Build 16 V3.2.1 playback and record codec error to CF only

[Kjetil Haugen]

So does anyone have any idea why a Modulas, Preston FIZZ, AJA downconverter, or possibly a high power drain from powering everything from RED would cause issues recording to CF only?

I've had a problem with the exact same configuration. Steadycam with camera powering aja and a preston wireless FF motor. Lights would start to blink (this was only with one of the cameras. The others were fine). This lead me to believe that some of the camera have faulty aux ports because the configuration would be fine on one camera, but acting up on the other. We really tested side by side. One was rock solid, the other wouldn't work half the time. Camera eventually died on set. It burned the motherboard and I had to send the camera back to Red for repairs.

This was with Build 15, so it's possible that your problem is not a B16 problem but a general camera problem. Red sorted out the problem beautifully btw and got my camera back now. Working as new. But now I will never use those two aux ports at the back for powering anything. They are camera-killers, in my mind. Use the plug on the battery mount instead. That was a tip from Red once.

What scares me the most is that it's possible to bypass the fuse by not doing anything at all. So I stay clear of these configurations. Use battery power to power accessories. Safety first. Good news is that when these situations happen Red's on the case, pronto.

 

[Sam Winzar]

For the people who have been having these issues with camera giving no error but the footage faulty, have you found going back to an earlier version of Build 16 solves the problem?

 

[Cam Crowley]

Guess I better update on our situation - turns out the CF module was the problem. So it was a hardware issue and nothing to do with B16. RED have been totally on the ball and have sent us a new module - big thanks to Deanan and Randy for their help.

Unfortunately we still haven't worked out how to restore the footage that was shot with the dodgy module - it wasn't critical stuff as we were testing the cameras so we'll let it go, but if anyone out there has any tips I'm willing to give anything a try just so I know how to! I've tried trashing the proxies and log files etc but everything still appears as a black clip in RA or RC.

Any tips????

Cheers

Cam

 

[Sam Winzar]

It looks like my camera had (well still has for the moment) the same issue. Got corrupted footage with no warning and it looks like a faulty CF Module is the issue (do the CF Modules just not like Australia or something?).

I found that if you could set in/out points around the corrupted bit of the footage you can get something back, the problem is that this is very tedious. After sending Deanan some footage to look at he sent me this script which has made it much easier to recover some of the files.

#!/bin/bash
for ((i=0;i<=1777;i+=1)); do
echo $i
REDline -i /Users/deanan.dasilva/Desktop/winzar/A031_C002_0720R4_001.R3D -o /Users/deanan.dasilva/Desktop/winzar/A031_C002_0720R4.mov -w 1 -R 4 -s $i -e $i -V $i
done

Change 1777 to the second last frame of the clip, and obviously change the -i and -o to the input clip address and the output location. Change the -R value to 1 for 4k or 2 for 2k.

This will give you a .tif sequence of the footage but each frame is done individually so you don't have the problem where you hit the corrupted fram and just get nothing for the rest of the clip.

I've tried using --useRSX 1 and 2 to get it to use the RSX file but it doesn't seem to work. Not a biggie, but it would be handy if anyone had ideas on that.

 

[Deanan]

useRSX wouldn't work for the script because the script is overwriting it. You'd have to manually set it in the for loop.

 

[Yann Mongrain]

I have also seen bent pins

I have also seen bent pins

Check your CF slot on your Camera sometimes the pins might have gotten bent and this causes the card not to work or parially work.

 

[tj williams]

Clearly the Aux power ports are not adequately isolated from the mother board. "Looks like a hardware design error." Knowledgeable friend says to me. Hey I'm just an op but if red knows about this as my friend says they should then upgrade our cams. with working power ports My friend doesn't think this can be fixed in software. As for me I use Anton Bauer batts with adapter with power output direct fm battery mount by little acc. 2 pin on top. Anton makes a 1 in 4 out from that plug which I have, thus 4 ports for powering the fiz or Modulus etc. So far with no problems. Until this is fixed I will not use the power ports and I think a general warning should be sounded by RED about this. I understand also that our Canon mount will power from one of these instead of the front right power port which is more convenient and shorter cable. This tells me there are also problems associated with use of this port. Maybe an aftermarket fix as the base for Arri III or Oppenheimers new base for the 235 which contain additional power ports.

 

[Stuart English]

Aux Power output

Aux Power output

Clearly the Aux power ports are not adequately isolated from the mother board. "Looks like a hardware design error." Knowledgeable friend says to me. Hey I'm just an op but if red knows about this as my friend says they should then upgrade our cams. with working power ports My friend doesn't think this can be fixed in software.

Thats an interesting comment, but one we'd disagree with. Both the 4 pin LEMO Aux Power outputs are current limited, and will shut themselves down in the event of a large current demand (such as a short or high demand motor). So there is little to no danger of damaging or affecting the rest of the camera.