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Dragon and Timecode

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Nick Fury

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Has anyone successfully sent time code @ 23.98 to a Dragon camera, with any device except an Ambient Lockit box?

I have had no joy with Zaxcom @23.98, but success with 25 and 29.97, from Nomad and ERX.

I have heard that some Sound devices, Evertz and SMART Slate devices have been unable to send TC successfully to Dragon (new build or Upgrade), at 23.98.

Hopefully there are other 23.98 success experiences that we can forward to RED tech, who is working on the, apparent hardware issue with dragon. Looking forward to the fix myself, as I have a Zaxcom Nomad and a TCD ERX.

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Nick Fury said:
Has anyone successfully sent time code @ 23.98 to a Dragon camera, with any device except an Ambient Lockit box?
Click to expand...
Yes, did it for two days this week with a Denecke SB-T and a Red Epic (no Dragon chip). Got no clue about the Zaxcom wireless system.
 
Hi Marc,

The issue is with the hardware in the Dragon and 23.98 reception, from the devices mentioned above. As regards the ERX and BNC out from Nomad, the oscilloscope shows a nice wave at one volt or less, as the ERX can select different voltages, which all look just like the lockit wave. RED is on it and we all should have confidence that they shall sort it out.

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Just saw this as a solution on another forum:

Yep. My "fix" was jamming directly from nomad sending 30DF to 23.97 on the cam. Once it locked I plugged in my ERX on the correct TC and it maintained sync until wrap. Took us hours of troubleshooting, not to mention sneers from the DP (my friend) that my "new" recorder didnt work properly.
Click to expand...

Weird stuff.
 
Hi Doug,

Thanks for that note. I'll give it a try, with my Nomad and ERX.

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Yes, RED has been keeping a a list of 23.97 functioning and non-functioning TC devices, with Dragon. I'll see if I can get the most current version on Tuesday and post.

Thank you very much

Fury
 
On a production that has used a Dragon last week as a VFX camera.
The display would not show TC lockup from either a Denecke SB2 or SB3. We did not try using output from a slate.
However, some of our files apparently had 'hidden' timecode in the file that synched up correctly in Resolve.

TO repeat: the camera did not display the sync mode, and had a radically different time code on the display than our slate, or our TC boxes.
However, Resolve managed to link the R3D files to .BWF files by timecode in a 23.98fps project.

This was not with all files. Only for the ones after our mid day media break.

All TC was after 12:00 and before 23:59

I can not explain how.
 
Just wrapped on my first Dragon shoot today and no love for ERX2, so I can finally verify this issue first hand. I can also verify that the only way I was able to get the TC verification on screen was to switch the ERX2 to 30DF in the extended menu. I switched it back to 23.98 and the jam synch icon disappeared and I left it as is.

I redid these steps after lunch because the Dragon TC drifted more than 2 seconds from my TS-C/Nomad after a half hour of powered down time.
 
This is pretty discouraging to hear and boggles my mind. Has anyone had success with external 23.98 TC?

Just got my upgraded Dragon home...now I am wondering if I have to leave it home for the next jobber and will need to rent an MX so we can actually jam 23.98...

Super frustrating to hear that basic camera feautures are a problem...hate having to explain these kinds of things

Doug, Thanks for the tip on a sort-of workaround!! maybe I'll try that. Sound is on a Zaxcom system, I'll report back.

-dane
 
I just had a tech at a rental house report an issue with my Dragon not taking TC from a Denecke slate, either through the Lemo 00 breakout, or the Pro-IO module. My Epic MX, identical setup and sitting right next to my Dragon, took it no problem via either method.
I pulled a support ticket and sent a log.
We shall see.
Cheers,
Harry
 
Harry Clark said:
I just had a tech at a rental house report an issue with my Dragon not taking TC from a Denecke slate, either through the Lemo 00 breakout, or the Pro-IO module. My Epic MX, identical setup and sitting right next to my Dragon, took it no problem via either method.
I pulled a support ticket and sent a log.
We shall see.
Cheers,
Harry
Click to expand...

I have been hearing hit and miss, with some timecode sources, but the only one so far, in common use, that I have heard (doesn't really mean anything), that can reliably send 23.98 is Ambient. Now there are reports of one time -Ok, one time NG, with other devices, but that is not to be used, in this environment.

Good news is that I was at RED Irvine today and was told that RED has identified the issue. There seem to be some distractions, however, with getting it corrected...
 
Dane Henry said:
This is pretty discouraging to hear and boggles my mind. Has anyone had success with external 23.98 TC?

Just got my upgraded Dragon home...now I am wondering if I have to leave it home for the next jobber and will need to rent an MX so we can actually jam 23.98...

Super frustrating to hear that basic camera feautures are a problem...hate having to explain these kinds of things

Doug, Thanks for the tip on a sort-of workaround!! maybe I'll try that. Sound is on a Zaxcom system, I'll report back.

-dane
Click to expand...

Well ... so far ... I've had ZERO issues with TC and Dragon at 23.98fps - so .... just wrapped a feature and pilot - zero TC issues on either - both 23.98.

Ambient is the best IMO. And if you want the "Ferrari" of TC boxes - you want THIS -> https://www.gothamsound.com/product/acn-tl-tiny-lockit

Sends and receives TC wireless - you can have two cameras constantly lock to TC from one transmitter at sound cart - OR - have B camera grab TC from A camera, etc.

I'll gonna make a video soon showing how these work on Dragon - but ... trust me when I say ... it's the ultimate TC box for Dragon.

And for the record - you will get better results with a quality, well made cable to the 00b lemo connector. The cable that RED sells is not, IMO, up to snuff - and I think everyone pretty much knows that.
 
Last edited:
Mark L. Pederson said:
Well ... so far ... I've had ZERO issues with TC and Dragon at 23.98fps - so .... just wrapped a feature and pilot - zero TC issues on either - both 23.98.

Ambient is the best IMO. And if you want the "Ferrari" of TC boxes - you want THIS -> https://www.gothamsound.com/product/acn-tl-tiny-lockit

Sends and receives TC wireless - you can have two cameras constantly lock to TC from one transmitter at sound cart - OR - have B camera grab TC from A camera, etc.

I'll gonna make a video soon showing how these work on Dragon - but ... trust me when I say ... it's the ultimate TC box for Dragon.
Click to expand...

Lucky dog, you! What was used on the feature and pilot? My own personal experience is having worked with over a dozen different MX (One, Epic, Scarlet) cameras and having 0 issues using ERXs to working with my first Dragon and having problems.

The Ambient ACN is really nice, but not so sure I want to drop $2K on time code boxes for Dragon at the moment.

If Dragon only works reliably with Ambient at this point, it's a fairly major issue. I'm considering adding one of these to my kit as a stop gap in the mean time if anyone can confirm it works with Dragon.
 
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