT find the problem.
,

So this only happened to me on three shoots (not back to back) the entire life of my camera. The last shoot it happened on was the worst and ended with me not being able to power on my camera or, at best, being hung up on the firmware upgrade while the crew waited... and waited... and waited...

We ended up bringing in a spare - sent to RED and they replaced some kind of power board. I'm not sure what it was called exactly. Maybe your problem is similar?

 

[George D.]

So this only happened to me on three shoots (not back to back) the entire life of my camera. The last shoot it happened on was the worst and ended with me not being able to power on my camera or, at best, being hung up on the firmware upgrade while the crew waited... and waited... and waited...

We ended up bringing in a spare - sent to RED and they replaced some kind of power board. I'm not sure what it was called exactly. Maybe your problem is similar?

Thanks Jake,

If you could be more specific about the "power board" replacement, I would be beyond grateful. Please try and remember what is was EXACTLY that they replaced. We desperately need our camera up and running again, and the guys at Red seemed to be stumped a the moment. It would be a GREAT help if I could tell them EXACTLY what to look for.

Jim;

Thanks, but I seriously doubt it's environmental. We're shooting in a small studio, with only two or three 2Ks, two or three Inkies, and a few other incidental electrical components going. But, it is true that we live in a very rainy part of California, the outside humidity is high, we're on carpet, and we do have a problem with static electricity. But, I can't imagine any of this could contribute to Codec faults. And, no, it has not happened anywhere else, because we don't shoot anywhere else with our R1. It's just too damned heavy to backpack anywhere into the country, with all the lenses, Red Brick batteries, and Drives. I am not some 280 pound football star.

.

 

[Jake Bastian]

PM'ed you.

 

[conrad gaunt]

Did you try swapping the drive cable? All your symptoms point in that direction.. "Brand new" means untested to me, but if it wasn't brand new, did you try your spare cable?

Red drive cables break very easily and can spawn a myriad of errors when malfunctioning.. and camera inspections don't find drive cable errors!

 

[George D.]

Did you try swapping the drive cable? All your symptoms point in that direction.. "Brand new" means untested to me, but if it wasn't brand new, did you try your spare cable?

Red drive cables break very easily and can spawn a myriad of errors when malfunctioning.. and camera inspections don't find drive cable errors!

Good points, and if it ever happens again, I will swap cables AND drives.

RedSupport currently has the camera, the two drives, and the "new" cable.

My sincere worry, is that if it happens again, and I do NOT have a Mac, nor does anyone around here, so I can use RedUndead, how do I recover the lost takes? We cannot very well tell an animal that we need to re-shoot the scene so it must do exactly what it did during the last few takes.

Lastly, I cannot understand why Red does not make a Windows version of RedUndead for all of us that use PCs.

.

 

[Marc Wielage]

We were using a "used" 32GB Red Drive I had bought that Red had rebuilt for me. We did not have a back-up drive at the time. The drive cable was new.

Unfortunately, I think this is a recipe for disaster. In mission critical situations, I think you not only have to have a backup drive, you need a backup camera body. You never know when things are going to fail.

At the bare minimum, have phone numbers handy for every Red owner and/or rental company in your area, and be prepared to call them in the event of nuclear disaster.

Don't get me wrong, we love our Red-One and the guys at Red. It is just that we MUST have a camera we can rely on.

I've been working with film since the 1970s, video since the 1980s, digital since the 1990s, HD in 1999, 2K since 2002, and everything occasionally fails. Film cameras jam, film magazines leak, video cameras overheat and shut down, videotape gets scratched or has edge damage, digital cameras crash, drives fail. Crap happens. I'm amazed this stuff works as often as it does. You gotta have back ups, or at the very least, a "plan B."

 

[George D.]

Unfortunately, I think this is a recipe for disaster. In mission critical situations, I think you not only have to have a backup drive, you need a backup camera body. You never know when things are going to fail.

At the bare minimum, have phone numbers handy for every Red owner and/or rental company in your area, and be prepared to call them in the event of nuclear disaster.


I've been working with film since the 1970s, video since the 1980s, digital since the 1990s, HD in 1999, 2K since 2002, and everything occasionally fails. Film cameras jam, film magazines leak, video cameras overheat and shut down, videotape gets scratched or has edge damage, digital cameras crash, drives fail. Crap happens. I'm amazed this stuff works as often as it does. You gotta have back ups, or at the very least, a "plan B."

Thanks Marc, I appreciate the thoughts. I've been in film since the late 60's, and later as the Director Of Photography on Academy Award winning feature films. You are correct about things failing, but my personal film cameras I used for wildlife were VERY, VERY dependable and rarely malfunctioned or failed. I strongly believe that the digital cameras of this modern age we are in, are so incredibly complicated that problems are much more likely to happen. The more complicated something is, the more likely it is to fail. That said, I would rather shoot with a Red-One than almost any camera I've ever used, film or otherwise.

As far as having a second Red-One; We had to borrow money and empty our savings to buy the one camera. There is NO way we can afford a second one. And, where we live there are NO rental houses or other Red owners within 500 miles, so that idea is out. We used to live in Southern California too, where no one has any problems with rental houses, etc, but moved away to get out of the chaos and friggin' heat. And, back in the film days I had three cameras at all times, but I did not have to sell my house to afford just one of them.

We just have to do with what we have, and I think we can. We will have back-up drives and cables, but my main concerns is WHY would we be having this problem with a NEW camera, still under warranty, that Red cannot find, and that there is no software to aid in recovering shots? It is a problem.

.

 

[Craig Parkes]

Investing in a cheap Mac like a Mac Mini for Redundead may sound like a bit of an insult to a PC user, but with the workflow of RED software, you could look at it as more of a camera ofload and maintenance accessory than a computer on it's own, and get the use out of it as a computer anyway. As a former PC user, now mostly mac user, I know for various reasons it's always good to have access to a mix of both OS available bevause of the inevitable lag when new hardware is released (if you are on Mac then you'll find someone will release PC support first for the latest equipment you are working with, if on PC they'll release mac...)

It's not because you'll never be supported, RED are making great strides towards supporting both major OS environments, but it's a relatively small cost to be never caught in the lag with both RED cameras but also other manufacturers.

 

[George D.]

Investing in a cheap Mac like a Mac Mini for Redundead may sound like a bit of an insult to a PC user, but with the workflow of RED software, you could look at it as more of a camera ofload and maintenance accessory than a computer on it's own, and get the use out of it as a computer anyway. As a former PC user, now mostly mac user, I know for various reasons it's always good to have access to a mix of both OS available bevause of the inevitable lag when new hardware is released (if you are on Mac then you'll find someone will release PC support first for the latest equipment you are working with, if on PC they'll release mac...)

It's not because you'll never be supported, RED are making great strides towards supporting both major OS environments, but it's a relatively small cost to be never caught in the lag with both RED cameras but also other manufacturers.

Craig,

That's a very good idea, and if they don't fix our camera, it may be the only alternative if we want to save any of those important lost shots.

Will an older Apple Mac Mini version work, or would I need to purchase a newer one? There are some pretty cheap ones on eBay.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

.