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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Bricked NEW EPICs (Quality Issue ?)

My new epic will be shipped out in the next few business days and I'm glad Brent has assured us the issue is resolved. I'll have a backup near by but would hate to see my epic have a problem in the field.
 
Rob Gardner said:
And you have no idea what the ratio is between failed cameras and healthy cameras.
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My ratio so far 2 failed of 3 cameras. :P

Also 1:2 failed side handles.

I've also had an epic brick I think on one production per year the last 2 years that were rented.

I like my RED images but I am more paranoid of RED equipment failing than any other electronics I've ever bought.
 
Gavin Greenwalt said:
My ratio so far 2 failed of 3 cameras. :P

Also 1:2 failed side handles.

I've also had an epic brick I think on one production per year the last 2 years that were rented.

I like my RED images but I am more paranoid of RED equipment failing than any other electronics I've ever bought.
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That is rather odd. Any commonality of significance in all of this, such as operating temp, power source/usage, etc.?

Thank you very much

Fury
 
I'm going to make a suggestion that if you rent your camera out do not allow them to upgrade or downgrade the firmware. You never know if they are taking precautions to use DC power when doing so, or if the camera gets knocked around which can cause possible power interruption. Just my 2 cents.
 
For rentals, it might be desirable for RED to devise a password or PIN protected feature which write-protects the firmware so that only the owner or rental vendor can upgrade the camera firmware. The SI2K has this feature. It is not password protected.
 
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Our Epic was bricked, too. But the service at red berlin was perfekt and so fast!! Thank you so much! There can always be a problem, the question is how you manage it! And for us, the solution was perfekt! Thank you Red!
 
Robert Hart said:
For rentals, it might be desirable for RED to devise a password or PIN protected feature which write-protects the firmware so that only the owner or rental vendor can upgrade the camera firmware. The SI2K has this feature. It is not password protected.
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I like this idea :)

An admin stage with software control via script would be helpful.
 
Well RED did limit the access to the firmware upgrade downloads so that only owners can download firmware, and only the ones for which they own the camera.
 
Patrick Grossien said:
Well RED did limit the access to the firmware upgrade downloads so that only owners can download firmware, and only the ones for which they own the camera.
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But there are renters that have access to the downloads.

I placed it in my rental forms that tampering is not allowed and subject to 3 months in rental fees.

jk of course ;)
 
QUOTE: "An admin stage with software control via script would be helpful." END OF QUOTE.

　

I don't know how an administrator level is implemented with the SI2K. The camera-recorder operates on an embedded version of Windows XP which resides on a Turbo Extreme CF-style card of 2Gb or 4Gb which is the C: drive.

XP seems to have been considerably altered. The protection disable and enable icons are buried two layers from the actual camera user interface. My guess is that the operating system could be password protected as if by administrator.

The balance of convenience probably comes down on the side of having the operating system protected by a need to chase down the icon, then set it off. This prompts a shut-down and reboot of the camera into an unprotected mode.

Then you can apply your software update, limited other software installs or system enablements like digital audio pass-through for the Zoom H4n or Sound Devices USB-Pre mixer and other fine adjusmtents.

The re-enablement of the protection is by another icon which initiates another shutdown, then reboot back into protected mode. The system boots through to the camera interface, shakes off the water, shuts down once more, then reboots again and is happy.

In the rare event of a disastrous corruption by forgetting to re-enable protection and doing something silly like switching off without properly shutting down whilst the camera is writing a vision file, the system can be reconstructed by use of a bootable thumbdrive.
　

My guess is that RED may have examined the notion of a password or PIN and like SI decided upon something else that is reasonably protected but not reliant on a password, PIN or dongle which could be lost or inaccessable if the holder goes MIA.

There are enough things that can go wrong enough to shut a production down without actually begging for trouble. I am thus moved to reconsider my notion of a password or PIN.

Unlike the RED cameras the SI2K mini camera head is embedded with the licences for the operating system and software. Whatever it connects to, be it a laptop, desktop PC is what carries the software, runs it and records from the camera. There is perhaps less of an imperative to protect the SI2K recorder when any i7 laptop with a 10/100/1000 port can be loaded with DVR and pressed into service if it goes west.

The Epic and Scarlet cameras, whilst modular, are more integrated and self-contained at the "brain" level. Password protection may be feasable if the operating system and hardware resources can cope.

It would be a strong deterrent to camera rental theft if cameras were placarded with a proven and firm promise that they are guaranteed to "brick" upon attempts to run them by trying to guess a password more than three times after a password-protected end-of-rental countdown expires.

I guess the crims would come up with a software hack soon enough.

It would be interesting to learn what the RED software writer's perspective is on this.
 
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Bob Gundu said:
I'm going to make a suggestion that if you rent your camera out do not allow them to upgrade or downgrade the firmware. You never know if they are taking precautions to use DC power when doing so, or if the camera gets knocked around which can cause possible power interruption. Just my 2 cents.
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If you are worried about a firmware upgrade bricking the camera due to power loss, note that this is a VERY VERY UNLIKELY scenario. In fact, the upgrade process was designed to withstand a power loss.

I'm not going to speak on what your rental agreements should or should not say about upgrading the camera firmware as there may be valid reasons to restrict it. I just wanted to ease your concerns about upgrades being able to brick your camera.
 
Trent Lillehaugen said:
If you are worried about a firmware upgrade bricking the camera due to power loss, note that this is a VERY VERY UNLIKELY scenario. In fact, the upgrade process was designed to withstand a power loss.

I'm not going to speak on what your rental agreements should or should not say about upgrading the camera firmware as there may be valid reasons to restrict it. I just wanted to ease your concerns about upgrades being able to brick your camera.
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Thanks Trent! That is reassuring. To bad there wasn't a log file generated on how they manhandle your gear! Happy New Year!
 
my father must have said this too me a million times in the 50's "why is there time to do it over and never enough time to do it right"
 
I'm sorry but is that a joke? how can you have a camera or few that don't work out of the box and say you have CC i mean please. just go out in the hall with the teacher, bend over and take it; because if you return to class with tears in your eyes... its even worse.
 
Anyone nervous about the Dragon upgrade?
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I am very very nervous I have heard nothing but bugs and issues (especially when it comes to the Noise) I am waiting until they fix all the bugs but just don't know how long that will take!!!
 
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