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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 :)

Corrupt frame in footage

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Kenneth C Merrill

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I'm cutting a project I shot last weekend, and I noticed in one of the shots there is a single frame with weird artifacts. At first I thought it might have been an issue with the preview file, but it shows up on export as well. Any ideas? Watch at the link.

https://vimeo.com/165617156/0b457f863a

Shot on Scarlet MX
 
I've seen this. Send a .r3d still of the frame and your camera log to support.
They will sort you out.
 
I am now seeing similar frames in almost every clip. Submitted a support ticket; we'll see what they say.
 
The camera only had a few hundred hours on it. Why would I buy another camera from Red when their sensor boards aren't guaranteed to last more than a couple hundred hours?
 
How old is the Scarlet? Are you the original owner or was this a used unit? Just wondering... as there could be a number of issues related to this.

If memory serves, this was seen a lot a whole ago on a few batches of Scarlets and some some Epics - can't remember the details. Also, similar artifacts can be seen be when the R£D is copied to another medium (editing disk etc)... ie non check sum copy. Is the same error appearing on the footage on the source camera mag SSD? If so, check it via playback on the camera itself - or via the Reader (ie the source footage and not the copy).

Something else (again, where people have had similar looking issues) was when the side SSD wasn't fitted correctly. Sometimes it helps to take it off and re-connect/re-sit it.

If you search the forum, you'll find quite a few posts with this type of info... something might help?

Perhaps you should start to isolate/test the data path itself. Format the mag, shoot new test footage, see if the test footage plays in camera OK, if it does, see if it plays in a Reader OK, if that plays OK, copy it. Then see if the copy plays OK. Again, from memory, I seem to have a vague recollection that some people were having issues when copying from SSD to HD just using bus powered USB or Firewire... and it was solved when they used a powered adapter.

Hope that'll help or give some food fro thought/testing :)

I suppose RED's response will be based on a log file you've sent... that's why I asked if you're the original owner, as you'll know the 'history' of the unit (and how it's been used/handled etc). I do agree that it's not worth getting repaired, you'd be wiser to go for Raven/Weapon etc, a big jump from the MX.
 
Hi Andy!

Thanks so much for the response. I'm most definitely not getting the camera repaired. I assume that the Red team know what they're doing and would have a correct diagnosis, but it won't hurt to run through some tests myself when I get the camera back. Who knows; it could be solvable in one of the ways you said.

I did buy the camera second hand, but I think it's only a couple years old, and it's been well-taken care of as far as I know.

Andy White said:
How old is the Scarlet? Are you the original owner or was this a used unit? Just wondering... as there could be a number of issues related to this.

If memory serves, this was seen a lot a whole ago on a few batches of Scarlets and some some Epics - can't remember the details. Also, similar artifacts can be seen be when the R£D is copied to another medium (editing disk etc)... ie non check sum copy. Is the same error appearing on the footage on the source camera mag SSD? If so, check it via playback on the camera itself - or via the Reader (ie the source footage and not the copy).

Something else (again, where people have had similar looking issues) was when the side SSD wasn't fitted correctly. Sometimes it helps to take it off and re-connect/re-sit it.

If you search the forum, you'll find quite a few posts with this type of info... something might help?

Perhaps you should start to isolate/test the data path itself. Format the mag, shoot new test footage, see if the test footage plays in camera OK, if it does, see if it plays in a Reader OK, if that plays OK, copy it. Then see if the copy plays OK. Again, from memory, I seem to have a vague recollection that some people were having issues when copying from SSD to HD just using bus powered USB or Firewire... and it was solved when they used a powered adapter.

Hope that'll help or give some food fro thought/testing :)

I suppose RED's response will be based on a log file you've sent... that's why I asked if you're the original owner, as you'll know the 'history' of the unit (and how it's been used/handled etc). I do agree that it's not worth getting repaired, you'd be wiser to go for Raven/Weapon etc, a big jump from the MX.
Click to expand...
 
Yet another update! Andy White was on the money. My laptop didn't have my ShotPut Pro license (I forgot to switch it over before I left home). And so I stupidly decided to just drag-and-drop because I've never had a problem before... Well it's a good thing I still had that footage on the mags. I went back and played the footage directly from the mag, and there were no corrupted frames. I then used Shotput Pro to copy the footage to my drive, and again everything looked great! It looks like my camera may be fine after all.

Though now my confidence in Red's technical support team has taken a hit. Sure, I should have checked the footage from the mags again before I sent the camera in, but it's astonishing they would prescribe me a $6000 repair for an issue that's simply not there. My guess is they couldn't explain the phenomenon and chalked it up to a bad sensor board as a shot in the dark. I'm glad Andy was around to set things straight and catch my stupidity.
 
Antony Newman said:
Interesting.

Perhaps in the future - tech support should be asked if they managed to reproduce an issue?

AJ
Click to expand...

Yeah. I mean like I said, I really should have guessed the cause first thing when I saw it, but at the same time I would hope that the techies are indeed reproducing issues before prescribing super-expensive repairs. I trusted them--not so much now.
 
Kenneth C Merrill said:
Yet another update! Andy White was on the money. My laptop didn't have my ShotPut Pro license (I forgot to switch it over before I left home). And so I stupidly decided to just drag-and-drop because I've never had a problem before... Well it's a good thing I still had that footage on the mags. I went back and played the footage directly from the mag, and there were no corrupted frames. I then used Shotput Pro to copy the footage to my drive, and again everything looked great! It looks like my camera may be fine after all.

Though now my confidence in Red's technical support team has taken a hit. Sure, I should have checked the footage from the mags again before I sent the camera in, but it's astonishing they would prescribe me a $6000 repair for an issue that's simply not there. My guess is they couldn't explain the phenomenon and chalked it up to a bad sensor board as a shot in the dark. I'm glad Andy was around to set things straight and catch my stupidity.
Click to expand...

Kenneth - glad to be of help :)

In RED's defence, there might be some underlying tech issue (something they can see and we can't) - it's just something about the corrupted frames jogged my memory, hence my suggestions.
 
Id talk to red more about it. But that's just me. I'd be a bit upset. But really glad it worked out!
 
It's very possible Red has found an actual issue with my camera independent of the corrupt frames (I dearly hope not...). So I am in contact with support to see what's going on.
 
Kenneth C Merrill said:
It's very possible Red has found an actual issue with my camera independent of the corrupt frames (I dearly hope not...). So I am in contact with support to see what's going on.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's possible, as I mentioned earlier - they have access to the unit in different ways, so would be able to see errors or issues we can't. I'll keep fingers crossed for you :)
 
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